Local People as True Partners

Developing Leadership Skills

 

A potential partner community forms a School Supporting Committee (SSC) and invites SSI to talk with them about the needs of their community and its school. 

We help them prioritize those needs and what will need to be done to get them fulfilled.

After the three-day training, SSI and SSC decide if they want to create a partnership and outline expectations and responsibilities of each organization. 

 

Education, Leadership, Sustainability program is a 5 year commitment for both the SSC an SSI

School Sustaining Committees

 School Sustaining Committees are volunteer associations made up of local community members, men and women, from various socio-economic groups. Everyone from the community is welcome to participate.  Through personal transformation workshops and daily leadership coaching by our on-site staff they learn:

Five Core Values

Participation.  Communication.  Honesty.  Trust.  Solidarity.

 

 

Members of School Sustaining Committees begin the process of healing

 

the fabric of their community by coming together for the common purpose of making their school work.  

They assess the needs of the school and figure out how to mobilize the community to sustain their educational needs.

They assess the needs of the community and devise ways the school might be able to address those needs. 

Importantly, all benefits that come from the school to the community are accountable first and foremost to the School Supporting Committee, not external donors (even SSI).

 

How does SSI support School Supporting Committees?

 

Let’s say the school sustaining committee recognizes the community needs trained health care workers.

They decide that they could generate scholarships to send some of their brightest students to training in secondary school and in health care.

But how can they generate those scholarships?

Here they might come up with ideas around income generation to fund the scholarship, or apply to other organizations, including SSI, for educational grants.

SSI works with them to help their ideas come into fruition, with a clear understanding that the Committee administers the funds and the project.

 

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