Program Title: LIBPE Philippines Project – Libraries for Progressive Education in the Philippines Project.
How the Fund will be used
Books for the Barrios (BFTB) is a proud non-profit organization that seeks to promote the importance of libraries and free access to educational materials in the Republic of the Philippines. The organization focuses on improving the state of education in the Philippines by ensuring the availability of library facilities and learning resource materials in remote primary and secondary schools in the islands. The program began in 1981 as an initiative of the U.S. Navy Families stationed in the Philippines working with volunteers who are motivated to contribute to the improvement of the quality of education in the country (BFTB). The organization is based in San Francisco Bay in California, USA and the majority of objectives are focused on building libraries in the Philippines and collecting books and other reading materials. We believe in the importance of libraries in the students’ learning process and the availability of the functional library facility can greatly improve the quality of primary and secondary education (Curry et al.). Furthermore, the availability of libraries in educational institutions is an indication of a progressive educational system in a country. Hence, our organization is working diligently to making this making this dream happen.
Part of the BFTB’s activities involves building facilities that can function as both a library and reading facility. The focus of the project is to create such facility in schools in remote areas of the Philippines were a majority of the publicly operated institutions are suffering from inadequacies in developmental support. As a developing country with 95.4% literacy rate, the concentration of the population that can read and write is situated in capital cities particularly in the National Capital Region where 99.8% of the population are literate (CIA). However, capital cities are only a fraction of the geographical region in the country where educational development is being undertaken. A significant potion of educational institutions in the Philippines is situated in remote areas, which because of access difficulties to location are left behind in terms of development (Luz). As a result, schools in remote areas often do not receive enough support to develop facilities such as a library. Furthermore, the country’s educational expenditure is limited to 2.7% of its annual budget, which is not enough to support the educational development of more than 229 million secondary and primary school students (CIA).
BFTB recognizes the impact of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in improving the areas of learning in developing countries by supporting initiatives in education, health, and human development (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). We believe that BFTB’s objective accords with values the Foundation in building communities through education. With pilot programs such as technology integration and building libraries in developing countries, BFTB is positive that Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will recognize the importance of improving and building libraries in 70 schools at the most far-flung areas of the Philippines (Rappler). The 70 schools selected for the project was based on scarcity of educational resources in consideration to access to location.
Budget Description for the Project
LIBPE Philippines Project = $609,950.00
*Note: The given figures are based on current commodity price and est. cost for 70 libraries
Grant Request
US$500,000.00
Corporate Funders and Amount
* Note: Some values were estimated based on the profile available at Guidestar.org
Project Location and Description
Building new libraries and refurbishing old ones will take place in 70 selected far-flung schools in the regions of Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, the Mountain Provinces, Oriental Mindoro, Catanduanes, Rizal, Samar, and Leyte. The schools in the selected locations are the most remote in the country and the urban settings encompasses a community that is lacking in essential resources for learning. As a result, the much-needed support for the schools takes a long time to arrive considering the path towards the communities within the aforementioned locations is highly inaccessible. The proximity of the communities to the nearest primary and secondary schools ranges from 10 kilometers to 20 kilometers. Because of the distance, volunteer groups such as BTFB are working with the local government to establish makeshift schools in remote communities in order to bring education within the community.
Target Ethnic Group
The project is targeting to construct libraries in remote school located in the provinces of Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, the Mountain Provinces, Oriental Mindoro, Catanduanes, Rizal, Samar, and Leyte, which was largely devastated by the upper Typhoon Haiyan. The ethnic groups in the aforementioned locations are composed of aboriginal tribes that established communities in the most remote areas where schools are mostly made up of makeshift classrooms that are lacking in resources making it impossible to establish stable facilities that can house a library.
Target Age Range and Audience for the Project
The project focuses on enhancing the learning experience of students in the primary and secondary level in 70 far-flung schools in the Philippines. The objective of targeting the identified school level is to ensure that the students are well equipped with the necessary tools for learning and to prepare them for the higher academic level. In addition, the project also ensures that the students in remote areas are able to increase their academic competencies by spending more time in the library. Since the plan for the libraries also include computers, the students in remote areas would be acquainted with the fundamental knowledge in information technology, which is essential in preparing the young generation of students towards globalization.
Primary to Secondary school students
Pre – K (3 – 5 years old
Kindergarten (4 – 6 years old)
Elementary student (6 – 12 years old)
K-12 students (12-16 years old)
Junior/Senior High School (16 – 20 years old)
Type of Support
The project requires several type of support, but the most essential are sponsorships and financial grant given the scale of coverage that the project intends to accomplish. In this regard, programmatic support to sustain the operational requirements of the project particularly during the construction of the libraries is needed. This includes professional services from local engineers for planning the proposed libraries, manpower to undertake the construction phase, professional support to train urban school teachers in maintaining and managing the library, logistics, and sponsorship for supplies, transportation, materials, and equipment.
Program Area
In terms of the program area, the project is focusing on the importance of libraries in supporting the educational development of primary and secondary students. Education is a vital component of human development in which the lack of adequate support will reflect on the country’s future development. In addition, the quality of primary and secondary education in the Philippines still needs improvement particularly in regions where developmental resources are inadequate. More importantly, the competency level of the students in schools in remote areas does not meet the international and even the national standards, which is strongly attributed to the lack of institutional support. According to the 2015 report from UNESCO, the achievement rate of Filipino students in the primary schools is 68.88% (UNESCO). In Math the achievement rate is 66,47%, 66.11% in Science, and 66.27% in English. In general, the average functional literacy rate of primary school students in the country is only 86.40%. The majority of the score is contributed by the students from the urban and major schools in the capital region (UNESCO). In the secondary level, the performance rating of Filipino students in Math is 46.37%, while 40.53% in Science, and 51.80% in English (Llego). The low performance rating of the secondary school students was also attributed to the lack adequate support for development where 30% of secondary schools do not have sufficient or functional library. In this regard, BFTB aims to focus the project in improving the quality of education in the country by contributing a functional library with sufficient materials to support learning and other areas of development.
Project Goals
The goal of the project is centered in building the libraries of 70 far-flung schools in the Philippines. Furthermore, the completion of the program ensures availability of approximately 462,000 books and other library resources. This also includes training of 420 teachers in 70 schools, impacting 28,000 students, conducting 350 hours of immersion activities, 336 hours of joint construction labor, 63 out of 70 (90%) of schools revisited for impact measurement survey, and monitoring of 70 schools for teacher and operational support. Another important aspect of the project is to ensure that the students are well acquainted with the knowledge in information technology, which is why each library will be equipped with at least three computer units to aid the students using computer. It translates to 440 hours of computer lessons completed for the entire year and 420 hours of teaching support for teachers. The effectiveness of the project will rely on voluntary work of the local NGOs and other educational institutions in the country that are willing to dedicate time and resources to assure achievement of the project goals.
Project Tracking and Success Measure
The evaluation process in measuring the success of the project will be based on two categories. On the first category, success will be measured on how the efforts have made progress based on the given goals. For instance, the target books and library materials is 462,000 books ready for distribution after two weeks of completed of completed construction of the libraries. The BFTB logistics team will monitor the number of books collected from donors and the new books procured for the project at least a month before the completion of the first of 70 libraries. Daily inventories will be conducted to ensure that the project was able to meet its required number of resources. The coordination of the library construction will be done between the BFTB head office and a local BFTB representative who will supervise the construction operations. The project director to ensure the timely completion of each phase of the project, ensure the appropriate utilization of the resources, and progress monitoring through a weekly audit.
In terms of impact on the students, the basis of success measure will be the performance of the students in Math, Science, and English in the National Achievement Test given on years 6, 10, and 12. The NAT results will determine if there was an improvement on the student’s learning development by having a functional library established in their respective schools. Furthermore, the periodic test will also determine the level of improvement on the students’ learning outcome given the availability of learning materials in the library. In addition, the operations management of the library will track daily library visits to determine if the students are going to the library on a regular basis. These measures will determine whether or not the project has created a long-term impact towards the school, the students, and the community.
Works Cited
BFTB,. "About Us - Philippine School Charity". Philippine School Charity. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Bill and Melinda Games Foundation,. "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/About". Gatesfoundation.org. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
CIA,. "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. N.p., 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Curry, Ann, Tanya Thiessen, and Lorraine Kelley. "Library Aid To Developing Countries In Times Of Globalization: A Literature Review". World Libraries 12.2 (2002): n. pag. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Guidestar,. "Organization Report". Guidestar.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Llego, Mark. "Basic Education Statistics In The Philippines - Teacherph". TeacherPH. N.p., 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Luz, Juan Miguel. "A Nation Of Nonreaders | Philippine Center For Investigative Journalism". Pcij.org. N.p., 2007. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Rappler,. "Luistro: Don't Forget Far-Flung Schools". Rappler. N.p., 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
UNESCO,. Education For All 2015 National Review. Paris, France: unesdoc.unesco.org, 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2016. Philippines.
