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A
Development Project |
Project
Sanakamap arises out of an ongoing conversation between
Marists and the Teachers of Bougainville. It is a grassroots
project informed by the professional international development
practice and is focussed on facilitating resourcefulness
at the individual level in order to enhance effectiveness
at the organisational level.
The project promotes
a strong association with Bougainville church agencies is
in conformity with the Draft Education Bill of the Autonomous
Bougainville Government.
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Evangelisation |
It
is acknowledged that churches are one of the most effective
deliverers of services in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
Evangelisation is Development; Development is Evangelisation
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The
Project Cycle |
Its
operation will follow the project cycle.
The process of
planning and managing projects can be drawn as a cycle.
Each phase of the project leads to the next.
- IDENTIFICATION
To identify what a project will focus on, we need to find
out who should benefit and what their needs are. A ‘needs
assessment’ will give an overview of community problems.
A ‘capacity assessment’ will help identify
which problem the project should address.
- DESIGN
Once it is decided to go ahead with the project, we can
start to think about the detail. This involves carrying
out further research into the people affected by a problem
and how they are affected by it. We also need to consider
the risks to the project and how we will measure the project’s
performance.
- IMPLEMENTATION
During the implementation of the project it is important
to monitor and review the progress of the project and
any outside changes that affect it. The project plans
should be adjusted where necessary.
- EVALUATION
should be carried out at or after project completion.
Evaluation could be carried out a few months or years
after the project has finished in order to assess its
long-term impact and sustainability.
- LESSON
LEARNING While the project cycle is a useful
way of outlining the stages of a project, it has one drawback:
it makes it look as though one tool follows another. In
fact, many of the planning tools can be used at any stage
of the project. They should be repeated throughout the
project’s life to ensure that any changes that might
affect project success are accounted for. Findings should
also be used for organisational learning and to improve
other projects.
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A
partnership between the Marist Oceania Council and the
people of Bougainville
offering services to teachers by building or strengthening
existing educational
capacity providing space for innovation and creating new
capacity.
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Setting
the scene |
When
Mrs Anita Sivere, head teacher of Asitai Primary School on
the Upper Atai River in Central Bougainville, needs to present
her quarterly report, do some photocopying , order some school
materials, solve a staff salary problem and do some banking
she sets off before first light and walks for six hours to
the road in the hope of catching a ride to Buka. This is another
three hours by road on the back of a utility truck at a cost
of K120 return. She considers herself lucky because if she
had been appointed to a school in the south of the island
the cost would be K200 and that’s one week’s wages!
When she arrives at Buka she knows that she will queue
at the only bank on Bougainville for at least two hours
and that she will not be able to get all the jobs done because,
for at least one of them, the ‘system’ will
be ‘down’. At the education office the person
she needs to see could well be ‘meeting’. She
will sit and wait and maybe finally leave her requests to
be processed with little conviction that her handwritten
documents will not be lost in the overflowing in-tray.
Anita will stay the night with wantoks (lit. ‘one
talks’) in Buka, try and make some more progress in
the morning, then begin the truck and foot journey home.
When she gets there, her colleagues will be disappointed
that she was not able to make progress on their particular
issue and the local community might doubt her ability to
get things done on behalf of their children. Her leadership
will, inevitably, be held in question!
As a school leader she will have little energy and
almost no resources with which to propose new ideas, motivate
the staff and gain the confidence of the local community.
The teaching learning process will grind down to a basic
classroom presence and sometimes not even that as her colleagues
make the same expensive trip to see if they can do better.
When it comes to exam results time it will surely be the
case that not every student will be selected for entrance
into high school and the local village Board of School Management
will look for reasons. Frustration and hopelessness become
key elements in the educational process.
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A
Common Story |
This
a typical story and comes from information gathered during
the workshops of the Bougainville Educational Leadership Program
(BELP) between 2003 and 2005. In 2006 Marist Solidarity responded
by assisting in the establishment of six Educational Resource
Centres in remote areas on the island. This has addressed
some of the issues for schools which form a cluster around
those centres but does not fully meet the need expressed by
teachers over the whole of the island for a more wide ranging
educational service for schools and village communities.
The story does not mean that there are no Educational Services
on Bougainville. The education authority of the Autonomous
Bougainville Government (ABG) and the church education agencies
(Catholic Education Office–CEO and United Church Education
Office–UCEO) are meeting many of the needs of teachers,
schools and village communities in a difficult environment.
Simon Koraikove (pictured) has recently taken up his position
as leader of the Catholic Education Agency and has an assistant
at Arawa. They struggle with inadequate communication systems,
lack of transport and necessarily centralised offices. In
international development terms they are calling for a program
of capacity building. They are asking for Marist help on
this most Marist of islands.
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It
is out of this context that the Marist Oceania Council has
decided to
sponsor this Solidarity Project on Bougainville
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What
the Project will do |
Capacity
Building
- 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
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What
the Project will not do |
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
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How
the Project might do this |
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
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Where
is Arawa? |
The
Marist Oceania Council will sponsor a project serving
the 30,000+ students
attending schools which are widely scattered through the
Bougainville Islands,
their 1000+ teachers and he communities from which they
come.
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Background |
Bougainville
is still suffering from a lack of infrastructure and services
as a result of the ‘crisis’ (1989-2000) Most
administrative activity is now concentrated in Buka at the
extreme northern end of the island and even this town is
separated from the ‘mainland’ by a half kilometre
water passage. Everyone has to travel to Buka to access
telephones, visit government offices, go to the bank, buy
manufactured goods including food, meet a plane or visit
the hospital. It takes about five hours to travel the 180
km from Buka to Arawa which is still war ravaged but is
centrally located. This journey costs K120 for the return
trip on the back of a utility truck. Buin residents in the
south are much worse off – a full day trip and K200!
You can’t phone ahead and make an appointment so blind
faith and disappointments are common.
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The
Need is Established |
In
2002 there was a request from Bougainville education authorities,
led by Bernadette Ropa, to provide professional development
workshops for head teachers. The Bougainville Educational
Leadership Program (BELP) coordinated by MAPS was run for
three years 2003-2005 and, at the participants’ request,
was followed up in 2006 with the establishment of six small
educational resource centres (ERC) in remote areas. These
ERCs service clusters of schools with computer, printing and
power facilities and have a trained manager and operations
officer to maintain their viability.
An expanded service of this type, but more importantly a capacity
building project for village schools, was also suggested at
this time. This has become ‘Project Sankamap’.
It would have an outreach to the grassroots village schools
and operate out of a central (not Buka) base. The teachers
on the ground spoke with a loud voice!
It was now time to test the need against the wishes of
the big people. The President of Bougainville, Joseph Kabui,
was the first to offer support and asked that we work through
the Administrator, Peter Tsiamalili. Peter, whose son was
a College Captain at Ashgrove, will help us navigate our
way through government regulations and keep us in tune with
their Education Bill.
75% of education on Bougainville is administered by the
churches and Bishop Henk Kronenberg offered his support
and suggested a number of places where the project might
be established. Later the new Bougainvillian auxiliary bishop,
Bernard Unabali, quietly ‘insisted’ that the
project work from Arawa where he is based and he offered
us an existing building as the base.
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Personnel |
Ideally
a Brother (or Lay Volunteer) to act as Project Coordinator
in the establishment phase and probably for sometime in the
operational phase. It is essential that he be able to act
as the conduit between the Oceania Council and Project Sankamap.
It is through him that the project will be resourced. He would
know who to contact and be aware of possibilities and limitations.
A New Zealand or Australian Volunteer, male or female,
with a background in education but also having reasonable
level practical skills. A “Do It Yourself” type
of person who is inquisitive about appropriate technologies,
systems and cultures; who sees solutions rather than problems.
In a handyman’s way, probably fairly adept (or not
afraid to become so), at IT, simple accounting, 12v electrical
systems, 4WD vehicles and the like.
Local Education Team members would be recruited and trained
on Bougainville. There are a number of people who would
naturally take up these positions on either a full or part
time basis.
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Marists,
Lay and Brothers, from the District of Melanesia would provide
Pastoral,
Logistical and Local Support to the Team. The Project, however,
would be a work
of the Oceania Council rather than the sole responsibility
of the District
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Time
Frame |
This
is a three year project with a possible extension time. It
will be subject to a yearly review. It is envisaged that as
local education authorities achieve greater capacity they
will be able to take on the work made possible by Project
Sankamap.
Horizont 3000, an Austrian NGO with whom we have a strong
relationship on Bougainville will be our first partners.
They have already committed funds to a similar idea but
with more emphasis on financial systems. After three years
they will continue the project with a different flavour.
Andi Siedersleben is the Bougainville Catholic Education
Agency Development Officer and is already working towards
this.
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Funding |
Establishment
and Training Funding would be underwritten by the trust
fund established by the Council for Oceania and the annual
budget will be guaranteed by the Marist Solidarity Agencies
of the Provinces. The Solidarity Agencies will then work
to establish partnerships with funding agencies and NGOs
in order to co-finance as much of the budget as is practicable.
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Management
and Accountability |
The
Project Sankamap team will report to the Council for Oceania
concerning matters of policy and scope. As a practical measure
they will communicate directly or through the delegate of
the council appointed for liaison matters. Financial acquittal
will be made to the council.
Locally the team will liaise with Bishop Bernard and the
Board through the Project Coordinator. Day to day matters
will be managed by the Project Coordinator and matters of
direction and strategy will be discussed by a board of local
advisors.
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The
Project Name |
- SANKAMAP [tok
pisin (pigin)] = lit. “sun come up”
- Bougainvillians
often refer to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (the
most eastern province or region) as Sankamap - the place
where the sun rises
- Project Sunrise
a resurrection project to help build educational capacity
in the spirit of solidarity
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Memoranda
of Understanding will be established between the Oceania
Council and
the Diocese of Bougainville; the United Church Education
Office; the Catholic Education Office;
the School Inspectors Office; Autonomous Bougainville Government
(ABG)
and the ABG Department of Education.
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