It’s that time of year again… the time of year where you eat way too many rich foods, wear obnoxious sweaters without irony, dust off the boxes of decorations, play those holiday songs…. and shamelessly plug your Peace Corps project that needs funding on your blog, right? This program was designed by myself, the members of the local men’s development association in my village and with significant input from the young women who are to participate in the classes. The structure of the funding for this type of grant is coordinated by Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., but relies on donations from family and friends of the facilitating volunteer back home (for more information on the Peace Corps Partnership Program and FAQ, click here). The link for the project itself, can be found here: Continued Education Project for Rural Young Women. There is an executive summary of the project and a summary of the community contribution and other grant details to the right of that page.

On behalf of my community, I appreciate your consideration of this project and will be sure to regularly update here about the developments therein. PLEASE also pass on the above address for the donation page to anyone that may be interested!

Now, I also know that the executive summary of the project on that website had to be quite brief.  With that in mind, I am pasting below some pertinent segments from my proposal for those who might like to read in more detail about the project (perhaps it’s more detail than you could EVER want…. but just in case). Thanks for reading!

Background Information:

The community has a population of about 600 people and is very remote, located off of a 3km dirt path from a main road that is a further 40 km from the nearest town. There is a very active and successful men’s association in this village that has a history of excellent work. The president of the men’s association is one of the main community partners in this project and hopes to see it become just as successful as his numerous past projects (including a pre-school in town, two water towers, a brief period of women’s literacy classes and a women’s prayer loft in the town mosque). The other community partner for this project is the head of the women’s association who will be organizing a trainer for the girls in the village from the market town. She has demonstrated excellent leadership skills in leading a pre-school and women’s sewing association in town and has been very enthusiastic about rural outreach to young women.

The young women who hope to participate in this project are the origin of the project idea. They began asking for someone to come and teach them to sew many months ago, and only recently with the completion of the community center and the installation of the sewing machines has this become possible. They are very motivated to take on projects and educational opportunities outside of their homes.

Community Need:

This project is needed in this community because the community is at a potential turning-point in their development. They recently completed a community center and have outfitted it with a computer and sewing machines, yet the knowledge does not exist in town yet to take full advantage of these resources. Many young women want to learn to sew and to research patterns on the internet, yet none of them yet know how. Additionally, the men in town clearly have their daughter’s interests at heart, yet do not have the professional contacts to produce community lessons or events like this project. This project would not only demonstrate how the community center can be a venue for education and other public events, it will also teach a group of young women how to pursue an outlet beyond the work environment within the home. Additionally, it is possible that the women who complete this series of lessons may then be able to pass their knowledge on to other women in town, through lessons put on by themselves at the community center.

If this project is not implemented, I fear that the community center may not be used to its full capacity. Currently, no women know how to operate the sewing machines, and I fear that without some training and help in the right direction, no young women will have an opportunity to acquire that knowledge, or pass it on to others in their community.

Community Initiation and Direction:

The young women in the community were the people who first proposed this project, and the idea was ardently supported by the men in the local men’s association. As the men’s association was in the process of finishing the community center and had acquired 8 sewing machines, they supported the idea of hosted lessons at the community center for the women in town, noting that they realized young women from the village had few opportunities for education or outlets.

The young women have been involved in the planning of the lessons in that they have been very specific about what they would like to learn. They have indicated that they are interested in how to sew clothing and would be glad to have the ability to build upon their skills following the lessons via an internet connection on one of the existing computers.

The men’s association has been very helpful in brainstorming logistics for the sewing lesson trainer’s transportation to-and-from the village during the project, as well as committing to pay the monthly internet connection fees following the installation of the internet line. The local school teachers have also indicated their support for the project, saying that they will also use the internet connection for educational purposes following the workshops.

Project Sustainability:

Through the project’s implementation, skills and knowledge will be acquired by the community in two main ways: (1) the young women will learn how to sew and how to teach sewing lessons in turn themselves, and (2) the men’s association will witness how a community training event is carried out in their newly completed community center, as well as make connections with an active women’s association from their market town.

The capacity of the young women will grow in that they will be fostering and developing an outlet for education and creativity outside of the home (as they may not continue in their education). They will be acquiring skills that they may then pass on and they will be participating in the first community training event of its kind in the newly completed community center.

The capacity of the members of the men’s association will grow in that they will have worked with a member of the women’s association and the president of the women’s association from a town an hour away, and will have witnessed how investing in women’s education and recreation in the village is a valuable expenditure of time. They will also have tapped into a new network of women working in development that will help to foster future projects of theirs, geared toward the improvement of the situation of women.

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