In 2013, Don Bosco Kep began welcoming students with disabilities. One such student, Ang, who is enrolled in the art communications program, was afflicted by polio at a young age and lost his ability to walk. While he does have access to a motorized wheelchair and a motorbike with three wheels that allows him to get to and from the campus buildings and up the ramp to his classrooms, he still requires assistance. The art school is located on the second floor of the youth center building and the male residence is on the third. It is only with assistance from his classmates that he is able to access those areas of the building, which often leaves Ang feeling like a burden to those around him.

With the USAID funding, Don Bosco Kep has been making modifications including the installation of elevators in the main buildings, the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings and the creation of a students’ and teachers’ residence with all of the modifications that will allow those with physical disabilities to live and attend school independently. The funding is also supporting creating handicap accessible bathrooms and the purchase of equipment to aid the learning environment for youth with disabilities.

For children with disabilities living in Cambodia, access to education is limited and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty is almost nonexistent. UNICEF notes in its State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities report that globally, close to 61 percent of boys finish school but for boys with disabilities that number drops to 51 percent. For girls, 53 percent finish school but among those living with a disability, only 42 percent finish their education.

The UNICEF report also notes that studies across countries show a strong link between poverty and disability, which in turn is linked to gender, health and employment issues. The report further suggests that inclusion in mainstream schools and educational settings is usually most appropriate for children with disabilities and when teachers and personnel are trained to consider disability-related issues, they look upon inclusion of children with disabilities more positively.

“Children living in poverty with a disability are even less likely to attend school when compared to their peers,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Youth with disabilities have the same ability to achieve as their peers, if given the opportunity. Don Bosco Kep is working to make sure that all students have access to the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives and contribute to the social, cultural and economic vitality of their communities.”

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri. The school’s educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

Jaime Correa-Montalvo, program director at the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, visited the campus of Don Bosco Kep to oversee the implementation of the new grant.

“We appreciate the funding from USAID that will allow Salesian missionaries to transform the Don Bosco Kep campus to welcome and giver greater access to students with physical disabilities,” says Correa-Montalvo. “The new construction modifications open up the campus allowing students to have better access from building to building and have a greater degree of self-sufficiency.”

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Sources:

Don Bosco Kep Cambodia

Don Bosco Kep Video USAID Project

Salesian Missions – Work in Cambodia

UNICEF – State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities

UNICEF – Cambodia 

The post CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Technical School is Providing Accessible Education for Students with Disabilities first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Don Bosco Kep was one of 34 programs funded by USAID grants that support construction projects and the purchase of equipment for overseas institutions. For children with disabilities living in Cambodia, access to education is limited and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty is almost nonexistent. UNICEF notes in its State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities report that globally, close to 61 percent of boys finish school but for boys with disabilities that number drops to 51 percent. For girls, 53 percent finish school but among those living with a disability, only 42 percent finish their education.

The UNICEF report also notes that studies across countries show a strong link between poverty and disability, which in turn is linked to gender, health and employment issues. The report further suggests that inclusion in mainstream schools and educational settings is usually most appropriate for children with disabilities and when teachers and personnel are trained to consider disability-related issues, they look upon inclusion of children with disabilities more positively.

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri. The school’s educational and social development programs help students  break the cycle of poverty and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

“Youth living in poverty are among the least likely to have access to educational programs that provide the skills necessary to lead stable productive lives,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Children living in poverty with a disability are even less likely to attend school when compared to their peers. Salesian missionaries in Cambodia are working to ensure that every child, no matter their situation, has access to education.”

In order to best meet the needs of the youth it serves, Don Bosco Kep is constantly expanding its services. In October 2011, technical education began at the school in social communication and journalism as well as front office management, housekeeping and tailoring. In October 2012, the electrical department opened and the information technology and language classes began. A year later, the school expanded again to include coursework in culinary arts, agriculture, food and beverage, art communication and office administration.

In 2013, Don Bosco Kep began welcoming students with disabilities. One such student, Ang, who is enrolled in the art communications program, was afflicted by polio at a young age and lost his ability to walk. While he does have access to a motorized wheelchair and a motorbike with three wheels that allows him to get to and from the campus buildings and up the ramp to his classrooms, he still requires assistance. The art school is located on the second floor of the youth center building and the male residence is on the third. It is only with assistance from his classmates that he is able to access those areas of the building, which often leaves Ang feeling like a burden to those around him.

With the newly acquired USAID funding, Don Bosco Kep plans to make specific modifications including the installation of elevators in the main buildings, the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings and the creation of a students’ and teachers’ residence with all of the modifications that will allow those with physical disabilities to live and attend school independently.

Jaime Correa-Montalvo, program director at the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, recently visited the campus of Don Bosco Kep to oversee the implementation of the new grant.

“We appreciate the funding from USAID that will allow Salesian missionaries to transform the Don Bosco Kep campus to welcome and giver greater access to students with physical disabilities,” says Correa-Montalvo. “The new construction modifications will open up the campus allowing students to have better access from building to building and have a greater degree of self-sufficiency.”

Cambodia’s long history of violence and conflict has led to almost a quarter of Cambodians living in poverty, according to UNICEF. Since the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia’s economy has been strengthening with particular growth in construction, tourism and agriculture. However, Cambodians are still struggling, particularly those living in rural areas where close to 75 percent of the population face seasonal food shortages.

With almost a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 illiterate with very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesians in the country operate 45 schools and seven vocational training centers in poor, rural villages through a partnership with Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education.

Sources

Don Bosco Kep

UNICEF – State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities

UNICEF – Cambodia

USAID – USAID Announces Awards to Support Schools and Hospitals Abroad

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The Salesians are widely regarded as the largest single provider of technical vocational training in the world. Don Bosco – the founder of the Roman Catholic Religious order – opened the first Salesian vocational training school in Turin, Italy in 1845. Since then, the congregation’s network of vocational training schools has expanded to provide assistance to underserved populations in more than 100 countries on six continents. Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, NY, is the U.S.-based arm of the Salesians, which works to raise funds and develop international programs.

Working with Fordham’s International Political Economy and Development graduate program, the study examines the design and delivery of training programs compared to practices employed at non-Salesian vocational schools—with particular emphasis on student selection, skills taught, job-placement, and post-training support.

“Our partnership with Fordham University allows us to build on the Salesians’ decades of experience providing training services in these countries,” says Jaime Correa-Montalvo of the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs headquartered in New Rochelle, NY.

With support from professors, Fordham students review previous literature and academic research on vocational training and workforce development practices before traveling on summer assignments to the developing world to visit Salesian vocational schools. There, they conduct field-level surveys with school administrators, teachers, and current and former students.

In 2010, students traveled to countries throughout Asia and Africa. Similar fieldwork is planned for 2011 and beyond, with the eventual goal of publication in an academic journal and a “best practices” manual that will be shared with Salesian vocational schools throughout the world.

“By studying, documenting and building awareness of  best practices we hope to assist Salesians in providing assistance to those most in need,” Correa-Montalvo adds.

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PHOTO: Salesian vocational school in the Dominican Republic. Credit: MARTIN DIGGS/SALESIAN MISSIONS

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Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many other serious repercussions. Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities. Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, health systems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer. Without WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), sustainable development is impossible.

Reports published by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and others make it clear that this challenge should no longer be left primarily in the hands of just water management authorities or environmental ministries.

Non-governmental organizations must continue to play a major role in fighting the battle for access to clean water. Many such organizations around the globe have been doing just that, one project and one community at a time.

In a Bolivian community, for example, families now have access to safe drinking water in their homes through community water distribution projects, according to the Salesian Missions website.

In the town of “19 de Agosto” in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the new distribution brings water directly to 106 families who previously had to carry potable water from the town well to their own homes, According to the Salesian Missions website. The distribution system greatly improves the sanitary conditions of the drinking water. In the town of Las Parabas, 50 families now have water distribution directly into their homes using this system.

Each community and each challenge to safe water access is different and customized solutions must be engineered, the website also points out. For example, to address serious water issues resulting from pesticide pollution in a remote area of western Brazil, Salesian Missions worked with members of the Xavante and Bororo Indian communities to obtain clean water from previously inaccessible areas.

To do so, the Salesians first created wells and designed a mobile drilling truck. Then, to create power, they invented and patented a seesaw pump that would draw water from the depths of the well as children were playing. Now, solar panels are used. The result – according to Salesian Missions – is reduced risk of disease, access to potable water, improved infrastructure and expanded farming.

“What began as an immediate response to a crisis in a community,” the website states, “has become a well-organized project to ensure the growth of the indigenous groups.”

This article was published to commemorate World Water Day on March 22, 2011.

Source: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (UNICEF)

Source: SalesianMissions.org

Related article: What is Salesian Missions doing to provide clean water in Haiti?

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The report, which was presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council, found that “Agroecological” (or “eco-farming”) projects have led to an average crop yield increase of 80 percent in 57 developing countries. The average increase in Africa is even higher at 116 percent. Ecological agriculture focuses on organic and sustainable practices rather than the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

According to the U.N., as world food prices continue to climb, feeding the world’s population will become increasingly difficult. It estimates that the world, now populated by 6.7 billion people, will expand to 9 billion by 2050.

“We urgently need to adopt the most efficient farming techniques available,” says Olivier De Schutter, U.N. special rappoteur on the right to food and the author of the report. He adds, “Today’s scientific evidence demonstrates that agroecological methods outperform the use of chemical fertilizers in boosting food production where the hungry live – especially in unfavorable environments.”

The report notes several examples of agroecological projects including one in West Africa. There, stone barriers built alongside fields have slowed down runoff water during the rainy season, allowing an improvement of soil moisture, the replenishment of water tables and reductions in soil erosion.

“Sustainable agriculture practices have the power to transform communities and countries,” says Jaime Correa-Montalvo, director of the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs. “This report shows the importance of ensuring small farmers are given the support they need through hands-on training on farming systems that promote the adoption of environmentally safe appropriate technologies that are affordable and culturally acceptable.”

Salesian Missions currently operates more than 90 agricultural schools in developing countries around the world.

“Agriculture schools in Ecuador train their students on farming methods with the goal of increasing crop yields,” says Correa-Montalvo, adding that the Paute-Uzhupud and Cayambe Salesian Schools in Ecuador and the Muyurina Agricultural School in the city of Montero in Santa Cruz, Bolivia serve 562; 1,128; and 800 students, respectively.

Correa-Montalvo concludes, “As the spotlight on food and farming techniques grow, we will continue to focus on the sustainable and ecological methods that best serve each individual community.”

Related articles: Opportunity Grows at Agriculture School in Haiti

Sources:

Eco-Farming can double food production in 10 Years, says new UN report

UN expert makes case for ecological farming practices to boost food production

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