School Priorities - SNV

Community Participation
SNV helped Kumi District develop and distribute school self-assessment tools for pupils and their parents.
organisation working with the district local
government, schools and primary teacher
colleges (PTCs), to take six Mukongoro
primary schools—Mukongoro Township,
Mukongoro Rock, Kakures, Oladot, Akadot
and Osopotoit—through self assessments,
which asked children, their parents and
surrounding community members questions
like:
• What do you like about your school and
why?
• What do you dislike about your school
and why?
Challenges faced
• The community expected hardware. They thought the project was to implement their priorities,
such as constructing latrines, building teachers houses and classroom blocks, and providing
midday meals. This is at odds with SNV’s approach, which is to bring people and organisations
together and maximise their shared capabilities—not write a check.
• The bureaucratic nature of local governments also presented a challenge. While it is necessary
to work closely with DLGs to ensure they take ownership of the intervention, busy schedules
prevented it, thereby lengthening the process.
• Timing the activities was not easy and school programmes had to be interfered with.
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