Handbook
of the Orphan Ministry
at the LBS Mwika (HUYAMWI)
paper 3: a balanced scholarship-program
Released 23.2.03 Ð Author: Rev. Dr. Martin Burkhardt
A) Different levels of our scholarship program
I) Level 1: Taking part in seminars, counselling or general measures for all ophans (General level)
II) Level 2: Receiving special help and support (Supportlevel)
a) Financial help to go to pre- and primary-education
b) Medical Treatment
c) Support for the family of the applicant (Food, Repair etc)
III) Level 3: Being part of our trainee Ðprogram (Trainee-level)[1]
a) Working as trainee in a congregation, at an enterprise or at LBS Mwika
b) Being a member of a self-helpgroup and starting a small project.
IV) Level 4: being sponsored for secondary education
a) Government Secondary school 1-4
b) Private secondary school (preferred Technical Secondary School) 1-4
c) Vocational Training Centre
V) Level 5: Postgraduate level
a) Continuing with further education ( form 5 and 6 or another Training College)
b) Getting help to start her/his own business
c) Getting help to get a job.
B) Criteria to be selected into the program at different levels.
I) The child needs to be identified as orphan
a) Lost one or both parents
b) Age 0-18 years
II) It must belong to one of the most needy families
a) Who have died? Prioritising in this order: both / father/ mother
b) The number and age of all the children in the present nucleus family: Prioritising in this order: many small children before few already grown up children.
c) The resources available for the nucleus-family, like fields, livestock etc.
III) By taking part in our trainee Ðprogram the applicant must show
a) Readiness to work and to learn
b) Responsibility
c) Reliability
d) Interest in the area of work he /she has been given.
IV) Meet the standard requirements to enter secondary Ðeducation
a) A finished primary education
b) Either the applicant was selected by the government or he/she passed the entry test of a private school successfully.
V) Show extraordinary results at the end of the planed education period ( form 4 or vocational training centre)
C) The cost to sponsor one orphan at different levels per year
I) General level: 2-5 Euros
a) Taking part in 1-2 seminars a year
b) Providing the facility to get counselling in different area
II) Support level 10-50 Euros
At the moment we donÕt have enough experience to estimate this kind of help. A scholarship for pre-school-education is about 10 Ð15 Euros, Support for stationeries, uniforms etc is about 20 Euros a year. Depending on the economic situation of the family other help is needed, like food, clothes, medical care.
III) Trainee level:
a) Trainee in a congregation, enterprise, 260 Euro
b) Self- helpgroup 50-100 Euro
IV) Secondary-school Level
a) Governmental school : 150-200 Euro
b) Private school : 400 Ð 500 Euro
V) Postgraduate Level 400- 500 Euro
D) Demographic Data of the Different Levels.
Our research from September 2003 shows, that about 20 % of the orphans are in the age where they might receive secondary education 80 % are in preschool or primary-school.
This probably due to the fact the preschool and primary school includes about 11 years (3-14), where as the years of secondary education are only 4 years (15 to 18), in percentage figures. 73% to 27%.
So far we have almost no data about the age-group 0-3 and also no data about the needs in this particular group.
I) General level 100% = agegroup 0-18
II) Support level 80% = agegroup 3-14
III) Trainee-level/ Secondary-education level/postgraduate Ðlevel 20 % = agegroup 15-18
E) The Problem of distributing scholarship to different levels.
I) Two models of justice
a) To give everybody the same (equality)
For example: Every orphan has the right to finish primary education. We have some basic rights which we must preserve for every orphan: like primary education, food, clothing, shelter, guidance etc.
However our intensity of interaction will be different. So we help for food only, where there orphan and his/her family has no possibility to produce their food themselves. Or not all orphans need counselling or guidance.
b) To give everybody, what he/she needs. (individuality)
For example An orphan may choose the way of education, which will help him/ her to be most successful in live, either secondary-school or a vocational training centre.
II) Facts we have to consider, if we are distributing scholarship to the different levels
a)
The number of orphans is different on each level ( 80% in the
support level, 20 % in the higher level starting with the age of 15) We can
talk of pyramid.
b)
The cost to sponsor one orphan at each level is different. It is s
cheaper to sponsor orphans on the support level then on the higher levels. We
can talk of a pyramid staying on its top
We see this pyramid clearly if we distribute the same amount of money on each level:
For example 1000 Euro per level / number of orphans being reached 500 / Total 5000 Euro/ average 10 Euro per orphan.
General level: 200-500 orphans reached
Support level: 20-100 orphans reached
Trainee level 4 orphans reached (trainee) 10 orphans in a self-help groups
Secondary education Ðlevel 2 orphans reached
Postgraduate-level: 2 orphans reached.
Summary: The highest level of scholarship is much more expensive than a lower level. Or with the same amount of money you can help much more orphans on a lower level. This means, that you have to reduce those who receive help, if they are growing up
c) We need to balance the distribution on each level in order to avoid a luck of continuity
For example, if you sponsor two many orphans at the secondary level neglecting the support level, you will afterwards fail to get qualified applicants for your program, because without support there will be not enough qualified orphans to enter the secondary school.
Vice versa. If you donÕt provide enough scholarships for the secondary school or a vocational training centre, many orphans will have only primary education without the possibility for further education.
So we need to keep the balance between supporting the different levels in order to keep a proper flow of education.
d) We need to consider, how many orphans in a agegroup/ at a certain level need our help to keep on going in their process of education.
At the moment we have no proper data about the support level (age 3- 14). But We estimate that between 10% - 50 % need some help according to the criteria you may use to define a needy orphan.
For all upper lever of education we estimate, that almost 100% need some help to continue, because even for normal family it is quite hard to provide education after primary-education for their children.
F) Models of distributing money to the levels
I) model 1 : all orphans are supported
Sample Congregation with 100 Orphans, Total 8600 Euro, average 86 Euro per child.
a) All receive help on the general level 200 Euro. (2 Euro given for each child)
b) 80 % are in the support level (preschool and primary school) 2400 Euro ( given 30 Euro for each child)
c) 10 % are at trainee level : 2000 Euro (given 200 Euro for each child)
d) 10 % are at secondary or postgraduate level: 4000 Euro (given 400 Euro for each child
Summary: Considering the different strength of the age-groups, the number of orphans, who need care in the secondary level is less big, than the number of orphans in the support level. This means if the numbers of orphans in the different levels are balanced according to the strength of the different age-groups, there will not be a real reduction of beneficiaries.
However if we estimate the costs for all 50.000 Orphans of our area, we will get roughly 50000 x 86 Euro = 4,3 Mio Euro per year.
II) Model 2 : selected orphans are supported.
Sample Congregation with 100 Orphans, 25% Orphans are reached only at level 2; 50% on level 3-5, Total 3800 Euro: average per orphan 38 Euro (considering all orphans), 90 Euro (considering the selected 40 orphans only)
a) 100 orphans receive help on the general level 200 Euro (2 Euro for each Child).
b) 20 orphans are in the support level (preschool and primary school) 600 Euro ( given 30 Euro for each child)
c) 5 orphans are at trainee level : 1000 Euro (given 200 Euro for each child)
d) 5 orphans are at secondary or postgraduate level: 2000 Euro (given 400 Euro for each child)
Summary: We will so far not be able to reach all orphans, therefore we have to make a selection. However for the level 3 and 5 we have good figures, because the most family of orphans have no chance to give them any further education. And we can calculate the costs of this education easily.
For level 2, we have so far no yet enough data, how many orphans need which kind of help. However the support given may be more like a sign of comfort, than to cover really all the felt needs.
G) Conclusions for our scholarship-program
I) We have to provide scholarships on all levels in order that as many orphans as possible get a good education and enter successfully in the process of earning money.
II) The money spent on each level must be balanced with the demographic data of each age-group, in order to avoid that orphans can be no longer supported due to a lack of money.
III) The situation and the needs of each applicant must be evaluated before entering a new level of scholarship according to the requirements of each level.
IV) We need more experience about the needs at the support level. How many orphans need, what kind of help. Therefore we have started a research to evaluate the situation of orphans in our pilot projects.