The Building Fund

2010-10-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

The Building Fund Completes Library in Ghana

2010-07-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

The Building Fund is happy to announce the completion of the temporary library at the Young Apostles International School. With a donation from TBF the Young Apostles School of Daban Panin was able to construct tables, chairs, and shelving to house the large donation of books from Books For Africa. The library officially opened on Friday, July 16, 2010.

To celebrate the opening of the library the students, parents and community of Daban Panin gathered for a ceremony. The school will now be one of very few in the Kumasi area with a library. The library will not only benefit members of the school, but also students, teachers and parents of the larger community who wish to further their education.

TBF Goes Live on Stuff Your Rucksack

2010-07-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

The Building Fund recently joined more than 100 projects across the globe on StuffYourRucksack.com. Stuffyourrucksack.com is an online community that helps responsible travelers make a practical difference to the lives of those in developing countries that have so little, and deserve so much more. Visit their website to learn more!

Reaching the Poorest

2010-02-13T00:11:00.000-08:00

A recent article in The Economist (Reaching the Poorest, January 23rd 2010) questions the effectiveness of a recent push to increase funding to schools in the developing world. The article suggest that getting children into school is only the first step towards education and underlying issues of teacher absenteeism, students retention, and rural access deserve greater attention.

Although the number of unenrolled school-age children dropped by 33mm in the years between 1999 and 2007, nearly 50% of those children enrolled in school were in India. In sub-Saharan Africa 45% of the worlds 72mm remain unenrolled in school. Furthermore, the greatest drop in unenrolment came in the short time between 2002 and 2004, without significant change since that time.

“In Ghana, sixth-graders sitting a simple multiple-choice reading test scored on average the same mark that would be gained by random guessing.”

The difficulty of enrolling children from remote areas, as well as those speaking a minority language or from communities long excluded from education is stagnating the process. The article offers that increased funding is not a solution. In developing countries low-cost for-profit schools routinely out-perform the free or tax-payer subsided school. Teachers are more committed and parents complain if standards slip. Another option is performance-related pay for teachers. The idea, which has been tested in India, saw the extra pay to be three times more effective in boosting students test scores than spending the same money on teaching materials.

In order to meet the goals of the UN’s “Education For All” initiative, multiple approaches to increasing school enrolment in developing countries must be explored. It is not enough to build a school if the teachers do not come to teach or if the students do not understand the language of the teacher. Greater attention must be paid to the complexities of education and new solutions developed to increase access to education.

Illegal Chocolate?

2009-10-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Not many people ask themselves when they sink their teeth into a delicious, creamy piece of chocolate: "I wonder if the workers who helped to produce this treat were properly treated?". Recent reports by the Department of Labor have highlighted the gruelling conditions that workers face on the cocoa plantations in West Africa. "Illegal", "slavery" and "human trafficking" are among many words used to describe the setting. Ghana supplies nearly 60% of the world's chocolate, many workers being between the ages of 11 and 16. Although many exporters claim to have been unaware of the 12-hour long days, inhumane conditions with no pay and no education given to workers, not much has been done to improve the situation. Measures have been taken to ameliorate the conditions, however the upcoming reports have skeptics telling you "I told you so" when you read an article about a five-year old boy from Ghana who is among the staff.

I highly recommend the article "Blood and Chocolate" found at http://www.gourmet.com/foodpolitics/2009/09/chocolate-industry-cocoa-policies for your review. Please share with friends, family and coworkers to help enforce (child) labor laws and secure basic human rights. Until this becomes a legal work situation, chocolate won't taste so good anymore... Please help take action!

New Placement System Becomes Controversy

2009-10-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Recently, a new system for student placement into schools was initiated. This new system focuses solely on raw exam scores, throwing away an older system that relied heavily on students' grades. Complaints arose when students gained high marks but low raw scores and were thusly not accepted into schools. Now, grades don't matter! Before, grades alone would get a student accepted into a school.

The emphasis on testing/raw scores above grades became a deciding factor for Ghana, and little discussion took place on behalf of the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to inform parents of their decision. Controvery emerged most recently when many kids were still not placed into schools due to low raw scores, and school is starting very very soon...!

To read more about this topic, please read the article "Ghana: Addressing Computer Placement Challenges" at http://allafrica.com/stories/200910051519.html.

TBF Award Grant

2009-08-04T01:53:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row TBF has been awarded a grant from The Nathan Cummings Foundation. The Nathan Cummings Foundation is rooted in the Jewish tradition and committed to democratic values and social justice, including fairness, diversity, and community. The Foundation seeks to build a socially and economically just society that values nature and protects the ecological balance for future generations; promotes humane health care; and fosters arts and culture that enriches communities. The Building Fund is appreciates the continued support of The Nathan Cummings Foundation!

For more about the Nathan Cummings Foundation please click here.

On the Ground at YAIS

2009-07-25T02:24:00.000-07:00

While construction of a permanent library has yet to begin, due to the timely need of a library in the community YAIS has taken many steps towards providing resources to its community. With community support for the library established a library committee was formed to guide the process of building and sustain the library. The five-member committee includes a professional librarian, the headmaster of YAIS, a teacher in charge of library studies, a parent representative, and a local community representative. The committee, in addition to guiding the overall plan for construction and management of the library, has been charged with the responsibility of networking with community members and key stakeholders.

With the committee in place the community is moving forward with a plan to open a temporary library at YAIS in an effort to engage the community in the use of the future library and test library systems on a smaller scale before opening the permanent library. The temporary library will be housed in two currently unused classrooms at YAIS and will present a selection of the nearly 25,000 books donated by Books for Africa. With the aid of a library intern YAIS students will spend two weeks sorting, labeling, and cataloguing books for use in the temporary library. An additional four weeks has been scheduled to organize the books in their temporary space to be made available for loan to students and the community.

Once the temporary library is open to the public YAIS will begin generating income for the construction of a permanent library to supplement funds being contributed by The Building Fund and other partner organizations.

Founder Featured in SCOPE Quarterly

2009-07-19T05:22:00.000-07:00

Founder, Jessyca Dudley, was featured in the spring issuse of SCOPE Quarterly. The article, profiling the work of Skidmore alumni in Africa, features The Building Fund and Jessyca's current work in South Africa with the U.S. Peace Corps. To read the article, please click here.

President Obama visits Ghana

2009-07-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Last week, President Obama visited Ghana for the first time since taking office. Highlighting Ghana's democratic achievements and the propserity of a recent election, President Obama chose a thriving country in sub-Saharan Africa that was not one with familial ties. Despite Ghana's comparable success within the region, however, the country's instability and examples of corruption could not be overlooked. Economic and political stability within the country continue to be an obstacle, as is the case within the entire continent. Obama's visit sparked intense debate over Africa's importance to the international community, including a critique of Kenya's recent turmoils and Gabon's economic strife due to a corrupt President. Ghana's transfer of power from a democratic election will ultimately decide a peaceful and stable politic. Will Ghana be the exception or the normal?

To read more about President Obama's visit, please see the New York Times article, "Ghana Visit Highlights Scarce Stability in Africa." (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/world/africa/11africa.html?_r=1&hp)

Higher Education in Ghana?

2009-05-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

Higher education should be made accessible and free to all. Sadly, higher education development in Ghana, unlike other sectors of development, has not kept pace with the ever increasing demand for higher education due to population growth. The increasing demand for higher education has created corruption in higher education admissions, examination malpractices, such as falsification of entry requirements, bribery of admissions officials for the limited spaces that are available.

To read more about the problem of access to higher education (defined as any education that is beyond secondary education) please see the article I located on a Ghana website from 24 April 2009: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=160902

Free School Lunches Increase School Attendance

2009-02-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday,the UN's IRIN News and Analysis published another article of interest. The UN World Food Programme has been offering free lunch to students in the Republic of the Congo, and the article claims that the promise of lunch has kept more children coming back to school. In the 1980s, the Republic of the Congo had one of the highest primary school attendance records in Africa, but the civil war destroyed half of all schools in the Congo, as well as displacing students and teachers, between 1998 and 2003. The program began in 2002, when about 32 percent of Congolese did not have enough food, and today the program feeds up to 39,000 students every day. Free school lunches, something the United States offers to its low-income students already, could prove to be a step towards both increasing school attendance and alleviating hunger in developing countries around the world.

To read the full story, visit: http://allafrica.com/stories/200902260677.html

Increased Primary School Enrollment Leads to Secondary School Shortage

2009-02-19T15:53:00.000-08:00

The United Nations publication IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis recently published an article describing problems Mali's education system is facing as a result of increased primary school enrollment. Mali has been working towards the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015, and their success with increasing enrollment in primary schools has led to a shortage of teachers and classroom space in secondary schools. In 2008, about 17,000 students out of 80,000 who passed the admission exams for secondary schools could not attend due to lack of space.

The government of Mali is building more vocational schools in an attempt to give these students somewhere to go. This issue raises important questions about the best way to increase access to education internationally. Primary education is an important goal, and in that Mali has been successful: between 2002 and 2007, primary school enrollment has increased from 56% to 68% for girls and 78% to 88% for boys. However, even success stories come with their own challenges, and this is no exception.

To read the full story, visit: http://allafrica.com/stories/200902060747.html

A government's financial role in promoting education

2009-02-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

I found an excellent article on the active role of government in Uganda in committing itself to pay for the pupils who failed last year's Primary Leaving Examinations. The article was rather controversial, suggesting that the Government's aid may be a waste of their resources in accomodating such pupils. Although a pupil's poor performance is often due to parental neglect in their children's education, does that not mean that the government should take an active role in promoting education? I'm curious to see if other African countries with similar educational structures, like Ghana and Nigeria, would be hesitant to involve their governments financially in aiding failing students...

Source: allAfrica.com, 8 February 2009: "Uganda: Govt to Pay for P7 Failures to Repeat"

Delta State Government Approves Teacher Pay Raise

2009-02-09T07:44:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, the Delta State government in Nigeria approved a 27.5% pay raise for primary school teachers. This move was in line with a resolution reached last August at the Nigeria Governors' Forum and the Nigeria Union of Teachers that all states should implement a Teachers' Salary Structure program in order to improve the quality of education and recruit more teachers. Delta State is the first state to begin implementing the program.

Like Ghana, where The Building Fund works, Nigeria offers free primary education, but the schools are often under-funded and face a shortage of qualified teachers. The quality of Nigeria's educational system declined in the nineties, as the population increased dramatically and the number of schools available did not keep up. This program, if it works as intended, will help children in Nigeria gain access to high-quality education.

To read the full story visit: http://allafrica.com/stories/200902090651.html

Other source: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/414840/Nigeria/55302/Education

View the YAIS Community Center Plans

2009-01-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

As The Building Fund moves forward in its project to build a community center at the Young Apostles International School we are excited to share with you the plans for the community center drawn by architects of the Architecture for Humanity Chicago Chapter.

In November, 22 architects from AFH's Chicago Chapter gathered to produce and document several design explorations in response to the programmatic needs of the school/community
center. Upon completion, a team leader (one from each of 3 design teams) was responsible for assembling all sketches, drawings, and diagrams into a consistent format. The end product is a
a printed booklet which will be sent to Ghana for implementation by a local architect and construction team. To view a digital version of the booklet please click here.

In exploring multiple design solutions, the hope was that architects in Ghana will be able to choose from several designs, and have the opportunity to implement select portions from each scheme. The plans feature innovative designs that take into consideration the many challenges facing the school including climate, water access, and various community specific needs. We hope that you will enjoy viewing the designs and will check back here for future updates on the project.

Meet Our Blog Team

2009-01-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

The Building Fund is happy to introduce its new Blog Team contributors Kate Clabby and Lindsay Colbert. In addition to updates on the organization you can now visit the TBF Blog for the latest news on international education, profiles of organizations, and interviews with key leaders in the field brought to you by the Blog Team!

Kate Clabby
Kate Clabby is a sophomore at The University of Texas at Austin, double majoring in Humanities, with a concentration in Women in African Culture and Development, and English. She has interned with the literary journal Farfelu Magazine and Collaboration Theater Company, and she is a writing tutor for freshman honors students. She is also involved with the UT chapter of Oxfam America. Kate plans to continue to work for social justice throughout her life, and she is excited to be a part of The Building Fund's effort to help bring education to all children.

Lindsay Colbert
Lindsay Colbert graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Masters degree in International Development and French. She moved to Chicago to intern with Heartland International, a non-profit organization which designs, implements and manages political, economic and social development projects, as well as international education exchange programs. Previously working with other non-profit organizations in the Midwest, as well as abroad, Lindsay has gained experience in multi-cultural communications and international development projects. Appreciating the importance of education in child development, Lindsay is looking forward to volunteering with The Building Fund and encouraging others to help make a difference.

We look forward to having Kate and Lindsay join our team!!

Education in the Middle East: Improving Lives and Promoting Peace

2009-01-27T07:54:00.000-08:00

Greg Mortenson, a former mountain climber, pledged to build his first school in Korphe, Pakistan when he stumbled into the rural village, sick and exhausted, after a failed attempt to summit the mountain K2. After receiving an endowment from the scientist Jean Hoerni, Mortenson founded the Central Asia Institute, which has successfully established 78 schools for children in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. The CAI makes it a priority to learn from the local people, and to help the communities help themselves. Every CAI project is initiated by people in the community, and they are asked to volunteer labor for building the school. Mortenson believes that this policy helps to empower the local people as well as keeping costs low.

Mortenson and the CAI build schools because they care about helping children. Because educating girls has the biggest impact on quality of life for the entire village, they focus on enrolling girls. However, in the aftermath of 9/11, the CAIs work has taken on a greater significance for Americans. In much of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the only schools available are Islamic madrassas, which are often run by extremist Muslims who use them to advance anti-American agendas and recruit for the Taliban. Mortenson believes that if children are offered options for balanced, moderate education, support for terrorists will eventually evaporate. Therefore, the only sustainable way to fight terror is to improve access to education in the Middle East.

Since its inception, the CAI has expanded to provide women's centers and public health resources in addition to schools, teacher training, and teacher salaries. The New York Times #1 best seller Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time, coauthored by Mortenson and journalist David Oliver Relin, tells the CAI's story.

For more, visit https://www.ikat.org/

Join Our Blog Team

2009-01-13T17:37:00.000-08:00

The Building Fund is seeking volunteers to join its newly formed Blog Team.
The team will work to bring content and fresh ideas to the TBF Blog, while also increasing the visibility and viability of the Blog.

An ideal candidate for the Blog Team will have previous experience working with non-profits and an interest in international education. The position is unpaid, however, after successful tenure on the team individuals will have gained valuable skills and contacts, as well as a familiarity with the workings of a non-profit. TBF is also willing to write recommendations for future internships and jobs.

Responsibilities will include weekly postings that fully communicate current events and news in international education with a focus on Ghana and primary education.

You need:
• a strong interest in international education
• strong blog-style writing skills
• a reliable computer and internet connection
• strong internet research skills

Please submit:
• Your name
• Your contact information
• Your previous experience
• What you do full time
• 2 sample posts that you think should appear on The Building Fund Blog

Please email:
info@thebuildingfund.org
Please use subject line: Blog Team

The Building Fund Awarded Google Grant

2008-12-30T12:23:00.000-08:00

The Building Fund announced today that it has been awarded a Google Grant providing Google AdWords services for the non-profit. The Google Grants program supports organizations sharing Google's philosophy of community service to help the world in areas such as science and technology, education, global public health, the environment, youth advocacy, and the arts.

Designed for 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, Google Grants is a unique in-kind advertising program harnessing the power of Google AdWords advertising product. Google Grants has awarded AdWords advertising to hundreds of non-profit groups whose missions range from animal welfare to literacy, from supporting homeless children to promoting HIV education. Support from Google will allow The Building Fund to reach a greater number of people interested in supporting access to education and increase traffic to The Building Fund website.

For the full press release click here.

Thank You AFH

2008-11-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

First and foremost, thank you to all of the architects from the Chicago Chapter of Architecture for Humanity who came out and contributed to the plans for the Young Apostles International School (YAIS) community center!! The meeting was a great success bringing together 22 Chicago architects who lent their time and talent to The Building Fund and the YAIS. The architects spent five hours discussing and planning, coming away with 4 distinctive designs for the community center. The designs, which will be presented to the school this winter, integrate cross-cultural solutions to creating a space where both the students and community members can come together. From water collection systems to multipurpose spaces each plan took into account the need of YAIS, and will bring fresh ideas to our architects in Ghana. Thank you again, to everyone who came out and we look forward to keeping you updated on the progress of the community center.

Providing Opportunities for Ghana's Women

2008-11-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

Across the country, Ghana's robust economy has contributed to considerably improving the well-being of its people, with the proportion of Ghanaians living in poverty falling from 52 per cent in 1991-92 to 29 per cent in 2005-06, according to estimates by the Ghana Statistical Service. But Ghana's north has largely been excluded from that broader trend. One hindrance is geography. The three northern regions are far from the ports, roads, railways, markets, industrial centres and fertile farming areas that help stimulate greater economic and human development in southern Ghana. The incidence of poverty in the Northern Region declined only slightly over the same period, from 63 per cent to 52 per cent. Special programmes are needed to overcome the north's heavy concentrations of poverty, poor climate and limited economic opportunities.

One way to tackle these inequities is to get individuals to band together in order to increase their production and marketing capabilities for their local products. For example, the Africa 2000 Network-Ghana has sponsored a project to encourage women to form an association for the creation of shea butter for soap production in Tamale, the capital of Ghana's Northern Region. For these poor women, even modest increases in their incomes can make a big difference. Previously, each had collected and processed shea nuts as an individual, but earned so little she could barely get by. "We found if we came together we could make more and sell more," explains Safiya Hassan, a recent university graduate who is helping the women.

The association now includes 13 groups of shea producers, all women, in Ghana's Northern Region. Together they are able to produce more than 20 tonnes of shea butter per month. Much of this, in the form of high-quality shea soap and creams, is supplied to a Japanese company. As a group, the women are earning an additional profit of 10 Ghana cedis (US$11) for every 100 kilogrammes, compared to what they made as individual producers. That modest extra income has already changed the lives of many of the women. The shea project is still only a few years old, but that has not stopped its members from seeking to help other shea producers in the Northern Region. They have learned improved production techniques from women elsewhere, and are in turn planning to teach selected "master trainers" from all three of Ghana's northern regions. Making such wider connections "has been one of our greatest achievements," says Ms. Yakubu.
For more visit: www.modernghana.com

Help TBF Win $10,000

2008-11-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

As The Building Fund embarks on an exciting project to build a community center at The Young Apostles International School we need your help to make it happen. This month we have a chance to win $10,000 to make this project happen.

Visit Ideablob and vote for The Building Fund's "idea" to Help Build a Community Center in Ghana. We will need over 500 votes to make this happen, so every vote will count!!

About the Community Center: The center will serve 11 thousand people housing a health clinic, library, computer lab, and space for community events. It will be the first and only community center in the area and provide much needed health and education services. $10,000 will ensure the success of this project by paying for the materials needed to construct the library and health center. The funds will go directly to the school so that they can use local resources to build the community center, and further help their community. For more visit: http://www.thebuildingfund.org/

Global Leaders Pledge $4.5B to Send Kids to School

2008-10-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

A coalition of governments, charities and U.N. agencies pledged $4.5 billion on Thursday in an effort to get all the world's children in school by 2015. The goal of universal primary education was first promised as a fundamental right in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the U.N.'s core documents.

Since 2000, the campaign has brought 40 million more children into schools, Brown said. Zoellick cited Cambodia, which raised its rate of enrollment in primary schools from 50 percent to over 80 percent in just five years, as a success story. The pledging conference was one of many international meetings taking place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

For the full story please click here.

Meet Our Fall Interns

2008-10-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

The Building Fund is excited to introduce our fall interns Shaunna MacLeod and Christine Buckley. This fall our interns will be working to build our network and find funding opportunities for the community center being built at The Young Apostles International School. We look forward to having them join our team!

Shaunna MacLeod
Shaunna MacLeod is excited to join the Building Fund as a Development Intern. Shaunna graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in psychology in 2002. She moved to Chicago to take a research position with the University of Illinois at Chicago where she earned her MEd., and worked on projects focused on strengthening the literacy skills of urban children. From these experiences she understands that knowledge and access to education give children a powerful voice, and wishes to help more children find their voice by volunteering with the Building Fund.

Christine Buckley
Christine Buckley has long been interested in international development issues. After graduating Vassar College, she worked at Doctors of the World in New York City before joining the Peace Corps and serving in Morocco from 2001-2003. She is currently studying for a Master's Degree in Public Policy at Northwestern University.

Killing the Worm

2008-09-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

This month's issue of Good Magazine featured an article called Killing the Worm, by Austin Merrill, exposing the difficulty of eradicating Guinea worm disease in Ghana. Cases of Guinea worm disease have dropped dramatically in the last 20 years, but the painful disease that often affects children, is still persistent in northern Ghana.

Most often children contract Guinea work from swimming in or drinking water infested with water fleas that feed on Guinea larvae. One ingested the larvae penetrate the wall of the lower intestine and develop into worms. As they grow they tunnel through the body and eventually break through the skin of the victim. The article features first hand accounts of this painful process and notes the historical presence of this disease, tracing it back to Egyptian mummies.

In recent years international and multi-organizational efforts have been tasked with eradicating Guinea worm, but have faced the obstacles of local customs, community needs, and dissent among public health practices. If eradicated, Guinea worm disease will be only the second disease to be eradicated, small pox was the first.
For more on this article visit: http://www.goodmagazine.com/

New Website Features

2008-09-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

Have you visited our website lately? We've added new features to bring you the latest news about The Building Fund. Check out our new pages featuring information on visiting our schools, video of our students, pictures from our schools and events, and audio clips from interviews with our founder and students. We hope that you enjoy the new features!!

Join ONE, support the Education for All Act!!

2008-09-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

ONE is an innovative campaign bringing together over 2.4 million people to raise awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and other issues facing the world’s poorest countries. With the support of America's most well-known and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations the ONE campaign is asking that the U.S. allocate a greater percentage of its budget to providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food.

ONE is dedicated to improving education opportunities for the disadvantaged and recognizes that education is a critical piece of the development puzzle and is actively supporting the Education for All Act.
About the Bill:
1. The Education for All (EFA) Act of 2007 would support countries with rigorous and accountable education plans endorsed by the Fast Track Initiative, and would also channel resources to post conflict/fragile countries through non-governmental channels.
2. Authorizes $1.5 billion in FY2009, scaling up by $500 million each year to a total of $3 billion in FY2012.
3. The legislation would create an Education Coordinator to report to the Secretary of State, with the authority to direct resources to various US government agencies for implementation.

You can join ONE and learn more about the Education for All Act by visiting their website http://www.one.org/about/.

Partnership with Architecture for Humanity

2008-09-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

TBF is excited to announce a new partnership with Architecture for Humanity! The partnership will provide TBF with the opportunity to collaborate with Chicago area architects to draw plans for a community center housing a library, health center and public meeting space at The Young Apostles International School.

In early November members of the Architecture for Humanity Chicago Chapter will come together to discuss and draw plans for the community center, after which TBF will be provided with a series of options to present to The Young Apostles International School for consideration. Needless to say the students and administrators at The Young Apostles International School are excited about this venture as is TBF. We look forward to updating you on the progress this project!!

The Building Fund Seeks Fall Interns

2008-09-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

Interested in working with The Building Fund? An internship with The Building Fund gives you an opportunity to learn first hand about our work while gaining valuable skills and experience. Click here to see our internship listings or visit idealist.org.

Communications Intern:
The Building Fund seeks a Communications Intern to aide the organization in increasing its media presence. An ideal candidate will have previous experience working with non-profits and an interest in international education. Interns will have the option to work from home and must be willing to committee 10 hours per week. Working closely with the Founder, the Communications Intern will be responsible for:
Researching new media opportunities
Increasing the organizations web presence
Creating newsletters
Other special projects

Development Intern:
The Building Fund seeks a Development Intern to aide the organization in its grant research and writing. An ideal candidate will have previous experience working with non-profits and an interest in international education. Interns will have the option to work from home and must be willing to committee 10 hours per week. Working closely with the Founder, the Development Intern will be responsible for:
• Drafting and writing reports, letters, and grants • Prospect and new donor research
• Assist in planning and organizing fund-raising events
The internship is unpaid, however, after completion of the internship the intern will have gained valuable skills and contacts, as well as a familiarity with the inter workings of a non-profit. We are also willing to write recommendations for our interns for future internships and jobs.

Please email your cover letter, resume, and one writing sample (can be creative, or school paper) to:
info@thebuildingfund.org
Please use subject line: Internship

Welcome to Our Blog

2008-09-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Building Fund blog!
We are excited to bring you the latest news from our projects and schools as well as current information on education in Ghana. We hope that you will visit us often and add your comments and questions.
Best,
The Building Fund