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Singiro Public Primary School Project — Funding Proposal

Executive Summary:

Name of the Organization	Yaruki Initiative Uganda http://www.yiuganda.com/
Tittle of the Project	Singiro Public Primary School Project
Amount needed	US$33,250
Location of Implementation	Singiro Village, Katuulo Sub County, Lwengo District Central Uganda
Point of Contact/Phone/ Address	Project Head: John Nakaswa Tel.: +81 (70) 2290-4723 +81 (90) 4276-9951 +81 (80) 7727-3770 Email:[email protected] URL: http://www.yiuganda.com/ http://singirovillagehope.org/

The Singiro Public Primary School Project is being carried out in association with Yaruki Initiative Uganda (YIU). The thrust of YIU’s involvement is to assist the school by renovating its infrastructure and offering learning materials. YIU, is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization (NPO/NGO) founded in 2015 to support innovative community initiatives that promote education, health and entrepreneurship, especially among the youth of Uganda. It is from this background that we have been helping Singiro Public Primary School since our establishment.

From our previous visit to the school, we realized that the only four classrooms that the school has were not enough for the pupils attending the school, hence we came up with the idea of fundraising for the renovation of the school and its educational materials, including theconstruction of two more classroom blocks (containing four classrooms, each) – with the first phase of this long-term project to include the building of one block of classrooms, to bridge the gap, toilets and washing facilities, and the provision of educational materials.

YIU’s underlying aim is the realization of sustainable development of education in local communities, in which the children, teachers and the community are involved in positive activities that will help ensure not only a proper learning environment for the students but also socio-economic welfare in the entire locality. It is also in a way assisting government attain one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. The broader vision of YIU is peaceful coexistence and development, in which everyone participates equally and effectively in problem identification and solution creation and where local communities, government and other bodies concerned with social development facilitate and carry out skills transfer to those of the younger generation who are not fortunate enough to afford school fees.

YIU has furthermore succeeded in holding three productive meetings with the School Development Committee (SDC) and community leaders in the region to forge an understanding of our vision and goals. We agreed that the community shall own the project. This kind of project needs to involve everyone, so that the entire community gets involved in the project. The local community and leadership are very supportive and are doing their part by making bricks and providing other materials, like river sand, stones and labor at relatively cheaper prices than would be the normal standard prices.

In order to realize its goals, YIU has agreed to assist in mobilizing resources to renovate/build four classrooms to supplement the ones which are already available and to build toilet facilities and to ensure that the school is supplied with proper educational materials. The project will require USD33, 250, and initial work has already commenced; this is the construction of the toilet building for the school. Eventually, after getting all the necessary funding, the remaining part of the project (the classrooms and washing facilities) will be constructed in two phases.

Ongoing toilet construction works.

YIU’s main objective as an organization is, as briefly mentioned above, to help create community capacity to provide a sustainable education and health infrastructure for themselves, with a particular outreach to the most vulnerable in the communities. For example, since 2015, YIU has been supporting children living with HIV, working collaboratively with two schools in Rakai and Lwengo Districts of Uganda. We are also looking at extending our activities to more parts of the above mentioned districts that we have not yet reached, as well as establishing new collaborations across the country.

Project rationale

Government development programs tend not to reach the remote parts of Lwengo District. For example, since Singiro Public Primary School was constructed, its classrooms have since become dilapidated over the time and despite a constant demand for education, the school enrolment has gone down from as many as 600 students to currently about 250 in the last 3 years. The major constraint for children and parents that prevents children from regularly attending school is that the “closest” primary schools are between 5 and 10 kilometers away, which is between 2 and 4 hours of walking, respectively.

In addition, the pupils’ general performance in class has also been unsatisfactory because of irregular attendance of school and inadequate education materials and facilities. In such circumstances, both the teachers and students fail to conduct lessons during the scorching sun or even the classes being postponed during the rainy season since lessons cannot be conducted under the trees shades while it rains.

YIU has taken the initiative to change this situation and is now approaching willing organizations as well as individuals with whom we can work together, in order to improve the conditions of the children who are attending or would like to join the primary school from within and the surrounding villages.

YIU’s strategy for the current project is to construct a classroom block, consisting of four classrooms, for Singiro Public Primary School – to be used by boys and girls, alike. (Eventually, in a separate project, we intend to create an additional block of rooms and staff facilities.) Implementation will include completing the construction of toilet facilities, the classroom block, and delivery of teaching materials (such as text books for all subjects, provided by the government) as well as clean and safe washing and drinking water.

In the initial stages of our Phase 1, we decided to start with the construction of a pit latrine to ensure a proper hygiene. This will be followed by the construction of one classroom-block divided into four classrooms. Each room will have one door and eight windows, the size will be of dimensions 27 meters long by 6 meters wide. The walls and the floor will be made from locally baked bricks, both the door and window frames will be made out of steel whereas the roof of corrugated steel sheets. Once the construction work is completed, classrooms will be fitted with chairs in Phase 2 of the project, to prepare the school to start operating its learning and teaching activities in the new facilities, from mid-2019.

Problem Statement:

Singiro Public Primary School is located 168 km from the city of Kampala, and 11 km from Kyazanga Town. The school community is predominantly composed of peasants who mainly grow crops on a subsistence basis (from Singiro Village as well as the surrounding villages of the area that have no school available). These peasants, find it extremely difficult to pay the school levy required every term (within a 3 months period). The community is facing various challenges caused by the economic stagnation that has been bedeviling the local area which has also not been spared by the HIV/AIDS scourge. Most of the children attending the school are orphans of which a small percentage receive financial assistance from YIU and from other organizations. In essence, it means the little fees paid cannot sustain capital projects, as even the government is failing to give infrastructure grants due to liquidity problems of the regional economy. The school, is therefore falling apart, and attendance has dropped dramatically.

The objectives:

To construct, within six months from acquisition of the necessary funds, one classroom block (four classrooms, complete with chairs and educational materials) together with a toilet facility for Singiro Public Primary School, located in Kyazanga sub county, Lwengo District Uganda to ensure that our of the 1000 local population, approximately 300 pupils can receive quality education.

Strategies of Implementation:

The project was proposed after a series of discussions with the local communities, reviewing of baseline data, and the YIU meeting with the school proprietors during our last donation trip towards the end of 2017.

Phase 1 on this project is construction of the classrooms and toilet facilities, and Phase 2 is providing the necessary chairs and desks and educational materials, as well as personal hygiene facilities and drinking water.

Phase 1

Construction of toilet facilities, which has already reached the final stages of construction. This will be followed by the construction of four classrooms which is expected to commence around the end of 2018, a storage rainwater tank for drinking water and daily use.

Phase 2 will be the buying of furniture for the classrooms and the delivery of government-provided textbooks.

Project Plan:

YIU has engaged the expertise of local builders and other laborers to carry out the construction. The material donated by well-wishers will be delivered to the school and well secured. The Head of the school and his Deputy will prepare all the necessary reports including the financial reports, and submit them to the Executive Committee of YIU, as was agreed upon.

YIU will invite the donor representatives and members of the government to carry out their own independent evaluation after the completion of the project. Continuous monitoring of the project will be conducted by the YIU executive and representatives from the potential sponsors to ensure that the project achieves its goals and objectives as set out in this proposal.

Expected Results

Short-Term (current project):

Quality education for 300 students delivered through creation of student-friendly learning spaces.

Long-Term (future project):

• Improved standards of living among teaching staff at the school.
• Increased construction of classrooms and enrolment up to 500 students.

7. Deliverables

The Secretary of YIU will deliver both technical and financial reports each month to the funding agents as well as to the representatives of the donors upon request. This will include details of the class attendance by learners and teachers, lessons taught, materials purchased, challenges faced, achievements realized, money spent and the community support.

Project Beneficiaries

The school facilities aim to give services to 300 (and, later, 500) of the 1,000 primary school students from Singiro Village and the surrounding villages of the area that have no school available.

Monitoring and Evaluation

A variety of formal and informal monitoring and evaluation mechanisms will be central to ensuring the appropriate delivery of effective and sustainable services. These will include: Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys, class performance surveys, class attendance data, girl-boy retention data and exit surveys.

Project sustainability

YIU will continue to work with the Local Town Council and Ministry of Education, while also working closely with local NGOs working on education programs in the area. YIU will develop a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education which will clarify each partner's roles and responsibilities both short and long-term. The Ministry of Education will be encouraged to provide staff for the facilities, facilitate the YIU supported school supply and we will invest heavily in staff training at all levels. In this way, sustainable structures for primary school education delivery will be developed in Singiro Village.

YIU has begun work with local communities to develop the capacity of individuals to play an active role in governance and delivery of education in primary school. A Parents Teachers Association (PTA) will be formed to help ensure community involvement and, therefore, the school’s future sustainability. YIU’s annual sustainability assessment will be used to review the capacity of both local communities and the school to take on further aspects of supporting the school after the donor phase. YIU will continue to provide its technical support and facilitation.

9. Collaboration

YIU is collaborating and network with the local community, community leaders, Development partners and Government of Uganda.

10. Community Contribution

The local Community will contribute labor and local materials such as water and sand that will be used to construct the four classrooms and other facilities, and will provide security for the materials.

11. YIU Capacity

Through our past experience, we have gained the required capacity necessary to design interventions (if required) and at the same time give impetus to the program’s management. YIU’s recognition by the local communities and school authorities have further placed us in a strategic footing to involve ourselves in the affairs of the school. We have a policy of non-interference in the school administration; our role is to assist where possible. We also have a rare unity of purpose amongst all members and the feeling of serving the less privileged students bonds us further. This has in turn ensured solidarity and hence YIU’s stability. There is high probability that this achievement will be replicated in the community and Lwengo district as a whole.

12. BUDGET PROPOSAL

Project Construction Calculations and Requirements Phase One part I

Particulars	Unit Measurements	Quantity	Rate USD	Total USD
Clay Bricks	trips	31	$94	$2,902
Sand	trips	15	$68	$1,014
Cement	pcs	135	$8	$1,088
Drams	pcs	5	$23	$117
Wheelbarrow	pcs	5	$35	$176
Jerri cans	pcs	40	$2	$62
Spades	pcs	10	$5	$52
Hoes	pcs	8	$5	$42
Hark Saw	pcs	2	$7	$14
Binding wires	pcs	15	$2	$23
Ring beams	pcs	61	$10	$603
Beam Iron bars y-12	pcs	36	$12	$421
Beam Stones	trips	5	$57	$286
Aluminum Role	roles	12	$3	$37
Timber	pcs	100	$3	$273
Nails	kgs	24	$1	$31
Building Stand	rental 1 set	1	$520	$520
Labor	per Person	16	$130	$2,080
FOOD
Posho	per bag (50kg)	5	$31	$156
Beans	per bag (50kg)	2	$55	$109
Miscellaneous			$1,300	$1,300
Total				$11,306

Project construction Roofing Calculations and requirements Phase one part II

Particulars	Unit Measurements	Quantity	Rate USD	Total USD
Iron sheets	Trips	300	$10	$3,120
Roofing Nails	kgs	70	$1	$91
Roofing Timber	pcs	500	$2	$1,040
Ceiling Timber	pcs	80	$2	$166
Ceiling mesh	bundles	20	$33	$650
Bridges	pcs	40	$3	$125
Ventilations	pcs	300	$1	$390
Roofing stand (rental)	1 set	1	$520	$520
Labor	Per person	10	$130	$1,300
Food
Posho	Per bag (50kg)	3	$31	$94
Beans	Per bag (50kg)	1	$55	$55
Miscellaneous			$520	$520
Total				$8,070

Project construction Finishing Calculations and requirements phase Two Part I

Particulars	Unit Measurements	Quantity	Rate USD	Total USD
Floor Cement	pcs	65	$8	$524
Floor Stones	Trips	14	$65	$910
Plaster Cement	pcs	55	$8	$443
Floor Sand	Trips	8	$69	$551
Plaster Sand	Trips	6	$64	$382
Face boards	pcs	20	$5	$91
Doors and Frames	pcs	16	$88	$1,414
Windows and frames	pcs	24	$65	$1,560
Paint (emulsion & ceilings)	Jerry Cans	30	$17	$507
Water Bridges	pcs	40	$3	$104
Water Tank	pcs	2	$312	$624
Labor	Per Person	10	$130	$1,300
Food			$0	$0
Posho	per bag (50kg)	3	$31	$94
Beans	per bag (50kg)	2	$55	$109
Miscellaneous			$780	$780
Total				$9,394

Project Construction Classroom Equipment and installations calculations and Requirements Phase Two part II

Particulars	Unit Measurements	Quantity	Rate USD	Total USD
Bench	pcs	80	$39	$3,120
Teachers desk/bench	pcs	4	$52	$208
Black board paint	20ltrs	4	$51	$203
Hi gloss paint	20ltr	6	$61	$367
FOOD
Posh	per bag (50kg)	3	$31	$94
Beans	per bag (50kg)	2	$55	$109
Miscellaneous			$380	$380
Total				$4,480

Our budget proposal is based on materials to be donated in cash, from different partner NGOs as well as corporate responsibility from the different entities we are in talks with. More to that, each pupil will be levied an affordable fee to help them fill part of the operation and to help in ensuring the sustainability of the school after the donor phase. We will also put in place a system for governance and financial accountability and has passed a due diligence review by Lwengo District.

Conclusion

YIU and our supporters are uniquely positioned to be able to bring the much-needed positive change to communities served by Singiro Public Primary School. Securing education for more and more children in the area will have long-lasting positive effects on each individual student, their families and the community as a whole.

We are looking forward to your contribution towards this endeavor in which we have the hope to change the lives of the children of Singiro as well as shape the future generation.