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Global Grant Proposal Form for Project G-3504 Last updated by Gary Pellett <gpellett@live.com> on 21-May-25 Project Title Extending RACHEL in Northern G Type of Project [X] Humanitarian [ ] VTT [ ] Scholarship Primary Host Partner Information
Primary International Partner Information
Grant Host Committee
Grant International Committee
Do any of these committee members have potential conflict of interest? If so, please briefly explain. No Tell us a little about your project. What are the main objectives of the project, and who will benefit from it? This new Global Grant proposal, tentatively called RACHEL-4, is based on observations of the equipped schools, the coordinators’ and local Rotarians’ thoughts, and many conversations with school directors, teachers and students. It seeks to upgrade to the existing RACHEL infrastructure to significantly enhance its value to students. It also seeks to stabilize the employment status of the coordinators, bringing them into the Mundo Posible (World Possible) structure – to enhance both their ability to service the schools. Which area of focus will this project support?
Which goals of this area of focus will your project support? - How will you measure your project impact?
Do you know who will collect information for monitoring and evaluation? -
Humanitarian Project Barillas, Huehuetenango and Petén, Guatemala
Cooperating Organization (Optional)
Why did you choose to partner with this organization and what will its role be? Mundo Posible – The Guatemalan branch of World possible is responsible for the content and training for the Spanish version of RACHEL. MP will station two staff members, one in Barillas, the other in Flores, who will visit each of the 112 schools on a regular basis. Their duties will include providing ongoing training to the teachers in these schools, analyzing the usage of the RACHELs (using DataPost), suggesting modules that could be used by the teachers (based on this analysis), teaching teachers the new modules, and updating and maintaining the RACHEL systems. Partners (Optional) List any other partner that will participate in this project. Barillas RC, District 4250, Obdulio Herrera (co-project lead), Aurelio Reyes Chatham RC, District 6380, Peter Tanner (co-project lead), Tania Sharpe Blenheim RC, District 6380, Carmen Titus, Tilbury RC, District 6380, Kathy Cottingham Dresden RC, District 6380, Rose Northcott Anchor Bay RC, District 6380, Wendy Jones Tacoma 8 RC, District 5020, Barry Benson Chatham Sunrise RC, District 6380, Linda Goldsmith, Ruth Howell, Betty Manso Calgary Chinook RC, Graham Boone Calgary Downtown RC, Barbara Young Lethbridge East RC, Michael Greer, Paul Henderson Calgary Heritage Park RC, Eve Robertson Woodside/Portola Valley RC, Joan Fuetsch Volunteer Travelers (Optional) Provide name, email of traveler(s). - Describe this person's role in the project. - Rotarian Participants Describe the role that host Rotarians will have in this project. - Describe the role that international Rotarians will have in this project. - What is the budget for this grant?
Tell us about the funding you have secured for your project.
Humanitarian Projects - Project Planning Describe the community needs that your project will address. The widely dispersed rural, remote villages of the Barillas municipality and central Petén suffer greatly from poverty and illiteracy. Often, teachers themselves lack high-school, and students learn (or attempt to learn) from copying what the teacher writes on the blackboard. Exacerbating the situation further is that the rural schools were effectively closed for two to three years of the pandemic, and distance learning was not an option in many cases. - Página 10 de 19 - In three previous Global Grants, we have established a valuable RACHEL infrastructure in 112 schools. While this infrastructure is extraordinarily valuable to these schools, we are hearing, from the teachers, the principals, and the parents, that we can make this investment far more valuable through continuing education for the teachers, and a small addition to the equipment. The most common request that we get is the teachers’ desire for more training. Even for those with the 2-day mentor training, familiarity with the massive digital library is a challenge. They have told us how much they appreciate the regular visits from the coordinators. How did your project team identify these needs. The coordinators have been visiting each of the schools regularly, and hearing the feedback. We have also had teachers, principals and parents complete a questionnaire to help direct us in this project. Also, given the earlier RACHEL projects in these two areas, we have been able to see the teacher and student reaction to the introduction of RACHEL systems, and the changes that occur as the teachers are better trained. In particular, after one teacher per school receives the intensive 2-day mentor training - the use of the RACHEL systems goes up, the number of teacher questions to Mundo Posible goes up - in short, the infrastructure that we have established over the past few years becomes far more valuable. However, the 2-day mentor training, as currently provided, requires the travel of the teachers to a central location (and hotel and meal expenses) and the travel of the Mundo Posible teachers. Also, due to the political situation, there is a constant turnover of teachers in the schools - sometimes depending on the whim of the municipal governments. We are getting feedback asking if we can provide more regular access to the training for these new teachers as well. So, both the consistent requests from teachers and principals, and the observations of RACHEL use and teacher/student satisfaction after advanced training sessions, has made it very clear that providing continuing education is their top priority. And, the mentor training equivalent can be given, over time, to all the teachers in the school during the coordinator visits rather than through annual 2-day visits from the Mundo Posible employees from southern Guatemala - saving travel expenses and permitting the course to focus better on the requirements of the individual schools. How were members of the benefiting community involved in finding solutions. As RACHEL is now well known to the 112 target communities, the members of the community have been letting our coordinators know their thoughts about the project’s future. How were community members involved in planning the project. A questionnaire was circulated to a sample population of community members. Humanitarian Projects - Project Implementation Summarize each step of your project's implementation.
Will you work in coordination with any related initiative in the community? If yes, briefly describe the other initiatives and how they relate to this project. If no, please explain. Are local initiatives not addressing these needs? Or, if they are, why did you decide not to work with them? Yes Please describe the training, community outreach, or educational programs this project will include. We have documents from Mundo Posible describing the training in detail. THere is also a Training description form that has been completed, and will be submitted with the application. Most of the funding of this project is focused on teacher training – to assist the teachers to become more familiar with the myriad of educational content available to them through RACHEL. There will be additional community outreach to demonstrate to community members who have tablets or smartphones how they can access books for free from any of RACHEL’s digital libraries How were these needs identified? Through questionnaires and regular school visits by the coordinators and Rotarians. What incentives (for example, monetary compensation, awards, certification, or publicity), will you use, if any, to encourage community members to participate in the project? The only incentive that we have used, or intend to use, is access to the RACHEL libraries, and improved teaching for their children List any community members or community groups that will oversee the continuation of the project after grant-funded activities conclude. promised to help with the maintenance of the equipment. In addition, the Rotary Clubs will maintain relatiosnhips with the schools. Budget Will you purchase budget items from local vendors? Explain the process you used to select vendors. Yes Did you use competitive bidding to select vendors? If no, please explain. We have received three quotes for the equipment Please provide an operating and maintenance plan for the equipment or materials you purchased for this project. This plan should include who will operate and maintain the equipment and how they will be trained. THere are several levels of equipment maintenance. Day-to-day maintenance will be managed by the teachers. In particular, each school will have a teacher trained in the 2-day mentor class - who will be responsible for minor issues with the equipment. . The coordinators, visiting on a regular basis, will be able to handle more serious issues. As Mundo Posible employees, they have access to the technical employees of Mundo Posible who can advise them on maintenance or problem resolution issues. Thirdly, if there are major issues, we do have a relationship, in each of the two areas, with technical people who can make repairs at a reasonable cost. We have had very few maintenance issues over the years we have had RACHEL systems in the schools. Describe how community members will maintain the equipment after grant-funded activities conclude. Will replacement parts be available? Currently parents have been contributing money to repair the computers, or have authorized the principal to take money from the state funding to do it. Some schools have well-organized parent-teacher organizations that are willing to create a fund for equipment replacement. We have not been giving new computers to schools that have not kept their existing computers in good shape. The coordinators will help with the repairs as they understand the issues that can happen with the RACHEL systems and laptops. Once the project is over, the schools will continue to use their money (parent contribution or state funding) to keep the equipment in good working order. If the grant will be used to purchase any equipment, will the equipment be culturally appropriate and conform to the community's technology standards? If yes, please explain. If no, describe how the project team will help community members adopt the technology. Yes – the equipment has been set up specifically within a Guatemalan environment, addressing the educational needs of Guatemalans. After the project is completed, who will own the items purchased by grant funds? No items may be owned by a Rotary district, club, or member. The schools Funding Have you found a local funding source to sustain project outcomes for the long term? If yes, please describe this funding source. As mentioned above, parents have been contributing money to repair the computers, or have authorized the principal to take money from the state funding to do it. Will any part of the project generate income for ongoing project funding? If yes, please explain. No Is your economic and community development activity a microcredit project? If yes, upload your microcredit supplement file. No | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||