Project Manager: JiakmoTsering (Kristina)
This Project is to buy 445 books for Dorning primary school including 165 Tibetan books, 217 Chinese books and 63 English books to improve the students’ general knowledge about the outside world, and create higher possibilities to pass entrance exams for attending middle school and high school.
Shem’s Private Donor Funded this project
Jiakmo Tsering is from Dorning Village, Yalang Township, Rebgong County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and China. Currently she is studying for her BA degree in English at Qinghai Normal University.
What? To buy 445 books (165 Tibetan, 217 Chinese and 63 English books) for Dorning Primary School in Rebgong County, Qinghai Province, China.
Who? Dorning Primary School, Ya Lang Township, Rebgong County, Qinghai Province, China.
Photos of project implementation
The project manager bought the books for the school from the Xining book store and the teachers are browsing through the books.
A villager voluntarily helps us transport the books from the county town to Dorning village.
The school headmaster and a school teachers are calculate the budget and check the receipts.
Project summary
Project title: Book Project for Dorning Primary School
Project goal: The immediate goal of this project is to buy 445 books for Dorning Primary School including 165 Tibetan books, 217 Chinese books and 63 English books. The overarching goal of this project is to improve the students’ general knowledge and better prepare them to pass the entrance exam for attending middle school and high school.
Location of the project: This project is located in Dorning Village, Ya Lang Township, Rebgong County, Qinghai Province, China. Dorning Village is located about 200 km from Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province.
Total beneficiaries: This book project directly benefited 143 students and 11teachers in Dorning Primary School . Approximately 800 villagers in Dorning Village indirectly get benefit from this project.
Implementation organization/individual
Jiakmo Tsering (Kristina), Shem Women’s group, Teacher Dorji and Kli Ben.
Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group
Funds received: Source, Amount, and Date Received
Shem Women’s Group distributed 4,741.76RMB (80% of the project money) to the project manager, Jiakmo Tsering on 7th July 2009. Jiakmo Tsering will get the remaining funds, 1,185.44 rmb (20% of the project money), from Shem after completing the project.
Details of the project activities
1) At the beginning of April 2008, the project manager contacted the villagers to find out their urgent needs and discovered the difficulties in the school.
2) Contact the teachers and collected information about the project.
3) June 2008, the project manager identified the price of the books in the Xining book store and the Xining bus station book store.
4) July 2008, collected information about the village, the school background and received the government’s permission.
5) Starting July 2008, the project manager began to write the proposal and the Shem Staff edited the proposal.
6) May 2009, the project was funded .
7) July 18th 2009, the project manager purchased the books and transport them to Dorning Primary School.
8) July 21st, 2009, held a meeting with the teachers and the students to determine who would and how to manage the books. During this meeting we also established the library rules.
9) July 22nd 2009, took photos and had a meeting with the students.
10) July 23rd,2009, the project manager started to write the final report.
Project finances
|
Original Budget |
Actual Cost |
||||||||
| Receipt # |
Item | Donor Contri bution |
Local Contri bution |
Shem Contri bution |
Total Cost |
Donor Contri bution |
Local Contri bution |
Shem |
Total
|
| #1 | Chinese books |
3,735.4 |
0 |
0 |
3,735.4 |
3,735.4 |
0 |
0 |
3,735.4 |
| #2 | Tibetan books |
1,304 |
0 |
0 |
1,304 |
1,304 |
0 |
0 |
1,304 |
| #2 | English books |
487.8 |
0 |
0 |
487.8 |
487.8 |
0 |
0 |
487.8 |
| #3 | Transpor tation fee |
400 |
0 |
0 |
400 |
400 |
0 |
0 |
400 |
|
|
Desk |
0 |
470 |
0 |
470 |
0 |
470 |
0 |
470 |
|
|
Chair |
0 |
500 |
0 |
500 |
0 |
500 |
0 |
500 |
|
|
Classroom |
0 |
2,400 |
0 |
2,400 |
0 |
2,400 |
0 |
2,400 |
|
|
Book shelf |
0 |
130 |
0 |
130 |
0 |
130 |
0 |
130 |
|
|
Shem |
|
|
500 |
500 |
0 |
0 |
500 |
500 |
| Total |
5,927.2 |
3,500 |
500 |
9,927.2 |
5,927.2 |
3,500 |
|
9,927.2 |
|
All figures are in rmb
Delays, Difficulties, and lessons learned
Delays
The book project was funded during May 2009, but there was a conflict between Dorning Village and Sha Brang Village over some land. At that time, students had a 20 day holiday, but because of the conflict they could not return to school on time. The school had to extend the the holiday by ten days, which delayed the project for one month.
Difficulties
At the starting date of the project, the villagers thought the project manager was just doing her homework, so they did not cooperate with her and did not take her seriously. As a result, during the project’s implementation, she faced difficulties collecting information about the village. Another problem arose when she went to buy the books. The prices of the books increased between writing the proposal and the time of purchase. Also, the number of the books she needed was not available in the book store. The project manager revised the budget and revised the book orders; however, the final budget ended up the same as originally proposed.
Lessons learned
While implementing of the book project, one thing which the project manager learned was that one needs to be responsible, otherwise it is very difficult to complete the project on time. Communication is the key to solving problems, especially when the villagers did not believe she was actually implementing a real project. She has to learn how to convince them, build her credibility and gain their trust and respect. Much of this required speaking with them again and again. During the project’s implementation, she also learned about the importance of cooperation. She knew without villagers’ and school teachers’ support, it would be very hard for her to complete the project successfully. She learned that she needs to prepare for unexpected things at anytime. Those experiences taught her how to be a more responsible person, effectively communicate with different types of people and how to deal the difficulties.
Interviews
Guru Dorji
He is ten years old and in grade three. When the project manager asked him whether he is happy with the new books, he earnestly said that he is very happy with the cartoon books.
Children from grade six, five and three
These are children in grade six, five and three. When the project manager transported the books to the school, they were waiting at the gate. The project manager asked them how they enjoyed the books. They responded that the Chinese books are little bit difficult, but the Tibetan and English books are appropriate for their level.
Thank you letter
Translation of the thank you letter
Dear Benevolent Donor:
Dorning Primary School is located on a mountain. Our education and life condition is inferior to others, but with your donors help and support, we received a lot of books for our children which pave an excellent path for our future generations.
When the school received the books, all the students burst into happiness and felt very excited. Through this letter, our school is represented, the whole of the school teachers and students say thank you to your foundation. We will neverforget your gratitude and we promise that we will do a good job with those new and colourful books. From now on, we do not need to be concerned about the materials, but can focus on our education. We believe that we will try our best to improve our school’s quality.
So here all the teachers and students wish all the Shem members and the donor the best, and we would love to say thank you very much for everything you have done for us.
All the best!
From: Dorning Primary school
22nd July 2009
Receipts
Receipt #1
This receipt is for the Chinese books(2431.20 rmb).
Receipt #2
This receipt is for Tibetan (1304 rmb), English (487.8 rmb) and Chinese books (1304.2 rmb). The receipt total is 3096.00 rmb).
Receipt #3
This receipt for the transportation fee of the books (400 rmb)
Original Proposal
Project Location
This project is located Dorning Primary school in Dorning Village, which is in the west part of Rebgong County. Dorning Village is about 20 km from Rebgong County which is located in Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Rebgong is about 180 km from Xining City, the capital of Qinghai Province.
School background
The school was built in 1992 and has six grades. Students come from four small areas: Nianglao, Aru, Caiza and Ning. Students from these areas share one school in Nianglao, since the other ares are too small to have their own school. There are 143 students, among them 70 boys and 73 girls. There are six male and five female teachers. Students study Tibetan, Chinese, Math and English. There is room for a library, but there are no books. The school does not collect any extra money from students to buy practice and library books, so the only books the students have access to are textbooks.
Village Background
Population
Dorning village is composed of four smaller villages: Nianglao, Aru, Caiza and Ning. There are 170 households with approximately 800 people in Dorning village and among them 330 are men, 300 are women, and 170 are children.
Education
In Dorning village there are 22 university students (13 boys and 9 girls),18 high school students (10 boys and 8 girls), 24 middle school students (10 boys and 14 girls), and 143 primary school students (70 boys and 73 girls). On average one child from each family is receiving education. Approximately 20% of the village adults are literate, which includes monks and nuns.
Cash income
In Dorning Village most of the villagers (besides old people and children) usually dig caterpillar fungus, a kind of medicinal herb that grows high in the mountains. This is the only way for villagers to earn income. People dig caterpillar fungus from the end of April to the middle of June. Each caterpillar fungus can sell for15-20 RMB. On average, each person can earn 3,000-4,000 RMB total from selling caterpillar fungus.
Dorning villagers use their yearly income to pay for school tuition and daily necessities. Families with a student in university pay around 6,000 RMB a year. The students from middle school and high school usually need 800 RMB for the yearly school tuition. Families spend about 1,500 RMB a year for food and clothes and about 1200 RMB a year for electricity and other necessities (oil, medicine, fuel, etc.) and another about 800rmb for students’ tuition fee.
In total, the average family can earn 3,800 RMB per year. They need to spend 3,500 RMB per year. Averagely each family has 300 RMB extra for each year. However families with university students need to borrow money from other relatives or villagers.
Agriculture
In Dorning village all the villagers are farmers. They grow barley, wheat and potatoes on their own land. Because of the high altitude, the fields cannot be irrigated. Villagers just depend on the rainfall. The families are not able to produce excess products to sell; they can only produce enough to survive on. Wealthier families in the village own 7 mu of farm land. Most families only have 2 or 3 mu of land. On average, 1 mu of land can produce 350 kg barley and 400 kg wheat or 700 kg potatoes per year.
Herding
Although all the villagers in Dorning village are farmers, on average each family has four animals to help with plowing and transporting crops. These animals are usually one cow, one donkey, one mule, and one goat.
Problems
No books in school library
Dorning Primary School is built in 1992 and has been running for sixteen years. There is a “library” with no books in the school. Four years ago the County Education Bureau mandated that all formal schools have a library. Dorning Primary school built a library to pass their evaluation, but was unable to stock the library with books. The school really wants to set up a real library with books for students to read; however, due to their financial condition, the school can not afford to purchase the books.
Lack of general knowledge
Generally, the students’ general knowledge about the outside world is very limited. This has a negative effect on students’ scores when they have competitions with other schools. In addition, the teachers usually do not teach knowledge beyond textbooks. These problems would be alleviated if the school had a good library where the students could borrow and read books they were interested in.
No access to child-centered books for free reading
Since students only have access to textbooks, there are no books students can use for free reading. This creates a learning environment where literacy is valued only for schooling and not for the joy of reading. Even if students wanted to read during their free time, they would not have anything to read.
Project goals
The immediate goal of this project is to buy 445 books for Dorning primary school including 165 Tibetan books, 217 Chinese books and 63 English books.
The overarching goal is to improve the students’ general knowledge about the outside world, and create higher possibilities to pass entrance exams for attending middle school and high school.
Beneficiaries
This project will directly benefit 143 students and 11 teachers; 800 villagers will indirectly benefit from this project.
Benefits
1. If this project is approved, then the school library will not be empty any more and the library will be filled with different books.
2. If this project is funded, the students’ general knowledge about the outside world would improve. Students will have access to more learning materials, which will increase their chances of getting higher scores on their middle school and high school entrance exams.
3. If the project can provide different kinds of child-friendly books, the students will be more likely to do independent reading. They can read the books that they like and improve their reading skills.
4. If this project is implemented, the teachers can use different books and learning materials to teach their students. In this case, it will be easier for the teachers to teach.
Gender equality
Firstly, this project will benefit both boys and girls in the school; they will be able to borrow books from the library if this project is approved. Furthermore, the students’ general knowledge will be improved by reading books which are not taught in the regular their classes.
Secondly, the project manager is a woman who designed, and will implement and manage the entire project. In this case she can enrich her computer skills, communication skills with different people like the local headmaster. In addition, she can build her self-confidence by implementing this project. At the same time, the project manager, as a woman, sends an important message to the local people that women can also accomplish great things like doing projects in order to contribute to the community.
Government approval
In April 2008, I discussed this project with the village leader Shonan Lenchu, school leader Dorji and the teachers. They gave me full permission to go on with this project and encouraged me do my best, because it could help many children in the village.
Project activities
1. Contact the village leader on the phone and asked bout the most needed thing. (Done)
2. Ask the teachers what kinds of books are needed. (Done)
3. Go to the bookstore and check prices of books. (Done)
4. Collect information about the village and the school. (Done)
5. Get permission from local government. (Done)
6. Hold a meeting with teachers and students to choose librarian and determine library rules.
7. Write the proposal.
8. Receive funds.
9. Purchase books from Xining book stores and arrange transportation.
10. Distribute books to the school.
11. Hold meeting with villagers, teachers and students to assess progress of the project.
12. Take photographs
13. Send final report to donor.
Timeframe
This project will take around two weeks to complete after it gets funded.
1 day: Inform the school teachers that the project is funded.
4 days: Purchase the books from Xining book stores
2 days: Pack all the books and transport the books to the school.
1 day: Hold a meeting with the school leader and teachers, come up with some rules of protecting books from being torn or damaged easily.
3 days: Display the books in library.
2 days: Take photos and interview the students and teacher.
Detailed Budget
| Item | Quantity | Donor Contribution in rmb |
Local Contribution in rmb |
Shem Contribution in rmb |
Total cost in rmb |
| Chinese books | 217 |
3,735.4 |
|
|
3,735.4 |
| Tibetan books |
165 |
1304 |
|
|
1,304 |
| English books | 63 |
487.8 |
|
|
487.8 |
| Transportation fee | 400 |
400 |
|
|
400 |
|
Desks |
17 |
|
470 |
|
470 |
|
Chairs |
20 |
|
500 |
|
500 |
|
Classroom |
1 |
|
2,400 |
|
2,400 |
|
Book shelf |
2 |
|
130 |
|
130 |
|
Shem management |
|
|
|
500 |
500 |
| Total |
|
5,927.2 |
3,500 |
500 |
9,927.2
|
Sustainability
This book project will be sustainable. Firstly, if the books are transported to the school, there will be a librarian. The librarian will be a teacher chosen by the school; this chosen teacher will be responsible for managing the library. Students will have library cards if they want to borrow books. They will have to write their names on a form in order to borrow the books. In this way, students will have to be responsible for the books. Also if students lose or damage the books then they will be responsible for paying money for damaged books.
Past Experience
In 2004, the project manager Jiakmo Tsering completed a second hand clothes project in Rebgong County. In 2008, she completed another second hand clothes project for Quma Village, Rebgong County, Qinghai Province.
Map of the project location
