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Mission

Mission. To provide sustainable, quality primary education for girls and boys in West Africa. Agenda. Introducing Leaping Stone The state of education in Togo Bridging the gap Building a model of sustainability The community of Dedeke Long-term Goals What you can do to help. LeapingStone.

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Mission

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  1. Mission To provide sustainable, quality primary education for girls and boys in West Africa

  2. Agenda • Introducing Leaping Stone • The state of education in Togo • Bridging the gap • Building a model of sustainability • The community of Dedeke • Long-term Goals • What you can do to help

  3. LeapingStone LeapingStone is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring universal educational opportunities for the under-served children of West Africa. • Builds and upgrades school buildings. • Supplies books and other required learning supplies. • Promotes entrepreneurial projects to use local skills and resources in the service of sustaining educational facilities. • Refines aid model in cooperation with local communities to mitigate risk and encourage community support and investment in sustainable education. • Invests in community based programs one village at a time to reduce risk, ensure rigorous accountability and migrate program improvements “downstream”.

  4. Phase One: Togo With an emphasis on locally relevant program development, LeapingStone plans to begin village-level aid projects within Togo, eventually expanding our programs across Togo, refining our approach before branching out to address other west African communities.

  5. Education in Togo • Almost 1 in 5 primary school pupils are repeaters • Only 3 out of 4 reach grade 5 of the primary cycle • The level of repetition is markedly higher in Francophone countries • The Togo Ministry of Education and Research (MENR) has little control over the running of the education system despite implementing a program, Support for the running of the Togolese education system (APSET) intended to meet the Dakar recommendations for universal basic schooling by 2015.1 • Teacher salaries supported by the Catholic Church, but communities receive no support for physical infrastructure • 62% of population survives below poverty line • 76.5% of population over 25 have had no schooling • Average school termination age: • Males 11 years • Females 7 years

  6. Bridging the Gap • Estimates suggest 70% of Togolese children spend at least 5 years in primary education • Though poorly funded, education is held in high regard culturally in Togo • Most of the smaller villages are in need of outside assistance in creating education facilities. • Spending on educational material 0.2% GDP – Togo rated 28th out of 30 countries listed by UNESCO • Literacy rates: • Males 70% • Females 44%

  7. Building a Model of Sustainability LeapingStone is committed to making a lasting difference in the educational needs of children in west Africa. To that end, we are introducing a model of aid that we believe will provide a legacy of self-supporting educational support in perpetuity. To achieve this, the LeapingStone model fosters the following: • Entrepreneurship: LeapingStone is building a “suite” of revenue-generating programs that have proved to be successful in developing economies • Relevance: We work in cooperation with the individual residents to ensure our programs are locally sustainable and culturally relevant • Investment: We incorporate local communities in the decision-making process to ensure that the people we serve feel this is their project. Making sure they have a say -- as well as contributing time and labor -- fosters a culture of ownership and responsibility.

  8. The Village of Dedeke • Dedeke is located approximately 50 km from Lome. • The village is made up of approximately 70 families. • Their main occupation is subsistence farming. • There are 105 school-age children in the village. • The community has limited though inadequate facilities, often having to conduct classes out of doors. • Dedeke has an established history of dedication to educating its children and is a reasonably representative rural community in Togo making it an ideal candidate for successful program implementation.

  9. Short Term Goals • Ensure all school-age children in Dedeke are enrolled and attending the existing school. • Determine which sustainability model will work for Dedeke. • Replace roof on existing school. • Build new classrooms. • Dig well and create sanitary latrines. • Estimated program cost: $40,000

  10. What Can You Do? • Donate $$ – as little as $25 will send a child to school for a year. • Volunteer – if you have time or a skill that we can use, we would love to know about it. • Follow our progress - check in periodically at LeapingStone.org for news of our efforts in Dedeke and beyond.

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