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Communities
throughout the war-torn areas of Central and Western Mindanao are using
education
as a unifying force to link all segments of civil society into a common
cause: creating opportunities for the youth. One of the catalysts for
reawakening this dormant community spirit is a small, targeted and highly
successful matching grants program (MGP) being implemented under the
Education Awareness and Support Effort (EASE) of USAID's Growth with
Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program. EASE encourages the community to undertake
achievable and affordable actions which can improve the education their
children are receiving. Parents, teachers, business support organizations,
media and students themselves therefore find an entry point for addressing
a specific educational need while, concurrently, mobilizing the community's
social capital and investing it in education.
One example
of the dynamic impact of the MGP on the community can be found at
the Pikit Central Elementary School, located in the municipality of
Pikit, North Cotabato, Mindanao, an area that has been the scene of
intermittent armed conflict since 2000. One recent tragedy was the
burning of several classrooms and the school library. The Parent,
Teacher, Community Association (PTCA), with the help of the parents
of the graduating class of 2004 and a local association of retirees,
collected funds, furniture, hardware materials and books to establish
a new library. Resources donated by the community were matched by
the EASE program, with the result that the school now again has a
functioning, high quality library.
Even
as teachers, parents, and others in the Pikit community worked hard
to complete the library project, several additional education support
activities have been initiated. Also, PTCAs in nearby towns which
witnessed the success of the library project in Pikit have been inspired
to initiate similar projects of their own.
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Growth
with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program
