SCHOOL AID PROECT IN CAPE VERDE
“Education and promotion of renewable energy in Cape Verde“
Our 3rd project with Cape Verde is a continuation of previous projects with three previous schools that we have supported through social, ecological and educational actions:
We have had the chance to join a new partnering organisation:
The objectives
Our project supports access to education for particularly deserving students from poor families by offering free meals and school uniforms. It aims to promote vocational training in renewable energy, as a part of the socio-economic development of the country as well as creating jobs for young people.
The project, co-financed by MAEE, began on July 1, 2020 and will end on June 30, 2023. It has a total budget of €128,297.97.
contact persons: Marianne Dondelinger, Diane Thill, Marco Breyer
Escola Secundária António Silva Pinto de Ribeira das Patas, Santo Antão
The Escola Secundária António Silva Pinto is located in the center of Santo Antão Island, an arid region that suffers from severe periods of drought.
It is a public school and offers a standard secondary education program. In 2019, it had 335 students and 34 teachers, as well as 15 employees. The emphasis is on learning foreign languages, especially French and English, as well as economics and natural sciences. Most of the students come from poor families who own a tiny plot of land or are unemployed.
The region suffers from a high unemployment rate and is forced to cope with rural flight. The situation of poor families is made even more precarious due to the fact that it has not rained for two years. School dropouts among young girls are particularly frequent.
The NGO A-AH will pay for:
the salary for a school cook
the cost of free meals for 50 deserved and desperate students who may be forced to drop out of school for financial reasons
the cost of school uniforms and sports shoes for 15 lacking, but particularly deserving students.
The previous project convinced us that helping disadvantaged students pushes them to double their efforts to obtain their final diploma and builds a significant social contribution which is especially welcomed for the families of the beneficiary students.
Escola Secundária Jorge Barbosa do Mindelo, São Vicente
The Escola Secundária António Silva Pinto is located in a particularly poor part of Mindelo, the capital of the island of São Vicente. The economic situation of the high majority of parents is very unstable. A large part of the children who attend high school come from single-parented families. Many students do not intake the sufficient amount of food, and have difficulties in concentration and discipline, causing delays in the curriculum and general learning deficits.
The school building was built in 2002 and the equipment was financed by the “Coopération Luxembourgeoise“. In 2019-2020, the high school had 1,845 students in grades 7-12, including 1,028 girls and 817 boys divided into 62 classes (32 in the morning, 30 in the afternoon), as well as 121 teachers. This high school is therefore one of the most important high schools in the country in terms of population size.
The NGO A-AH will pay for:
the salary for a school cook
the cost of free meals for 150 desperate but deserving students who are at risk of dropping out due to financial reasons
the cost of school uniforms and sports shoes for 25 deserved students
Escola Industrial e Commercial do Mindelo -Guilherme Dias Chantre, São Vicente
The Escola Industrial e Commercial is located in the centre of Mindelo on the island of São Vicente. With its 1,444 students and 143 teachers as of 2019-2020, the Escola Industrial e Commercial do Mindelo-Guilherme Dias Chantre high school is the largest technical high school on the island of São Vicente. Since 2018, the school has set up vocational training in renewable energy for a class of young adults aged 18-35.
This training program is in response to a real need for solar technicians in Cape Verde, especially in the two islands of São Vicente and Santo Antão, where our NGO operates. This region has a lack of technicians capable of installing and maintaining solar panels.
The introduction of renewable energy training at a professional level opens up new job opportunities for young people and offers interesting prospects for the economic development of the two islands.
Unfortunately, the school‘s technical and computer equipment is very old.
The NGO A-AH will pay for:
the acquisition of computer and teaching equipment for vocational training in renewable energy.
As part of the previous project (2018-2019), our NGO equipped the school with photovoltaic panels.
With the acquisition of computer and teaching equipment adapted to current educational needs, the vocational training could offer high-standard education in renewable energy.
The Center for Renewable Energies and Industrial Maintenance (CERMI) of Praia
Benefitting from regional and national recognition, CERMI is a centre for the promotion of renewable energy and teaching of skills in renewable energy for all the islands of Cape Verde and countries within the region. The building was financed by the “Coopération Luxembourgeoise“.
The NGO A-AH will pay for:
the registration fees, work uniforms and transport costs.
the food and health insurance for 20 deserving young people from Cape Verde, who are either school dropouts or unemployed, and who will follow a short, level-3 vocational training within CERMI in the field of renewable energy. Priority will be given to girls, who are often forced to drop out of school for financial reasons and therefore remain absent in this economic sector.
CERMI has the equipment, skills and legal status to offer this renewable energy training at a professional level. The goal of our partnership with CERMI is to create jobs in the energy sector and will play a significant role in the fight against youth unemployment.