Planet Child: Help educate our planet's children!

A colleague I work very closely with is working on a venture to help provide education to children who cannot afford it in developing countries. Although there are a lot of organisations with similar goals, the approach taken by this effort is quite interesting and tries to work around the most commonly faced problem in the sector(I think), that of funding. There have been so many fraud NGOs that a lot of people in the US and other developed countries think a zillion times before donating to an NGO. The approach taken here is to try and make things as corruption proof as possible.

Although it's a small start, it has a scalable feel to it and I wish them all the best.

Here's some detail on the project being undertaken currently. For more, visit www.planetchild.org

Development Though Drawing Project:

Why drawing? Teaching kids how to draw has a very high return on investment. The drawing skills that kids learn will stay with them for the rest of their lives and the act of drawing and explaining what they have drawn helps them to develop mentally.

Teaching drawing is measurable and corruption proof. By collecting the drawing from the kids you are assured that:
1) they have received the drawing materials and
2) they have received the accompanying instructions on how to draw.

Monitoring distribution of valuable assets in developing countries is very hard. Much of United Nation food aid is stolen and sold out in the market. A drawing is a form of receipt that we collect from kids to ensure that the drawing materials reached them.

How do I start?

If you live in India or China or other developing counties then you are fortunate, just look out the window and you will see kids that are in need of your help. If you are in one of the already developed countries then you need to do a bit more work to find the kids. Consider doing this activity when you go on vacation to Cuba, Mexico, [name your favorite destination spot] or simply go to an underprivileged school in your city.

• Pick students that are 5+ years old.
• Either buy some markers or contact us to get free markers if cost is an issue.
• Print this form and ask the students to draw on it.

We will come up with more detail set of instructions and lesson plans soon:
Walk around and give feedback to the students. Watch for: Relative sizes of objects should make sense. Flowers should be smaller than trees. Show them how to convey perspective. Encourage them to be creative and express themselves.

Tags:

• NGO
• Social+Sector
• Planet+Child