NGO – Bridge Builder about the Pitfalls in the

South - North School Partnership

Minnie Maisie Salanga,San Miguel National High School, Puerto Princesa City,

Philippines

Uwe Berger,Carpus e.V., Cottbus

Background about us

- Minnie Maisie Salanga, Head Teacher at San Miguel National High School, a public school with more than 2,000 students and 90 teachers

- Uwe Berger, chairman of Carpus NGO, a German NGO with contacts to Philippine NGOs since 1992

- South-North School Partnership initiated by Carpus NGO in 2007- San Miguel National High School and three (3) German High Schools in

Brandenburg

- Four (4) encounter in Germany, three (3) in the Philippines- 28 students from each country, seven (7) Filipino teachers and five (5)

German teachers involved

1. Fragile anchoring of the partnership in the school

- Often only one teacher in the school manages the partnership Work overload can result in absence of this teacher Then partnership falls asleep

- Philippine teachers benefit from the encounter through a promotion- Downside effect of Promotion: Teacher might be transferred to

another school- Difficulty in finding teacher-participants

- Only few teachers are willing to travel long distance with students

2. High organizational effort

Brandenburg: Almost all schools have European school partnerships (Comenius)

• encounter comprises only 5 travel days • more or less a tourist visit program• usually no preparation and evaluation seminar • 100% funded by EU

In contrast: South-North school partnerships comprises 14 days program + travel

• intensive preparation and evaluation seminars• sophisticated themes, e.g. racism, colonialism, justice, etc.• Approx. 50% funded by ENSA, difficult to find other funds

Many teachers are discouraged

2. High organizational effort

Philippines: Rigorous or strict adherence to rules of the system:

• Department of Education permits and clearances (1-2 months);• Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)

clearance for minors (1 month);• Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for Passport Application (3

weeks – 1 month);• Personal appearance at the German Embassy in Manila for

Schengen Visa application (2-3 days)• Parents of minors (below 18 years old) are required to join at

the embassy (difficult to waive) High travel cost during preparation

3. Lack of support by the school administration

Philippines:• Permit to travel issued with status “Leave without pay” for 1 month• Teacher participation limited to permanent teachers only (national

employees) and not for city-funded teachers• Difficulty in finding a substitute teacher

Principal Empowerment: Everything depends on the will of the principal

Brandenburg:• Principal Empowerment too• Difficulty to obtain absence from class for teachers• Encounters are approved only if school vacation are contained

therein• Sometimes participation of teachers in seminars are not even

permitted

4. Low funding for southern schools

Philippines:• Limited financial options, dependent on German funds• Preparation and evaluation seminars are done in school by

alumni (no fees for professional facilitators)

Unequal situation concerning - preparation and evaluation - funding in general

5. NGO as a bridge builder over the pitfalls

• German NGO can be used by the schools as a partner to release work from teachers, e.g. :

- Preparing funding applications and invoices- Accessing additional funding (aside from ENSA)- Proposing themes and topics for the encounter - Organizing workshops and field trips- Finding speakers and resource persons- Dealing with the embassy and support visa-application- Translating documents for the principals

• NGO looks on the partnership from an "outside perspective" and can make suggestions on how to develop the partnership mutual

e.g. redistribution of funds to the schools

• NGO can advise school management for the anchoring of the partnership within the school

5. NGO as a bridge builder over the pitfalls

But: • German NGO has a powerful role and is subject to the possibility of

power abuse Self reflection on the position of power! How many white and non-white people are running the NGO? Are both perspectives (south and north) equally reflected

within the NGO?

• Disadvantage: No local NGO in the Philippines to support the school

Conclusion and Recommendations

- Good ENSA exists! Without ENSA-funds no south-north school partnership

- ENSA offers very good advice structure for German schools But schools in the global south benefit less from it

(seminars, networking, etc.)

- Recognition of high aims of ENSA towards mutual partnerships- Possibility of using a partial amount of ENSA Funding for preparation

and evaluation in the global south is an important step But new rules are needed for a better implementation, e.g.

• German schools/NGOs should be obliged to hand over funds for preparation to their partners in the global south

• Partner schools in the global south should permitted to pay facilitators fees during preparation seminars

Conclusion and Recommendations

- Good experience with tandem projects, e.g. • joint preparation and evaluation of two school partnerships

(two Brandenburg schools together with their partners from Tanzania and Philippines)

• common workshops during encounter in Germany

Realization that South-South-Exchange is very fruitful Therefore networking and exchange of experiences among

schools in the global south should be supported/organized

NGOs can be of help to organize local conferences or trainings

- ENSA is a good funding program. Let it develop together further!

Thank you!