The problem
It’s a classic problem: the school year is well underway, but the majority of children still don’t have textbooks – families lacked the money to buy the books. At school, children without textbooks are at risk of losing out on the subject matter, while others consider themselves lucky and have books.
The approach
Our local partner initiative in Tsévie buys a set of school books four weeks after the start of school for all children who do not yet have them. Because of the timing and the quantity of books, there is a discount from the wholesaler. The parents of the children sign a small contract and assure to pay off the books in small installments.
We have already tested the system at the school in Tsévie in individual classes. It worked very well – the parents paid back almost 90% of the money by the end of the school year. The repaid money could be reused to buy textbooks for the next year. We make up for the loss of 10% with donations from Germany.
Our contribution
We would like as many children as possible to receive school books. Therefore, we are collecting donations to implement the initiative in other schools in the south of Togo.
The elementary school in Adetikopé lacked classrooms – together with the parents’ committee and the school management, we built two classrooms at the beginning of 2019.
Many young people in Yéviépé have to drop out of school because they cannot pay the school fees. We help them to help themselves through sustainable organic farming!