What We Aim to Do

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There is a huge need for a programme of school building in Cameroon. Very many of the existing buildings that we have seen are in such a poor state of repair that they are not only uninhabitable in the rainy season but also dangerously close to collapse. Children have been killed when structures, like the one below, have collapsed on them. Parents are often too afraid to send their children to school in the rainy season; children get behind in their work and they drop out of education.

Participatory Development - a good model to follow

It is gradually becoming more widely accepted that simply giving Aid to communities in developing countries can, ironically, be counter-productive and disabling.

Many of the schools that we help to rebuild are located in very poor villages in isolated rural locations and, in order to ensure sustainable development in its own country, SHUMAS has developed a model of Participatory Development in all its programmes: in fact, they help communities to help themselves. SHUMAS motivates the villagers to contribute as much as they can towards the rebuilding of their local schools. In this way each community participates in the planning and the realisation of their own development programmes. The communities are required to mould 3,000 sun-dried mud bricks per classroom (if the local soil is suitable for this purpose), provide all the stone and sand required for the foundations, all the timber for the roof, doors and window shutters and all the unskilled labour needed to complete the project.

Their investment in the school building project is significant because it ensures that the community takes real ownership of the project, whilst keeping the cost of construction low.

Inevitably, building costs vary a little from project to project because of the nature of the local terrain, the ability of the community to make significant contributions, and the cost of transporting materials to the site, however the average cost of a school project is currently £17,500. We aim to provide at least three new classrooms at each of schools we support. These classrooms have concrete floors and plastered walls, and window grills and doors to keep out the worst of the weather whilst keeping the rooms well aired, and a new roof. The classrooms are easy to keep clean and thus help to improve the health of the children.

Although three classrooms does not provide all the required accommodation for a village school, it gives the community sufficient boost to enable them to develop the school further themselves. In some cases we have also been able to provide additional funds to help with the refurbishment of some of the more substantial of the old classrooms, thus providing even more accommodation.

The new classrooms attract even more children to the school and the increased income to the school, from the PTA levy paid for each child who attends, helps to provide more teachers which, in turn, ensures greater academic success for the pupils. The life expentancy of these schools is at least 50 years - a real investment in the community.

Construction starts at the end of the rainy season but, with climate change, this can be unpredictable. Rain has a devastating effect on the dirt roads and makes transportation of materials very difficult. It is not surprising that village schools have been so neglected for so long: good transport infrastructure does not exist in many parts of Cameroon and gaining access to remote communities is very difficult. In order to overcome these difficulties, BSFA and SHUMAS have modified the school building budgets recently to incorporate additional items so that a 'development package' is now produced for each village in which we work.

The 'development package' now includes funding to help achieve the following:

1. A block of three new weatherproof classrooms built to a very high specification in terms of durability and hygiene.
2. A new ventilated deep pit latrine with discreet cubicles for boys, girls and teachers which ensure privacy is respected.
3. A supply of clean drinking water. Cholera and Typhoid are commonplace amongst the children, who usually have to carry water to school from nearby streams. We ask SHUMAS to undertake feasibility studies at each school to establish the most effective method of getting safe drinking water to the school. Costs vary hugely, of course, depending on the topography and the state of the water catchment, but sometimes all that is needed is some additional pipeline and the construction of a standing tap in the school yard - and this can be incorporated in the 'package'. We fund more expensive water projects by combining many of our smaller donations - not a penny raised on our behalf is ever wasted.
4. Sufficient school benches to accommodate up to 150 children.
5. A teacher's table and chair for each classroom.
6. An income-generating scheme - usually tools and seeds for a school farm or some sewing machines which provide skills training for the pupils as well as income for the school.
7. Monitoring of progress at the school for at least two years after the building is completed.
8. The inclusion of a village Women's Farming Group in SHUMAS' micro-credit scheme, in return for these women undertaking to keep the school building clean and in good repair.

In addition, a small contingency fund is added which covers unforeseen expenses arising from transportation problems, fluctuations in exchange rates etc., which can otherwise be financially crippling for SHUMAS. We have agreed with SHUMAS that any savings that they can make from this fund will be used to help maintain the vehicles which are so essential to their work.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 06 November 2011 )