This project is to announce to the Nationalities colleges and Universities, and other Nationalities high schools and middle schools to participate in the women’s writing competition held by Shem Women’s Group. Then select the 12 best pieces of women’s writing in Tibetan and give awards to them at the Awarding Ceremony.

Winrock International-Tserang funded this project

What?/Who? To announce to the Nationalities colleges and Universities, and other Nationalities high schools and middle schools to participate in the women’s writing competition held by Shem Women’s Group. Then select the 12 best pieces of women’s writing in Tibetan and give awards to them at the Awarding ceremony.

Photos of the project Implementation

The project managers are announcing at North West University in Lanzhou and Lhasa Tibet University

Project manager Lugyal is organizing the participants’ articles

After the judges have finished grading the articles, the project managers had meetings with the judges to select winners from the ties(when the judges came up with grading same scores for the articles), and also discussed about how to hand in the articles to the last round of judges.

The participants’ articles in the process of organizing

The winners of Snow-land Women’s Writing Competition got their awards

Famous female writer Pematso is giving her speech about encouraging women to write more, have more women writers, and how sad it is to see that there is only her sitting among all the male Tibetan famous writers.

One of the project managers, Gongbojyi is introducing the process of the project design, funds, implementation, and its goal to the audience.

Participants of Snowland Women’s Writing Competition Ceremony

Project summary

Project title: Snow-land Women’s Writing Competition

Project goal: The immediate goal of this project is to announce to the nationalities colleges and universities, and other nationalities high schools and middle schools to participate in the women’s writing competition held by Shem Women’s Group. Then select 12 best writings and give awards to the winners on the Awarding Ceremony. The overarching goal of this project is to empower more Tibetan women to write their life stories, ideas, and to value education. Moreover, this project also encourages more people to value women’s education on the Tibetan Plateau.

Location of the project: This project was held in Xining City, the capital of Qinghai Province, China.

Total beneficiaries: More than 300 participants attended the awards ceremony, 205 girls participated and the 12 award winners directly benefited.

Implementation organization/individual, Gongbojyi, Lugyal, and Shem Women’s Group

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Funds received: Source, Amount, and Date Received

Note: Shem covered the extra cost of 1001.5RMB of the actual cost. The detail of Shem’s contribution can be seen in the project finance section.

Details of the project activities

July-August 2010

The project managers traveled to different schools and places, carried out certain research about the female students, and announced the upcoming competition at the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011.

At the end of October and beginning of November
The project managers announced the deadline for receiving articles, and started to collect the articles

From November 11^th -21^st 2010

Sort out the articles (Input hand written articles to the computer), and selected the first round of judges

November 25^th 2010

Selected the first 50 best articles

From late November to the end of December 2010

1. Finished the first round of selection and started second round of selection

2. Worked on project progress report, financial reports with receipts, and further plans for the project

From March 1^st –April 2^st 2011

1. Worked on the reports from February for collecting the second round selected articles
2. Started the last round of selection
3. Collect the scores that the judges given for the articles
4. Organized the scores that the articles got from different judges
5. Told the winners about the ceremony
6. Told the judges about the announcement and sent invitation letters to them and other Tibetan media companies, newspaper/magazine companies, etc.
7. Reserved hotels and ceremony space
8. Prepared the ceremony
9. Welcome the judges, reporters and competition participants from Lhasa, Gansu, Sichuan.

10. Arrange their accommodation, food

On April 3^rd 2011

The ceremony was held in Kojima Base in Xining City, Qinghai Province

From April 4^th –June 1^st 2011

Worked on reports and published the book of articles

Project Finance

Actual Cost

Note. The 18000RMB was for the project manager’s salaries, but the project managers decided to use this money to publish the books and produce CDs of the ceremony.

Detailed Finance

Expenses in November

Expenses in December

Expenses in February

Expenses (partially in October and November), and expenses in March and April

Expenses of Shem

Original budget

Note: The project cost more than we have budgeted before and all the detailed monthly expenses reveal the details of the expenses of the project and please see the receipts and time sheets of the project managers for clearer idea of the project expenses.

Delays, difficulties, and lessons learned

Delays and Difficulties

1. During the article selection time, it was difficult for the judges to check and grade the articles on time due to their busy schedules. Sometimes some judges couldn’t check, and the project managers had to look for other judges to replace them immediately in order to make the project flow successfully.
2. Since the project managers Gongbojyi and Lugyal were individual managers, and they were the ones who have been working in the fields announcing, collecting articles, and looking judges, deciding on the selection processes, and inviting the guests for the ceremony, they met many difficulties in these processes. An example is that they didn’t have a camera, printer, copy machine or internet They had to do all the monthly reports by borrowing cameras from others, printing, scanning receipts, and photocopying outside in the photo copy shops. They spent lots of time especially during the evening in internet bars for making reports. Another example is, during the second round of article selection, to give the articles to the judges, they photocopied more than 800 copies of articles to the judges, and during the third selection they photocopied more than 500 copies of articles.
3. During the project implementation, many small and cheap restaurants and hotels in rural areas do not have official receipts; the ones who have official receipts are advanced and expensive. But for the donor’s requirement we have to have official receipts, so we tried to look for cheaper restaurant and hotels with official receipts.
4. Since the project was designed in 2007, and the budget in 2010 was updated according to the budget of 2007, inflation has caused the budget to be very tight. So when the project managers collected articles or send articles to judges, in order to save money, they stayed with friends, slept on couches, and they walked to many judges and places instead of taking a cab a number of times.
5. During negotiation with the donor about this project, the donor didn’t agree with the cash award, and they wanted to give books or other things as award instead of cash for the award. We understand that the donor organization has their own rules for this kind of project, but as Shem, we also didn’t want the donors to change or influence the core idea of the project. Also, we designed this project to encourage more women to write, increase the number of female writers, and have women’s stories for people to read in this society. That’s why we wanted this very first women’s writing ceremony more elegant, expensive, and reputable. Due to these kinds of reasons, we value this project and a cash award is one of the main values of the project. So Shem decided to support the cash award.
6. Since this is the first time to have such a project, and first time to co-operate with Winrock, there were lots of financial rules and reports which needed to be submitted monthly. We had to spend lots of time on the reports and negotiation with the donor side and local manager’s side.
7. Since this is a women’s writing event, we wanted to have more famous female writers and female scholars to involve in this event, but due to the percentage of female writers are very low, plus not all of them are available for this event. Therefore we had to have more male judges for this event. Hopefully, in the future there will be more female scholars in this field.

Lessons Learned

The project manager Gongbojyi and Lugyal have learnt that if there is a clear goal, it can be achieved if you work on it. If you’re not afraid of the difficulties and continue the hard work, at the end you can not only achieve the goal but also it will be fruitful.

Specifically, they have learnt how to organize such a big project, the steps of implementing this project, how to organize receipts, etc. As Shem, we also learnt the same thing, we learnt how to make sure that what you are doing is what you wanted, and learnt a lot from the financial reports. We together also learnt the great experience of implementing such project from the beginning to the end, and that will reflect in the next round of project.

Interviews:

Tsekyilhamo, is a student from Tibet Medical in Lhasa, and she got the encouragement prize of Snow-land Women’s Writing Competition. She said that she likes to write, but is only published in few magazines and newspapers. “During this ceremony, I was not only able to meet many female writers and editors, but also learned writing experiences from them. Thank you very much for providing such a great stage for me and female writers like me. Hope to attend for future writing competitions and ceremonies”

The Rules for the judges:

Translation of Rules:

1. Judges must respect the rule of grading fairly for the articles
2. Judges must take the grading seriously
3. Judges must make sure the articles are written by the writer
4. Judges must pay attention to grammar and writing skills as well as the meaning of the article
5. Judges must pay attention to the quality and creativity of the writing
6. All the articles have a grading table and the judges give grades according to it
7. Judges must not contact the writers or other editors to discuss about the articles and grades
8. Judges must keep the grades secret from others

When articles are sent to the judges, all the articles should be printed with same font/ size of papers without name and any other clues, also the judges don’t know each other the who the other judges are.

Grading Table:

List of Awardees

Note: before we planned only to select from above college level, but her writing was great, so we wanted to encourage her too.

Thank You Letter

Translation of Thank You Letter

I am one of the participants of Snow Land Women’s Writing Competition. My name is Woshukjyi. This competition is the first and great event in Tibetan areas; this program created a stage for the girls to open their minds to great ideas, insights, writing skills and willingness of writing. It also helps girls to excavate their capabilities and revive their confidence.

Since I am one of the participants, I have strongly realized that this event has encouraged me to write more and continue in the future. Therefore, I would like to thank the implementing organization Shem Women’s Group, the project managers, and other people who helped to make this happen. I am planning to try my best to continue writing. Like Shem Women’s Group, I also would like to do something meaningful and helpful for my community and especially for those impoverished people in the future.

Woshukjyi

Date: December 6^th 2011

Receipts

November Receipts:

December Receipts

January Receipts

Original Proposal

Project Background
In order to improve Tibetan women’s writing skills, motivate Tibetan women to write more and build their self confidence, Hortsang Lhegel, Gonpojyi, and Pakmodrolma together started to hold the women’s writing forum. In 2007, they started a women’s forum and cultural preservation meeting that was attended by around 2000 people in Hezuo City, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. The second forum was held in Qinghai Nationalities University in Xining City, Qinghai Province. During these forums they invited famous women writers, teachers, and important people who really cared about women’s writings and women’s right. Participants also gave each other advice and feedback regarding the problems they faced. Participants and organizers were enthusiastic about continuing their work with Shem’s support.

Hortsang Lhegel (b. 1976) was born in Martang Village Labrang (Xia He in Chinese) County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, and China. He was not able to attend school due to his parents’ divorce and the mistreatment received from his step mother. In 1998 he realized the importance of Tibetan development and Tibetan history. He also realized the importance of education. He received teachings from a Lama in Labrang Monasteries in Labrang County, He then traveled to many different Tibetan areas to do research about Tibetan culture. Now he is the Executive Director of the Tibetan Folk Culture Research Group. He is also a member of Gannan Writer’s Organization, Qinghai Minorities Charity Fund, and is the Under-Secretary-General of Qinghai Buddhist Cultural Service Center. In addition, he has been the main manager of the First and the Second Tibetan Women Writer’s Forum in Hezuo and Xining. Hortsang Lhegel will be one of the main managers of this project.

Pakmodrolma (b. 1984) was born in Mangra County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. In 2001, she entered Qinghai Nationalities University, Xining, Qinghai Province. She has published over 20 articles in different magazines and newspapers. She was one of the main assistants for the First and Second Tibetan Women Writer’s Forum in Hezuo and Xining. Now she is pursuing a master’s degree in Qinghai Nationalities University. Pakodrolma will be one of the managers of this project.

Gonpojyi (b. 1983) was born in Luqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, and China. Since September, 2007 she has been studying for a master’s degree in North West University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province. Gonpojyi has published more than ten poems and several prose pieces, such as << Believe>>, << Welcome you>>, <<A Description of Tibetan Custom Wool Knitting>>, and so on. She was the editor for the <<Poetry Newspaper>> when she was in the college. Now she is one of the managers of Snow Land Women Newspaper, and Tibetan Women Writer’s Forum.

Problems

1. Lack of self-reliance
In Tibetan areas, since the students’ tuition is paid by their parents, students don’t need to worry about their tuition. Hence, the children and university students do not realize the difficulties of earning money. At the same time they tend to rely on their parents. Therefore, most of the students don’t pay much attention to self-reliance and hard struggles. Even after they graduate from the universities many of them stay at home, and their parents help them to find jobs.

2. Social expectations cause women to have fewer ambitions
Traditionally, most Tibetan families expect their daughters to be hardworking, gentle, and obedient. If the girl gets married with a nice man then the girl’s life is settled, and she ought to be happily ready for her new settled-down life. The parents show their love to their daughters by buying expensive ornaments and clothes rather than sending them to the school.

There is a famous saying that is: “The monks belong to monasteries, and girls should get married and stay with their husband’s family”. So the parents expect their daughters to get married with a nice man and get a nice job… They expect their daughters to get married in their twenties. Many parents don’t expect their daughters to continue their education after graduating, asking, “Are you going to study for your whole life?” People expect boys to be successful in studies and work, and they respect the boys who choose not to get married soon in order to study. Therefore, most women in college are not likely to strive toward successes in work and they are less likely to think about ambitious goals in their lives.

Regarding writing, generally, women hardly continue their writing after their graduation or after marriage. The few women writers who continue to write are looked down on and face difficulties getting the work published.

3. Most Tibetan women are not aware of importance of women’s health
Most women in Tibetan areas don’t have access to health education, information about hygiene and sex education. There are rarely Tibetan health books, newspapers and articles available. Therefore, Tibetan girls have very little awareness of health problems especially sex education

Benefits
The Writing Forum and the SWG writers’ award will encourage women to write more and will provide a space for women to express their ideas, difficulties, and successes. These activities will also have an important influence for encouraging more women to become writers. In addition, these events will help participants gain more knowledge and experience. Women will be inspired to accumulate more ambitions in their lives. Furthermore, this project will help these women realize that they can be more independent through writing.

This project will enable more girls to have access to more women’s writings and will be a model for the younger women generations to write more. This project will also encourage people to pay more attention to women’s writing.

In addition, this project will have a positive effect on Tibetan women’s health. These forums will also serve as a platform for women writers to discuss and publish information about health education, especially hygiene and sex education. At the same time, young girls and boys will have easier access to clear health information.

Number of Beneficiaries
This project will benefit more than 3,000 people.

Detailed Budget

Detailed Budget for the Third Snow Land Women’s Literature Forum in North West University.

Notes:

# Phone cost: is for the 3 managers from the beginning (which is from designing until the end of the implementation of the project), Shem Women’s Group and the 3 main project managers are in different areas and need to discuss and provide information to Shem Group through the phone and internet.

Project Steps for the Third Snow Land Women’s Literature Forum in North West University

1. Talk to the female teachers (Huamao, Tsering Tso and Wanmatso) and writers (Dekyidolma and Jamyangjyi) about their plan and ask them to give speech on the forum. (Done)

2. Discuss with Shem Women’s Group and ask them to write proposal and look for donors. (Done)

3. Look for the meeting hall, restaurant and hotels. (Done)

4. Prepare materials for the forum (such as speeches introducing the forum, reasons and goals of the forum, and the supporters of the forum) (Done)

5. Look for a cameraman and some one who takes video, (and borrow video and camera.) (Done)

6. Find out the budget and provide data and information to Shem. (Done)

7. Write proposal ( Shem Women’s Group) (Done)

8. Receive funds

9. Give announcement

10. Make a schedule for the forum.

11. Invite the teachers and writers who give presentation on the forum, and arrange their lodging, meals.

12. Start the forum, take video and photos

13. End the forum.

14. Write final report

15. Submit the final report with receipts

16. Make CDs

Detailed Budget for the Fourth Snow Land Women’s Literature Forum in South West University

# Phone cost: is for the three managers to communicate. As they live in different areas they need to discuss and plan over the phone/internet and also coordinate with Shem Women’s Group.

Project Steps for the Fourth Snow Land Women’s Literature Forum in South West University:

1. Talk to the female teachers (Baimatso, Tseringkyi) and writers (Dekyidolma and Wosartso) about their plan and ask them to give speech on the forum. (Done)

2. Make announcement for teachers in South West University in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. (Done)

3. Look for the meeting hall, restaurant and hotels. (Done)

4. Prepare materials for the forum (such as speeches introducing the forum, reasons and goals of the forum, and supporters of the forum) (Done)

5 Look for a cameraman and some one who takes video, (and borrow video and camera.) (Done)

6 Research budget and provide data and information to Shem. (Done)

7 Write proposal (Shem Women’s Group) (Done)

8 Receive funds

9 Project managers go to South West University in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province and make an announcement about the forum. 10

10 Make a schedule for the forum.

11 Invite teachers and writers to give presentations at the forum, and arrange their lodging, meals.

12 Start the forum and document with video and photos

13. End the forum.

14Write final report

15 Submit the final report with receipts

16 Make CDs of the forum

Detailed budget for the First Shem Women’s Group’s Literature Award Ceremony for women writers

#: This price is different from the last two forums because after the competition we would like to produce high quality CDs with covers.

Project steps for the First Shem Women’s Group’s Literature Rewards Ceremony for Women Writers

1. Hold meeting with the project managers about the forum. (Done)

2. Decide the style of writing for proposed competition. (Done)

3. Research budget (Done)

4. Choose location (Done)

5. Decide the date of the ceremony (Done)

6. Provide information to Shem for the proposal (Done)

7. Look for a cameraman and some one who takes video, (and borrow video and camera.) (Done)

8. Write proposal (Done)

9. Receive Funds

10. Make an announcement to all the Tibetan Areas mostly colleges in Gansu Province, Sichuan, Qinghai Province and in Tibet.

11. Collect articles

12. Article Selection Section:

a) Select 100 good articles by some Tibetan University teachers and writers

b) Select 50 better articles by Tibetan professors and famous writers

c) Tibetan famous scholars and writers, will select 11 best articles in Xining City Qinghai Province, China

d) Re-confirm date and location of ceremony

13. Give announcement

14. Choose famous, respected people for giving speeches and presenting rewards

15. Select 20 volunteers to help during the ceremony

16. Prepare materials for the ceremony (such as name tag, make schedule, and prepare the loud speaker .etc)

17. Hold the “First Shem Women’s Group’s Literature Rewards Ceremony for women writers” for two days

18. Take Record (photos, video)

19. Conclusion

20. Write final report

21. Submit the final report with receipts

22. Make CDs

This project is to buy 503 books for Hor nag Central primary school including 306 Tibetan books, 114 Chinese books and 83English books. And 10 computers, In order to improve the students’ general knowledge, and increase the number of students’ who pass the Middle school and High school entrance exams.

The German Embassy funded this project

Skal bzang mtsho is from Stong che Village, Hor nag Township, Rebgong County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. Currently，she is studying for BA degree at Qinghai Normal University.

What? To buy 503 books (306 Tibetan, 114 Chinese and 83 English books) and 10 computers for Hor nag Primary School in Rebgong County, Qinghai Province, China.
Who? Hor nag Primary School, Hor nag Township, Rebgong County, Qinghai Province, China.
Photos of project implementation

The project manager bought the books and computers for the school from a bookstore and an electricity market in Xining. Teacher Shes rab helped the project manager to purchase the books and computers.

The computers and books were transported to Hor nag Primary School at around 5 p.m. from Xining and the schoolteachers were waiting to unload the computers and books.

The school teachers unloaded the books and computers from the truck.

The female teacher Sha bo mtsho is counting the books in the library.

Teachers get ready to put the books on the bookshelves.

The books placed on the bookshelves.

The students borrow books from the library and the library manager lists the students who borrowed the books.

The students use their break time to read books in the library under the management of a librarian.

Some skilled male teachers start installing the computers in the computer room. 

The students having class in the computer room with their computer teacher.

 The project manager Skal bzang mtsho had meeting with the school leaders again to emphasize the importance of the project’s sustainability. 

Teachers asked the project manager Skal bzang mtsho to take a picture with the school leader. They are grateful for Shem Women’s Group. 

Project summary

Project title: Book and Computer Project for Hor nag Primary School

Project goals: The immediate goal of this project is to buy 503 books for Hor nag Central primary school, including 306 Tibetan books, 114 Chinese books and 83 English books, and 10 computers.

The overarching goal is to improve the students’ general knowledge about the outside world, and create high possibilities to pass the entrance exams for attending middle school and high school. 

Location of the project: Hor nag Central Primary School is located in Hor nag Township, Reb gong County, Rma lho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Mtsho sngon Province, PR China. Hor nag Township is about 22 kilometers from Reb gong County, and Reb gong County is about 130 kilometers from Xining, the capital city of Qinghai Province.

Total beneficiaries: This book and computer project will directly benefit 285 students and 27 teachers in Hor nag Primary School, and then around 1000 villagers will indirectly benefit from this project.

Implementation organization/individual: Skal bzang mtsho (project manager), Sha bo thar (school leader), Snying lcaks tshe ring (Head of all the schools in Hor nag Township), Shes rab (a teacher), and Shem Women’s Group.

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Funds Received (source, amount, and date received):

Shem Women’s Group distributed 35,780 RMB (80% of the project money) to the project manager, Skal bzang mtsho, on the 18^th of September, 2011. Skal bzang mtsho will get the remaining funds, 8945 RMB (20% of the project money), from Shem after completing the project.

Details of project activities

1. Contact the village leader and discuss what the village needs.
2. Ask the school teachers what kinds of books are really helpful and what type of computer is good for the students.
3. Go to the store and check the price of books and computers.
4. Collect background information about the village and the school.
5. Get government’s permission.
6. Receive funds
7. Hold a meeting with the teachers and the students who will manage the library and computer room.   Set up rules.
8. Purchase the books from Xining and Xinhua bookstore and buy the computers from Shengli Road Electronic Market.
9. Arrange transportation, and deliver the books and computers to the school.
10. Hold a meeting with the school leader, teachers, and students to let them know the process of project.
11. Take photographs and interview the beneficiaries.
12. Send final report to the donor with pictures and receipts.

Project Finances: 

Actual budget realized in the framework of the project: 

The original donor contribution was 45,129 RMB, but actually the project manager received 44,725.

While purchasing the computers, the project manager found out that the computers cost 100 RMB more than planned for each computer. The school teacher said that the school needs more Tibetan books than English and Chinese.  So when the manager purchased the books, she bought more Tibetan books and less Chinese and English books. Transportation became more expensive and amounted to 1,000 RMB. Also, the actual project management expenses are 136.9 RMB. The manager spent 100 RMB for phone fees and the extra for the taxi in Xining city.

Delays, Difficulties, and Lessons Learned 

Delays 

The book and computer project was funded in July 2011, but the money was received at the beginning of September in 2011. The starting date for the project was delayed for several days. Firstly, at that time the project manager Skal bzang mtsho was not in Xining City. She was in an internship for three months and she didn’t have access to the internet. Secondly, in 2011, all the schools were checked by the national education program (“两基”国检验收 ), so all the students and teachers were busy with welcoming leaders. Thirdly, the project manager couldn’t come to Xining on time– she was doing an internship as a teacher and the school leader didn’t give her permission to leave.   

Difficulties 

Under the support from the school and project committee, the project manager Skla bzang mtsho didn’t meet any serious problems. However, the project manager encountered several small problems. Firstly, the project manger didn’t know much about the price of computers and the quality of computers. So she went to the electronic market several times and asked almost all the stores to compare the prices of computers. Secondly, the project manager was doing an internship in another town, and so it was difficult for her to find time to do the project. She had to ask permission from the school leader to do this project. This affected her teaching work, and it was also hard for her to travel between the project location and her school. In addition, the donor contribution was less than the original budget. Another problem that project manager faced is that when she went to buy the books, the school teacher said they need more Tibetan books than Chinese and English. The prices of the books increased from the time of writing the proposal. So the project manager had to create a different budget for the books.

Lessons Learned 

During the implementation of the book and computer project, one thing which the project manger learnt was that it is very important to have a meeting with the school leaders. Sometimes there might be changes regarding the project needs after the proposal is submitted to the donors. Hence, if the project manager has a meeting with the school leaders ahead of project implementation, then there won’t be any problem during the project implementation and it can help the students get what they really need.  

While implementing the book and computer project, another lesson that the project manager learned was that she needs to be responsible, otherwise it is very difficult to complete the project on time. She knew that 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 events at anytime—for example, she should prepare extra money to be used if there are any budget changes.   She should also pay more attention to the current price of goods so that she can devise a more exact budget.  This experience taught her how to be a more responsible person, effectively communicate with different types of people, and how to deal with the difficulties.

Interviews (3-5 interviews)

The headmaster
Sha bo thar is from Hor nag Township, Abog Village. He was born in this township and has been teaching in this school for almost 20 years, and now he is the headmaster of the school.  He said, “The school is lacking computers and books for the students. The project manager did a great thing for the school, even for the local people in this township. Before, there were only 20 computers, and two or three students would sit in front of one computer. So the class was not good, the students couldn’t get the main point of the class. During the class, sometimes they fight with each other. Especially the female students sometimes cry after fighting and are defeated by male students. Books from this project make the students more interested in studying, and they can get different information or knowledge from different books. I don’t know how to thank the donor and Shem Women’s Group, and very much admire their great job. Except saying ‘thank you,’ I really can’t do anything for you. Lastly, I wish the organization keeps doing this kind of great job and helps poor schools like this in other areas as well. I hope their other work goes well, and I believe good beginnings have good results.”

One of the leaders in this school, Snying lcaks tshe ring
Snying lcaks tshe ring is from another township in Re Gong County and has been working in this school for three years. He said, “When I came to this school, I saw that all of the students are very hard working and they are very lovely. They are farmers’ children and they are honest. But the school’s condition is limited and there isn’t enough equipment for the students to study very well, such as, not many books in the library and no computers in the computer lab. So this situation made me feel very sad. I wanted to ask the government to give some computers to our school. But now you have done this. Moreover, there were very few books in the library, so the students didn’t go to the library very often. But from now on, due to the project manager’s proposal to Shem and the donor, our school got a big contribution. I am so happy that the students can improve their studies better than ever. I am very thankful for the donor, Shem Group and the project manager.”

Teacher Shes rab

 He has been working in this school for 15 years and was a main person that provided information about this school when the project manager was writing the proposal. The teacher helped the project manager a lot during the proposal writing. He felt really happy when he learned the project was funded. He was the first to tell the school the good news. He said, “Although I didn’t do much during the project, I feel really happy that the students got good equipment for learning. I will work hard and take care of the books and computers for my generation and hope to pass it to the next generation without any damage. And I want to give one thousand thanks to the donor for helping an area with such poor educational resources.”

A student at the school
He is a grade three student in the school and his name is Zla ba rkyal mtshan. He is 10 years old. The project manager asked him what type of book he wants to read. He replied he likes to read cartoon books, such as Grey Wolf and Outman. Before, there weren’t enough cartoon books to read. But now he can read many cartoon books and his school life will be interesting. He said he can learn some lessons from the cartoon books. For example, that good behavior has good results. The project manager also asked him whether he knows what a computer is, and how much he knows about using computers. He said he knows what a computer is. His teacher showed him a few computers in the computer room, and he can play some games on the computer. Then the project manager told him that he should study hard and learn more about computer, not only games– the computer can do lots of things, and he can learn many things from the computer besides playing games.

The girl is a student from grade 5 and her name is Sangs rkyas skyid. She is 12 years old. The project manager asked the girl what kinds of books she likes to read. She answered she likes to read storybooks and she has read some storybooks before, such as The Red Hat, The Lion and the Rabbit. The teachers told her there will be more storybooks to read soon since the project was funded. At that time, she felt so happy and she was waiting for the books every day. At last, the books arrived and she didn’t know how to show her happiness. She said their teacher taught them how to type Chinese on the computers, but there were only a few computers and it was really hard to get a computer for every class. From now on, she can learn more about computers and she will try her best to learn more. She thanked the project manager for implementing such a great project for their school.  

Letter of appreciation

 

Scanned letter in Tibetan

Translation in English

Dear Shem Women’s Group and the Donor:

Firstly, all the teachers and students would like to say thank you for your generous donation to our school.

The school is located in a remote valley where transportation is very inconvenient and information is lacking, and this is a big obstacle for the development of school. On the 20^th of September, 2011, our school got 10 computers worth 38,600 RMB, 318 Tibetan books worth 3,482.7 RMB and 95 Chinese and English books worth 1,505.4 RMB. Therefore, your donation is very huge and all the equipment really fulfilled the needs of the school. Your donation provides a great opportunity for the teachers to improve their teaching methodology and motivate the students to learn effectively. We will never forget your help and we promise that we will do a good job with those new and useful books and computers. From now on, we do not need to worry about reading materials aside from the textbooks. We can be more focused on our teaching and learning. We believe that we will try our best to improve the teaching quality of our school.

At last, all the teachers, students and all the local people wish all Shem members and the donor to be healthy forever. We hope everything goes as you wish. We would love to say thank you very much for everything you have done for us.

Hor nag Primary School

Sep 20^th 2011

List of recipients:

Receipt #1

These two receipts are for the Chinese and English books (1,505.4 RMB) and Tibetan books (3,482.7 RMB) 

Receipt #2

These four receipts are for the computers (38,600 RMB)

Receipts #3

This receipt is for the transportation fee (1,000 RMB)

Receipts #4

These five receipts are for the project manager’s phone fee (100 RMB) and the taxi fee when the project manager went to purchase the books and computers (40 RMB).

Original Project 
Project Location

Hor nag Central Primary School is located in Hor nag Township, Reb gong County, Rma lho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Mtsho sngon Province, PR China. Hor nag Township is about 22 kilometers from Reb gong County, and Reb gong County is about 130 kilometers from Xining, the capital city of Qinghai Province.

Project population

There are 285 students in Hor nag Central Primary School, 120 female students and 165 male students. There are 27 teachers, 14 female teachers and 13 male teachers in the school.

Cash Income

In Stong Che Village most of the villagers (except old people and children) usually dig caterpillar fungus, which is a medical herb that grows in high mountains, and it is the basic way people earn money in this village. Every year after planting the crops, the villagers start to prepare digging caterpillar fungus. The time is only for one month, so after they pay the land fee, each person can earn 2,000-4,000RMB on average. Every family goes to dig the herb (except for families who only have one member). When the villagers come back, it is time to harvest. It takes about one month to finish the harvesting. And after the harvest, villagers go to do construction work to earn money, except for old people and children. Each person can earn 1000-2000 RMB on average doing construction work. These two forms of labor are the main cash income of this village.

Education

In Stong Che Village there are 8 university students (5 boys and 3 girls), 19 high school students (11 boys and 8 girls), 20 middle school students (13 boys and 7 girls), and 40 primary school students (19 boys and 21 girls). On average, one child from each family is receiving education. Approximately 80% of villagers are illiterate and 20% of villagers are literate, which includes the monks and traditional religious scholars. In total, there are 535 people in the village.

Agriculture

In Stong Che Village, all the villagers are farmers. They grow barley, wheat, pea, rape seeds and potatoes in their farmland. Because of the elevation and the landscape, the fields can not be irrigated, so the crops have to depend on the rain. On average, every family has 10-20 mu of land (1 mu = 0.07 hectares). Every year the land is divided into two parts, the villagers plant one part of the land and leave the other part for next year in order to enrich the soil quality. The other part needs to be ploughed three times a year. It is important for having a good harvest next year. Usually, each family can get 500kg of potatoes, 400kg of barley, 300kg of wheat from their fields each year. Some poor families have few potatoes, wheat and barley, so they usually have to buy from the county town.

 Herding

All the villagers are farmers in Stong Che Village, which is located on a mountain. On average, each family has 1 mule, 1 donkey, 2-3 cows and 30 goats. The mules and donkeys are for transportation and farming, and the cows and goats are for milking and selling when there is an emergency of needing money.

School Background

Hor nag Central Primary School was built in 1953. There are 285 students; among them 120 are girls and 165 are boys. There are 14 female teachers and 13 male teachers, and six grades. They study Tibetan, Chinese, Math and English. There is a library but there are only a few books. The school is not collecting any extra money from the students to buy practice or library books; they only pay the tuition fee. This school is located at the center of three villages. These are Ri zhol ma, Ri gong ma and Stong che villages. 85% percent of the students come from these three villages, and 15% of the students come from other villages in the township. There are seven villages in Hor nag Township. The other four villages have their own primary schools, but there are only three grades, so when the students who come from the other four villages reach grade four, they come to Hor nag Central Primary School and finish the rest of primary grades.

Problems

1.Lack of library books and basic computer skills
Hor nag Primary School is located in Hor nag Township. Since the township is located on a mountain, the transportation is very inconvenient. They are isolated from the outside world and the source of outside information is very limited. There is a library in the school with just a few books, and there are some old computers, but the school really wants to set up a real library with books for all the students to read and let students learn computer skills. However, due to their financial condition, the school can not afford to purchase the books and computers.
2. Lack of interest in learning
Most of the students get bored with just learning from the textbooks. The students don’t want to attend the class because they are bored, so they skip classes. Students who do this fail most of the exams, and it makes the parents disappointed about their scores and allow students to give up on school. Sometimes the students beg their parents to let them stop going to school. Most parents let their daughter drop out of school because in this village, females have many things to do, for example, working in the fields, carrying water, collecting yak dung and washing clothes. In addition, teachers and students do not talk during or after classes. The relationship between teachers and students is not very close, so students are scared of teachers and afraid to speak out their thoughts. There are only a few computers at the school and usually two or three students have to share one computer. During the class, male students don’t let the female students use the computer, so male students’ computer skills become better than females’. Overall, students in Hor nag Primary School don’t have the same computer skills when compared to other schools of the same township. Due to these problems, the students cannot get good scores on lower middle/high school entrance exam. If they failed the examinations, they have to give up school and stay at home.
3. Limited teaching skills
Teachers in this school are teaching in traditional ways, using the same methods they were taught to teach their students. There are not any seminars or trainings for the teachers to update their teaching methods. Even if the teachers want to use a new and effective way to teach, they lack the resources, such as teaching materials and internet. Much of the educational content has been changing, so the teaching methods must be improved and updated.
4. Students’ free time is wasted
During the summer and winter vacations, usually the students from Hor nag Central Primary School spend most of their time playing games, chatting with friends, and sleeping after finishing their homework, which was given by the teachers from the text book. They have no interest in reading books during their free time, both in school and at home. Thus, if there are interesting books, students can read more to improve their knowledge outside of class.

Benefits

If this project is funded:

1. The school library will have many different kinds of books to read, which can be used by both students and teachers. The students can use new computers to expand their knowledge, and each of the students will have her/his own turn to use the computers. This will also lessen the teachers’ burden for teaching computer skills. Furthermore, if there are computers for each student to use, there won’t be conflicts among the classmates who are arguing over the computer, so the relationship between students will improve.
2. Students’ general knowledge would be improved by reading books from the library, and the students’ basic computer skills would improve. This would help the students get a good score, and pass the examinations for middle school and high school. This could prevent students from dropping out of school after graduating from primary school or middle school. Since many students’ parents let their sons and daughters to stay at home after the students fail the examination, if they know basic computer skills, they can find a job more easily even if they drop out.
3. The school teachers can use some books or teaching materials from the library, like maps and exercise books for teaching, which can help the teachers to make the class more interesting and fun. It will help the students to love learning, love classes, and love school.
4. If there is a variety of books in the library, the students will have more options for ways to spend their vacations, rather than only playing or helping with family chores. The students can spend their time to reading books according to their interest, such as poems, novels, magazines, science books, etc. In this case, the students could develop their reading skills and increase their vocabularies, or discover their interests by reading different kinds of books, and that could be a great milestone for developing their own interests in learning and talent.

Gender Equality

Firstly, this project will benefit both boys and girls in the school, since all students can borrow books from the library. They can use their own computers during computer class, which is especially important for the female students who have not had a chance to do this in the past. They can also concentrate more if they have their own computer during the class. Furthermore, the students’ general knowledge will be improved by reading books from the library. Girls can continue school which means in their future life, they don’t have to depend on men all the time.

Secondly, the project is designed by and will be implemented by the project manager, who is a woman. By doing this project, she can improve communication skills with different people like the local headmaster and build self-confidence. Also, she will send an important message to the local women, and show them that women can also do helpful things for their society.

Beneficiaries

This project will directly benefit 285 students and 27 teachers. Around 1000 villagers will indirectly get benefits from this project.

Sustainability

The project manager and school leader will discuss what kind of rules to make for using the new resources and how to make the library card. Two responsible teachers will manage the computer room, and two will manage the library. They will write down rules that are agreed upon by all the teachers and all the students and stick them on the books in the library and the computer room, letting the students know the rules clearly. Every time the students want to borrow books, they should show their library cards with their name and picture on it and write their names on the registration forms. If they damage or lose the books, or break the any part of the computer, the teachers must follow the rules and make sure that the students will be responsible for the damages and missing books. This will hopefully ensure the library books and computers are in good care for a long time.

Government approval
In June 2010, the project manager, Skal bzang mtsho, discussed this project with the village leader (Dbng mdun rkyal), the school leader and the teachers. They gave the project manager full permission to go on with this project and encouraged the project manager to do her best because it can help many children in the village.

Project Checklist

1. Contact the village leader and discuss what the village needs. (completed)
2. Ask the school teachers what kinds of books are really helpful and what type of computer is good for the students. (completed)
3. Go to the store and check the price of books and computers. (completed)
4. Collect background information about the village and the school. (completed)
5. Get government’s permission. (completed)
6. Receive funds
7. Hold a meeting with the teachers and the students who will manage the library and computer room. Set up rules.
8. Purchase the books from Xining bookstore and buy the computers from Shenglilu Electronic Market.
9. Arrange transportation, and deliver the books and computers to the school.
10. Hold a meeting with the village leader, teachers, and students to let them know the process of project.
11. Take photographs and interview the beneficiaries.
12. Send final report to the donor with pictures and receipts.

Project duration

This project will take about four weeks to complete.

1 day: Inform the school teachers that the project is funded

4 days: Purchase the books from Xining bookstores.

5 days: Purchase the computers from the Electronics Market.

5 days: Pack all the books and computers and transport them to the school.

2 days: Hold a meeting with the school leader and teachers. Set up rules.

5 days: Display the books in the library and install the computers.

3 days: Take photos and interview the students and teachers.

Detailed Budget

Additional Information:

In 2004, the project manager did two second-hand clothes projects for Stong che Village, Hor nag Township, Rebgong County. In 2009, she joined a music project, and recorded Tibetan folk songs, love songs, an offering speech to the mountain gods, a wedding speech, etc.

Since March 2010, she has attended Shem’s Gender Class and Development Workshop Class, which encouraged and empowered her to design and write this proposal.

The map of project location

This project is to buy 34 bunk beds for the students who stay at A Yan Gou School in Tian Zhu Autonomous County Gansu Province to improve the boarding students’ accommodation conditions, so that the parents will not need to worry about the students’ poor condition at school.

The Australian Embassy funded this project

Drolgar Jyid is from Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, Gansu Province, China.  She graduated from Qinghai Normal University with advanced proficiency in oral and written English and Tibetan, and currently she is working for One Earth Designs in Xining City, Qinghai Province.
What? Purchase 34 bunk beds for 88 students in A Yan Gou School.

Who? Students in A Yan Gou School which located in Tanshan Ling Township, Tianzhu Autonomous County, Wuwei Region, Gansu Province.
Photos of the project implementation

The workers are loading Bunk Beds on the truck in Lanzhou.

The truck stops on the way because of a car accident. After 10 hours waiting in the long queue the truck with bunk beds starts to move to the project location.

The students and the teachers are unloading bunk beds from the truck.

The beds are settled in both boys’ and girls’ dormitories.

Project summary
Project title: Bunk beds project for A Yan Gou School

Project goals: The immediate goal of this project is to buy 34 bunk beds for the students who stay at A Yan Gou School. The overarching goal of this project is to improve the boarding students’ accommodations.

Location of project: A Yan Gou School is located in Tan Shan Ling Township, in the western part of Tian Zhu Tibetan Autonomous County, Gansu Province. Tan Shan Ling Township is 60 kilometers from Tianzhu County Town and 145 kilometers from Lanzhou City, the provincial capital. Tan Shan Ling is 230 kilometers from Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province.

Project beneficiaries: This project directly benefits 88 students. There are 19 teachers and around 200 villagers who can indirectly benefit from this project. The students have their own beds and they can sleep comfortably during the nights without any worries like falling down. During day timethey will not fall asleep in the classes and they can listen carefully to what the teachers teach. Moreover, it helps those students to study well in the school.

Implementation organization/individual: The village leader (Xu deying) and the leader of the Educational Bureau of Tanshan Ling Township (Niu yung feng), Drolgar Jyid (project manager) and Shem Women’s Group.

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Funds received: Amount and date received
On March 15^th 2010, the project manager Drolgar Jyid received 80% of the funds, which was 13,976 RMB from Shem Women’s Group as the first installment of the funds. Shem Women’s Group will distribute the final 20% of the funds (3,494 RMB) as the second installment when the project manager finishes the final report.

Details of project activities

• Called the school leader and informed them of the project approval.
• Phoned the school leaders to update them about the situation at the project site to check if the project could be implemented, especially considering the road conditions.
• Phoned Shem office to update them about project implementation.
• Called the school leaders and decided on the date to start implementation.
• Traveled to Lanzhou City to purchase the bunk beds.
• Signed the contract and purchased the beds.
• Called A Yan Gou School to clean the beds which they contributed.
• Transported the 34 beds from Lanzhou City to Tianzhu County Town.
• Transported the beds to the project site.
• Held the meeting with the teachers and students in the school to distribute 34 beds and explained how to combine the parts together to make a complete bed, etc.
• Visited the receivers and conducted interviews.
• Came back to Xining City to scan photos and receipts
• Translated the school’s letter of thanks
• Worked on the final report

Project Finance

Note*+26 RMB: This was left from the donor contribution to the project because the transportation fee for the bunk beds was less than the original estimate, so 26 RMB is left over.

Difficulties and lessons learned from the project

Difficulties
Based on the project managers former experiences in managing projects, she was able to implement the project very successfully and did not meet with many problems. The few difficulties that she met are listed below:
First, in the project area there are many coal mines, and the main road from Tanshan Ling Township to Huazang Si County Town is the same road that people use to transport coal from the mines to other cities. It is a dangerous road and many accidents happen there. . So when the project managers and co-managers transported beds to A Yan Gou School, there was an accident that created a long line of cars, buses and tractors on the road. They waited for 4 hours in the snow without having any food to eat.
Due to the cold and windy weather at the project area, the project manager got sick after they transported beds to school, which kept her in bed with an IV for three days.

Lessons learned
During implementation of this project, the project manager has learned a few things that will help her in implementing other projects in the future.
· Keep in touch with the local leaders on a regular time base, even after of project approval, in order to make sure the information on the project proposal is valid.
· Make sure not only to base the information on one person’s statement. To get a full picture, one has to collect the information from multiple sources.

Interviews

Drolgar Jyid (Project manager): As a teacher, how do you feel about  those beds? Are they really very helpful?
Ma Tsedan（One of teachers): Firstly, I am representing all of our teachers and students to say thanks for the help. Of course they are very helpful, as a teacher, we have a lot of responsibility for all of our students, we need to take care of them, make sure they are safe in their beds without their parents.

Drolgar Jyid(Project manager): Do you think those beds can be used for a long time?
Duo Drojyid（One of teachers）: Yeah, the quality of those beds is very high compared with the beds we had before, and also those beds are wider than before.

Drolgar Jyid (Project manager): Are you happy with those beds?
Around 8 students (both boys and girls): Yes.
Drolgar Jyid (Project manager): Can you tell me why?
Qing Drolma dkr (grade six): We don’t need to share beds with other students and also we can put our own stuff on the beds, so we don’t lose them very easily.
Drolgar Jyid (Project manager):  Do you have some other things to say?
Yang Dbadan (grade five): We can sleep well during the night.

Letter of appreciation

Translation of thank you letter

Most dear donors,
I would like to represent A Yan Gou School to express our deepest appreciation for your great concern and enormous support for us. Thanks for your generosity in supplying us with 34 bunk beds. These 34 bunk beds were received by students who are staying at the school. We will not forget your compassion and generosity. All of us want to express our most sincere thanks to you again and again.

Best wishes!
Sincerely
Rashu Village Committee

Receipts
#1

The total amount of money paid for 34 bunk beds (16,320 RMB)

#2

This is total transportation fee from Lanzhou City to the Tianzhu County Town. (400 RMB)

#3

This is the transportation fee (310 RMB) from Huazang si to A Yan Gou Primary School. (I couldn’t get the receipts from this trip; people don’t use receipts in such a small town.)

#4 The project management expenses:

This is the taxi fee for the project manager during implementing the project and it is 10 RMB.
#5

These receipts above are the trips fee for the project manager Drolgarjyid and the other 4 project managers from the school (the teachers) from Lanzhou to Huazang si during implentation of the project and it is 371 RMB.

#6

This is the trip fee for the project manager from Huazang  to Xining and it is 33 RMB.

The Original Proposal
Project Location
A Yan Gou School is located in Tan Shan Ling Township, in the western part of Tian Zhu Autonomous County, Gansu Province; Tan Shan Ling Township is 60 kilometers from Tianzhu County Town and 145 kilometers from Lanzhou city, the provincial capital. Tan Shan Ling is 230 kilometers from Xining, the capital of Qinghai province.

Population
In Tan Shan Ling Township, there are about 3,000 households and 13,458 people (4,658 men, 4,800 women, and 4,000 children). The students in A Yan Gou School are mostly from the following six villages: Wang Zhi Liang Gou, Si Tao Gou, Da Kuo Tan, Zhu Cha, Tian Tang and Gu Cheng.

School background
A Yan Gou School was established in 1951 and is the only Tibetan school in Tan Shan Ling Township. In April, 2008 the government in Tan Shan Ling decided to combine all the primary schools with A Yan Gou School. Now, all the students in Tan Shan Ling Township who want to study Tibetan come to A Yan Gou School.
There are 19 teachers, and 120 students (59 girls and 61 boys), among these students 88 are boarding students, living at the school. In total, there are 7 grades, and there are 3 major subjects like Tibetan, Math, and Chinese, but they also teach some other subjects such as society, Nature, and English.
The government gave the school 10 bunk beds and some stoves, but 10 bunk beds are not enough for 88 students. The students still need 34 bunk beds.

Education
In these six villages, (Wang Zhi Liang Gou, Si Tao Gou, Da Kuo Tan, Zhu Cha, Tian Tang and Gu Cheng) 10% of the people are literate (not including students). Elderly men make up most of this small percentage. There are also a few monks who can write and read Tibetan. On average, one child in each family currently attends school. But some people still think it’s just a waste of money and time, as they fear their children won’t be able to find a job. Some parents think education is useless, so they ask their children to do house work and earn money at the home. About 50% of the students are primary students, 35% of the students are studying in middle school, 10% of them are in high school, and 5% of them are in universities.

Herding
The weather and the altitude are similar in all six of these villages, so the herding situation is the same. Three years ago, 85% of the people in these six villages made their living by herding; they owned yaks, sheep, cows, and goats. With the exception of pigs, these animals are used for milking and working, not for eating. Pigs are owned for eating. Villagers can sell butter and cheese and each family can earn about 700-800 RMB per year. They use this money to buy daily needs, send their children to school, and purchase medicine for their livestock.

Agriculture
About 5 years ago, 8% of the families in these villages owned their own farming land, each of the families owned around 8-9 mu land. They grew wheat, potatoes, radishes, peas, and barley once a year. They were able to produce 170-180 jin of barley from one mu land. At that time they could earn about 700-800 RMB per year.
Since 2002, the government planted trees on the farming land leaving the families just 1-2 mu. This small amount of land is not enough to support the families. The government does provide some compensation for farm land used to plant trees, around 200 jin barley per mu, but this is still not enough to support a family
The other villages are same as A Yan Gou village.

Cash income
In these six villages, about 85% people live on animal husbandry, earning around 700-800 RMB per year per household from selling sheep, yaks, butter, and wool. 8% of the people live on agriculture, and 7% of people earning money from doing labor work outside their villages.
Family members, including adults, who are able to do construction work go to the Township or the County Town and earn money doing manual labor. Workers can earn 1000 RMB (not including the food fee and living fee in where they work).

Project Goals
The immediate goal of this project is to buy 34 bunk beds for the students who stay at A Yan Gou School.
The overarching goal of this project is to improve the boarding students’ accommodation conditions.

Beneficiaries
There are 88 students who can directly benefit from this project. There are 19 teachers and around 200 villagers who can indirectly benefit from this project, because they will not need to worry about the students’ poor living conditions.

Problems
1. No money to buy beds
Before the government combined the primary schools with A Yan Gou School, the school had no bunk beds for the students. After the government combined all the primary schools together, it gave the school 10 bunk beds. However, 10 beds are not enough for the 88 boarding students who stay at the school. The school spent money buying stoves so the students will be warm in the winter time. As a result, the school does not have money to buy extra beds for the students.
2. Many injured students
So far around 73% of the students are boarders, and the school does not have enough money to buy beds for students. Usually, four students need to share one bunk bed; with two students crowding onto the top and two students on the bottom bunk. This crowding can lead to injuries, especially if students are having bad dreams or trying to roll over to make space.
3. Influence students’ study
If four students share one bed, they cannot sleep very well at night because of the narrow bed. It affects the students’ studying in school. For example, they don’t sleep very well at night, then they fall sleep during class or they are very sleepy during the class which makes it hard to pay attention to what the teachers teach. These problems adversely affect students’ studying.
4. Parents not willing to send the young children to school
Because of limited beds for each student, some parents think it is not safe to send their children to school. So the parents are very worried to send their kids to school and some even keep their children at home because they are so afraid of the conditions.
5. Health problem
Due to overcrowding of bunk beds it is very easy for students to pass illnesses to each other, such as colds and pneumonia. For example, if one of the students gets a cold, then other one who shares one bed with he or him, will also get a cold; sometimes both of them can’t attend the classes. Also, because of the culture, people are very shy to change their clothes even with their friends, so for those primary school students, they can’t change their clothes on their beds, because they are sharing the beds with others.

Benefits
If the every student can have their own bed, then many problems will be solved:
1. This project can help the school to get the students their individual beds. The school master and the teachers don’t need to worry about buying enough beds to the students.
2. If the students have their own beds, then they don’t need to share with other students, so they will not fall down from the bed and get injured.
3. The students can sleep very comfortably during the night, so they will not fall asleep during the classes and they can listen carefully to what the teachers teach.
4. This project can help to relieve parents’ worries about sending their children to school and it will change some of the parents’ thoughts about sending their children to school.
5. If they have their own bed, they don’t need to sleep with others. The chances of spreading infectious disease will be lessened. Also, students can have some private time; they can change their clothes very easily.

The steps of the project
1) Asked the teachers and some students what do they need and decided to do a bunk bed project for this school.
2) Talked with other project managers who have experience working on this type of project.
3) Hold a meeting with the teachers and some students, and ask them what kind of beds do they need, and decide who will take care of those beds.
4) Find out the transportation fee and the price of bed and write proposal.
5) Receive funds
6) Purchase bunk beds from Yan Tan Jia Ju Market in Lanzhou City.
7) Hire a truck to transport those beds to the school.
8) Distribute those beds to the school. Take pictures.
9) Write a final report.
10) Send the report and the pictures to the donor.

Timeframe
It will take about 12 days to complete this project.
1 day: contact the school teachers for purchasing beds
3 days: Arrive Lan Zhou City with two school teachers
2 days: Purchase beds and hire a truck for transporting beds
1 day: Transport the beds to school
2 day: Display beds in the dormitories
3 days: take photos, interview teachers and students for final report

Governmental approval
On 2008, June 1^st, the project manager discussed this project with the school leader (Ma Yu Xi he is a Mongol) and several teachers, 3 women (Ma Zhong Feng，Duo Shang Ji，Qing Cuo Mao), and 3 men (Ma Yu Xi，Ma Cai Dan，Ta Gui Xi). They said they were very happy that the project manager is planning to do this bunk bed project and encouraged the project manager to try her best to complete this project.

Gender equality
The project will be implemented and managed by the students and the teachers in A Yan Gou School. We chose 6 teachers (3 women and 3 men) and 8 students, (4 boys and 4 girls) for to be on the bunk bed committee. In this case both men and women equally have a chance to make decisions together.
In addition, the project manager can be a very positive role model for the villagers and students especially for females so that the girls can also achieve big things like implementing projects in their home areas.

Detailed Budget

Note: The school will use the teachers’ room for the students; because there is no enough dormitories for the students, so two teachers will share one dormitory together, and let the students use the teachers’ rooms as dormitories. So there are 3 dormitories contributed as local contribution to this project.

Sustainability
This project is sustainable because the beds are made of metal which means the beds can last more than ten years. A teacher called Ma Cai Dan, who knows how to fix and repair things, promised that he would be very responsible for repairing the beds if the beds become broken in the future.

Past experience
Drogar Ji completed a second-hand clothing project which was donated by Ms. Sue Bishop at the British consulate in Shanghai. More than 100 local villagers from A Yan Gou village and She Qiao village benefited from this project in 2006. Als in 2009, she completed a solar flashlights project which was donated by Naljor Prison Dharma Service

The map of the project location

This project is to buy 166 Chinese and English books for Niandu School to improve the students’ study level, promote gender equality by providing the same materials for both girls and boys, and create access to more information on a variety of educational topics.

Shem’s private donor funded this project

Sonamtso is from Lhaka Village, Naindu Township, Regong County, Rmalho Tibetan autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. She is currently working towards associated degree in English at the Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department English Training Program.

What? Buy 166 books (114 Chinese and 52 English books) for Niandu School.

Who? Niandu primary school from Lhaka village, Niandu Township, Rebgong County, Huangnan Prefecture, Qinghai province, China

Photos of the project implementation

The project manager Sonamtso and the school leader moved the books to school library and displayed the books on the empty shelves.

Students are helping to put the books on the empty book shelf.

Project manager, the woman in yellow coat, is helping the students to put the books on the shelf.

Sonam zhuoma is a Tibetan teacher and she gives suggestions to the students about which book they should read and which books are suitable for their level.

These notebooks are used to list student’s name, date and book name when students want to borrow books.

School leader is recording students name list while another teacher is arranging the books. .

Project Summary

Project title: Book Project for Niandu School

Project Goals: The ultimate goal of this project is to buy 166 Chinese and English books for Niandu School. The overarching goal of this project is to improve the students’ study level, promote gender equality by providing the same materials for both girls and boys, and create access to more information on a variety of educational topics.

Project location: Niandu School is located in the center of Niandu Township, in the Northern part of Regong County, Oinghai Province and was established in 1952. Niandu Township is about 7 kilometers from Rebgong County and from Rebgong County to Xining (the capital city of Qinghai province) city there are about178 kilometers.

Total beneficiaries: This book project directly benefits 188 students and teachers from the Niandu Primary school and it indirectly benefit about 1500people, including the people in Lhaka village.

Implementation organization/individual: Sonamtso (Lucille), Sonamtso (the school leader) and Shem Women’s Group.
Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Funds received: Source, Amount, and Date Received.
The project manager received 80% of grant which is 2,472.4 from Shem Women’s Group on June 10th 2009 and she will receive the rest money after she completed the project, 20 % grant is 618RMB, so the total grant for this project is 3090.4Rmb.

Details of the project activities

1. June 15^th 2008, held a meeting with all the teachers to discuss the problems of the school.
2. June 16^th 2008, asked school leader or other teacher the possible solution for the project, and asked both teachers and students what kind of books they need.
3. June 17^th 2008, collected information about the school
4. July 20^th 2008, found out the books price and figured out the transportation fee.
5. August 28^th 2008, wrote a project proposal.
6. May 15^th 2009, the project is approved.
7. June 2nd 2009, informed the news to School.
8. June 5th 2009, discussions took place with the school leader Sonamtso and other teachers regarding the preparation of the library room.
9. June 12th 2009, purchased books from Xinhua bookstore in Xining city.
10. June 17^th 2009, rented a car and transported the books to Niandu School. Also took pictures of the project and interviewed the recipients.
11. June 20^th 2009, wrote the final report with some interviewed photos and receipts.

Project Finance

Note: (1) actually transportation fee is 450 and I planned that half of the transportation fee (200) would be paid by the local school. But the school leader Sonamtso knows the driver, so we just paid the 250 for the transportation, which means we didn’t use the local contribution for transportation fee. So among left over 233.9 rmb, 200rmb left from the local contribution and the project manager retuned it to the school leader Sonamtso and 33.9rmb (left over from donor contribution) will be returned to Shem Women’s Group.
(2) All figures are in rmb

Delays, Difficulties, and lessons leaned
Delays
On June 12th 2009, the school leader and I purchased books from Xinhua bookstore in Xining city. We discussed that we should transport the books on June 13^th, but the problem was we couldn’t find a vehicle because they said they don’t have drive license. Therefore we got the vehicle on June 15^th 2009, and we rented a car and transported the books to Niandu School.

Difficulties
When the project manager, Sonamtso begins to write the project proposal, she encountered several problems, for example, she finished writing the proposal, but the budget section is incomplete. Therefore she called one of her friends who did the project before. They went to the Xinhua bookstore and listed the book names and prices, but the worker of the bookstore came to me and said; “if you do not stop to list book names, I will tear your lists on the notebooks.” I said; “some day I will buy those books. I beg you. Please. Again he said: how will you buy these books, you’re such a little girl. Don’t let me to see you again. If you do, I will let you not come to the bookstore.” He said and left with angry facial expression.

We went up to the third floor in order to avoid the book store worker. I almost finished half of the name list of the books; however, another man appeared in front of me, took my notebook and torn it, at that moment, I did not know what to do. So i told my friend, and let her to sat down on the floor and pretended to read some books within notebooks, Sonamtso went around the bookstore and memorized the book title and prices. In this way, I got all the book names and prices while I was writing the project proposal.

Lessons learned
Communication: the project manager must make everything clear before doing anything and talking to anybody who will involve in the project. In that case, you do not need to get things confused, for example, if the project manager did not discuss about what kind books the school needed before she brought them, then the books might not be practical for the school and the students which can lead the whole project to failure.

Patience: The biggest lesson that I have learned through this project are that time, and the most important thing is to face it calmly. Without patience, it would have been difficult to implement the project successfully. For example, when the project manager waited for the school leader to buy the books, she told her to wait for one day but the school leader did not come on the next day, so the project manager Sonamtso had to wait for her for two days but Sonamtso did not get frustrated because of the patience.

Interviews

Ø        First interview

Sonamtso (project manager): What are some benefits those books can bring to the school?

Sonamtso (the school leader): These books will help the students to improve their knowledge level.

Sonamtso: How are you going to let the students use those books?

Sonamtso (the school leader): I will make rules for both teachers and students to use the books. For example, one teacher gives suggestions that two teachers should be responsible of lending books to the students, one teacher can find the books and give to the students and other teacher can write the names of the books and names of the students on a sheet in order to manage books in very organized way. If the students lose the books, they should pay money or replace with same books.

Sonamtso: Will you let the students read in the library or at home?

Sonamtso (the school leader): The students can read the books at school library and also they can borrow the books and read at home.

Ø        Second Interview

Sonamtso (project manager Sonamtso )：Will you be responsible for the library?

Zhuoma cairang:(one of the student librarians)：Of course I will because it’s a great chance for me and the students to read more books.

Sonamtso:  Will you often let the students use the books?

Zhuoma cairang: Yes, I will because these books will help the students to improve their Chinese and English level and enrich their knowledge.

Sonamtso: Why do you want to be librarian?

Zhuoma cairang: It is a great pleasure to read different stories and books and help other students to get the books they want. I am honored to be librarian.

Ø        Third Interview

Sonamtso (the project manager): Do you like the books in the school library?

Tsomo(a student in Grade five from Niandu School): yes/ I have never seen so many English books, especially the storybooks. I am very curious to read them.

Sonamtso: Will you read the books from library often?

Tsomo: of course, because these books will increase my education level. Also I have my own schedule that I am going to read at least one book for each week.

Letter of appreciation

Translation of the thank you letter

Dear generous donor,

Thank you very much for donating the books to our school and it makes possible for the students to have access to read those books.

Our school is local based school; those books are not only the platform of knowing the outside world and also broaden their view. Besides these, the books greatly improve the students’ general knowledge and improve their reading skill.

The students are very fond of reading the books which are donated by you. Those books will help the students to enrich their knowledge. They can learn very good lessons like how to be a good person from the books. I represent all the students and teachers of this school to thank for your help and donation.

All the best,

                                      Niandu Primary School

                                      August 2009

Receipts

#1

This is the receipt of the books and they cost 2741.5rmb

#2

This is the transportation fee for the books from the Xining book store to Niandu school and it was 250rmb.

#3

The transportation fee for the project manager for going to Niandu School to interview and take photos and it was 32.5rmb.

This is also the transportation fee for the project manager for returning from the project site to the school in Xining and it was 32.5 rmb.

Original Proposal

Project location
This project is located in Niandu School. Niandu School is located in Lhaka Village, Niandu Township, Rebgong County (Tong Ren), Rmalho’ (Huang Nan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Niandu Township is about 7 kilometers from Rebgong County. Rebgong County is 178 kilometers from Xining (the capital city of Qinghai province).

Niandu school background
Niandu School is located in the center of the Niandu Township, in the northern part of Rebgong Autonomous County, Qinghai Province and was established in 1952. The school teaches to grade nine. There are 173 students (79 girls, 94 boys) and 15 teachers in Niandu School. Their salary for their work is 2,050 rmb per month. The students in the school study Mathematics, Chinese and Tibetan. Although the students need to study subjects like social studies, science and ideological education, schools in the countryside rarely teach them. In rural areas like Niandu School, children cannot afford the necessary textbooks and the teachers often lack the knowledge and skills to teach these subjects. Therefore, in Niandu School they only teach three core subjects. The children have no access to information outside of their core textbooks. Niandu School teaches English only for the sixth grade.There is only one teacher who teaches English. Also Niandu School sometimes hires temporary English teachers who only stay for about one semester or sometimes even one or two months.

Population
Niandu Township is located in the east central part of Qinghai Province, situated in northwest china, west of the Rong Bo River. There are 250 families in Lhaka village; the total population is approximately 1,500 (740 men and 620 women).

Education
In Lhaka village if each family has two sons, one of them is typically sent to the local monastery to become a monk. Sons who go to the monastery begin to learn how to write and read Tibetan. Traditionally, girls are kept at home to help the family do house chores. In this village only ten percent of young people are literate, having finished their nine years of compulsory education.
There are 198 school-aged children in the village. Among these only 58 children are attending school (10 university students, 18 high school students, 20 Middle school students and 10 primary students). The rest of the children stay at home to help their parents with household chores, farming and digging caterpillar fungus. Many villagers believe it is a waste of time and money to send their children to school. Some villagers believe that even if their children go to school they will not be able to get a good job.

Cash Income
All of the villagers in Niandu Township earn a living by farming. People usually earn money by selling their excess barley and earn about 300 rmb each year. However, most families only have two or four mu (one mu= 0.0666 hectares) of land, which is not enough for their living expenses.
People also earn money by doing construction work. Adults do construction work in the county town. Men can earn 45 to 50 rmb per day, but women are only paid 35 to 40 per day. The workers can earn at least 500 rmb in one month. Workers are not guaranteed this money because, and sometimes work group leaders abandon the workers without paying their owed wages.
People also can earn money from digging cater pillar fungus. Some villagers don’t let their children to go to school and ask their children to dig caterpillar fungus to earn money. Each day they can dig 15 caterpillar fungi, and each fungus can sell for 3 to 5 rmb. On average, a person can earn about 1000 rmb from digging for caterpillar fungus for one month (people from Niandu often dig for caterpillar fungus in distant places such as Yushu and Golok and must pay a land fee of around 1000 rmb for the privilege of digging in other people’s land).
In total, the average family can make a little over 1000 rmb in cash income per year. Families have to spend about 900 per year for electricity fees, water fees and living expenses. On average, families are only able to save 100 rmb per year. Families who have university students must borrow money to pay for their tuition.

Agriculture
Niandu villagers grow wheat, potatoes, barley, rapeseed and beans. The villagers only have one productive harvest each year due to limited fertilizer, rainfall and weather conditions. The villagers cannot irrigate their lands often because they have to pay a fee to water their fields. Each household shares 5 mu of land with the all of family members. One mu of agricultural land can produce around 500-600 jin of barley if the weather conditions are good. Some families have economic difficulties if their land is not productive and they cannot afford to buy fertilizer. These families are not able to harvest extra produce to supplement their income. In some cases, households are not even able to harvest enough to feed their family.

Herding
In all of Lhaka Village there are only about 10 livestock. Most villagers sold their livestock because there was not enough grass for the livestock to eat in the surrounding mountains. 80% families do not have any livestock and the other 20% are relatively rich and only have several cows. The families who do have livestock are not able to sell dairy due to the poor grazing conditions.

Project Goal
The immediate goal of this project is to buy 166 Chinese and English books for Niandu School. The overarching goal of this project is to improve the students’ study level, promote gender equality by providing the same materials for both girls and boys, and create access to more information on a variety of educational topics.

Problems
1. No books: A lack of study material affects students’ results on important advancement exams, and with out many books to read students will not be able to improve their knowledge. In Niandu School children just carry around their textbooks and do not have access to any other reading materials such as magazines and books for free reading. Also when they graduate from school or transfer to different schools, they are disadvantaged. Compared with others students, they have never had the opportunity to learn about subjects like social sciences and the environment. Niandu School does not teach these subjects because they do not have the appropriate teaching materials.
2. Low literacy skills: The school cannot provide books for the students to read other than textbooks. The learning environment for literacy is impoverished. Students just memorize things from their textbooks. This has a negative impact on their motivation to learn how to read and write.
3. No money to buy books: For the poor families, they try their best to send their children to school, but they have no much money to buy other study materials like reading books for their children. Even if they could afford one book, they could not afford to do this very often.
4. Difficult to buy books: If students could afford to buy a book they would need to walk to the county town, which is about 7 kilometers away from school. Also the road to the county town is in poor condition; there are many bumps and the cars or other vehicles pass by very fast. Students can easily become injured on the way.
5. Lack of interest in teaching: In Niandu School, teachers have little motivation to teach because of the school’s poor conditions. Students constantly review the textbooks but show little improvement. Teachers do not have access to other educational material to enrich their teaching. Gradually the teachers lose their interest in teaching.

Benefits
1. Textbooks will not be the only books students have access to and they will have more books to read. Thus students will have more interest in studying.
2. Access to more reading materials will improve students’ literacy skills and give them a better chance to do well on their entrance exams. Also, if students have access to more reading material, they will have a better chance to learn more about other places and people, helping students have a better understanding of this world.
3. Families will not need to worry about not being able to buy books for their children and students in the school can read books continuously.
4. If the students have access to books in the school, then they will not need to walk to Rebgong county town in order to buy books. Also, parents will not need to worry about their children’s safety.
5.Teachers will have more access to teaching material to enrich their lessons. Teachers will also be more motivated to plan interesting lessons, which will lead to better teaching. Also, if students are more interested in going to school this will make teachers more motivated to teach in Niandu School.

Beneficiaries
This book project will directly benefit 188 students and teachers from the school and it will indirectly benefit about 1500people, including the people in Lhaka village.

Gender equality
Generally in my area, the boys can study in a monastery during the holiday time but girls cannot join the monastery to study. This project will balance this current gender inequality by providing access to books for both boys and girls.
Also I, as the project manager of this book project, will encourage girls to study hard and serve as a good role model for girls. Villagers often look down on girls and they do not think girls are able to accomplish these kinds of project. If this project is completed then villagers’ opinions about girls might change, and this project might bring a new perspective on women in the village.

Government support
In July 2008, the project manager talked about this project with the village leader, Chenpal. Both of us had a meeting with a local government leader, Renchen. He gave me full permission to go forward with this project and encouraged me to do it.

The steps of project
1. Held a meeting with all the teachers to discuss the problems of the school. (Done)
2. Asked school leader and other teachers about possible solution for the project. (Done)
3. Collected information about the school. (Done)
4. Asked both teachers and students what kinds of books do they need. (Done)
5. Found out the books’ price. (Done)
6. Figured out the transportation fee. (Done)
7. Write a proposal. (Done)
8. Funds received.
9. Buy books from Xinghua bookstore.
10.Transport the books.
11.Distribute the books to school.
12.Hold a meeting in the school to discuss the sustainability of the book project.
13.Take pictures of books when project is completed.
14.Write final report and send it to the donor with pictures.

Time frame
This project will take around 8 days
2 days: buy the books from Xinghua bookstore in Xining city, Qinghai Province.
3 days: transport the books from Xining to Rebgong County and distribute the books for the Niandu School. Hold a meeting with villagers, teachers and students how to protect the books. Take photos of the book project.
3 days: write the final report.

Project Budget

Donor Contribution is 3090.4 RMB

Local contribution: 610 (One teacher and two students will volunteer be librarian. They will responsible to manage library running successful.)

Sustainability
Firstly, I as the project manager will ensure the books purchased are of good quality. Additionally, the teachers and students will work together to take responsibility of the books. The books will be stored in the school at the school library. When the books are distributed, teachers will make a schedule and let students to borrow books every day. Also, the school librarian, book manager and teachers will enforce strong rules for both teachers and students to follow when they need to borrow the books. If any one loses or damages a book, he or she will need to pay for the book’s replacement. Finally, if any of the library staff members are found to be neglectful of their duties, new library staff will be chosen.

Map of the project location

Photos of Niandu School

These are the current textbooks on the school bookshelf.

This is where students want to read books. These are the current textbooks on the school bookshelf.

All these books are texts books from grade one to grade six.

This is one of the classrooms in Niandu School.

This is Niandu School gate.

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 7^th 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 18^th 2009, the project manager purchased the books and transport them to Dorning Primary School.

8) July 21^st, 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 22^nd 2009, took photos and had a meeting with the students.
10) July 23^rd,2009, the project manager started to write the final report.
Project finances

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

22^nd 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

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

This Project is to buy 523 books, 322 Chinese books and 201 Tibetan books for Xinzhai School’s library so that students could use their spare time wisely by reading various interesting books to expand their general knowledge.

Arizona Friends of Tibet and Shem’s private donors funded this project

Gasong Lhamo is from Xinzhai Village, Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province in China. She is currently working on her BA in the English Training Program (ETP) at Qinghai Normal University.

What?To provide 523 books for Xinzhai School in Xinzhai Village. 635 students and 39 teachers directly benefit from this project and more than 500 households get benefit indirectly from this project.
Who? Xinzhai School in Xinzhai Village, Jiegu Township, Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China

Photos of the project implementation

The above two pictures show us transporting the books to the library and unpacking them.

After the books were transported to the school, the headmaster, the teachers and the students are putting the books on the newly arranged bookshelves.

The above photos show the students enjoying the new books.

The above photos show the teacher and the headmaster discussing the new books, while the students read the new books with great joy and excitement.

In the picture is school library manager，she is going to be responsible for this library. She will sign up the students who borrow books from the library. While we put the books in the bookshelves, she signed all the names of the books because that could help her to manage the library well.

The school headmaster was looking at the new books from the project with the students.

Project Summery

Project Title: Book Project for Xinzhai School

Project Goal: The immediate goal of this project is to buy 523 books of 322 Chinese books and 201 Tibetan books, for Xinzhai School’s library. The overarching goal of this project is to support for the use of the students’ spare time wisely by providing access to books that will expand their general knowledge.

Project location: This project is located in Xinzhai Village, Jiegu Township, Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. Xinzhai Village is about 3 km away from Jiegu Township. It is southwest of Xining, the capital city of Qinghai Province. There are about 879 km between Xining and the project location.

Total beneficiaries: 635 students and 39 teachers directly benefit from this project, and more than 500 households get benefit indirectly from this project.

Implementation organization/individual: Project manager Ghasong Lhamo, the school head master Gengsong Nyema, Library manager Den Zen Cho Sgrun, the teachers of Xinzhai School, the students of Xinzhai School and Shem Women’s Group.

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group.

Funds received: Source, Amount and Date received
Shem Women’s Group distributed 6,371 rmb which is 80% of the funds to the project manager on July 18^th, 2009. The project manager will get 20% of the funds from Shem Women’s Group after she finished the project.

Details of project activities

1.        Contacted the school leader and discussed the project.

2.        Requested the school leader to hold a meeting with the teachers and students to identify the kinds of books are needed and who would be             responsible for the sustainability of the project and how the project could be sustainable.

3.        Went to a bookstore to check with the book prices.

4.        Determined the transportation fee for delivering the books.

5.        Wrote the proposal.

6.        Secured funds

7.        Project funds were received from Arizona Friends of Tibet on July 13^th, 2009.

8.        On July 14^th, 2009, a meeting was held with School Headmaster to decide a good time to go to Xining to purchase the books.

9.        On July 15^th, 2009 equipment (desks, chairs and bookshelf) for the library was prepared.

10.    On July 16^th, 2009, the project manager traveled to Xining for getting the funds from the managing group, Shem Women’s Group.

11.    On July18th, 2009 the project manager received Arizona Friends of Tibet’s donation, which was distributed by Shem Women’s Group.

12.    On July 19^th, 2009, the project manager went to the Xining Bookstore to purchase all of the 523 books for 7,237.6 rmb. She also scheduled an appropriate time for transporting the books to the project location in Yushu County.

13.    On July 20^th, 2009, Teacher Senzhu transported all of the books to the Xining Bus Station.

14.    On August 5^th, 2009, the project manager transported the books to Xinzhai Village, Jiegu Township, Yushu County, Yushu Autonomous Prefecture,     Qinghai Province.

15.    On August 11^th, 2009, the School Headmaster, teachers and the students transported all of the books to the school library.

16.    Took pictures.

17.    Started to work on the final report

Project Finance

All figures are in rmb.

*+10.2rmb is left from the project manage expenses and the project manager needed less money for managing than originally planned so 10.2rmb is left from the donor contribution.
*Many of the book titles are changed, and the project manager couldn’t find the original books as listed in the proposal. So the number of the books is also changed, and the project manager brought 523 books, which is 24 more books than what we originally proposed.
In the proposal, I wrote that Teacher Abo would be responsible for the library. Since he retired from the school, there is a new library manager, Den Zen Cho Sgrun. The headmaster also decided that each homeroom teacher would be responsible for the books that are borrowed by their students. The multiple levels of responsibility for the books could promote greater sustainability of this book project.

Difficulties and lesson learned
Difficulties
It was very difficult for the project manager to finish the project on time. The project manager received the funds on July 13^th, 2009, and she bought the
books on July 19^th, 2009. However, she was not able to deliver the books to the Xinzhai School library until August 5^th, 2009, because on July 20^th, 2009 the project manager had to go to Huangzhong for joining a teacher’s training. Thus, the project manager asked one of the teachers from Xinzhai School to transport all the books to Xining bus station and stored there. After the project manager finished her training, she only herself delivered the books to Xinzhai School, but the school was having five days holiday at the time when project manager arrived, so she had to wait for five days to get the books to school.

Lessons learned
The project manager has learned many things by implementing this project. She thinks it is very important to consider everything very carefully when doing a project. She had to try to identify all the problems that she might encounter as she is implementing the project. For example, when the School Headmaster and the project manager were determining when we should purchase the books, he pointed out that it was very difficult for the school to provide a teacher to help the project manager to purchase books in Xining because the teacher cannot be absent from his classes. At that time, the project manager immediately agreed that she would go to Xining and purchase the books by herself. But when she got to Xining, purchasing more than five hundred books is not an easy thing to do. Also, after she finished purchasing the books, she had to go to Huangzhong for a teacher’s training. So she had to call the headmaster and discuss the new problem. Fortunately, at that time Teacher Senzhu had come to Xining for her training and she helped the project manager transport the books to Xining bus station. Then in August 5^th, the project manager transported the books from Xining bus Station to Yushu County. Although she solved that problem, she thinks it is really important to carefully plan and write schedules before making any decisions.

Thank you letter

Receipts

#1

The receipt for all the books and it cost 7,237.6.

#2

This is the transportation fee for delivering books, it cost 400rmb.

#3

These are the transportation fees for the project manager to go the project site (Yushu) and came back to Xining and it is 316.6Rmb in total.

Original Proposal

Project Location
This project is located in Xinzhai Village, Jiegu Township, Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province in China. Xinzhai Village is about 3 km away from Jiegu Township. It is to the southwest of Xining City, which is the capital city of Qinghai Province. From Xining, it is about 879 km to the project location.

School Background
Xinzhai School was established in the 1980s. There are approximately 635 students (298 girls and 337 boys) and 39 teachers (23 men, 16 women); all the students are Tibetan. Formerly this was just a primary school, but in 2003 it changed into both primary and junior middle school. So the children can study 5 years as primary school and 3 years as middle school. In total, they study in this school for eight years. Xinzhai School is the only school in Xinzhai Village. More than half of the students are from Xinzhai Village. The rest are from Zhisang Village and Ganda Village because these two villages only have 5 or 6 households and therefore there are no schools in these two villages. Teachers are trying their best to help the students, but the students in this village still can’t compare with the well-equipped schools’ students in Yushu County town, especially since the school’s study and review material resources are limited. When the students attend senior high school in Yushu County town, they can’t even catch up with the teacher’s lessons, because their general knowledge is very weak. This causes the students to lose the confidence to learn more. So the improvement of school resources is of special significance to Xinzhai School. For the primary school students, the teachers are teaching Tibetan, Chinese, math, and English. For the middle school students, they teach physics, chemistry, Chinese, politics, Tibetan, English, math and history.

Population
Xinzhai Village is composed of six small groups and there are approximately 2,189 people from 438 households in Xinzhai Village. Among the total population of this village, there are 953 men, 750 women, and 486 children.

Education
In this village, 80% of the villagers know how to read and write Tibetan, because both men and women carve Tibetan scriptures on stones called Mani-stones. They villagers carve Mani-stones almost everyday. So gradually the villagers learn to speak and write Tibetan by carving Mani-stones. Only 40% of the villagers can write and read Chinese, which is not included in the school curriculum. In this village, there are 598 students who currently going to primary school, high school, and colleges, among them 232 students are girls and 366 are boys. 456 students attend primary school, (257 are boys and 199 are girls). 129 students attend in middle school (76 are boys and 53 are girls). Only 13 students are studying in college (8 boys and 5 girls.). Compared to other villages in this area, this village is very isolated from the outside world because the students do not have access to much information from other sources. The school also can not provide many current and temporary world information. Most of the villagers send their children to study in primary school. After the children graduate from the local primary school, parents ask their children to stay at home and carve Mani-stones and make money to support their families because the children are big enough to do such things.

Cash Income
Basically for Xinzhai Village, there are two ways that the local villagers can earn money. The first way to make money is to carve Mani-stones. Usually two or three people in each family are carving Mani-stone and they make around 2,000 to 3,000rmb in per year. Xinzhai villagers carve Six-sacred-syllables “Om Mani Pedme Hum,” images of deities, great adepts and otherTibetan texts or scriptures on smooth stone plates or rocks. Other pilgrims who come to visit the well-known Mani Heap, will buy these Mani-stones for good luck. Therefore Xinzhai villagers’ income is depended on it.
The Second way to earn cash income is to dig caterpillar fungus which is a kind of medical herb grown on high sea leveled mountains. Generally, each caterpillar fungus can be sold for 10 to 20rmb. The villagers usually need to go to a different county which will take three and half hours to get there. Recently, as the price of caterpillar fungus is raising, those counties only allow their local people to dig caterpillar fungus, and charge outsiders high taxes to dig caterpillar fungus on their land. Usually each person has to pay 3,000rmb for the tax. But there are still some families that go to dig caterpillar fungus during May. They come back in late June and each family can earn around 800rmb per year digging caterpillar fungus. Therefore most of the villagers think that carving Mani-stone is better than digging caterpillar fungus.
Averagely each family earns 6,000 to 7,000rmb per year. They need to spend pretty much around 4,500rmb on food, buying the stones for carving Mani stones, clothes, and school tuition fee for their children. Moreover they need to spend a relatively large amount of money on preparing for theTibetan New Year. This cost is around 2,000rmb to 2,500rmb. Therefore, in this case the villagers do not have any savings each year.

Agriculture
Xinzhai Village is an agricultural village, and there is no herding in the village, each family used to own 3-4 mu of field and they often only grow potatoes and barley. However from 2004, the local government decided to plan trees in the fields instead of growing crops and every year at the autumn, the government pay around 500rmb to 1,000rmb according to amount of lands the each family owns as a compensation for the loss their lands. At the present, each household just owns 1mu or 2mu to the farming lands which can not produce enough food to support their own families because of less land and limited rain recently. 80% of the households in this village abandoned their fields. Beside growing barley, the villagers also grow some potatoes in their yard. Every year the villagers can get around 700-800jin of barley and very few amount of potatoes.

The Project Goals
The immediate goal of this project is to buy 499 books, 309 Chinese books and 190 Tibetan books for Xinzhai School’s library. The overarching goal of this project is to use the students’ spare time wisely by reading various interesting books to expand their general knowledge.

Beneficiaries: 635 students and 39 teachers will directly get benefit from this project and more than 450 households will indirectly get benefit from this project.

Problems
1) Less Interest in Studying
In Xianzhai School, the students can only learn from the books which are provided by the school. Because of the lack of other books besides the textbooks, the school teachers hardly find any related books and visual books to help the students to understand the lessons thoroughly. Therefore the teachers must always talk in the class and give more and more explanations in order to let the students understand the lesson better. As time goes by, the students slowly get bored of having lecture classes. Obviously it causes many problems, such as the students skip classes very often and do not do their homework. All these problems are caused by the students have less and less interest in the classes.
2) Limited Knowledge of Outside World
Since Xianzhai School doesn’t have many reading books, the students are unable to get other reading books to expand their general knowledge. It is hard for the students to know what the world’s current important events are. For example, when the students encounter some problems and tough situations, they just do not have any ideas about how to solve the problems. This is because the students are isolated from modern society.
3) More Students Drop out of School
The University Entrance Examination is the biggest exam in China. It is also the most important turning point in one’s life. But since the students’ basic knowledge is not so strong, when they go to high school in Yushu County town, they can not compete with the students who come from well-equipped schools. Some of the students can’t even catch up with the lessons in high school. Obviously, when they are taking the entrance exams, they lack the general background knowledge of the world necessary to understand the context of the exam questions. As a consequence, the number of the students to pass the University Entrance Examination is very low. Each year, there is only one or two to pass this big exam.
4) Increase Family burdens
Society is full of competition in many ways, especially getting into good universities. In order to catch up with the students in well-equipped schools in Yushu County town, the school has realized that it is very essential to find out some extra materials or books to offer for the students to improve their knowledge. However they couldn’t find any other solution except to increase school tuition. Therefore, it becomes very difficult and a heavy burden for the parents since they couldn’t earn enough money for their living.

Benefits
1) Raise Interest in Studying
If there are books and other various studying materials, then the teachers could use the useful and updated studying resources to help the students to gain better understanding of the lessons. It will definitely help the class to be more active and the students to be more interested in attending the class.
2) Connected with the Outside World
If this project happens, there will be more books and the students can gain fresh and new information about what is going on in the outside world. As a result their views as well as their general knowledge will be expanded outside of the views of their textbooks.
3) More Students Attend School
If the school resourses improve, it is likely that more students will pass important exams, and go to better schools. The villagers will then know that they didn’t work in vain. After the students graduate from better schools, they will have access to better outside jobs. It will directly improve family incomes and conditions. Then, more parents will send their children to school. They will realize the importance of the education.
4) Decrease Family Burdens
If this project provides the books like study materials and so on, then the school does not need to increase school tuition fee, and the family burdens will be reduced.

Gender Equality
If this project is funded, it will mostly benefit girls because, in home area, parents think that it is useless to send girls to school. Instead, they always send the boys to school. Therefore the girls, who are attending school, always put a lot of effort on their study. However, it will not make much difference if the resources are limited in school. If the school has good study materials to offer the students, they’ll use these resourses to help them improve their studies; girls, especially, will use these to learn more because they want to show their parents that it is worthwhile to send them to school.

Governmental Support
The project manager, Gasong Lhamo has talked to the school leader, Gheng Song on September 10^th 2008 about this project; he was very impressed with the project manager’s motivation of writing a book proposal for their school. He was very supportive gave full permission for preceding with this project.

The Steps of Project
1.Contact the school leader and discuss the project. (Done)
2.Request that the school leader to hold a meeting with the teachers and students to identify the kinds of books needed and who will be responsible for the sustainability of the project.(Done)
3.Go to bookstore to find out the price of the books.(Done)
4.Find out the transportation fee. (Done)
5.Write the proposal. (Done)
6.Secure donor’s funds
7.Purchase the books from Xining bookstore in Xining City, Qinghai Province.
8.Transport the books to Xinzhai School.
9.Carry the books to the school library and make sure the quantity of books.
10.Interview the teachers and the students and photograph the materials as the books are housed and used.
11.Visit some families and randomly interview some parents to check the progress and different in use of students’ leisure time that this project brought.
12.Write final report and send it to donor.

Timeframe
This project will take 25 days after the project is approved.
7 days for purchasing the books in Xining City bookstore.
9 days for transporting the books from Xining to Yushu town.
2 days for transporting the books from Yushu Town to Xinzhai Village.
7 days for distributing the books to the school and takeing photos to prepae the final report.

Project Budget

Sustainability
The books will be purchased from Xining bookstore, which is the most well known bookstore in Xining City. Also, the store guarantees a return policy for at least 15 days. Therefore, we can exchange books that are not helpful to the students. In addition, the school has arranged for some middle school students to make sure that the students are returning the books on time if they borrow them. A teacher called Abou is going to be responsible for the library. For these reasons, this project will be sustainable and because all of the beneficiaries have hoped to have a library for long time, they made a promise that they will take care of the books like their own books.

Map of the project location

Purchase 15 computers, 1 copy machine, 1 digital camera, 1 campus radio and 1 pickup camera to Lake Primary School; and improve school’s condition and at the same time motivate students’ study interests and increase the school enrolment.

Asia Foundation and Shem’s private donors funded this project

Limao Cairang is from Xunhua County, Haidong Region, Qinghai Province, China. She graduated from Qinghai Normal University English Training Program in January 2008, and she is currently working as one of the program directors in Shem Women’s Group.

What? To provide 10 computers, 1 copy machine, 1 campus radio, and 1 pickup camera to Lake Primary School to improve school’s condition and at the same time motivate students’ study interests and increase the school enrolment.
Who? Lake Primary School in Lake Village, Rdo Sbis Township, Xunhua County, Haidong Region, Qinghai Province, China

Photos of project implementation

On April 21^st, the project manager Lumo Tsering went to the project location to had meeting with the school leaders again to emphasize the importance of project sustainability. 

The computers were transported to Lake School by lunch time from Xining and whole school teachers and students were waiting to load the computers. 

The teachers and students from Lake School help the skilled men to load the computers components.

Only the biggest students are allowed to help the skilled men to get the computer components to the computer room, because teachers were afraid that the young ones will accidently break them. Therefore the older students happily take the small ones to the computer room.

The skilled men install the computers in the computer room under teacher’s help.

When the computers arrived to the school, the school cleaned their computer room well and prepared the desk and chairs and 10 computers are put in the computer room.

After the computers are installed, the teachers asked the skilled men to test one computer to see if there are any problems. The computer in the picture is the one near the electrical outlet, so they text this one and it works very well.

The man in the picture is the school leader and after the project manager handed him the pickup camera, he opens the camera box to see how to use it.

After the computers were installed, the teachers were asking the skilled men to connect the copy machine with their computers and also teach them how to use it properly.

The teachers were helping the skilled men to tie the column loudspeaker of campus radio at the top of building. They decided to tie it to this building, so the students can hear very clearly.

These are the inside components of campus radio, the timing player, power amplifier, DVD and also there are two radio microphones.

The school asked the project manager Lumo Tsering to have a picture in the computer room before the computers and the two men in the picture are the lake school leader and the Township educational leader. The students hold the papers with 8 Chinese characters “Shem Women’s Group thank you very much” 

This picture is after the project is completed. All the students stand around the project manager lumo Tsering who stands in the middle. The students at the back hold the letters which say “Shem Women’s Grou thank you very much”

Project summary

Project title: Computer Project for Lake Primary School

Project goals: to provide 10 computers, 1 copy machine, 1 campus radio and 1 pickup camera to Lake Primary School. This is to improve school’s condition and at the same time motivate students’ study interests and increase the school enrolment.

Project Location: This project is located in Lake Primary School in Lake Village, Rdo Sbis Township, which is about 30 kilometers from Xunhua County Town in the southwest of Xunhua County.  Lake Village is about 180 kilometers away from Xining, the capital city of Qinghai province. Xunhua County is a Salar Autonomous County and is situated in Haidong Region, Qinghai Province, China.

Total beneficiaries: This computer project directly benefits approximately 140 students and teachers in Lake Primary School. Approximately 1323 villagers from the six villages where the students are from indirectly get benefit.

Implementation organization/individual: Lumo Tsering (Project manager), Project committee (Dengo{School leader}, Lego(chief director), Juoba Tsering(male teacher), Yangmo(female teacher), Lumo(female teacher) and Shem Women’s group.

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Funds received: Source, Amount, and Date Received
Lumo Tsering received 37,200rmb from Shem Women’s Group on April 25^th 2009.

Details of project activities

1.        Discussed the problems of the school with the teachers, and decide what can be done to alleviate these problems.

2.        Visited the school to collect information about and for the project.

3.        Discussed with the teachers the best way to make the computer project sustainable.

4.        Asked the school leader to get official permission to carry out the project from our county leader.

5.        Took pictures of the school conditions.

6.        Talked to the students about how much they know about computers and why they want it.

7.        Figured out the price of materials in Xining.

8.        Chose Dengo(School leader), Lego(chief director), Juoba Tsering(male teacher), Yangmo(female teacher) and , Lumo(female teacher) to be          members of the project committee and be responsible for the materials.

9.        Wrote project proposal.

10.    Fund is received.

11.    Went the Xining electronic market to check the price of the materials again

12.    Collected the local contribution from the school.

13.    Held a meeting with the school teacher to emphasize the importance of being responsible.

14.    Purchased computer and other materials from Xining and transport them to the school.

15.    Installed the computer in the computer room and ask the skilled man to explain the usage of the other materials.

16.    Transported the campus radio to the school.

17.    Installed the campus radio in the school yard

18.    Took picture of the project

19.    Interviewed the teachers and students to gauge the success of the project.

20.    wrote final report

Project Finances

The Asia Foundation contributed 14,534 Rmb and the Shem’s private donor contributed 21,766 Rmb for the project. In original proposal the total cash budget is 42,400 rmb. The project manger Lumo tsering received 37,200 rmb from Shem Women’s Group and received 5000 rmb from local people, so in total she received 42,200 rmb for this project.

*Note 1: The project manager brought the computers from a man who she usually works with, so Lumo Tsering(project manager) got cheaper price for the 10 computers.

*Note 2: The project manager arranged with the computer man about the transportation fee and finally both of them agreed to include the two times transportation fee in computer price, so 700 transportation fees was saved.

*Note 3: In Original budget, the donor contribution is 37200 and the local school cash contribution is 5200rmb, but the project manager only get 5000rmb from the school. In local 5000 rmb, only 4406rmb was spent for this project, so there are 594rmb left from school contribution. And in donor contribution, 35800 rmb was spent and there are 1400 rmb left. So in total there are 1994 rmb left from this project.

Delays, Difficulties, and lessons learned

Delays
The starting date for the project was delayed for several months, because firstly the school was having winter holiday when the project was funded, and it is hard to ask the teachers to come to the school when the school is off, so the project manager couldn’t implement the project until after March. Secondly, the project manager Lumo tsering needed to go to Sweden on March 14^th to attend a training which took one and half month and because she was very busy preparing for the training, she couldn’t implement the project right after the school started and also not until she came back from Sweden. Thirdly, because the skilled men didn’t know the size of school yard, so they couldn’t transport the campus radio when they transport the computers to school. So the complete date of project was delayed for one week.

Difficulties
Under the support from school and project committee, the project manger Lumo Tsering didn’t meet any serious problems. However, the project manager encountered several small problems. Firstly, because Project manger didn’t know much about the price of computers and other equipment, she went to the electronic market for several times and asked almost all the stores to see the price of the computers and other equipment. Secondly, because the project manager is now working, so she always needed to ask for day off in order to go the project location to oversee the project implementation. So it somehow affects her work and it was also hard for her to travel to the project location in the morning and come back to Xining in the evening. Also since the skilled men talk very quickly when they explain the usages, Lumo tsering need to explain to the teachers again and again and needed to be kind of translator, so she needed to make sure that she was there every time when the skilled men is explaining something.

Lesson learnt
During the implementing of the computer project, one thing which the project manger learnt was that it is very important to meet the project target group personally, in that way it will be very clear about what they need and how one can help. Also by meeting with the target group, one can avoid misunderstanding, because the project manager and target group can always explain to each other and make sure they understand each other.

The project manger also learnt that it is very important to clear all things before the project. Even though sometimes we need to say something which is not very nice to hear about, it is better to clear it out before the project. For example, the project manager told the school teachers and if any of the computers were lost, then they need to replace it by themselves and also asked them to write guarantee latter. In that way if some problem occurred after the project, then it is very clear for both the teachers and project manager who need to be responsible for the project afterward.

Also if there are any changes about project, then the project manager should communicate with the target group why there are changes and why we need to change the original plan. In that way, both groups will be very clear about the project after and there won’t be any problems or misunderstanding.

Addition to that, it is always good to explain to the target group why are we collecting local contribution from the them, in that way, they will know that it is not only donor’s project, it is also their project to which they have contributed, so in the future they will take the project as their own not the donors, and if there is any problems, then they will manage to solve it.

Interviews  

Teacher Gongbo Tsering and teacher Lumo
They are teachers in Lake School now and both of them have being in the school for almost 9 years, They said, “we really like the school and have trying our best to teach the students, and the students in the school also try very hard to study. So last year, when the Township educational bureau compares the study result of all the primary school, our school was the second one which almost catches up with the best primary school at the Township. All the teachers were very happy with the result. However, because our school lacks the equipments that other schools have, so we couldn’t help the students as much as we want. Students need to go to the Township middle school after their graduation and at that time, they won’t catch up with students from the Township schools, because we had no computers and they didn’t get any of classes related to computer. But now the students in this school are luckily enough that the school has those new computers. So we would try our best to teach the students and would make sure they learn what needed to be learnt” Teacher Gongbo Tsering didn’t talk much, but he smiled when teacher lumo was talking.

Teacher Lego
He is the chief director if the school and also is one of the members of project committee. He talked to the project manager a lot about the problems that they had before, and the most interest one he said is that “we have a printer and every time before the exam, the teachers need to make exam paper and because the printer is so slow, we need to be with the printer whole day to make sure we got the exam paper correctly. If we just leave for a second, then the printer machine would stop. Also sometimes, when the machine stops we need to hit the top part, then it would work properly for a while. However, last time when teacher lumo was using the machine, it didn’t print the papers and no matter now hard she hit the machine, the paper didn’t come out. So she was very angry and said that machine discriminate the female teachers. But now with the new machine, we can finish print the exam paper in few second and it really saved lots of our times. We are very happy that we don’t need to hit the machine any more and don’t need to be with it for whole day”

The youngest students in the school
They are the youngest students in the school and were having the class outside when the project manager arrived to the school. The project manager asked them about whether they know what is computer and how much do they know about using computer. They said they all know what is computer which surprised the project manager, then when the project manager asked them how do they know what is computer, then they said their teacher showed the only one computer in the office to them just few days ago and said they will have more computers after few days. They also said they don’t know any thing about using a computer, and confidently said that they will know how to use it if the teachers teach them how to use it. Then the project manger told them that they should study hard and learn more about computer, because computer can do lots of things.

Male students in the school yard
The project manager also talked to those students in the picture and they said they need to come to school very early in the morning, because their homes are very far away from the school. Then when project manager talked to them about how much do they know about computers, they become very excited and some of them said, “it is the machine that can show movies”, and others said, “my brother go there to chat with his friends.” Then the project manager told them that it can do lots of things, include chat with your friends and also watch the movies, but there are lots of other things the computer do and asked them whether they want to learn. They answered very loudly, “Yes, we would like to learn” and the project manager guess it is the way they answer the questions during the class.

Letters from the school

(1)Letter of appreciation

The translation of thanks Letter

Dear Shem Women’s Group and the Asia Foundation,

Greetings!

Firstly, on behalf of all the teachers and students we would like to say thank you, for your generous donation to our school.

Since the establishment of our school, the school gets the concerns from higher levels officials and the local community. Under their support, our school made progress some with educational development. However, since the school is located in the remote valley where the transportation is very inconvenient and information is lacked, it created a great obstacle for school’s development. Therefore, your donation for this time is very huge, the things are very precious and all the equipments are much needed for the school. And it is definitely a great break through of our school with educational teaching equipment. It provides a great opportunity for the teachers to change the old traditional ways of teaching and could motivate the students to learn in new way. So it promoted the technology information, educational methods of our school.

In this very important moment, your donation is a great support and encouragement to our school. So once again all the teachers and students would like to say thank you and hope all have healthy and successful year!

Lake School

April 28^th 2009

(2) Guarantee letter for the project

The translation of school’s Guarantee Letter

Guarantee letter

With the donation from Shem Women’s group, our school has brought computers and other teaching equipments which totally cost about forty thousand rmb, and for the long term sustainability of the project, our school set up a project committee, and the members are Dengo{School leader}, Lego(chief director), Juoba Tsering(male teacher), Yangmo(female teacher) and , Lumo(female teacher), and we guarantee to Shem Women’s Group the followings:

1.        User the equipment properly. Try our best to use the computers to the class to create great atmosphere for both teachers and students.

2.        We would rather use the computers until is break, not leave the computer to broke. All the teachers will help the students to use the computers well.