NGO Startup Funding in the DR
Donation protected
We envision a world where the playing field of knowledge and communication is level, and everyone has the same opportunities to learn and communicate on a global scale.
Our mission is to develop Latin American communities by connecting everyone to the world through the power of the internet.
We believe the internet is the great equalizer and can help solve the widest range of issues - from poverty to education to healthcare. It is a 21st-century answer to seemingly entrenched problems, leveling the playing field of knowledge and communication between the ultra rich and super poor.
The founding of El Proyecto comes at a time when new Global Goals have been established at the United Nations. Our mission directly addresses several of these goals, including (1) No Poverty, (3) Good Health and Well-Being, (4) Quality Education, and (10) Reduced Inequalities in the next 15 years. We see this as a golden opportunity to participate in global development and bring thousands of Dominicans within reach of several of those worthy goals.
It is easy to take for granted today’s absolutely immense online resources. But what if these resources were available to everyone? This prospect can change the entire world, shattering old stereotypes. Neighborhoods with typically high rates of illiteracy can be transformed into intellectually vibrant places where individuals learn and try new, creative solutions in their businesses, classrooms and homes.
These online sites represent only a fraction of the incredible free educational resources available. El Proyecto will provide seminars to train teachers on best practices to utilize each resource in the classroom.
In providing internet access as a social service in the Dominican, El Proyecto recognizes the responsibility to train, organize, and equip new users with the skills to utilize this resource to its fullest potential. Therefore, depending on the topical area, training programs will connect new users to relevant, reliable, and free resources the internet provides. Each program also will provide essential instruction on how to maintain and secure the hardware and cover the ethical issues that the internet presents.
We concluded that society could be transformed by strategically targeting three primary areas: the K-12 education system, adult technical training and the public health system. In each area, El Proyecto seeks to engage and support existing Dominican programs, increasing their efficiency, capacity and reach.
K-12 Education
“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela
Through education El Proyecto seeks to create a generation of future leaders in the DR that can think critically and tackle issues as global citizens. El Proyecto intends to present the internet as a an aid to promote globalized, modernized and critical learning to enhance the Dominican teacher’s curriculum. Educational uses of the internet can no doubt transform any student’s learning experience – research, exploration, exercises, educational games, collaboration and connection all become possible with internet access.
Goals: For students' education to be brought into the 21st century by integrating the internet, and for students who cannot afford the internet at home to be afforded access to the internet as well.
There are two main avenues by which El Proyecto can support the Dominican education system – School Centers, which can serve hundreds of students, and the small, rural schoolhouse.
School Centers
The Gregorio Luperon High School serves almost 400 students, and fits the ‘School Center’ model for a computer lab.
We define ‘School Centers’ as schools that have multiple teachers in multiple classrooms simultaneously giving classes (as opposed to one teacher in one room giving one class at a time. This model fits the schoolhouse definition.). School Centers can be of any age range, but are commonly at the high school level after rural students have completed all available grades at their community schoolhouse.
Objective: To establish a computer lab so that all the school's students can have access. We will train teachers how to use online resources in their lessons so that they and their students can utilize the computer lab more fully. A lab can also serve as a valuable after-school asset for students to finish homework and independently research.
Our computer labs would feature this design, with computers facing outward and the professor’s screen featured in the projector screen. This gives the professor the ability to supervise the students’ work while allowing the students to follow along.
After establishing a functioning computer lab, we plan to develop School Center partnerships over the long term by transforming classrooms into ‘smart’ classrooms.
Schoolhouses
Meanwhile, one-room schoolhouses provide the majority of the rural students’ education. The roads outside Luperon are dotted with several such schoolhouses, and each is a part of the Luperon School District. Tapping this network of schools is a centerpiece of El Proyecto’s plan to reach the rural student, both young and old.
Each of these towns outside Luperon have a Schoolhouse that would be a candidate for El Proyecto's program. The farther away from the main road (yellow) the more isolated they are, making a quality education that much more difficult to obtain.
Objective: To virtually connect these schoolhouses, providing a lifeline for these communities’ children, who are at highest risk of dropping out before graduation. Schoolhouse teachers can similarly be gathered for our training sessions so that the rural student also receives the same virtual education as the main school student.
This schoolhouse in El Canal is typical of what you would find on the long unpaved roads into the campos of the Luperon area.
These communities can have extremely diverse population sizes, which is why we will employ the ratio of 4 users per computer. Any less than 4-1 becomes rather cost-prohibitive. However, any more than 4-1 will not satisfy demand. For example, a schoolhouse with an average class size of 10-15 students would appropriately require 3-5 computers.
This illustration shows how a schoolhouse can be transformed into a virtually connected learning center - a computer, a router and solar panels where needed.
Technical Training
Goals: To afford the adult student who got left behind the ability to acquire a new skill to support their family and contribute to the local economy.
Objective: Establish virtually connected, hands-on learning centers that (1) allow adult students to acquire knowledge of any technical skill through the internet, and (2) practice those skills using tools provided in the center.
Each center should have a ‘digital librarian’ and a ‘tool library’. The digital librarians, locals trained by El Proyecto, will have the facility to connect students to relevant online resources based on the students’ interest. The tool library offers access for students to work with tools needed to acquire the desired skill. For example, a library may consist of donated power and hand tools, cooking equipment, musical instruments and more.
Just as El Proyecto seeks to support the Dominican education system in its K-12 program, we also seek to support a program called INFOTEP. This program brings university professors from Puerto Plata to Luperon that give classes on a wide range of technical topics. Classes are given at the Ayuntamiento (town hall) at the town square in Luperon - a perfect location to attract and connect new users to the internet, while providing a space to practice new technical skills.
An INFOTEP furniture-making class, given in Luperon 3 times a week. Here, a professor from Puerto Plata, teaches working mothers.
El Proyecto can help build upon the INFOTEP program. First, students in the INFOTEP program only learn while the professor is present (classes are given 1-3 times a week for about an hour). An established center with a full-time librarian allows students far greater ability to delve into their topic of interest. However, the INFOTEP professor can maintain their class schedule and give students one-on-one instruction. Second, students only acquire the skill that the professor happens to be teaching. A virtually connected learning center allows students to delve into topics that interest them with much greater flexibility and depth. For example, online resources can be gathered to enhance financial literacy skills, business management and more.
Additionally, these online resources can be made available in the aforementioned rural schoolhouses, allowing students to independently research topics without having to leave their towns. This also requires training locals in these communities as a librarian to facilitate the connection of students to knowledge.
Healthcare
The establishment of a virtual network also allows El Proyecto to support the public health system. Many citizens, especially in rural towns, must make herculean efforts to be seen by a medical professional for even routine cases. Very often these routine cases go untreated, and completely preventable problems fester into life-threatening cases. As a way to promote disease prevention and health promotion in rural communities, education and self-awareness becomes a key element.
El Proyecto wants to help citizens connect to the broader public health system, including hospitals like this one in Luperon.
Goals: To train locals to become ‘health promoters’, to serve as the first line of defense for communities with little to no access to healthcare. As members of their communities, they have unique knowledge of local habits and customs that can be helpful or harmful to health.
Objective: To create a series of video-broadcasted classes given by El Proyecto in partnership with local health professionals and universities so that health promoters can acquire the essential education they need by logging on at their virtually-connected schoolhouse. A digital librarian or teacher can connect health promoters to a database of information by topic on demand. Another advantage is that a class can be given anywhere and anytime, allowing El Proyecto to coordinate professional visits to rural communities so that face-to-face instruction and consultation can also be given.
Sustainability
To avoid fostering dependency and create instead a sense of ownership and investment, El Proyecto will organize communities to bear regular maintenance costs for internet service. These costs, including a monthly WiFi bill, are not overly burdensome, but the cost to set up these units is. The maintenance costs must be effectively communicated and a community payment plan must be organized to ensure the long-term survival of the system.
Communities must also meet the training requirement. El Proyecto will only partner with communities where at least one representative participates in our training programs, and those future-mediators must complete the training program. El Proyecto will only begin to deliver hardware resources when the representative has completed 75% of the program. These requirements are designed to create a sense of responsibility in the mediator, as students will be connected through their instruction. To nurture the long-term partnership, regular meetings will be scheduled with these teachers, librarians and health promoters to troubleshoot any problems and review best practices.
Summary
The internet is a practical, 21st century tool that directly and sustainably affects the lives of both the rural and urban citizen. It allows students, entrepreneurs and health-conscious citizens to increase their knowledge of how to better their lives while connecting them to the world. Students of any age can be connected to a 21st century education. Businessmen and tradesmen can acquire new skills, research best practices, and network. Health promoters can research and contact professionals to educate themselves on the particular health concerns in their town.
This can be the catalyst for community-changing projects regarding any topic that the user wishes to study. It draws on the immeasurable resources provided by the internet, and supports established networks in the DR. It relies on schools that are already built and a network of teachers that already exists. It enables students, health promoters, and patients to learn and communicate without having to leave their towns – an often costly endeavor. This is an often overlooked benefit - economy of movement.
This chart shows the most recent data from Gregorio Luperon High School, showing total number of students per grade, average class size and those who repeat. We can use similar information as a starting point for measuring results. (Source: Ministerio de Educacion)
Having defined El Proyecto's program, we are now ready to take the next steps towards gaining legal status, defining a fundraising strategy, recruiting board members, and more.
Do you believe in the power of the internet to change people's lives? If the answer is yes, please feel free to contact us by sending us an email at [email redacted], or support us at our GoFundMe page.
Our mission is to develop Latin American communities by connecting everyone to the world through the power of the internet.
We believe the internet is the great equalizer and can help solve the widest range of issues - from poverty to education to healthcare. It is a 21st-century answer to seemingly entrenched problems, leveling the playing field of knowledge and communication between the ultra rich and super poor.
The founding of El Proyecto comes at a time when new Global Goals have been established at the United Nations. Our mission directly addresses several of these goals, including (1) No Poverty, (3) Good Health and Well-Being, (4) Quality Education, and (10) Reduced Inequalities in the next 15 years. We see this as a golden opportunity to participate in global development and bring thousands of Dominicans within reach of several of those worthy goals.
It is easy to take for granted today’s absolutely immense online resources. But what if these resources were available to everyone? This prospect can change the entire world, shattering old stereotypes. Neighborhoods with typically high rates of illiteracy can be transformed into intellectually vibrant places where individuals learn and try new, creative solutions in their businesses, classrooms and homes.
These online sites represent only a fraction of the incredible free educational resources available. El Proyecto will provide seminars to train teachers on best practices to utilize each resource in the classroom.
In providing internet access as a social service in the Dominican, El Proyecto recognizes the responsibility to train, organize, and equip new users with the skills to utilize this resource to its fullest potential. Therefore, depending on the topical area, training programs will connect new users to relevant, reliable, and free resources the internet provides. Each program also will provide essential instruction on how to maintain and secure the hardware and cover the ethical issues that the internet presents.
We concluded that society could be transformed by strategically targeting three primary areas: the K-12 education system, adult technical training and the public health system. In each area, El Proyecto seeks to engage and support existing Dominican programs, increasing their efficiency, capacity and reach.
K-12 Education
“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela
Through education El Proyecto seeks to create a generation of future leaders in the DR that can think critically and tackle issues as global citizens. El Proyecto intends to present the internet as a an aid to promote globalized, modernized and critical learning to enhance the Dominican teacher’s curriculum. Educational uses of the internet can no doubt transform any student’s learning experience – research, exploration, exercises, educational games, collaboration and connection all become possible with internet access.
Goals: For students' education to be brought into the 21st century by integrating the internet, and for students who cannot afford the internet at home to be afforded access to the internet as well.
There are two main avenues by which El Proyecto can support the Dominican education system – School Centers, which can serve hundreds of students, and the small, rural schoolhouse.
School Centers
The Gregorio Luperon High School serves almost 400 students, and fits the ‘School Center’ model for a computer lab.
We define ‘School Centers’ as schools that have multiple teachers in multiple classrooms simultaneously giving classes (as opposed to one teacher in one room giving one class at a time. This model fits the schoolhouse definition.). School Centers can be of any age range, but are commonly at the high school level after rural students have completed all available grades at their community schoolhouse.
Objective: To establish a computer lab so that all the school's students can have access. We will train teachers how to use online resources in their lessons so that they and their students can utilize the computer lab more fully. A lab can also serve as a valuable after-school asset for students to finish homework and independently research.
Our computer labs would feature this design, with computers facing outward and the professor’s screen featured in the projector screen. This gives the professor the ability to supervise the students’ work while allowing the students to follow along.
After establishing a functioning computer lab, we plan to develop School Center partnerships over the long term by transforming classrooms into ‘smart’ classrooms.
Schoolhouses
Meanwhile, one-room schoolhouses provide the majority of the rural students’ education. The roads outside Luperon are dotted with several such schoolhouses, and each is a part of the Luperon School District. Tapping this network of schools is a centerpiece of El Proyecto’s plan to reach the rural student, both young and old.
Each of these towns outside Luperon have a Schoolhouse that would be a candidate for El Proyecto's program. The farther away from the main road (yellow) the more isolated they are, making a quality education that much more difficult to obtain.
Objective: To virtually connect these schoolhouses, providing a lifeline for these communities’ children, who are at highest risk of dropping out before graduation. Schoolhouse teachers can similarly be gathered for our training sessions so that the rural student also receives the same virtual education as the main school student.
This schoolhouse in El Canal is typical of what you would find on the long unpaved roads into the campos of the Luperon area.
These communities can have extremely diverse population sizes, which is why we will employ the ratio of 4 users per computer. Any less than 4-1 becomes rather cost-prohibitive. However, any more than 4-1 will not satisfy demand. For example, a schoolhouse with an average class size of 10-15 students would appropriately require 3-5 computers.
This illustration shows how a schoolhouse can be transformed into a virtually connected learning center - a computer, a router and solar panels where needed.
Technical Training
Goals: To afford the adult student who got left behind the ability to acquire a new skill to support their family and contribute to the local economy.
Objective: Establish virtually connected, hands-on learning centers that (1) allow adult students to acquire knowledge of any technical skill through the internet, and (2) practice those skills using tools provided in the center.
Each center should have a ‘digital librarian’ and a ‘tool library’. The digital librarians, locals trained by El Proyecto, will have the facility to connect students to relevant online resources based on the students’ interest. The tool library offers access for students to work with tools needed to acquire the desired skill. For example, a library may consist of donated power and hand tools, cooking equipment, musical instruments and more.
Just as El Proyecto seeks to support the Dominican education system in its K-12 program, we also seek to support a program called INFOTEP. This program brings university professors from Puerto Plata to Luperon that give classes on a wide range of technical topics. Classes are given at the Ayuntamiento (town hall) at the town square in Luperon - a perfect location to attract and connect new users to the internet, while providing a space to practice new technical skills.
An INFOTEP furniture-making class, given in Luperon 3 times a week. Here, a professor from Puerto Plata, teaches working mothers.
El Proyecto can help build upon the INFOTEP program. First, students in the INFOTEP program only learn while the professor is present (classes are given 1-3 times a week for about an hour). An established center with a full-time librarian allows students far greater ability to delve into their topic of interest. However, the INFOTEP professor can maintain their class schedule and give students one-on-one instruction. Second, students only acquire the skill that the professor happens to be teaching. A virtually connected learning center allows students to delve into topics that interest them with much greater flexibility and depth. For example, online resources can be gathered to enhance financial literacy skills, business management and more.
Additionally, these online resources can be made available in the aforementioned rural schoolhouses, allowing students to independently research topics without having to leave their towns. This also requires training locals in these communities as a librarian to facilitate the connection of students to knowledge.
Healthcare
The establishment of a virtual network also allows El Proyecto to support the public health system. Many citizens, especially in rural towns, must make herculean efforts to be seen by a medical professional for even routine cases. Very often these routine cases go untreated, and completely preventable problems fester into life-threatening cases. As a way to promote disease prevention and health promotion in rural communities, education and self-awareness becomes a key element.
El Proyecto wants to help citizens connect to the broader public health system, including hospitals like this one in Luperon.
Goals: To train locals to become ‘health promoters’, to serve as the first line of defense for communities with little to no access to healthcare. As members of their communities, they have unique knowledge of local habits and customs that can be helpful or harmful to health.
Objective: To create a series of video-broadcasted classes given by El Proyecto in partnership with local health professionals and universities so that health promoters can acquire the essential education they need by logging on at their virtually-connected schoolhouse. A digital librarian or teacher can connect health promoters to a database of information by topic on demand. Another advantage is that a class can be given anywhere and anytime, allowing El Proyecto to coordinate professional visits to rural communities so that face-to-face instruction and consultation can also be given.
Sustainability
To avoid fostering dependency and create instead a sense of ownership and investment, El Proyecto will organize communities to bear regular maintenance costs for internet service. These costs, including a monthly WiFi bill, are not overly burdensome, but the cost to set up these units is. The maintenance costs must be effectively communicated and a community payment plan must be organized to ensure the long-term survival of the system.
Communities must also meet the training requirement. El Proyecto will only partner with communities where at least one representative participates in our training programs, and those future-mediators must complete the training program. El Proyecto will only begin to deliver hardware resources when the representative has completed 75% of the program. These requirements are designed to create a sense of responsibility in the mediator, as students will be connected through their instruction. To nurture the long-term partnership, regular meetings will be scheduled with these teachers, librarians and health promoters to troubleshoot any problems and review best practices.
Summary
The internet is a practical, 21st century tool that directly and sustainably affects the lives of both the rural and urban citizen. It allows students, entrepreneurs and health-conscious citizens to increase their knowledge of how to better their lives while connecting them to the world. Students of any age can be connected to a 21st century education. Businessmen and tradesmen can acquire new skills, research best practices, and network. Health promoters can research and contact professionals to educate themselves on the particular health concerns in their town.
This can be the catalyst for community-changing projects regarding any topic that the user wishes to study. It draws on the immeasurable resources provided by the internet, and supports established networks in the DR. It relies on schools that are already built and a network of teachers that already exists. It enables students, health promoters, and patients to learn and communicate without having to leave their towns – an often costly endeavor. This is an often overlooked benefit - economy of movement.
This chart shows the most recent data from Gregorio Luperon High School, showing total number of students per grade, average class size and those who repeat. We can use similar information as a starting point for measuring results. (Source: Ministerio de Educacion)
Having defined El Proyecto's program, we are now ready to take the next steps towards gaining legal status, defining a fundraising strategy, recruiting board members, and more.
Do you believe in the power of the internet to change people's lives? If the answer is yes, please feel free to contact us by sending us an email at [email redacted], or support us at our GoFundMe page.
Organizer
Jamie Nichols
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA