Project Proposal

Project Title: AGAPP (Aklat, Gabay at Aruga tungo sa Pag-Angat at Pag-Asa)

(Creating School-Community Libraries/Early Childhood Classrooms in 100 Public Schools)

Proponents: Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF) in collaboration with AGAPP Working Group

Project Goal:

To harness the constructive energies of volunteers who seek to continue supporting the agenda for good governance of President Benigno C. Aquino III and for progressive national development through their active participation in a child and school-focused project that promotes the convergence of various programs and services designed for the benefit of underprivileged children who attend public schools in disadvantaged communities.

Project Objectives:

To construct “Silid-Pangarap at Pang-Agap” i.e. school-library facilities that will also serve as preschool classrooms for schools in depressed and disadvantaged communities

To provide training for teachers and school heads on integrated early childhood education curriculum that effectively supports emergent literacy for children aged five to eight who are enrolled in the kindergarten through the primary grades of public schools

To promote home-school-community partnerships by enabling school heads and teachers to organize family literacy activities and parent education activities in these school libraries

To facilitate partnerships between individual volunteers, organizations and networks who share the goals and visions of improving the quality of public education and of promoting early childhood care and development and essential services such as feeding programs

Rationale:

The early childhood years (0-8) are the most critical formative years of children’s lives and are the building blocks for human development. The quality of care and teaching that we provide them in the early years of childhood makes a tremendous difference in their overall well-being, their success in school and later life. Yet only 29% of Filipino children aged 3 to 5 have access to some form of early childhood care and development program. Only half of public schools have preschool classrooms.

“Unang aklat na binasa, unang hakbang sa pag-asa.”

Becoming fully literate is a pre-requisite to school achievement and success. The roots of literacy are established in the early years as the windows of opportunity for language development and learning are wide open before age 10. Thus, learning experiences provided at home and in the community through playgroups, day care centers and preschool programs are essential to planting the seeds of literacy. However, many of the children who live in poverty are currently unable to attend public day care or public preschool programs. Their parents do need all the help they can get starting with information about the importance of the quality of care, support and interaction with their children in the first years of life from birth and as they make the all-important transition to primary school. Longitudinal studies and program experiences in many countries including the Philippines have demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of investing in early childhood care and development (ECCD) programs that address both children and their caregivers and teachers.

This project seeks to achieve the twin goals of enhancing the public school’s resources for supporting literacy development and for providing a basic ECCD service for 5 year olds through the preschool program. This will be done by providing the physical facilities and essential tools and materials that serve these dual purposes with a capacity-building program to motivate teachers and school heads to enable them to organize and facilitate developmentally-appropriate child and family-focused activities. The project will also facilitate and promote the convergence of other essential child- and family-focused interventions such as supplementary feeding, health promotion, extended day or child care support, micro-enterprise for parents that are implemented by NGOs, civic organizations or the municipality and barangay-based service providers.

Project Components:

There are four project components:

1) Aklat sa Silid Pangarap at Pang-agap: Design, Construction, Furnishing of School-Community Library + Preschool classrooms

2) Gabay: Capacity-building: Training of Teachers and School heads, Parent education activities

3) Aruga: Promoting access to essential ECCD services for children and parents

4) Kaagapay: Organization, Networking, Information, Communication & Social Mobilization

The first component provides the physical space and material resources; the second invests in nurturing the skills, competencies and attitudes of those who are tasked to teach and care for young children; the third component promotes convergence of both public services and private sector resources for the benefit of children and their caregivers; the fourth builds on the spirit of committed volunteerism, seeks to harness the generosity of the private sector and creates a network of partnerships and support for young children and families in disadvantaged communities.

The following matrix provides information about the project activities, objectives, indicators and time frames for each of these components.