Education Taskforce Minutes, Saturday, November 01, 2008

[zimco...@gmail.com]

Good people,

Here is a Draft version of the minutes. Thanks to Dr. Chikosi for
doing the minutes. Can you read through and if there is anything we
missed, let us know by end of business day tomorrow.

Thanks,

Dominic




Education Taskforce Minutes
Saturday, November 01, 2008

In attendance:


1. Relly Coleman
2. Ruwadzano Chikosi
3. Lorraine Chilimanzi
4. Mark Grashow
5. Priscilla Gurupira
6. Mambi Madzivire
7. Sharon Makoriwa
8. Dominic Muntanga
9. Rumbidzai Sundire
10. Natsai Zhou


Next Conference Call meeting:

Date: Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 2 pm EST.
Access Number: 1-309-946-5100 Access Code: 685810

Committee Membership (Membership is still open)

• Selection of schools ( Relly, Lorraine, Rumbi, Natsai)
• Scholarships for students/teachers (Natsai, Rumbi, Sharon,
Priscilla)
• Fundraising (All attendees)

Action Items:

1. Mark- Email attendees a guide for donations based on research done
by his organization to determine the costs for supporting a teacher or
student per year in Zimbabwe.
2. Dominic – Send address of loading area on 15TH November and
information on the account for anyone wanting to make a donation.
3. All: Each person by next meeting to have 3 people willing to donate
for a scholarship to be given to a teacher.
4. Committees:
a. Selection: Develop criteria to select five schools to save as the
pilot schools.
b. Scholarship: Develop criteria for the selection of students and
draft plan for announcing the program.
c. Fundraising: Revise solicitation letter and raise money to fund the
program.

Meeting Summary:

1. Introductions

Dominic welcomed participants, following which they introduced
themselves.

2. Update from Zimbabwe by Mark Grashow (U.S-Africa Children’s
Fellowship.)

Mark just returned from a visit to deliver a container of books for
the 75 schools in Zimbabwe. He highlighted, with grave concern, the
educational crisis unfolding in Zimbabwe. According to Mark, there is
an extremely high drop-out rate among teachers owing to poor salaries
and lack of basic supplies such as food and transportation to even
visit their families. As a result of shortages of teachers to
administer and grade national examinations, this year’s examinations
may be postponed. Mark stressed the need to provide scholarships for
students to be able to go to school but also emphasized the need to
focus on recruiting teachers required to make students successful.
3. Scholarship program for qualified individuals teach in schools
while studying distance learning courses.

Recognizing the critical shortage of teachers in schools, the Council
for Zimbabwe (www.zimcouncil.org) and the U.S-Africa Children’s
Fellowship (USACF- http://www.childrensfellowship.org ) intend to
launch a “Teach for Zimbabwe” program beginning January, 2009. The
objective of the program is to put teachers in front of classrooms in
schools where there is a great shortage, while also providing
educational opportunities for teachers. Students who qualify for
university in Zimbabwe, but cannot afford university tuitions will be
recruited to teach in the selected schools.

The Council for Zimbabwe and USACF will seek funding to provide
scholarships of US$300 per year per student for them to earn a degree
by taking "distance learning courses" (DLC) while they teach in select
school. It costs about $250/year for a student to study for a
university level long distance learning course. In addition to paying
for tuition, teachers would also get an extra $50 stipend per year to
supplement their food and transportation costs. While these students
teach, they would continue to earn a normal temporary teachers’ salary
from the government. The project goal is to initiative the program
with about 25 to 100 teachers at 5 schools around the country.

Mark noted that based on the information obtained from the assessment
done by an NGO in Zimbabwe such students are available and willing to
teach if they were compensated.

Dominic reported that there were several Zimbabwean businesses abroad
that already have mechanisms set up for people in the diaspora to buy
food and have it delivered to their families in Zimbabwe. He reported
that one of the companies had contacted him saying that he gets a lot
of requests from churches that want to buy food for families in
Zimbabwe.

Dominic addressed the need to have these churches involved, especially
in feeding those people whose work influences large groups of the
society such as teachers, students, nurses, doctors. He stressed the
need to partner with such businesses to help with the pilot project
with the teachers mentioned above as well as organizations in
Zimbabwe that are already feeding children eg. Save The Children. The
company was willing to move in this direction once the necessary
assessments of greatest need have been made and posted on the website
for those interested in donating to have access to. Council for
Zimbabwe would work to facilitate that the information is made
available for people who want to contribute.

• Concerns raised by participants about the proposed program:

1. The current regulations in Zimbabwe regarding teaching licenses.
a. Dominic noted that qualified A’ Level students have in the past
served as temporary teachers without incident. However, relevant
stakeholders would be contacted to ensure that the program follows the
right channels. In addition, Mark reported that a representative of a
partner organization in Zimbabwe will be visiting New York on November
16, 2008 and they will be able to answer some of the questions
regarding how this program can be made to work, including conforming
to the Ministry of education regulations.

2. Whether the program will place teachers in schools closer to their
homes so as to cut down on expenditures such as transportation.
a. Dominic suggested that while that would be ideal, it may not be the
case, especially if the school close to their home is not selected at
the beginning of the proposed pilot program.

3. What criteria will be used to select the 5 schools that will be
used in this pilot project?
a. The selection committee will work on this but both Mark and Dominic
suggest it would beneficial if it started in schools that already had
a scholarship program for the children so it becomes more meaningful
and purpose driven. It was stressed that the criteria would be open-
ended so that if someone was interested in helping their village then
all the help will be given were possible.

4. Whether supplementary equipment will be needed by the teachers
while doing long distance courses e.g computers.
a. Dominic reported that in most cases the subject material,
assignments etc are mailed back and forth between students,
examination centre and colleges. However any additional needs such as
notebooks, pens, pencils can be shipped to the students each time a
container is sent to Zimbabwe.

5. Suggestion was made to start at the teacher’s colleges since the A
level students have no training in teaching
a. Mark reported that the students will be guided and not just placed
in classrooms. The staff at the schools will be the support group and
a crash course will be given to the selected teachers

6. For fundraising how much should we be looking at and if any
potential donors already exist.
a. Mark reported that he has a few people whom have shown interest but
no actual money has been donated yet. These groups include: Bill
Clinton’s Aid, Dispatch Foundation, Kingsboro Community College and
Mark hopes a third of the Sister schools in New York will donate. He
urged everyone to go out and get at least 3 people to donate $300 each
for a teacher scholarship.

4. Dominic’s Update:

• The Council for Zimbabwe now has a fiscal sponsor and details for
where to send donations will be posted on the website.
• A sample letter for people to present to potential donors eg
individuals, churches etc will also be posted on Google groups.
• Members are encouraged to come out and help load a container to
Zimbabwe on November 15, 2008 from 9 am to about 2 pm. In Brooklyn.

5. Committees Sign Up

Dominic went over the different committees set up and attendees signed
up for various committees.
a. Selection of schools ( Relly, Lorraine, Rumbi, Natsai)
b. Scholarships for students/teachers (Natsai, Rumbi, Sharon,
Priscilla)
c. Fundraising (All attendees)

6. Close

Dominic thanked people for attending and the meeting adjourned at 2.56
pm.