CORE Activities: Opportunities and Resources
CORE International focuses on developing partnerships and programs to address the self-identified needs of excluded people. We also work to build 'bridges' between groups of people, organizations, and individuals who are able to provide services and support.
Our focus is on providing:
- Opportunities for learning, such as literacy classes and scholarships.
- Resources for improving livelihoods, through micro-credit and training.
CORE has seven priorities for our development focus including:
- Gender and Social Inclusion
- Literacy, Education, and Participatory Learning and Action
- Sustainable use of resources to improve the livelihoods of the poor
- Primary Health Care
- Micro-enterprise projects
- Appropriate alternative technology and innovations
- Indigenous Knowledge.
Although many of these priorities are linked, we are first focusing on literacy and micro-credit projects, which include addressing the issue of gender and social inclusion.
We have prioritized working in Nepal or India for the immediate future, though we intend to expand to other countries as our organization gains experience and resources. We plan to work with a wide variety of local organizations as partners in the future, but for the first year will focus our support to the following projects and partners.
Opportunities: Learning and Scholarships
CORE provides funds for scholarships and 'out-of-school' education classes for working children through its local partners.
CORE is also developing a program to support micro-finance activities through these partners. |
 Puja Kumari, 15, is from Rautahat in the southern plains of Nepal. She studied a bit while in her village but came to Kathmandu 8 years ago with her family to be able to earn a living in the city.
"I'm eager to study so that I can read letters like everyone else. After the class, I'll continue working at home.
We make bags from recycled paper and sell them to shops. We make 1,000 bags a day to earn Rs 200 (C$3.50)." |
|
'Out-of-School' Learning and Scholarships for Urban Poor
CORE supports an 'out-of-school' learning program for poor urban children. It pays for the salary of the teacher, books for the students, and venue rental. The students study for nine months in preparation to enter the government school system. The students range in age, but few have had an opportunity to attend school previously.
The class is held in Kathmandu but many of the students have migrated there from other districts of Nepal after being displaced during the decade of civil conflict. The program is implemented by a Nepali NGO, the Society for the Urban Poor (SOUP).
CORE will also provide direct funding for an on-going project of SOUP to provide educational scholarships for children once they have completed the learning program. The children in this program all live in Kathmandu, Nepal. We will support a minimum of 20 children to attend school each year. The scholarship recipients are selected based on the following list of criteria:
- low income family
- single parent family
- Parents commitment and contribution
- Students commitment
- Selected students approved by community group and school
The approximate cost of supporting a month of ‘out-of-school’ learning is $120 and of supporting a student in school per year is $50. |
 Ramesh Tamang, 16, is from Dhading district in the hills to the west of Kathmandu. He attended school in the village until Class 5, but came to Kathmandu two years ago after the rebels had come to the school and taken the older students.
He was afraid to go to school anymore and so his whole family came to Kathmandu.
A social worker told him about the classes. He attended them for 5 months last year when he was working in a shop from 7 am to 7 pm for Rs 700 (C$11) per month.
Now, Ramesh goes to school from 6 am to 10:30 am and then works at the shop from noon until 7 pm. The shop owner had fired Ramesh when he started school, but asked him to come back after trying two other workers. |
|
'Out-of-School' Learning for Child Porters
 CORE works with Porters Progress and World Education to fund an ‘out-of-school’ learning program for child porters in Lukla, a mountain village in Nepal and the site of the airport at the start of the Everest trek.
The education is modified to fit their needs and time schedule. Most of the children work in trekking hotels carrying wood, cleaning, and sometimes carrying loads for trekking groups.
CORE International supports the hiring, equipping and training of one full-time education coordinator to support the education of 40 child porters. The children will be selected by their attendance at Porters Progress Sagarmatha activities and their attendance will be monitored for the continuation in the program.
The children will come from remote villages south of Lukla in the lower Solu-Khumbu district and from Khotang and Udaypur districts.
The cost of supporting the facilitator is about $100 per month.
Resources: Micro-credit and Scholarships for Poor Families  CORE supports scholarships for the widows and their children for education or skills training and vocational training for exemplary young widows to learn the skills to be self-sufficient.
We also support loans for Income Generating Activities for widows to improve their livelihoods. As well, one young widow will study to become a Maternal Child Health Worker and four will continue their higher studies at college.
CORE works with a Nepali NGO, Women for Human Rights (WHR), to distribute the scholarships and loans through its existing programs, especially its Opportunity Fund.
The recipient women and their children are based in different rural districts of Nepal. The recipients are selected based on low income, current need (no other property or family support), conflict-affected, and commitment of the individual.
 Sumitra Shrestha, 25, was widowed
last year when her husband was killed in a bus accident. She is learning tailoring through WHR to try to support her two children. |
|
This year, fifteen women are receiving support to start Income Generating Activities in a range of occupations including tailoring, shop keeping, goat rearing, mushroom farming, candle making, and driving.
CORE contribution to the Opportunity Fund supports scholarships for the widows and/or their children to continue their schooling. The cost of supporting a student in a government school is as little as $20 per year. The need is great. WHR had 5,000 applicants for scholarships last year and could only support 186. |
|
