Can I link with you?
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Where are you registered?
We are a registered charity/ngo in the UK, France, US and Burkina Faso. Our registration numbers are in the UK with the England and Wales Charity Commission, #1116888, US 501 (c) (3) #109090026, France #20020080003 and Burkina Faso #2007366.
Where do you intervene?
We intervene in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso.
What are your actions focused on?
Our actions are focused on improving learning conditions, with the hope that greater education in this highly illiterate country will lead to sustainable development.
What is the need?
Children in Burkina Faso are proud to come to class to learn how to read and write, often unlike their parents. They walk sometimes long distances on dirt roads and have to learn in very bad conditions, with no paper, no pen, sometimes no chalk for the teachers, with 90 children packed in classes of 30. Some children resort to writing in the margins of the notebooks already used by their brothers and sisters in the years before. This experience can be demotivating, cause drop-outs, maintain illiteracy and hence prevent sustainable development in the country.
What is your long-term impact statement?
We believe that an improved learning environment will have a strong impact on the quality of education and motivation of the children, which can enable them to better contribute to the sustainable development of their country in their adult life. By providing better learning conditions to children keen to learn, drop-out rates decrease and secondary school enrolment ratio increase. Paper for All enables children to become active and productive members of the community as they want to.
How many schools do you reach and where?
We supply four elementary schools, all in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
• Cité de l’Avenir (670 pupils)
• Trame d’Accueil A (880 pupils)
• Trame d’Accueil B (500 pupils)
• Yaaka (150 pupils)
What is the age of the children reached?
The children are between 6 and 14 years old.
How many children does that represent? Do you distribute to all the children?
Overall, the four schools represent about 2,200 children. We target the 50% who are neediest and work harder, so as to motivate the children to work as well as possible
Do you provide additional services, to the teachers for instance?
We focus on the children learning environment. The schools existed before our intervention, the teachers are regular public teachers paid by the Government. We do not provide the teachers with anything specific but they do sometimes benefit themselvesfrom the chalk and notebooks we distribute.
How long is a school year?
A school year is 9 months, from September/October to early July.
What do you do, what are your programmes?
1) The quarterly distributions involve the purchase and distribution in by the local team of academic supplies (notebooks, pens, pencils, chalk, academia kits, sometimes books) in Burkina Faso.
2) In addition to the distribution, we started last year a programme to provide mosquitoe nets and storm lamps to the children, so that they can study at home too (no electricity or frequent malaria outbreaks). The focus is again on the learning environment, the net and lamps allowing the children to study better at home.
What is the cost of the academic supplies you purchase?
Below are indicative costs for the supplies we purchase.
|
Academic supplies
|
Cost, CFA
|
Cost, USD
|
|
Box of 200 notebooks of 100 pages
|
150
|
0.32
|
|
Box of 100 notebooks of 200 pages
|
300
|
0.64
|
|
Box of 16 pieces of chalk
|
1,500
|
3.21
|
|
Box of 50 pens
|
80
|
0.17
|
|
Box of 12 pencils
|
125
|
0.27
|
|
Kit Academy
|
1,250
|
2.67
|
|
Mosquito net
|
4,000
|
8.55
|
|
Storm lamp
|
2,750
|
5.88
|
|
Academic fees
|
3,000
|
6.41
|
|
Transport
|
10,000
|
21.37
|
What is the currency and exchange rate?
The currency used in Burkina Faso is the French African Franc, or French CFA (XOF). The exchange rate fluctuates and as of July 2009:
1 USD = 449 CFA XOF
1 Euro = 656 CFA XOF
How many supplies do you buy every quarter?
On average, for a quarter, we will buy about one notebook and one pen to the neediest 50% of the children. For instance, in a school of 500 children, the 250 neediest children will receive a notebook and a pen every quarter. This translates into the distribution, every quarter, of at least 1,000 notebooks and 1,000 pens. In addition, we provide every quarter academy kits and chalk, based on the needs.
How often do you intervene?
The quarterly distributions take place in July, October, January and April, the tutoring programme yearly.
What is the process for a distribution and how do you ensure transparency?
The quarterly distributions involve the gathering of funds by the UK, French and US entities, transfer of a quarterly amount to the Burkina Faso team and purchase and distribution of the supplies to the targeted schools by the local Burkina Faso team. The local team takes pictures of the distribution and bills for the goods purchased and scans them. The pictures are scans are then posted on the website.
What has been your impact so far, quantitatively and qualitatively?
Overall, over 2 years of operations, more than 2,000 children have been provided with some 8,000 notebooks and 5,000 pens. The communities have been incredibly supportive of the actions and the children are extremely happy to learn in better conditions. The resulting improved learning conditions are key for their motivation to continue learning at school and ability to learn how to read and write. These successes are evidenced by:
• The number of notebooks, pens and boxes of chalk distributed to the children and professors.
• The feedback obtained through several thank-you letters and the professors.
How do you measure success?
Paper for All measures its results and impacts along two dimensions.
• Efficiency: To measure the efficiency Paper for All tracks and monitors specific quantitative metrics on an ongoing basis (e.g. number of notebooks per student, number of chalks per classroom, $ spent per notebook distributed, decrease in drop-out rate). In addition all expenses require bills that are scanned and put on the website for transparency with regards to the use of the funds.
• Effectiveness: In additional to quantitative figures, the qualitative impact is measured through feedback loops with children, teachers as well as with donors. This enables Paper for All to adapt its forecasts (e.g. additional notebooks required), reallocate its resources respectively and support new areas of need (e.g. help with repairing school infrastructure)
What is an example of your impact?
The programme can be a life changer for the children. A typical example of the success of the programme is the help provided to Zoe, 6 years old, who walks one hour every morning on dirt road to come to class, leaving her illiterate parents behind despite theirs needing her at home. She comes to class with a big smile, proud to learn.
Before Paper for All was created, she would write some lessons in the margin of the notebook used by her brothers and sisters before. She might half-learn to read and get discouraged half way, drop out and return to her home to help her parents with the family income.
With the intervention of Paper for All, her learning conditions are improved, her efforts are rewarded. She can write the lessons and tests in her notebook, with her pen, and she feels encouraged to learn and wants to continue learning in secondary education.
What can 1,000$ purchase?
The low cost of living means that we can buy 1-2 pens and 100 or 200 pages notebooks with each 2$, and with $1000 we can supply 500 children for a year, with 250 notebooks distributed to the 50% neediest every quarter.
How much would be needed to support one school during one year?
The full cost for about one school in Ouagadougou, or 500 pupils, for a year is about $1,000 to help the 50% neediest 250 children. This represents a quarterly transfer of $250.
What part of the donations goes to actions and what are your overheads? Do you employ staff and do you have offices?
The non profit currently has nobody on the payroll. All the people working in the US, UK, France and Burkina Faso are volunteers. We also do not have offices. Administrative expenses are therefore limited to bank transfers and transport of the goods.
What are your future strategic initiatives?
Based on the development, school and team visits, Paper for All devised 3 potential projects, all key for the growth and impact of the organization:
1) The building of a training center, to conduct professional training for students who drop out, most often because they cannot afford the academic fees. These could include mechanical, electrical, English and French languages as well as entrepreneurship trainings. They aim at improving the level of education of the people who get out of the ecucational system and help Burkina Faso in its development by providing better trained individuals. This project is according to the Education Minister fully aligned with the Government priorities. This project would cost FCFA 8 Million ($18,000) if the organization needs to buy land to build the training center, and FCFA 2M ($4,500) if Paper for All is granted land by the mayor of Ouagadougou and government of Burkina Faso.
2) An increase in scope to 10 schools, which would increase the annual budget to FCFA 13.5 Million per year ($30,000).
3) The hiring of full time marketing and fundraising coordinators to expand the budget and capabilities for FCFA 25 Million ($56,000, including company employee tax).
If you are interested in helping the organization with advice or contacts, funding or would like to contribute directly as a marketing and fundraising coordinators, please email us at admin@paper4all.org
Can I link with you?
You may link your website to ours and use this description:
French
Paper for All (http://www.paper4all.org), est une association humanitaire loi 1901 reconnue d’utilité publique créée en 2006 pour aider les enfants au Burkina Faso, Afrique à apprendre dans de meilleures conditions. L’organisation fournit des fournitures scolaires pour améliorer les conditions d’apprentissage à 3.000 enfants (6-14 ans) dans cinq écoles primaires de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Paper for All organise également des programmes de volontariats d’été ouverts aux Grandes Ecoles et universités françaises. L’association est enregistrée comme 501 (c) (3) aux US (#109090026), au Royaume Uni (#1116888), France (#20020080003) et au Burkina Faso (#2007366).
English
Paper for All (http://www.paper4all.org), is an NGO created in 2006 to help children learn in better conditions in one of the most illiterate countries in the world Burkina Faso, Africa. The organization provides academic resources to improve the learning conditions of children (6-14 years old) in five elementary schools (2,500 children) in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and is registered as a 501 (c) (3) in the US (#109090026), in the UK (#1116888), France (#20020080003) and Burkina Faso (#2007366).
