Sompanya moves on to DO!
Both groups followed the planning steps for the DO stage, asking themselves about the people they could involve, when to DO their plan, resources or money required, and the main aims of their implementation. Is was getting harder to plan in the larger groups and some students expressed they did not want to be part of the planning, so we let them decide whether or not they participated at this stage. However, they will participate in the DO stage for both groups.
Project 1 - They identified that they needed 80,000 kip to implement their plan, so they are making paper bags to sell to Saoban to raise money themselves. They are still working on the song and the poem about cleanliness, so they may not DO it before Lao New Year.
Project 2 - Their final plan for football and a drama show in order to promote friendship, inclusion and solidarity will be carried out on the 10th of April. They don’t need to raise money, but they are busy practising and organising this week.
DO, DO, DO!! Both groups have completed the DO stage of their project.
Project 1 - On April 10th, the students performed a drama (written by themselves) relating to bullying and friendship at school, and they organised games for friendship after the performance. In the week leading up to the DO activities, they worked really hard as a group to prepare posters to invite all students to the show and games, as well as personally inviting the teachers and heads. They practised consistently and took responsibility for organising themselves. The show was well received and their message was clear to the whole school, raising awareness of this important issue of respecting and being kind to others.
Project 2 - This group’s planning committee had dropped down to 6 girls in the secondary school who were committed to continuing the plan and seeing the project through to the end. They continued to make bags for Saoban and made posters to invite the whole school to hear their presentation about hygiene and appropriate bathroom behaviour. They presented their message to the school on Wednesday morning and made posters to put in the bathrooms to remind students to keep the bathrooms clean.
We are proud of the students for taking responsibility and seeing the projects through. They have made a difference in the school, shared some important messages, collaborated, learned more about each other by working together, improved their critical and creative thinking skills, and reflected on the process along the way. It has not been without difficulty for the students or the teachers, but they showed that THEY CAN!
Donkoi have finished the DFC process. Their problem of keeping the toilets clean resulted in the DO stage - children brought their poem and posters of how to keep the toilet clean. They chanted the poem excitedly and invited the principal and staff to watch. Their solution was something that the adults had not thought about doing before!
The DFC team here is 7 people and they worked very hard, so Madame Xuyen made them special hats to show her appreciation! They are planning to make certificates for all the students and volunteers involved to wrap up the process and to make the students feel proud of their work.
The team and students had a reflection session where they laid out all the steps of their process – FEEL, WHY, HOW, IMAGINE, DO – on top of the ping pong table and everyone could see the steps and their thinking in the process.
They presented their resolution to the school administration also and are waiting to see they will help them also do some repairs on the toilet as it is old and the walls are cracked. There is a plan to repair the floor so it will not get wet all the time.
The children are keen to do another DFC project! Stay tuned for the SHARE video 
The students of the VC ACCESS program all got together last Saturday before the end of term, and have started the process of producing advertising and gathering donations of items to sell.
Their initial problem in the FEEL stage was that the children were upset by a lack of resources at many Lao schools. The DO stage will include an event called “Fair Share” at Vientiane College to raise money for the materials to donate to Dongnasok School. The event is scheduled for July 22nd. The students are making progress and it looks like the event in July will be well attended. The flyer is also in this month’s Talatlao! More information to come soon, or join their event on Facebook for updates!
From September 28th to October 1st, Chomphet School in Xieng Kuang province implemented DFC at their school with 32 youth volunteers. It was a chance for the teachers to practice facilitating DFC after their initial introduction and training in Vientiane in July. The Education Development team from PADETC went to Xieng Kuang to support and mentor the teachers as they carried out the implementation, and Hans from Patoo Industries was there to film the process as part of the media package for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Design for Change is being implemented in 4 schools in Vientiane and Xieng Kuang as part of an ESD project between the University of the Sacred Heart in Japan and the Ministry of Education in Laos, with PADETC providing technical support.
The students brainstormed many problems that bothered them around their school - but finally voted on several small problems to tackle such as, how to encourage their friends not to use drugs,and how to reduce rubbish in the school… The FEEL, IMAGINE and preparing for DO stages were completed on the weekend, and the DO and SHARE stages were carried out on the Monday to encourage as many students in the school to participate and share in the DFC action.
The teachers were able to lead the stages quite confidently using the Lao language DFC curriculum, and the PADETC team reflected with them before, during and after the process to consolidate the training and the important skills and messages around facilitating DFC projects.
Dongnasok School in Vientiane and Nahin School in Khammouane were buzzing with excitement last week as the students from Vientiane College Access program paid them a visit to donate school supplies and materials. The ACCESS students had bought the materials from money raised at their Design for Change project event – ‘Fair Share’, held in July.
At Vientiane College, the ACCESS Program started the DFC process in March. ACCESS is a two year program funded by the American Embassy to benefit underprivileged children from rural provinces. There are three classes and a total of 60 students who have been involved in DFC this year. In the FEEL stage they chose the problem of many schools in Laos being under-resourced. In the IMAGINE stage, they brainstormed many ideas about how they could help or improve this problem.
They decided to hold a fundraising event to raise money for Dongnasok School in Vientiane and the Nahin school in Khammouane province, and the ‘Fair Share’ event was born. After this successful event, they had to calculate how much money they raised at the Fair Share. The students then purchased school supplies and sports equipment for the students and staff at Dongnasok and Nahin schools.
The ACCESS students made a daytime trip to Dongnasok where they engaged the students in activities planned by ACCESS students and presented the purchased school materials to the school.
The ACCESS students had another amazing opportunity to take an overnight field trip to Khammouane province, to visit Nahin school and present their donation of school supplies. The ACCESS students and teachers were greeted by Nahin staff and students with handmade flower necklaces, a delicious lunch made with local foods, and a formal presentation by all students. This was followed by a field day of sports, using the new sports equipment that was a part of the donation.
The students would like to thank their supporters – Vientiane College, Love Life Ice Cream, Talat Lao, Patoo Industries, and Design for Change Laos.
