Schools Without Borders (SWB) is a project that aims to provide some selected underprivileged schools in rural Moroccan areas with basic needs, educational programs and initiatives, financial incentives and scholarships in order to provide students with a comfortable education environment and school experience.

The project is a non-profit initiative managed by Morocco Foundation and AMPA

 (The Association of Moroccan Professionals in America)

The first project will be for a group of schools located over 50 Km north of Essaouira, from the national road.

Overview

MF received couple of requests for help by the student's teacher, Ms. Khadija ElHadi, concerning the dramatically poor situation of the students. All students are from families working on the fields. All of them come to school from the nearby villages by foot covering 6 Km at least a day, rain or shine. The schools have been built in the middle of nowhere and are only reachable through dirt roads. Because of the lack of infrastructure, the class rooms are shared between 2 different groups of students and levels: some use it during the morning and the others during the afternoon classes.
The children, some of which are orphans, love attending school and learning thanks to their dedicated teachers. Since all the children live in extreme poverty, each day UNICEF provides a modest lunch. The menu is limited to lentils, beans or sardines which do not provide much nutrition to growing children. This free meal is the only incentives to have the children attend school in extreme harsh conditions; otherwise their parents could have kept them home for field work. They cannot even afford a pen or notebook, even less proper shoes and appropriate clothing or even their lunch bag.

Mission

The SWB project is aiming at helping the schools on three important levels:

-    Providing school supplies and improving education through programs and incentives
-    Building new infrastructure and facilities in he school district
-    Ensuring the children's continuous education path

Beneficiaries

The school District is composed of 4 schools regrouping 315 students, built in a very remote area. These four schools are: 
1. Center Ben Hamida: primary school with 2 classes and high school with 3 classes. 
2. School of Aït Ali Chelh : 2 classes. 
3. School Aï Haj Messaoud : 2 classes.
4. School of Aït Messaoud : 2 classes.

Total number of classes : 11 classes.

The classrooms are used by a group of students in the morning and another group after midday. The director has a team of 15 teachers, for 315 students

We have 128 girls and 187 boys.

Here is the breakdown of the poorest students of the school :

 

We are still collecting the names and the complete information about the poorest children. To date, here are some identified orphans:

1.    Jamal Matal
2.    Mohammed Almitaal
3.    Hafid Alhidouri
4.    Said Belaich
5.    Hicham Belbachir
6.    Yasmine Afkiri
7.    Noureddine Dahmani
8.    Bouchaib Belassria
9.    Ismail Eddahmani
10.    Ennajem Eddahmani


Project details and planning

We have built a planning with 3 phases. Each phase will help and improves the children needs:
-    Phase 1: Furnishing school supplies
-    Phase 2: Construction of restroom facilities
-    Phase 3: Construction of  walls around the school
-    Phase 4: Improving students' lives and building programs to improve education

Phase 1: School supplies

-    For all 4 schools : Centre Ben Hamida, Ait Ali Chelh, Ait Haj Messaoud, Ait Messaoud
-    Beneficiaries: all 315 students
-    Delivery date: September 1st 2006
-    Individual cost: MAD 104.65 including taxes or $ 12.50
-    Total cost:    MAD 32 965 or $ 3 800 (Shipping cost to be determined later)

In this phase, the funds will buy necessary school supplies to all students in the district. This step needs to be done by the next school term starting in September 1st 2006.
Each student will receive a school backpack with the following items :

1 backpack
4 notes of 48 pages each
4 notebooks covers format 17x 22
1 blue pen
1 green pen
1 ruler
1 modeling clue
1 box of 6 color pencils
1 drawing pencil
1 pair of scissors
1 chalkboard with plastic border
1 glue
1 sponge
1 box of dustless white chalk
1 box of dustless color chalk
1 plastic pencil sharpener
1 token bag
1 small eraser
1 box of watercolors

Phase 2: Construction of restrooms in 3 school locations:

The children's teacher has pointed up the non existence of restrooms for girls. When asking them if they will come back to school next year, the girls told her that their parents will not let them come back to if there's still no restrooms for them. We think that the construction of these facilities will allow them to take in charge some sanitary needs.
Since the boys restrooms are not in a very good condition, we will build in each school a sanitary block with 4 latrines for girls and 4 for boys.

-    4 Schools: Ait Ali Chelh, Ait Haj Messaoud, Ait Messaoud, Centre Ben Hamida
-    Due date and construction will be based on fund raising and budget.
-    Individual cost by school (estimation) : 100 000 MAD or USD $ 11 800
-    Total Budget: MAD 400 000 or USD 47 200

Phase 3 (option) : Construction of  walls around the school

Construction of a wall around each school, painting of the classrooms, and planting grass and trees inside the school.
Due to the amount, this phase is an option, or can be done if we have some exceptional funds.

-    3 Schools: Ait Ali Chelh, Ait Haj Messaoud, Ait Messaoud
-    Due date and construction budget will be based on fund raising and budget,
-    Budget for the walls: MAD 214 800 or USD 25 270
-    Budget for painting and planting trees: to be determined

Phase 4: Improving students' lives and building programs to improve education

-    Scholarship awards to top high 5 performing students.
-    Financial incentives to teachers of the year or semester: $500 to top teacher
-    Providing a computer lab with few PCs for the students to get introduced to technology.
-    Train teachers on using some educational software.
-    Find a public transportation for children from their Douar (villages) to schools instead of walking 5 to 8 kilometers from their home everyday

Role-players

3 parties: Morocco Foundation, AMPA organization, and school staff.
The project is a joint initiative between Morocco Foundation and AMPA.
The boards of both parties will decide later how to split the tasks and specifics of the project, but both parties will have to do their best to raise funds.

MF and AMPA teams will share responsibilities according to available resources.  Both AMPA and MF will assign individuals to supervise certain tasks and ensure the success of the project and the transparency of the operations.

Example:

-    Project planning
-    Budget analysis
-    Fundraising
-    Accounting and supervising
-    Communications, Marketing and PR
-    Project and construction supervising
-    Logistics
-    Educational scholarship planning .

Budget

These figures are based on estimates provided by some vendors and contractors to the MF team in Morocco:
   
 

 _{* Supplier is Mapama
** With a MAD/USD rate of 8.5}

 

Total in USD $ 76 207
Figures will change as we get more details around the project.

Fundraising Goal: $ 80,000

Ongoing fund raising efforts will be based on:
- Individual solicitations
- Charity events
- Corporate solicitations
- Members contributions
Funds will be deposited into an account committed to this project. The person responsible for accounting will keep track of all expenses, manage the budget and provide reports to both MF and AMPA teams.

Commitment from School Management

School management will sign a letter acknowledging their receipt of the equipment as a donation and will ensure that it will be used for students' education not for administrative purpose. The school director will commit to maintain all the initiatives and cooperate with the MF and AMPA teams to execute this project. He will get all the necessary authorizations and approvals prior to any construction or initiatives.
M. Ahmed AMINI, from the Regional Office of partnership and environment, Mr. Said Bouayad (MF Vice President), Mr. Abdellah Essaqdiq (MF board) and Ms. Kenza Alaoui (AMPA committee member) will supervise all the work in Morocco.

 

You can also download the Project plan here.

Morocco Foundation
110-42 64 Ave #37B, Forest Hills New York City NY USA Zip 11375   info@morocco-foundation.org 917-415-7581   For all media inquiries, please contact Zeineb Mammou. E-mail: zeineb.mammou@morocco-foundation.org Tel: 646-492-2641
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