DIL’s Caravan of Hope

Its a great thing to provide even one child access to education which he/she wouldnot otherwise have, and doing so for many thousand through 185 schools is quite a major effort. Thanks for this and hope to read more on the subject.

I have 1-2 questions, answers to which I couldn`t find on the DIL website.

Any particular reason for preferring nonformal education over formal education? What are thought to be relevant metrics for judging the effectiveness and utility of such norformal education? (just trying to understand, since this issue comes up in India too..)

What are the problems if any about community support for education, such as suppose these children help their parents earn, so first enrollment then drop outs are a problem? Are facts and figures about this compiled by the project monitors or by the NGO-on-the-ground so that new projects can be better judged?

What are general livelihood options among the people targeted by these efforts, does this education enhance livelihood opportunities in the locality they live in or preparedness for pursuing further education?

Zafar

Is that you??? :-)

http://www.thefridaytimes.com/

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Sir,

Like many of your readers I am completely addicted to the ¡°Diary of a Social Butterfly¡±. It leaves Dallas Shallas for dead. I tried to search your site for past instalments, but was unable to unearth any archives. Can you tell me where to look? Should I keep my hopes up?

Zafar Al-Talib,

Sydney

No. We do not have archives at the moment -- Ed.

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Ras,

Thanks for the report on the DIL event on the west coast. Your description of the event reminded me of a similar event we had here on the east coast a month back (this was for SOS, which runs orphanages). Expatriate Pakistanis are certainly doing what they can to contribute positively, even if modestly, for poverty alleviation and education efforts in Pakistan.

Dear Mr. Siddiqui:

Bravo to both the men and women of DIL and to yourself for bringing this organization to the attention of Chowkies.

Incredible as it seems, 5 years of primary education for a child can be secured for $200. One may sponsor an entire school for $1000.

But how does one ensure that the schools have blackboards, chairs or benches or desks or libraries and most importantly that the children will have books and supplies?

Inshallah, a milk and lunch program will be considered.