Education That Pays For Itself

2009-06-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yachana, Ecuador: 8-10 December 2009

2009 Conference Theme: Income Generation for Education

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” Nelson Mandela

Imagine a school for children from the poorest of families – but where all graduates leave with the skills and experience needed to generate wealth for themselves and their communities.
Imagine a school in a developing country which is able to support itself without relying on subsidies – and yet is able to afford the best facilities and the best teachers.

These schools exist. The change is happening. This is your chance to be part of it!

Education That Pays For Itself 2009 will bring together some of the world’s leading practition ers in financially sustainable education, along with educators, policymakers, business people, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs and NGOs from around the world, in a unique forum for learning, networking, inspiration and action.
This Conference represents an opportunity to be part of community that is transforming education in developing countries by integrating entrepreneurship and financial sustainability into the fabric of schools.

Discover how new and innovative models are tackling key challenges in education across the developing world:
1. How to provide high quality education without high fees
2. How to finance improved facilities without outside support
3. How to teach young people to succeed as entrepreneurs
4. How to empower future generations to break out of the poverty trap

Share your work, establish new partnerships, get solutions to your toughest problems at our consultancy clinic sessions, and have a little fun - we promise you won’t forget the experience.
If you’re interested in how education really can change the world, it’s time to come light that fire!

Additional logistical and program details will be made available on the website shortly. Conference Registration will open in early July and places will be strictly limited. Don't risk missing out...
Subscribe For Conference Updates Now!

The Education That Pays For Itself international conferences are now in their 3rd year, and they just keep getting better! We focus on learning in small groups and sharing expertise within solution-oriented workshops. We also believe that much of the value in conferences such as ours comes from the working relationships formed, so we make sure there's plenty of time in the evenings for fun and getting to know one another!

Find Out What You've Been Missing!
To read a summary of Education That Pays For Itself 2008, South Africa - click here - or watch the Conference Video 2008.

2009-04-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hooray for good food! Hooray for good friends! Hooray for fundraising! Hooray for all three!

We were looking for a way to raise some cash for Teach A Man To Fish !

Steve Wallis - winner of Masterchef 2007 generously donated his time and skills and cooked up an incredible dinner, organised by friend of Teach A Man To Fish Helen Jones, for 16 people at the home of trustees Emma Forrest and Ryan Boroff. After tapas we ate an enormous paella covered in beautiful langoustines.

At the end of the evening we had raised GBP 500! A very enjoyable night for all - thanks to everyone involved..

See you at the next one, Nicola xx

2009-03-10T07:30:00.001-07:00

In January, Teach A Man To Fish launched its Loan Programme 2009, inviting our network members to tell us about new income-generating initiatives that they wish to set up or existing initiatives which they are looking to expand, for which they required financial assistance. All loan applications are now in and we have received a large number of entries from all around the world! Most of our entries were from different countries all over Africa, though we also received entries from South Asia and Latin America too. We have been very impressed with the generally high standard of entries and we only wish that we had the funds to provide loans to more applicants!

There were some great ideas for income-generating projects, from bee-keeping to sell honey and poultry-rearing to sell eggs and meat to cyber-cafes and battery-recycling initiatives, all of which aimed to increase the financial self-sufficiency of the educational programme by directing profits back into the project, to ensure its sustainability over time. Whilst unfortunately there can be only a few successful applicants, we were pleased to discover that there are many organisations, spread across many continents, that are already doing great things in the field of self-sufficient schools, and continue to strive to work towards the ‘Education that pays for itself’ model that Teach A Man To Fish promotes. We wish all of our network members’ success in their future project endeavours!

2009-02-17T02:54:00.000-08:00

Rising to the Challenge: Your Votes See Teach A Man To Fish School Take 2nd Place

“Agriculture School – Paraguay” wins 2nd prize in the BBC World Challenge 2008 awards.
World Challenge is a global competition, now in its fourth year, that encourages, recognizes, and rewards enterprising initiatives making a real difference being made at the grass-roots level. There’s really no better example of this than the Escuela Agricola San Francisco in Paraguay, run by our Latin America partner the Fundación Paraguaya.

Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, yet the educational system does not teach children how to earn a living. This unique school incorporates life skills qualifications, alongside traditional academic modules - producing graduates able to go directly into well-paid work, or into further education.

Martin Burt and Nik Kafka, from Fundación Paraguaya and TeachAManToFish attended the ceremony in Holland to receive the prize of USD $10.000 which will make a valuable contribution to enhancing the students’ overall learning experience.

With a tiny home audience for BBC World programs in Paraguay, it’s your votes internationally that catapulted us into second place – so thanks from all of us here at TeachAManToFish!

2008-04-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

There always seems to be so much news to put into our quarterly newsletters that we never get a chance to really share some of the intereseting small scale projects we're supporting around the world

In Western Kenya for instance we've been helping 30 primary and secondary schools to start income generating educational projects.

Left you can see one of these projects, at Obwolo Secondary School near Kisumu, where supported by our friends at Africa Now, they've been focusing on bee-keeping.

Despite thte opportunities for making money from honey, local farmers are often scared to take up bee-keeping as an extra source of income. By teaching students how to look after the bees properly, it becomes a safer activity all round - and one with a tasty & valuable product.

The student groups vote how to spend the income from the project, ranging from buying extra school equipment to supporting school fees.

One thing you can say about Kenya - although true of most low-income countries - is that kids love going to school.

Ondati Primary School (left) is no exception. Having helped them establish a mango nursery and poultry project, we're now working on starting a Financially Self-Sufficient girls' secondary school with them.

This means that all the girls' who couldn't stay on in school because the nearest high school was too far away (and on paths which were too risky in the dark) will now get a chance to keep going with their studies.

The next shot is the new poultry shed at Ototo Secondary School which is running a Teach A Man To Fish project.

At this stage it was empty, but we're looking forward to our next visit and seeing it filled with cute fluffy chicks.

Maybe it's the reason why Kenya spawned the Green Belt Movement and Nobel Winner Wangarai Maathai, but they do like their trees.

At Luanda Dudi Secondary School they're planting one (left) to commemorate our visit, which is very sweet of them.

When you actually get all the teachers from all these different schools together, like we did here, the ideas fly around fast and furious.

Before you know it they're swapping a nucleus of bees for some mushroom farming secrets and taking their projects up to a whole new level!

Finally, it'd be wrong to stop without a vote of thanks to Elly our Teach A Man To Fish Kenya field officer - what the man doesn't know about F1 Ana Hybrid blight resistant tomatoes you could write on the back of the proverbial postage stamp (before they all became auto-adhesive).

2008-01-23T10:19:00.001-08:00

Saab Zero Charity Ice Challenge!!!

Baltic Ice Heroes Imogen Wall and Rob Swinburn will be trundling off from London to Latvia on 8th February to cover 2,342 km of frosty tarmac in a 200 quid 1990 Saab, all in support of Teach A Man To Fish!

Imogen and Rob have daringly offered themselves up for any cruel or unusual challenge you can think up (as long as you offer up a nice chunky donation). Current challenges include doing a handbrake turn on ice and being towed by the car on skis for 100 metres :)

Check out the website and offer them some support!!!

Website: http://www.freewebs.com/saabzero/index.htm

FB group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6832255687)

2008-01-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

1st Pan-African Prize for Entrepreneurial Teachers - Winners

Many thanks to everyone who entered the 1st Pan-African Prize for Entrepreneurial Teachers. As expected the level of entries was extremely high - making the judging a difficult task.

The sheer range of innovation and achievements described by entrants is a true testimony to magnificent work of so many teachers across Africa.

While so many entries truly deserve recognition, sadly, as with all competitions, there can only be a few winners.

Winners' Stories
1st Prize: Eco-Friendly Business Education
Akwany Leonard, Ecofinder Youth Movement, Kenya

Akwany Leonard, leader of Eco-finders Youth Movement in Kenya has been working to promote ‘environmental entrepreneurship’ in the poorest region of the country since 1995.

Through cost sharing and improvisation Eco-finders has been able to use its limited resources to reach out to over 100 schools and hundreds of community groups, to establish ‘Environmental Enterprises’. Eco-finder members have been involved in a diverse range of enterprises, learning both technical and business skills in a hands on manner.

These have included 20 school tree nurseries, communal village vegetable gardens fertilized with recycled human waste and a self-sufficient agroforestry learning and resource centre.

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2nd Prize: Satellite Farms for Schools
Pamela Akinyi Nyagilo, Ojere Primary School, Kenya

Pamela Akinyi has been teaching her students how to cultivate indigenous vegetables at school since 2003. Students collect seed at the end of each school harvest and sow them back on their home farm. This has led to most of the households surrounding the school starting their own indigenous vegetable gardens, radically reducing malnutrition in the area.

At the school’s poultry house, students breed their family’s local hens with purebred cocks, producing high value ‘pullets’. Some of these pullets are sold to local hotels to support and expand the project, whilst the remainder are looked after at school by the students. The project has now grown in size and there are 4 cockerels breeding with dozens of hens, generating a handsome profit which students use to buy educational materials.

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3rd Prize: Turning Waste into Gold
Atanga Martin Tabifor, Paradise On Earth, Cameroon

Since being forced to look for alternative forms of fertilizer in Cameroon’s economic depression of the early 90s, Atanga Martin has been leading his community to recycle their waste to produce furniture, ornaments, building materials and of…course…fertilizer, through training courses and enterprise schemes.

By transforming their waste and selling it for a profit, the community has tackled health and sanitation problems head on and found new and profitable ways to exploit waste products. Teaching the next generation to transform garbage into gold not only offers them a route out of poverty, but also a better chance of a genuinely sustainable future.

2007-12-10T06:37:00.000-08:00

Final Day Of The Conference

See more pictures of the conference at !

All good things must come to an end sometime so, sadly, the conference wound up on Thursday 6th December. After a great presentation from Dr.Warner Woodworth, Director of the Centre for Economic Self-Reliance at Brigham Young University (USA), Mary Liz Kehler and Luis Fernando Sanabria introduced the Fundacion's and TAMTF's new 'School In A Box', a comprehensive guide to how to generate income in schools.

Next participants were grouped together and given a seemingly impossible challenge by Steve and Dave. Each group were given a wood block with a nail nailed into it. Then 12 more loose nails were given to each group, which had to all be balanced on the head of the wood block nail without any nails touching the base (i.e balancing on the head of one nail).

It was the Argentinian and Bolivian group which came up with an ingenius solution first, proving the theme of this conference: NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!

Next each group was given an opportunity to come up with simply diagrams to illustrate how they think Self-Sufficient Education can be achieved. Representatives came up to the front of the hall and presented their group's ideas, visualized using anything from smiley faces to palm trees.

The last part of the day involved a panel discussion, with the main facilitators being (from right) James Tooley (Global Education Fund), Mary Anne Muller (Escuela Agroecológica de Pirque- Fundación Origen), Makonen Getu (Opportunity Internetional), Godfrey Nzamujo (The Songhai Center) and Martin Burt (Fundacion Paraguayay). The panel explored the most important issues raised during the conference and set the agenda for how the TAMTF can move foward and develop. Regional TAMTF committees were proposed, to follow up on the progress the conference had made and participants volunteering to join these committees then signed up to confirm their intent.

With a message of thanks for all who came together to make this wonderful event happen, the conference closed with a feeling of optimism and real hope that a strong, far reaching TAMTF network can make a real difference to changing the way global education works.

2007-12-05T05:26:00.000-08:00

The Idea Tree

Steve Carver and Dave Germond are geniuses! Not only are they keeping everyone entertained with their brilliant MCing and group games, they have started the IDEA TREE.

Each participant gets a block of post-it notes every morning and when they hear a good idea from somebody else or even think of one themselves, they post it up on 'The Tree'.

First Day Speakers

Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 4th) attendees were treated to some inspirational speeches and presentations from our keynote speakers.

Fundacion Paraguaya Managing Director, Martin Burt gave an inspirational introduction to how The San Fransico School is creating a new generation of rural entrepreneurs in the Paraguayan Countryside.

Polan Lacki gave a though provoking speech about how rural education needs to be revolutionised to meet the needs of the rural poor and give them the skills to lift themselves out of poverty.

James Tooley reflected on the findings of his own extensive research across Africa and Asia and celebrated the success of the 'private school for the poor', schools which are setup by community members to provide lower cost yet high quality education to children from poor families.

Marianna Martinelli gave an inspiring introduction to the work of her organisation CODEER in Chile and Godfrey Nzamujo showed participants how he has been building the skills of young farmers in Benin for the last 20 years at 'The Songhai Center'.

Paraguayan Traditional BBQ

In the evening participants were treated to a superb feast of traditional local dishes. As a side accompaniment Afro-Paraguayan dancers providing some high energy rhythm, with our African particpants getting in on the act. During dinner a harpist and guitarist serenaded the diners until the wee hours....

2007-12-04T07:39:00.000-08:00

Teach A Man To Fish Conference 2007 Begins!

Over 100 participants have been gathering at The Fundacion Paraguaya's San Franciso Agricultural School in Paraguay from Malaysia to Benin. Most arrived on the 3rd December and have already been treated to training in the 'GROW BIOINTENSIVE' method, tours of the school and an evening of traditional Paraguayan music and dance.

The official start of the conference is in a few minutes, with Nik Kafka welcoming participants and Martin Burt giving an introduction to the school. More to follow...

2007-08-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Teach A Man To Fish Is Two Years Old!

Whilst most two year olds are still waddling around, TAMTF is in full stride and helping change the world of education!

On the 22nd August we celebrated our 2nd birthday with a nice little cake. From left is: Maya Joseph (School Links Officer), Jim Stephenson (Programmes Manager), Nik Kafka (Managing Director), Tyler Mattiace (Conference and Communications Officer) and Adam Dorken (Fundraising and Communications Officer).

TAMTF has achieved a remarkable amount over the last two years and spread 'Education that Pays for Itself' all around the world. May the next two years bring even more success!

2007-08-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

Teach A Man To Fish at The Innocent Village Fete

Over the weekend of the 4th and 5th of August, Teach A Man To Fish ran a stall at The Innocent Village Fete in Regent's Park, London. The stall was a huge success, with a 'Mango Shy' (styled on a Coconut Shy but using Mangos instead) and a sack race, with each sack being decorated as one of the animals from the Teach A Man To Fish projects around the world.

The aim of the weekend was to raise awareness about what we are doing to some of the 60,000 people who turned up for the event. The Mango Shy signalled the launch of our 'Carbon Fruitprint' programme, supporting the planting of Mango Orchards in Kenyan schools.

The sack race was aimed at promoting the diversity of projects we have around the world, from worm farming in Armenia to Pig rearing in Uganda.

Altogether the weekend was a great success and our enthusiastic team of volunteers had a great time!

2007-07-25T03:19:00.000-07:00

ENTREPRENEURIAL TEACHERS – What makes an Entrepreneurial Teacher? Discuss!

Over their full career a single teacher can make a huge difference to the lives of hundreds of students, maybe even thousands.

In developing countries where teaching resources are often extremely limited, it’s only too easy for teachers to become demotivated and meet the minimum requirements needed to keep their job.

Despite this, we know that there are thousands of truly remarkable teachers out there. These teachers ‘go the extra mile’ to find creative ways to bring education to their students.

o They transform limited resources into astonishing results
o They drive change within their communities
o They develop educational initiatives which are copied nationwide

We’re looking at finding ways to support these teachers and recognize the important contribution they make to improving the lives of their fellow countrymen.

We’d like to hear your views on what makes an Entrepreneurial Teacher. Do you have any examples of any teachers that have found creative ways to achieve remarkable success?

Add your comments to this blog, share your views, and help shape our strategy!

2007-06-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

In May 2007 Teach A Man To Fish delivered a fully equipped 9 hive apiary to Lwak Girls High School in Western Kenya.A supporting training program for pupils and teachers was also established.

Girls at the school, such as Susan Odongo of Form 3, come from poor farming backgrounds where life after school means supporting themselves and their families through smallscale farming and informal businesses. Susan believes Bee Keeping

“is a valuable skill which will allow me to earn good money, even from a small piece of land”

Bee Keeping is a growing industry in Kenya, where demand for honey outstrips supply, keeping prices high. Royal Jelly and Wax can also be sold through Bee Keeping, and Bees increase the pollination rates and fecundity of flowering crops in their vicinity.

The high profits associated with Bee Keeping will help improve both the quality and availability of education at Lwak. This has generated a tremendous enthusiasm for the project from both staff and teachers. Agricultural Teacher Meshack Omondi explains that:

“income will be used to purchase educational materials and to subsidize the fees of the poorest students, who currently struggle to meet the amounts required for their attendance.”

The establishment of this apiary is a big step forward for providing rural enterprise training, vocational skills and income for Lwak High School.

2007-04-20T02:42:00.001-07:00

Teach A Man To Fish is once again entering territory previously unexplored by Development Charities......project-partner blogging!

An enthusiastic group of our recent 'Schools for Rural Enterpreneurs' competition winners will be keeping the world updated on their school based income generating projects via the wonder of the 'blog'.

This is a unique opportunity for the whole world to view development in ACTION, direct from people on the ground, making the process of 'international development' just that little less mysterious.

So, check out our project links and see for yourself. Not all of the blogs are underway yet, but we already have some interesting stories developing.

Welcome to the future!