The DReAM Children DReAM Children ProjectProject: :
Participatory Approaches to Creating Socially-Inclusive Learning Spaces
Presented at the 14Presented at the 14thth Congress of the Southeast Asian Congress of the Southeast Asian LibrariansLibrarians
20-23 April 200920-23 April 2009
Melia HotelMelia Hotel
Hanoi, VietnamHanoi, Vietnam
What DReAM Stands For
Democratizing Reading Among
Mindanaoan Children
D Re
A M
What Spawned a DReAM?What Spawned a DReAM?
• Unequal access to information resources and infrastructures
• Desire to comply with a mandate and mainstream public libraries
• A common vision to breed readers amongst Mindanaoan children, most of whom come from weak economic backgrounds
Unequal Access to Information
• In South Cotabato, there are very few functional public elementary school libraries
• Only 10% of South Cotabato’s 110,486 public schoolchildren have access to functional school libraries
• Only 5 of 11 South Cotabato municipalities have public libraries
• Textbook ratio in public elementary school lies steadily between 1:3 – 1:7
Mainstreaming Public Libraries
• The setting up of public libraries and barangay (village-level) reading centers is mandated by Philippine laws (Republic Act 7743, enacted on June 17, 1994).
• Public libraries are socially-inclusive learning spaces.
Breeding Readers Among Mindanaoan Children
“ A child from a home which cannot compensate for what is lacking in school will inevitably fall behind. They may not necessarily lapse into illiteracy but they may never possess self-sustaining skills.”
Breeding Readers Among Mindanaoan Children
•Only 7 of 638 pupils have mastered all competencies•Only 23% are independent readers in English
Breeding Readers Among Mindanaoan Children
• A collective social responsibility • The creation of socially-inclusive learning
spaces accords children, regardless of economic, religious or cultural background better chances at competing with other children their age
DReAM Children’s Approach
• Partnership-driven
• Community-led
• Multi-stakeholder involvement
TAMPAKAN, SOUTH COTABATO, TAMPAKAN, SOUTH COTABATO, PHILIPPINESPHILIPPINES
PILOT IMPLEMENTATION SITE
Demographic ProfileDemographic Profile
• Total Population: 34,245 (6,955 households)• 85% Christians & 15% Blaans (a tribal group)• More than 2/3 of the total households live below
the poverty line (Figure is based on the national standard on poverty threshold of PhP12,500 (US$305) per person per year and an average of five (5) household members)
• Only 36.11% have access to electricity
State of Tampakan’s State of Tampakan’s Public LibrariesPublic Libraries
• With the strongest public library system in the Province of South Cotabato
• Clear fiscal support from the local government
• 12 of its 14 villages have reading centers (85.71%)
Tampakan’s DReAM
• Is a community-driven partnership between the Local Government of Tampakan, the Community Development Information Council, the Department of Education – District of Tampakan and volunteer librarians, academics and students
Vision of Tampakan’s DReAM
1. To showcase the municipal library of Tampakan, as model community learning space in the SOCSKSARGEN region
2. To strengthen barangay (village) reading centers and public elementary school libraries or school learning resource centers (SLRCs) through the extension of support to their collection-building and capability-building activities.
Project Components
• Partnership formation
• Accessing educational materials
• Building local capacities
• Designing reader development programs
• Regular monitoring and evaluation
DReAM Children DReAM Children Project
IN PICTURES
Maraming Salamat Po!
Presented byFraulein A. Oclarit
PHILIPPINES
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