The purpose of Mali Rising Foundation is to empower less-fortunate individuals by helping them escape lack of education.
The vision of Mali Rising Foundation is to be the most effective non-profit organization in empowering less-fortunate communities around the world through education.
The Mali Rising Foundation is committed to making education a reality for children in rural areas of Mali, West Africa, and creating real and lasting positive changes. To achieve this mission, we commit our effort and resources in three areas:
1. Providing adequate facilities and learning materials for proper education.
2. Training teachers and ensuring access to active learning techniques.
3. Strengthening and improving existing, yet under-funded educational institutions.
OUR PRINCIPLES
Local Participation: Participation of local communities in project selection and design ensures that investments reflect community priorities and enhance ownership. If the local people support the program, and have clear roles in the implementation process, this will help ensure there is real and vested interest in making sure programs work for the long term.
Empowerment: We seek to build the capabilities of the local people to take over the project of improving their own community's educational opportunities.
Self-reliance: We believe that as a result of local participation in improving its microeconomic conditions a community becomes self-reliant in perpetuating and building upon educational programs.
WHY EDUCATION?
Specialists in development say that for any country to truly start developing, it must have at least 50% of its people educated. According to the UNESCO Report of 2000-2004, the global literacy rate in Mali was 19%. In the same report, a detailed analysis reveals a big disparity between boys and girls. In fact, the report shows a literacy rate of 26.7% for the male population and a shocking 11.0% literacy rate for girls. With such figures that speak for themselves, it becomes obvious why Mali is ranked as the third poorest country in the World.
CONSTRUCTION OF THREE CLASSROOMS
The project strategy is to provide children in rural areas of Mali with the opportunity to go school in their own village. To achieve this objective, Mali Rising Foundation has developed a strategic development model based on a tripartite partnership. Through this model Mali Rising Foundation works collaboratively with community members and education authorities to build a three-classroom middle school. Village elders provide the land and 20 percent of the building costs, the government assigns teachers to the school, and Mali Rising provide the remaining 80 percent of the building cost. The strategic development model developed by Mali Rising Foundation brings together the scarce resources of both the government and community members, while offering much needed services to the poor in rural areas. The model has proven to be sustainable from the start.
The three classroom building responds to climatic issues in Mali. There are several seasons that define the lives of the villagers. The Hot season is February – October where temperatures are consistently above 100F. To achieve sustainable school in these rural areas, Mali Rising foundation draw from the conclusion of its initial participatory rural appraisal conducted by experts on site to conceive an innovative construction methodology. It provides an alternative to the hot and oppressive concrete classrooms found throughout Mali. Cement block is expensive and requires the import of cement that is proven to degrade the quality of soil. A better building alternative is the Earth Press which uses the earth at the construction site to produce blocks. The Press Block construction offers many advantages: strong and durable, cost-efficiency, energy-efficiency, and environmentally friendly.
This construction methodology was designed for climatic comfort with low-cost construction, making the most of local materials and the potential of the local community, and adapting technology from the industrialized world in a simple way. Climatic comfort is ensured through the use of earth blocks for the walls, which absorb heat, moderating room temperature.
The methodology was the result of the recommendations and the consultative efforts provided by Winston & Associates and Professor Ronaldo Rael from Clemson University School of Architecture.
Participation of local communities in project selection and design ensures that investments reflect community priorities and enhance ownership. Community involvement in operations and maintenance increases the likelihood of project sustainability. If the local people and communities support, and have a clear role in implementation processes – this can help ensure that there is real and vested interests in making sure programs work in the long term.
The community members of Sanankoroba have identified the need of starting a middle school in the village for 206 children and the next generations of school-age children. The elders of the village sent a delegation to the Mali Rising Foundation to request help in addressing the lack of educational opportunities. In July 2007, the Sanankoroba village was one of 4 villages to prove eligibility and qualification requirements and the Foundation has committed to raise the necessary funds and work with their local communities. In accordance with its principle of local participation, the Mali Rising Foundation has requested the commitment of the beneficiary communities to provide the labor and a local management committee for the successful implementation of the school program.
We believe that the implementation of this educational program has the potential to transform the lives of many children, and change the economic and social landscapes of impoverished rural communities. Unlike many poverty alleviation initiatives, all of the Mali Rising Foundation programs are predicated on the assumption that the program beneficiaries already have 90 percent of what it takes to make the school programs successful -- intelligence, ambition, initiative, and local resources. With your support, we can make that 10 percent difference in the lives of these hard-working people and the future of rural communities in Mali.
