rib-kajolimodel.org

As part of routine capacity building activities, a series of training programmes (in 5 batches) for the teachers of new Kajoli Centres were organised during Jun-July/2011 in 5 different locations of Nilphamari and Panchagharh districts. Number of teachers received training included 99 in Nilphamari and 17 in Panchagharh. At the end of the training each teacher was provided with a set of educational materials. Dipali Sarkar, Teacher cum trainer Kajoli Center, Sreepur Upazila, Magura District conducted the training programmes as the principal trainer.

From August 2011, RIB is conducting a program of participatory action research and early childhood learning centers within existing systems operating in the Rohingya refugee camps, as the implementing partner of UNHCR. Several models and methods developed over the years at RIB in other parts of Bangladesh will be used in the camps.

Overall RIB’s strategy in Cox’s Bazar District

RIB’s participatory methods engage both research (in generating knowledge of people’s needs and strategies) and developmental outcomes (e.g. in enabling access to services either through self-management skills or through advocacy of their fundamental rights). This approach in RIB’s work in the two refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazaar District would engage both research tools and implementation processes in a way where one strengthens the other. RIB’s expertise lies in participatory action research which is used to bring the people in the community together to decide what are the problems and the gaps in the community, following which RIB supports the community in resolving their own conflicts and addressing their needs. Furthermore, RIB builds on the existing community structures, by strengthening linkages between people and already existing organizations/institutions with the focus of building the capacity and engaging the creativity of the community to address their own problems. In the case of the camps the camp residents of each camp will be thought of as a community in themselves.

KAJOLI CENTRES BUILDING THEIR OWN PREMISES

People with a sense of commitment to the advancement of education of children from disadvantaged families in Bangladesh are increasingly coming forward to provide financial and other support towards disseminating Kajoli Pre-School Model across the country, especially in poverty-prone areas in northern Bangladesh. It may be recalled that the Kajoli Pre-School Model was developed through research supported by RIB aimed at preparing children from disadvantaged families who are either unable to get entry into the mainstream primary education system of the country or are dropped out after admission due to lack of required preparation which the children from well-to-do-families receive before entry.

The major driving force for the dissemination of the Kajoli Model is community support (i.e. Centres are organised, financed, managed and owned by the local community). RIB’s support is limited to providing learning materials and extending capacity building support to the teachers, who mostly have secondary level education background and are selected from the concerned villages. In most cases, Kajoli Centres are housed in rooms/verandas provided by the local people free of cost. The holding of classes in such places during monsoon rains and extreme cold weather become difficult. Local people who are willing to contribute their own labour, bamboos etc. to construct own premises for the Centers are often unable to provide cash-cost component for the construction (e.g. procuring tin-sheets for roof top, cemented pillars etc.). RIB on trial basis, has tested cost-sharing approach in constructing own premises for Kajoli Centres with support from some people at home and abroad. The trial yielded very encouraging results with the local community members volunteering their labour and other inputs such as local construction materials (bamboo) while support from outside the community was used to procure roof tins and cemented pillars.

Based on this success, RIB made a call for funding from people around the world through Kajoli Website (www.rib-kajolimodel.org) for construction of Centre premises, toilets, sinking of tube wells, capacity building of the teachers etc. The result has been quite inspiring so far.
Funds received so far are being used for construction of 25 Centre premises in Nilphamari and Panchagar districts on cost-sharing basis. Construction of 10 such houses is already finished and remaining 15 are on way of completion. These premises are not only used for the children but also as meeting places for the mothers of children, training spaces for sewing and other income generating activities including capacity building activities of the village women. It is expected that the premises will increasingly be used as ‘Development Centres’ for local women. This will also lead to stability and sustainability of these Centres without external support as well as rejuvenate voluntarism among the rural people.

Kajoli mothers' organizations have been set up in a number of villages where Kajoli centers exist. At many places they were started by mothers of children attending a Kajoli model center to which others join in over the years. The purpose is to save an amount of money periodically by each mother which is used for eventual undertaking of some income generating activities. Part of the income is used to pay for the teacher's salary at each center and for the general well-being of the center, including building of the center premises. So far there are some 27th mothers' organizations set up mostly in the northern districts of the country. In one such center the mothers have leased a plot of land to grow rice and wheat, which has proven very successful. [See attached picture]. Others are likely to emulate this example. Picture 1: Mother’s are working in their paddy field at purbadangapara in Nilphamari district. Picture 2: Member of Putimari Kajoli Model Mother Organization are discussing about the center with researcher at Boda in Panchogharh.