Nepal

NEPAL


Student Collaboration Project

Student Collaboration Project is a collaborative work of PaxWorks, Helambu Project and Early Childhood Education Centre.

It is a part of our effort to empower girls and teach them leadership skills, foster analytical thinking inside and outside of their classrooms. It is targeted at girls aged 11-16 from schools with minimum 50% female student body and institutional female leadership. The requirements is also students’ commitment to report regularly in detail on their process.

Under the leaderships of two girls, the students learn how to apply for a small grant, analyze and explain what they hope to achieve and report in detail on project planning and implementation. A team of two girls from different communities and castes leads a whole class through the process of conducting a small community project. They submit reports to us, facilitate the discussions and consensus decision making. They assign responsibilities within the class and make sure things go as planned. Different people are assigned to take notes during meetings, identifying the best way to buy supplies and purchasing them.

Student Collaboration Project is currently implemented in schools of Helambu, Bhasara, Kathmandu and Far Western Region. It is coordinated in these locations by Nima Sherpa, Meena Subba Karki, Prabha Rai and Indira Ghale.

The project typically lasts four weeks, during which the girl leaders manage writing and submitting 4 reports. In these documents, they detail the plan of action, the responsibilities, expected challenges, class’ ideas for community project and finances. In their final report, the girls analyze the process and what they have learned, identify their strengths and rooms for improvement and talk about leadership and group processes. This approach is new for most of the girls, as the government curriculum in Nepal does not foster analytical and critical thinking, creativity or planning. Student Collaboration Project fills this gap with a hands-on approach and above caste boundaries.

Her Turn is a program that helps girls become educated, empowered and equal. It’s a series of 4 weeks long trainings for girls aged 10-14 from rural schools of Nepal. They are lead by local female trainers and cover the issues of health, safety and leadership skills. At the end of the program the girls, with the support of the trainer, decide on and implement a community project. Her Turn was developed as a collaborative program between Helambu Project and Nepal Teacher Training Innovationsand with the support from PaxWorks, Sample Education Foundation and other friends.

Early Childhood Education Centre facilitated a diverse team from Bhasara Secondary School in Kathmandu to implement PaxWorks’ Student Collaboration Project. The girls employed democratic leadership principles to guide their needs assessment, goal setting, implementation, evaluation & reporting tasks. They utilizes their grant to establish a science laboratory for their school.