The Bougainville ‘crisis’ of 1989-2000 resulted in the loss of much of the education, health and administrative capacity in this region. Since the granting of political autonomy in 2005 there have been great efforts to rebuild. In the area of education the Church has been the leader with the Marist Brothers playing a significant role.

Project Sankamap (literally “sun-come-up”) is a major Solidarity Project undertaken by the three Marist Pacific Provinces and the District of Melanesia operating as the Marist Oceania Council. The full project brief is available here.

 

Project Sankamap

• will support school leaders with programs and facilities
• will work with school teachers in their development of the teaching learning process at the grassroots level – at the schools, in the villages
• will assist village communities and teaching staff form mutually cooperative relationships for the benefit of their children and students

Not a layer of administration

• will not try and replicate the work of existing church agency and government education authorities on Bougainville
• will not ‘save’ Bougainville teachers from the work that they do

Some Project Activities

• A Marist Educational Team will, by invitation, be available to visit schools and work with teachers, students and the local community
• Locally initiated Workshops and Courses will be coordinated
• A base from which to coordinate will be established in Arawa which is centrally located on Bougainville
• At the base there will be access for teachers to communication and transport coordination
• Facilities to assist teachers in carrying out administrative responsibilities
  A small library and a resource centre will be possible

The establishment costs of $116,000 have been underwritten by the Marist Oceania Council and the operational costs of $56,000 per year have been underwritten by the Solidarity agencies of the three Provinces. Marist Solidarity Australia will endeavour to access international funding for the various components of the overall budget in an effort to reduce these costs. We have already entered into a funding partnership with an Austrian NGO called Horizont 3000.

 

This is a major project operating over three years at the outset. The objective is to assist education on Bougainville to get back on its feet. Past support of the Marist Solidarity Campaign has encouraged the commitment to this larger project. Continued support is vital to its success.