COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS
Government Collaboration
The Woreda/District Education Office is a signatory to the construction contracts for each project. This ensures that government standards are respected at every stage. The Office assigns and pays teachers and support staff, supplies science kits and textbooks, and helps facilitate and implement the professional development component of the projects. Representatives of the Office have also attended our workshops.
The Regional Education Bureau has approved Partners in Education’s request to run each of its target schools by a steering committee composed of representatives of the district education offices, parents, students, and teachers, Partners in Education staff, principals, and supervisors. The Bureau has also provided Partners in Education with a furnished office free of rent.
Partnerships
Most of our initiatives and programs outside of facilities development are implemented in partnership with non-governmental organizations such as regional and international universities and national and international NGOs and not-for-profit organizations. These include our water projects, special needs classes, sanitation and hygiene programs, greening and gardening programs and our research projects.
Our teacher training programs are supported by the regional government and universities, as well as ICS, all of whom provide volunteers as well as resources to facilitate and enhance our programs.
Community Collaborations
All of Partners in Education’s projects are initiated by communities. Community committees are signatories to construction contracts; they stay closely involved and are consulted throughout the duration of projects. At the selection stage, they negotiate a percentage share of the total project cost, depositing their contributions into our bank account prior to the beginning of construction.
Community members collaborate with Partners in Education to select contractors for the project: each party invites contractors to submit sealed bids, and they are opened at a public meeting. Once the project is underway, community members, along with local government engineers and Partners in Education’s independent construction consultants, oversee physical construction and the greening program on an ongoing basis.
