Architecture Without Borders Spain has launched a crowdfunding in order to raise 3.000€ to continue the construction of a Middle School (CEM) in Senegal. This crowdfunding will remain open until the end of the year.

This school is located in Joal-Fadiouth, a coastal town located in the south of Dakar, capital of Senegal. Joal-Fadiouth has what is called ‘extension neighbourhoods’, new peripheral neighbourhoods that have spontaneously emerged due to the increase of population in recent years, and the school is located in one of these. Although housing growth has followed basic urban planning standards, it has not been accompanied by the implementation of infrastructure or basic equipment: water, sanitation, health and education.

In 2015, ASF began the construction of this CEM. It is the third school that offers public middle (or secondary) education in Joal, and the first one in one of these extension neighbourhoods. The school is already in operation, despite not being completely finished. Ten classrooms out of the 16 have been enabled. However, the school is providing a learning space for around a thousand students, and in order to achieve that, they are currently taking an amount of students who are overflowing the capacity of the classrooms; having several shifts to take on board more students, and even moving to their old school to attend to some classes, where the equipment is not in a usable state.

This poor learning environment results in a lack of motivation a number of students and have a significant influence on the decision to drop out studies, a common tendency, achieving high percentages of young people in Joal that stop studying at a young age. This abandonment is enhanced by the pressures of many families, that ask their children to drop school and start working to support the family’s economy. Even higher are the drop-out rates in the case of teenage girls, socially responsible for home care.

This project is very committed to the human right of having access to education, considering it a decisive factor for enabling youngsters to have different working opportunities and sustainable development, and understanding that a better future begins by guaranteeing access to education. At the same time, the project aims to raise awareness of women’s rights and gender equality, working towards a change of perception of the women’s role in society.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT IN THIS PROJECT!

Initial funding for this project has been reduced in recent years and since then alternative sources are being sought to complete it. With this crowdfunding, ASF aims to raise the needed funds to continue moving forward with:

  • Conditioning 6 other classrooms pending completion, to guarantee the full right to good quality secondary education, which motivates and allows the youth to finish their studies, being aware that education is a tool to access job opportunities and, with it, a better future.
  • Construction of separate toilet facilities, which aim to reduce school absence among teenage girls, increased by the lack of intimacy due to not having their own private space.

With your contribution to this project, you make possible for 1.000 students between 12 and 16 to have a safe and inclusive middle school.

DONATE FOR THIS PROJECT HERE!

5 diciembre 2019
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