School Priorities - SNV

Community Participation
encouraging pupils to write articles about
various themes. 100 copies are distributed
to each of the schools once a term. Many
schools use it as a teaching aid.
The Butiiti scholarship fund
An initiative to establish a database of
potential donors from Butiiti subcounty.
School community garden
An initiative being piloted in four schools
to boost school incomes while also
establishing a learning site for increased
household food security and child nutrition.
The harvested crops are eaten by the pupils
and teachers at lunch. The teachers also
utilise the garden as a teaching aid for
lessons on agriculture. One school has
created a herb garden that can be used for
first aid supplies. Parents weed the garden
together, then hold meetings to talk about
school issues.
Pupil mentorship scheme
An initiative to improve pass grades for
the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE).
Mentors are chosen from parents, teachers
and other volunteers. Primary seven
students were selected and attached to
the mentors for two months. The mentors
gave career guidance and worked to instil
confidence in the students, showing
extra concern. Since last year’s pilot,
more students have been able to join the
mentoring programme, including primary
six pupils.
The 10 household cluster system
An initiative to quickly mobilise the
community. Different parents are organised
according to village or neighbourhood in
groups of 10 households. Each group of 10
homes elects a representative who serves
as a liaison between that cluster of homes
and the school, taking the group’s concerns
to the general parents meeting and sharing
resolutions afterward.
The combined force of these communityled
projects is slowly creating child-friendly
learning environments and encouraging
further parent participation. At Makerere
Primary School, for instance, more parents
are attending school meetings and are
also interacting more with their children’s
teachers.
Although expanding the projects to other
schools in the district has been hampered by
low revenue—over 80% of school revenue
comes from the central government and
is usually tied to specific budgets—Butiiti
community members can no doubt develop
a homegrown solution to that as well.
For more information, contact
Ms. Getrude Tibakanya, District Education Officer,
Kyenjojo
Lessons learnt
• The SNV approach works because it not only strengthens the schools, but also the local
capacity builder it works with, in this case Bringing Hope to the Family (BHF). Due in part to
SNV’s mentoring, BHF has been able to incorporate community participation more fully into
its programmes.
• High-quality MSPs require an LCB that has a strong knowledge of the local environment,
expertise in community mobilisation and good facilitation skills.
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