At the 18 community schools that have recently come into the care of GoCongo, the quality of the existing classroom buildings is poor. We believe that the school environment makes a big difference both to educational outcomes and child wellbeing, and therefore we are committed to constructing new infrastructure fit for purpose.
While the communities do not have the economic power to fund their own school construction, and therefore require our external assistance to support a school, we believe that any funding we provide should not create something that is very detached from the communities’ economic reality. Therefore, even if we were hypothetically blessed with the resources to make larger investments, we have made a conscious choice to take an approach that keeps costs as low as possible while still creating a decent facility.
We are therefore undertaking a project to construct 18 new school buildings using, where possible, local materials (for example, bricks manufactured in makeshift kilns onsite using suitable clay from anthills in the area), and a simple, replicable design. We also seek to involve the local community in the construction process, so that they feel an increased sense of ownership about the school.
