Our Partnership Model
Child Aid operates on the firm belief that positive change occurs only through grassroots participation and partnership. We form two types of partnerships in the countries where we work: community partnerships and organizational partnerships.
Community Partnerships
We believe that the most sensible approach to improving literacy in a community is through a long-term, multi-faceted program which involves the library, the schools, the teachers and the community itself. Our Reading for Life program depends on the involvement of hundreds of committed local people – teachers, librarians, school principals and parents – who have the drive and commitment to create a better future for their children. Therefore, whenever we begin to work with a new community, we commit to a multi-year partnership with that community. Because each town or village has its own needs, and because community members all bring their unique talents to the table, we do not adhere to a strict timeframe. We will work with the community as long as the need remains.
Organizational Partnerships
In addition to the 26 communities with which currently we work, Child Aid also partners with in-country nonprofits to broaden our impact. Our first partner in Guatemala was PROBIGUA, an organization we worked with for over 15 years. With PROBIGUA, we helped create more than 34 libraries and 16 computer centers in impoverished communities throughout central Guatemala.
We are also partner with a community-based educational organization called FUNDIT. Located in the town of El Tejar, FUNDIT operates the Rittmaster de España Library, the Ethical Bean Scholarship Program, a computer center, a music program and the country’s only Montessori preschool for poor children who graduate being able to read – in many cases the first in their family to be able to do so.
Our oldest partner is CORAL, a hearing clinic and unique therapy school for very low income people in Oaxaca, Mexico.
