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In this Issue:

· Cohort 14 graduates!

· Self-sufficient schools – A new model of entrepreneurship, skills development and income generation

· Mamoona Wali earns her PhD in Forestry

· Journalist Workshop on Climate Change

Capacity Development

Cohort 14 graduates! Some 7 development professionals from various walks of life graduated as LEAD Fellows here at LEAD Pakistan Islamabad on March 4, 2010 at the end of the 2nd National Training Session. The Cohort 14 was selected in October last year and had undergone a National Training Session (NTS) and an International Training Session. The mandate of the cohort was to project the challenges over two decades and deliberate on the inter-sectoral linkages and bearings and contribute toward the purpose and design of the future cohorts. The 2 day 2nd National Training Session encompassed learning from prior sessions and opened debate for refinement of the Leadership Development Program structure. LEAD Pakistan started its flagship Leadership Development Program in 1995 as part of global initiative. The Program in its 14th year has produced 138 fellows - probably the largest network on sustainable development in the country. The Second National Training Session (NTS) was the final one for this cohort after a short but fruitful journey. The graduates of the Cohort 14 were: Adnan Sattar, Arif Naseer Pervaiz, Ayyaz Gul Kiani, Mukhtar Ahmad Ali, Rehmat Karim, Zubair Bhatti and Zofeen Ebrahim. Read More
Knowledge Management Self-sufficient schools – A new model of entrepreneurship, skills development and income generation This article is contributed by Frida Khan, a LEAD Fellow and Consultant at LEAD Pakistan, who as part of IDRC funded project, ‘Entrepreneurship Education for Women: Has it worked for women?’ visited San Francisco Agricultural High School between March 10th and 15th, 2010 to see how the model actually works, analyze outcomes for women graduates in particular with a view to share this learning with stakeholders in Pakistan to see if a similar model can be established in Pakistan. Education is widely accepted as a way out of poverty. But if the quality of education is low and the content is so irrelevant that it has little bearing on finding appropriate employment, the whole process can become a meaningless, dispiriting exercise. In countries like Pakistan, children from low-income families suffer more, as those that wish to pursue an education can often not afford anything more than poor performing, under-funded schools, which means low educational outcomes and opportunities in the workplace, which only serves to deepen their social and economic disadvantage. Modernizing and revamping the education system or even a school is a costly proposition, and many low-income countries simply don’t have the money to provide a good quality education free to all those that could benefit from it. Foundation Paraguaya, an NGO based in Paraguay, and its sister organization, Teach a Man to Fish, based in the U.K., believe they have found a solution – self-financing schools or education that pays for itself. The idea is simple but sound. Schools establish their own enterprises or school-based businesses that are tied with the training course offered. The businesses provide students real-life workplaces to develop and practice their skills and the enterprises, because they cater to a market demand, generate revenue which helps cover the school’s running costs and allow fees to remain low. This is an idea which is recognized as a viable training and learning methodology. In developed countries it is fairly common to find students of vocational and technical colleges running college owned bakeries, restaurants, salons and veterinary services. For such schools, the primary motive is to provide students the opportunity to learn in a real-life workplace, but the fact that such enterprises can compete in the market, provide good quality products and services and generate revenue is particularly exciting for schools in developing countries which often struggle to attract adequate funding. The San Francisco Agricultural High School in Cerrito, Paraguay, is probably one of the best examples of a self-sufficient school. In 2002, in the face of dwindling state subsidies and charity, the school was struggling to survive. Today, since Foundations Paraguaya took over it, it is providing education to a sizable number of boys and girls, many of them from low-income families, and is meeting 100% of its operational costs, including depreciation, through its school based enterprises. The enterprises ranging from dairy farming and production to hotel management are run by students providing them the unique opportunity to develop sound technical skills as well as entrepreneurial and business management skills, equipping them with the expertise they would need to set up their own businesses in future; skills which are especially relevant for developing economies where more jobs tend to be generated in the informal economy or for micro-entrepreneurs, rather than in the formal employment. The first day was spent at the San Francisco Agricultural High School visiting the enterprises and meeting the students. The highest earning enterprise is the school run hotel and conference facility. Since the school is set amongst a forested campus, about 50km away from the capital city of Asuncion, the campus provides an attractive venue for organisations holding conferences and workshops and for visitors in general. After that is the dairy business, which includes caring for cows and producing cheese, milk, yoghurt and the unique dulche leche, a highly condensed milk product, to sell in the market. Other businesses include animal husbandry, poultry farming, bees and honey products, compost and organic vegetables. Students’ schedules are divided equally between the classroom and the field, and they are involved in every aspect of the businesses, from general maintenance to production, from marketing and sales to financial management. So, students completing their high school here, leave with not only a High School Degree in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry or Hotel and Tourism, but also three years experience in real businesses, which is what employers really want. Completion rates are high and almost 100% of students go on to find productive employment, be it back on their family farms, in the agro-business or hospitality industry, setting up their own enterprises or continuing with further education. Based on the success of the model at San Francisco Agricultural High School, Fundacion Paraguaya has partnered with the Moses Bertoni Foundation and opened a school for girls only in the Mbaracayu Forest reserve, home to some of the most disadvantaged communities in Paraguay including the last hunter-gatherers in the world. The girls’ school has been in operation for two years and its first graduates will pass out in November next year. At Mbaracayu, the emphasis is on environmental management, and their enterprises, including dairy, bees, organic produce and reforestation services, are underscored by principles of environmental sustainability. Another exciting innovation at Mbaracayu is the fees. The $8/month fee can be paid in kind, or adjusted against work done in the school by students or their parents. Since Mbaracayu is a boarding school, there is no shortage of work to be done! Both schools are no doubt inspirational in the hope and motivation they have provided for their students and the success stories they have generated. Similar schools, both rural and urban, have been set up in other South American and African countries, showing that it is a model replicable across different situations and cultures. In Pakistan, the model of self-sufficient schools as a model of vocational and entrepreneurship skills development and revenue generation has found a place in the National Skills Strategy, 2009-13. LEAD Pakistan hopes to find a partner in Pakistan, who with support from the Fundacion Paraguaya and Teach a Man to Fish, can develop a plan to establish a similar model here. The need exists, the potential is immense, and now LEAD is providing the opportunity. Mamoona Wali earns her PhD in Forestry Dr. Mamoona Wali Muhammad, a LEAD Fellow, has completed her Doctorate with distinction in Forest Management from University Putra Malaysia (UPM). She is the first Pakistani woman to have this distinction. The goal of her research was to evaluate the impacts of participatory forestry watershed programs on the socioeconomic conditions of local people and forest resource development. Her work was based on field surveys in the districts of Hazara and Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan. Forthcoming Regional journalist workshop Workshop Title: Sharing our resources: a vision for addressing cross border water scarcity caused by climate change Dates: 28 to 30 March Venue: Islamabad Marriott Hotel Participants: Selected journalists from India and Pakistan Details on the Workshop proceedings will be available on the website: http://www.lead.org.pk/jw

This newsletter reports on LEAD Pakistan’s interventions in its three key program areas – climate change, environmental management and grassroots social capital development - threaded together through the organization’s five core competencies: capacity development, networking and partnerships, community empowerment, public policy engagement and knowledge management.