Learning with limited resources

Café Swotha near Patan Durbar Square, Nepal I’ll never forget a meeting over tea in 2016 at Cafe Swotha near where we stayed in Patan.    Collaborative Schools Network in Nepal (CSN) was just getting underway with a novel approach to improving the poorest schools. We’ve since tried to support CSN, mostly as cheerleaders on the side, but also through visits to CSN schools, video meetings, collaboration on writing, editing curricula, as well as donations. This year marked the tenth year of operation for CSN and our collaboration.   Collaborative Schools Network   CSN works through a unique partnership agreement with local government. It manages all the day-to-day operations. Local government pays for up to 50% of the costs. Two of the team are appointed as School Leaders, who work in each (primary level) school as full-time members of the staff. School Leaders teach, coach, and lead a school improvement plan alongside the existing teachers and school principal.   The plan has four priorities: improving the quality of teaching, management, community relations, and infrastructure. It achieves systemic, scalable, and sustainable change by working within the existing public education system, alongside government and at a low cost.   This year CSN managed nine schools – six in Kathmandu and three in Abu Khaireni, a rural town four hours drive from the capital.   Impact   I’ve attached the latest CSN Impact Report. It shows that CSN has provided high quality education to around 10,000 children. Students make progress at almost twice the rate of students in comparable public schools. The impact is especially noticeable among the weakest students.    Projects like this give me hope in the darkest times.   CSN Impact Report 2024-25 FINALDownload