Gambia volunteer project: Early childhood development
Click here to enquire about or book this project!
Basic information
Country: The Gambia
Price: From £1,085 (4 weeks) based on self catering apartment. Each additional week £145.
Description: Help develop a pioneering Early Childhood Development training and resource centre in the Gambia - the country's first ECD resource. Live and work in one of the friendliest countries in Africa!
Included in the price: accommodation, airport transfers, full local orientation, city tour, social event, weekend hike, local SIM card, project & placement liaison
Your project donation will be used for the purchase of essential equipment and teaching aids. Previous donations have been used to purchase training equipment and aids and educational toys.
How your money is spent based on 4 weeks
£365 - direct costs in The Gambia (airport transfers, accommodation, orientation, information packs)
£320 - project management & supervision in The Gambia
£200 - project donation in The Gambia
£200 - recruitment, matching & project development in UK
Not included: flights, insurance, visa costs, daily travel if needed, personal expenses such as phone calls, medical expenses, etc.
What will I be doing on this project?
Based on your skills, you will be helping with the implementation of a pioneering Early Childhood Development programme and work towards the goals set by the Early Childhood Development Resource Centre (ECDR) to provide: "an environment that nurtures children, provides for child friendly settings, appropriate childcare practices, and ensure holistic child development, thus securing a generation of adults that have developed in a holistic manner to sustain and maintain good governance, productivity and peace in the future."
The Early Childhood Development Centre would welcome the following skills and volunteer input:
Country: The Gambia
Price: From £1,085 (4 weeks) based on self catering apartment. Each additional week £145.
Description: Help develop a pioneering Early Childhood Development training and resource centre in the Gambia - the country's first ECD resource. Live and work in one of the friendliest countries in Africa!
Included in the price: accommodation, airport transfers, full local orientation, city tour, social event, weekend hike, local SIM card, project & placement liaison
Your project donation will be used for the purchase of essential equipment and teaching aids. Previous donations have been used to purchase training equipment and aids and educational toys.
How your money is spent based on 4 weeks
£365 - direct costs in The Gambia (airport transfers, accommodation, orientation, information packs)
£320 - project management & supervision in The Gambia
£200 - project donation in The Gambia
£200 - recruitment, matching & project development in UK
Not included: flights, insurance, visa costs, daily travel if needed, personal expenses such as phone calls, medical expenses, etc.
What will I be doing on this project?
Based on your skills, you will be helping with the implementation of a pioneering Early Childhood Development programme and work towards the goals set by the Early Childhood Development Resource Centre (ECDR) to provide: "an environment that nurtures children, provides for child friendly settings, appropriate childcare practices, and ensure holistic child development, thus securing a generation of adults that have developed in a holistic manner to sustain and maintain good governance, productivity and peace in the future."
The Early Childhood Development Centre would welcome the following skills and volunteer input:
- ECD professionals
- curriculum development
- training programme design
- training implementation
- brochure and print resource development
- creative play development
- child counsellors
- arts and crafts teachers
- classroom management
- bid writing - to facilitate accreditation
- sharing ideas with local teachers about maximising available free resources and low cost items would be invaluable.
Dianne, Lisong & workshop participants
Teachers learning to play skipping games
"I’m realising that Lisong is right when she says the important thing is to train new teachers and raise the quality of the children’s experiences in the classroom, and that you don’t need expensive resources to do that. I’m coming to realise that donating things is a waste of money, the important thing is to raise the quality of teachers." - Volunteer Dianne 2009
What is this project all about?
The Early Childhood Development Resource Centre (ECDR) is the vision of Mrs Lisong Bah, a Gambian educator who has worked as an ECD educator and programme coordinator first for Unicef and then for Christian Children’s Fund (CCF).
Nursery schooling in The Gambia covers a higher age range than in the UK as children do't start school until they are seven or nearly eight years old, and Gambian pre-schools therefore care for children between the ages of 2 to 8.
Facilities vary greatly - from good to barely non-existent. Some schools have links or sponsors from overseas who provide equipment and maybe send visitors to provide occasional training. Many others have as many as 50 to a class, with only one member of staff and when he or she is absent, they just have to double up with another class as there is no supply teaching facility available. There is little or nothing in the way of equipment apart from pencils and chalk, most of the learning is by rote and some classroom walls are completely bare. At the moment, nursery teachers who have completed the only ECD course at Gambia College are paid as unqualified teachers, earning only 750 dalasi a month, which is about £22. A meaningful and accredited ECD programme will mean higher rates of pay and in turn attract the best teachers.
There are no educational equipment suppliers, early learning centres or large toy shops in The Gambia. Basic items like sugar paper and paper fasteners (attaches-parisiennes) are impossible to find. Children have so little opportunity for learning through play.
Pre-schools are not government funded and school fees are 100 Dalasi (about £2.80) per term per child in most village schools - so there is precious little to spend on equipment. Where there are resources there is often little knowledge as to how to use them creatively.
This is the background against which Lisong is setting up her Early Childhood Development Resource Centre.
"Two cameos will remain etched in my memory; one sad – a teacher sharpening the children’s pencils with a razor blade and then cutting the one pencil rubber into four pieces to share out amongst the class of 40; the other took place on the north coast in an empty school playground during the workshop we were holding. I took the elastic game with me and I have a photo of the headmaster, teachers and the regional education leader all jumping about and joining in. I do hope they have been able to share it with the children."
Joan Belshaw - volunteer - 2009
How does this project make a difference?
Giving back to the destination
80% of your fee reaches the host country! Each project is costed individually, you can find the details at the top of this page. the project will show not only how your money is spent, but also where it is spent – which is perhaps even more important. This project assumes that you want the vast majority of your money to be spent with your hosts, not in the UK!
Furthermore, we give you the opportunity to give straight back to community projects in the destination through our partner, TravelPledge. This means that whatever you wish to donate to specific projects in the destination will go directly there.
Teaching students, teaching teachers
Early childhood care and development has become part of the basic education title in The Gambia, given the importance of the early years development for children. The education policy (2004-2015) acknowledges the importance of these early years, and the department of state for education has developed linkages with other governments, NGOs and local authorities and local communities to promote an integrated approach to ECD. Since ECD is largely provided by the private sector, affordability becomes an issue and poses a major constraint for poor households. The problem becomes more pronounced in the rural areas where poverty is more acute and where the traditional practice of leaving children in the care of siblings or grandparents, or having children accompanying their mothers to the farm or other work places still remains the dominant practice for early childhood care.
You will be helping the programme develop through teaching the skills that you have to offer to Gambian teachers and educators, but also will teach the children at the Early Childhood Development centres. This will allow the sustainability of the project, but will also provide opportunities for educators to learn skills they would not normally have the possibility to learn subsequently benefiting the children that they teach.
Empowerement
You will work effectively for local communities, this project works with local people – they work in full and open partnership with responsible and professional teams who have close links to their own communities. You will be working with local people not replacing local labour to help them build the future they want for themselves.
Where is it?
The Early Childhood Development Resource Centre (ECDR) is the vision of Mrs Lisong Bah, a Gambian educator who has worked as an ECD educator and programme coordinator first for Unicef and then for Christian Children’s Fund (CCF).
Nursery schooling in The Gambia covers a higher age range than in the UK as children do't start school until they are seven or nearly eight years old, and Gambian pre-schools therefore care for children between the ages of 2 to 8.
Facilities vary greatly - from good to barely non-existent. Some schools have links or sponsors from overseas who provide equipment and maybe send visitors to provide occasional training. Many others have as many as 50 to a class, with only one member of staff and when he or she is absent, they just have to double up with another class as there is no supply teaching facility available. There is little or nothing in the way of equipment apart from pencils and chalk, most of the learning is by rote and some classroom walls are completely bare. At the moment, nursery teachers who have completed the only ECD course at Gambia College are paid as unqualified teachers, earning only 750 dalasi a month, which is about £22. A meaningful and accredited ECD programme will mean higher rates of pay and in turn attract the best teachers.
There are no educational equipment suppliers, early learning centres or large toy shops in The Gambia. Basic items like sugar paper and paper fasteners (attaches-parisiennes) are impossible to find. Children have so little opportunity for learning through play.
Pre-schools are not government funded and school fees are 100 Dalasi (about £2.80) per term per child in most village schools - so there is precious little to spend on equipment. Where there are resources there is often little knowledge as to how to use them creatively.
This is the background against which Lisong is setting up her Early Childhood Development Resource Centre.
"Two cameos will remain etched in my memory; one sad – a teacher sharpening the children’s pencils with a razor blade and then cutting the one pencil rubber into four pieces to share out amongst the class of 40; the other took place on the north coast in an empty school playground during the workshop we were holding. I took the elastic game with me and I have a photo of the headmaster, teachers and the regional education leader all jumping about and joining in. I do hope they have been able to share it with the children."
Joan Belshaw - volunteer - 2009
How does this project make a difference?
Giving back to the destination
80% of your fee reaches the host country! Each project is costed individually, you can find the details at the top of this page. the project will show not only how your money is spent, but also where it is spent – which is perhaps even more important. This project assumes that you want the vast majority of your money to be spent with your hosts, not in the UK!
Furthermore, we give you the opportunity to give straight back to community projects in the destination through our partner, TravelPledge. This means that whatever you wish to donate to specific projects in the destination will go directly there.
Teaching students, teaching teachers
Early childhood care and development has become part of the basic education title in The Gambia, given the importance of the early years development for children. The education policy (2004-2015) acknowledges the importance of these early years, and the department of state for education has developed linkages with other governments, NGOs and local authorities and local communities to promote an integrated approach to ECD. Since ECD is largely provided by the private sector, affordability becomes an issue and poses a major constraint for poor households. The problem becomes more pronounced in the rural areas where poverty is more acute and where the traditional practice of leaving children in the care of siblings or grandparents, or having children accompanying their mothers to the farm or other work places still remains the dominant practice for early childhood care.
You will be helping the programme develop through teaching the skills that you have to offer to Gambian teachers and educators, but also will teach the children at the Early Childhood Development centres. This will allow the sustainability of the project, but will also provide opportunities for educators to learn skills they would not normally have the possibility to learn subsequently benefiting the children that they teach.
Empowerement
You will work effectively for local communities, this project works with local people – they work in full and open partnership with responsible and professional teams who have close links to their own communities. You will be working with local people not replacing local labour to help them build the future they want for themselves.
Where is it?
Click here to enquire about or book this project!
To view other Gambia Responsible Tourism projects, click here
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