2. Introduction
Welcome to SCHAPuniversity!
This will start you down a path that will prepare you to be a major contributor in a
SCHAP led Comprehensive Rural Community Development Project, and could ultimately
culminate in you taking the skills, information and experience you gain on to other
projects, organizations and sectors of your life with the objective of bring significant
support and empowerment to others.
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3. This program
IS...
- Geared for people with little or no background in international development or
community development work
- Designed to prepare a volunteer with the skills & knowledge to address several
aspects of poverty in a very tangible and measurable way
IS NOT...
- Accredited and will not result in a certificate or title formally recognized by outside
entities
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4. General Education
This program will start by providing a broad overview of the root causes of poverty. This
section is geared to focus on the problems so that as a community development worker
you can understand the context better of many of the community members with whom you
work.This broad beginning is informally known as our “General Education.” In this first
phase you will have several independent study classes. We have set up our classes to
include lessons in different categories. These categories include: learn, think, research, do,
emphasize, mobilize,class report and tell. Once you have completed each of the classes,
you will be given your next class. This whole phase should take approximately 3 months
and will provide an interesting overview and understanding of rural poverty.
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5. Lessons will Include ...
This will consist of watching videos from the indicated links and becoming enlightened on
the issues of global poverty.
This will include reflecting on various videos and writing your thoughts and emotions on the
topic at hand. We encourage you to “think” about the videos you are watching immediately
after you finish them and keep track of your responses in a text document so they can be
copied and pasted into your class report at the end of each lesson which will be in the form
of a blog post.
At this level of the program the research will be extremely minimal. It may also involve
identifying basic facts and statistics or finding the answers to basic questions. Again, you
will record your research in your final class report.
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6. This stuff should be cool. We will have interesting activities at every stage which you can
engage in. Each of these activities is designed to be educational and interesting. You will
report on each activity at the end of each class through your class report so again keep
track of results through a text document so you can copy and paste it in later.
You will be given activities that in a very mild case, put you in a position that connects you
to the condition of people who live daily with the topic of the class. You will be required to
perform activities, record your thoughts, answer related prompts in your final class report at
the end of every lesson.
NOTE: Document your activities. Many of them will only include writing your thoughts and experiences, but where
appropriate, include pictures and add them to the “report” blog post.
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7. As an organization, we have fought the advice to charge money for this training program.
Although there is nothing comparable to our program, we have been strongly counseled to
charge an up front fee of at least several hundred dollars for this program. We have
decided to reject that advice and ensure that enrollment is free. In order to ensure the
financial sustainability of SCHAP and this training program, however, we have built
meaningful fundraising into each of the classes.
It is critical to understand that at every root of poverty it requires funds to be able to help
solve problems. The challenge section means that you will be doing “micro fundraising” or
making small donations. You will have the choice of simply donating yourself, or collecting
very small donations from others in order to complete your obligations. As mentioned,
depending on the class, you will be making personal contributions or collecting small cash
donations from others. In order to make this very convenient and efficient we will be having
you fill out an online form for your first “challenge” section. From here on you will be emailing
SCHAPuniversity the amount that needs to be charged for each class, and you will simply
reimburse yourself if the class involved cash donations or support from others. Also, we do
have an excellent merchant service, that charges minimal processing fees. Funds raised
will help us to prepare for this years international project.
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8. When finishing each class, you will need to report back. You will be asked to write a blog post
that includes all of your responses during the think, research, do, emphasize, and challenge
sections. We recommend that you keep a copy of anything you write and turn in during the
class, ensuring you have keeping track of each of these through a text document so you can
simply copy and paste all of your responses. Remember that these reports will be public and
your administrator, some friends and family will read them. Please put love and care into
making them flow and definitely try to keep them interesting! You do not need to coldly copy
and paste the several requirements for the class in your report
Use these reports to shed light on your true feelings and experiences in the things you are
learning. Keep in mind, these posts will not only be a record of your training, but will always
be available online for your reference. So please, make them interesting and engaging to read!
This component will involve you sharing your favorite video from the class, as well as your
report blog post. In the first class for example, you will be required to share this information
with at least 5 people. Every class following, you will be required it with one additional person.
We encourage you to select people who you think will be interested in not only following your
progress, but in the subject material. When asking someone to follow your progress, take the
time to explain what and why you are involved in this training. This portion of the training is to
empower you to teach others while learning more about the issues surrounding global poverty.
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9. Posting Your
schapuniversity.wordpress.com
You will need to record all reports through a blog post online at http://www.tumblr.com/!
When you enter this website look in the top right corner and click “log in” and enter the email and password. !
schapuniversity@schap.info
Email: SCHAPuniversity@schap.info! Password: empower!
Once you enter the blog homepage click “Text” and enter the title as seen below.!
Title: Class Name, First Name Last Name !
Then copy and paste in all of your work from your Microsoft word document in the “post” section and “create post” !
If you run ever run into any problems, concerns or questions while on your journey through SCHAPuniversity please email us
atat SCHAPuniversity@schap.info!
schapuniversity@schap.info
Monday, December 20, 2010
10. What’s next...
Upper Division
Once you have completed your general education lessons you will go on to upper division. From
this point on the curriculum is broken down between SOFT prep and HARD prep.
SOFT prep comprised concepts and principles of Sustainable and Comprehensive Humanitarian
Assistance and Planning. i.e. Assistance versus aid, empowerment verses dependence, and
communication skill necessary for a community development worker. The SOFT prep will be mostly
carrying out via group meetings that will be held @ the SCHAP office every other Wed night
@7:30pm, starting Feb 16th. Every group training about SOFT prep will require a short blog post of
thoughts and reflections.
The second component is the HARD prep, which refers to gaining technical knowledge and
experience in two topics of poverty alleviation. You will choose a major and minor. These will be
decided through personal desire coupled with project needs. Once you have worked with a
program director and have decided the course of your major and minor the rest of the training will
be made available to you. Each topic will require certain books to read, certain trainings to attend
and certain component of the project to be developed. You will be directly involved with utilizing
the resources that you are learning from to develop the programs that will be implemented in 2011.
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11. Classes
How to receive the next class
Once you have completed a class, including the post with your report to the blog, you
will need to email us the link to the post at: schapuniversity@schap.info and an
administrator will confirm your completion of the class and send you the next class.
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12. SC AP
UNIVERSITY
By now you understand that SCHAP International Projects are for
individuals who are serious about learning the correct principles of
poverty alleviation. Those who come out of this course will be
confident to carry out their respective stewardships in the
Comprehensive Rural Community Development Projects SCHAP is
involved with. This education, coupled with on-the-ground
experiences will give you both the experience of a lifetime and even
better, empower you to support projects in the future.
Monday, December 20, 2010
