Help our local partners realise their vision of hope for their communities
1 July 2021
At HART we are committed to helping our partners invest in their communities. That’s why this month, HART is focusing on the importance of education to our partners and their efforts to produce lasting, sustainable change.
In March 2021, UNICEF published a report which concluded that schools had been closed for more than 168 million children across the world for almost a full year due to COVID-19. School closures have devastating consequences for children’s learning and wellbeing. The most vulnerable children and those unable to access remote learning are at an increased risk of never returning to the classroom, and even being forced into child marriage or child labor. According to latest data by UNESCO, more than 888 million children worldwide continue to face disruptions to their education due to full and partial school closures.
The majority of schoolchildren worldwide rely on their schools as a place where they can interact with their peers, seek support, access health and immunization services and a nutritious meal. The longer schools remain closed, the longer children are cut off from these critical elements of childhood.
In the Nigerian village of Bari, HART supports a school and clinic committed to improving access to healthcare and education to the remote community. Despite the religious divisions in the community, the school serves children from Muslim and Christian communities.
In Burma, HART supports Loi Tai Leng School and SWAN’s work at the Loi Htet nursery school in Fang, Chang Mai. SWAN’s goal here is to improve the standard of educational opportunities available for Shan children on the Thai-Burma border and ultimately increase the number of Shan children attending school. Whilst at Loi Tai Leng, the school caters for displaced children from oppressed ethnic minorities. For the children that these projects serve, this is the only way they can access quality education that is reachable and taught in their native language.
In Sudan, in Blue Nile, HART is working with our partner, the New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) on a significant project which will see 30 local teachers trained, 10 primary schools receiving educational resources such as exercise books and pencils, and the repairment of a local primary school. Moreover, HART’s partner, the Nuba Relief & Rehabilitation Development Organisation (NRRDO) has identified personal hygiene for school-aged girls as a priority. Displaced women and girls face severe hardship during menstruation, and this can impact girls’ attitude towards attending school. Girls in this region can often miss a whole week of school per month to avoid the embarrassment, discomfort and physical irritation that comes with not having sanitary products.
