ANNUAL REPORT 2015 & ACTIVITY PLAN 2016, Schools for the Future

ANNUAL REPORT 2015

ACTIVITY PLAN 2016 Adopted at the Annual Meeting

Stockholm, March 16th 2016

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Contents

Executive Summary 2

Key Achievements Summary 2015 3

Context & Work Model 4

Seven Years of Learning & Development 5

Our Programs 6 Reading for the Future 6 Leaders for the Future 9 Shaping My Future 10 Moving into 2016 14

Information Spreading 16

Presentations, Networking & Events 16 Information Material & Online Activities 17 Public Relations 18 Moving into 2016 18

Organizational Development 19

Local Team 19 Global Team 19 Membership Base 20 Funding 20

Partnership Building 21 Moving into 2016 22

Looking Ahead 23

Expanding our Impact in 2016 23 Schools for the Future in Three Years 23

Financial Accounting Report 2015 25

Budget 2016 30

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2015 was a year of both expansion and stabilization of our local team and program activities in El Salvador. Our Local Committee retained its experienced team members and recruited new, dedicated volunteers. With the help of our partners, we increased our outreach in number of participants in our workshop pro-grams Reading for the Future and Leaders for the Future. We launched a new innovative high impact model within our newest program Shaping My Future, including the opening of school-based, student-run Motiva-tional Study Resource Centers to align our three programs. Our leaders in Sweden and El Salvador were invited to various trainings and events, and we had a visit from our Salvadoran coordinator thanks to an external scholarship. We maintained the support from existing partners and expanded our sponsorship base.

The focus in 2016 will be to meet the challenge of increased costs while further strengthening the stability of the organization and the alignment of our three programs. Reading for the Future will be implemented in five public schools, reaching 100 children in age group 11-12. Leaders for the Future will involve five schools and 100 participants in age groups 12-16. Shaping My Future will enable 100 students in age group 14-17 to facilitate Motivational Study Resource Centers at their respective schools, which will have the potential to reach an additional 400 fellow students in age group 7-17. In order to advance the maturity of our program evaluation process, we will keep developing and implementing the individual diagnostic tests and evalua-tions of each participant, measuring the progress according to selected indicators. These tests are based on established evaluation methods and best practices.

We will keep building on our expertise in all relevant areas through continuous internal and external team training. Our partners are crucial to the work we are doing, and we will continue to strengthen our existing relationships and aim to form new strategic alliances in the coming year. We will specifically be focusing on schools and organizations with shared values and complementing expertise and activities. Member re-cruitment and fundraising campaigns will be intensified during 2016, and we will keep applying for grants from external sponsors. We hope to conclude the ongoing legalization process and become registered as a local branch in El Salvador, which will open up for many new opportunities in terms of sponsorship.

As a concluding remark, the 2015 Executive Committee would like to thank everyone who has been sup-porting us during the year. Yours sincerely,

The Executive Committee 2015

Schools for the Future is a non-profit organization. The organization promotes a just and sustainable society through close co-operation with schools. It aims to empower people to influence their own future and the society around them. Schools for the Future promotes democracy, human rights and a sustainable man-agement of natural resources. The organization is politically and religiously independent.

Our vision is to identify local needs and facilitate sustainable, long-term programs in collaboration with schools all over the world. We will accomplish this by engaging qualified and committed individuals and by building resource networks, locally and globally.

Schools for the Future is member of Forum Syd1, and received the honour as Amigo de El Salvador (Friend of El Salvador) from the Salvadoran Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2011.

1 Forum Syd is a Swedish platform for supporting the global civil society.

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KEY ACHIEVEMENTS SUMMARY 2015

PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

107 girls and 94 boys aged 11-12 participated in our basic workshop program Reading for the Future in El Salvador

53 girls and 67 boys aged 13-15 graduated from the advanced program Leaders for the Future

55 girls and 48 boys aged 14-17 participated in the advanced program Shaping My Future

We opened our first school-based Motivational Study Resource Centers, operated by the students in Shaping My Future and reaching 400 fellow students with motivational workshops

Three art festivals, one school cleaning event and one beach cleaning event were successfully organized by the graduating participants in Leaders for the Future, with support from parents, teachers, and other community actors at the respective schools

Eight field trips brought 539 children, teachers, family members, facilitators, and volunteers to places of environmental importance such as the botanical garden La Laguna and the national zoological park

Observed impact on our program participants in terms of improved reading and writing motivation and skills, analytical capacity and critical thinking, increased long-term thinking, increased study motivation, improved self-esteem, tolerance, and leadership skills

INFORMATION SPREADING AND CAMPAIGNS

We attended several external events, gave presentations to different audiences, and organized infor-mation events

We participated in information events and fundraising campaigns with our partner Oriflame Central America’s sales team

Our website and Face book pages had over 1600 visitors from 100 countries

PARTNERSHIP BUILDING

The organization continued as full member of Forum Syd

We sustained our cooperation with the companies Oriflame Central America and Nordnet AB, the envi-ronment focused organization VIVAZUL, the NGO Jóvenes contra la violencia El Salvador, the children’s library La Biblioteca Infantil Tecleña (Alcaldía de Santa Tecla) and Plataforma Global El Salvador, and we initiated collaboration with the company BT Global Services, the non-profit initiatives Merced para Crecer, Contextos, Departamento de Desarrollo Local de Santa Tecla, Biblioteca publica de Nuevo Cus-catlán and Universidad Francisco Gavidia

We sustained the 5-year volunteer agreement with Instituto Especializado en Educación Superior El Espiritu Santo and the collaboration with the Swedish volunteer agency Amzungo Volontärresor

FUNDING

We increased our revenues by 33% compared to the previous year, reaching 338 430 SEK in member-ships, services, individual, organizational, and corporate donations

Oriflame/Jochnick Foundation sponsored a second year of our newest program Shaping My Future

Swedish author Sven Nordqvist and his family continued as key sponsors

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CONTEXT & WORK MODEL VIOLENCE IN THE SALVADORAN SOCIETY2

El Salvador, ranked 107th in UNDP’s human de-velopment index (HDI), is one of the most violent countries in the world. The per capita murder rate was 69 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012, which is the 2nd highest in the world after Hondu-ras. Homicide is by far the most common cause of non-natural death in the country. In 2012, 64 percent of all homicides were reported as being committed with firearms. Police crime statistics for 2012 for the number of reported robberies, assaults, and rapes showed significant increases.

One of the most serious security problems is the high prevalence of organized well-armed street gangs, so called maras, with a total of approxi-mately 20 000 members, mostly young people but also former military and police personnel. Public schools in socially vulnerable areas are important platforms for the recruitment of new supporters and members.

The civil war fought in El Salvador from 1981 until 1992 did not only leave this legacy of extreme street violence, but has resulted in an institution-alization and normalization of violence in the society as a whole. According to some data, as much as 79 percent of Salvadoran children are physically maltreated, and domestic violence between adults is also very high.

The conflict, which originated in extreme social and economic inequality, led to the erosion of social and cultural capital, and public expenditure fell drastically. In the years after the peace set-tlement, measures have been taken to improve these deficits, as for example the implementation of educational programs and reforms.

2 Sources: UNDP 2013, OSAC 2013, González-Cruz, 1997, Sociedad y Violencia.

El Salvador en la Post-Guerra, Lara Alfaro, et al., 2003, Actitud hacia el Maltrato Físico Infantil, Savenije – Andrade-Eekhoff, 2003, Conviviendo en la Orilla: Exclusión Social y Violencia en el Area Metropolitana de San Salvador, Fernández, 2006, Una Aproximación a las Relaciones entre Clase Social y Habitus: Las Disposiciones Académicas de los Alumnos Iberoamericanos Evaluados por PISA 2003

SCHOOLS AS SAFE HAVENS3

In a country like El Salvador, schools have the potential to work as safe havens for children growing up in a violent environment. The future of the children in these schools depends on what tools they are provided with in order to deal with physical and psychological violence, low self-esteem and low expectations and interest from significant others regarding academic achieve-ment. In school, other norms and values are sup-posed to be at work, and the children are sup-posed to meet encouraging adults with a broader understanding of their individual rights and needs.

Improved academic achievement, ambitions for the future and peaceful co-existence are some of the official principles of the Salvadoran school, aiming at the obstruction of violence and the development of responsible citizens for the fu-ture. HOW WE WORK4

Schools for the Future implements sustainable educational violence prevention programs in collaboration with public schools in El Salvador. Research shows that reading habits and access to books has a strong impact on the ability to reflect and analyze, and that it is related to overall school achievement. In our programs, reflective, analytical, and joyful reading and writing is linked to drama and art, group dynamics, role plays, leadership practice, project management, field trips and other activities. We have been present in the country since 2008, and were recognized as Friend of El Salvador by the Salvadoran Minis-try of Foreign Affairs in a ceremony in Stockholm in 2011.

In this report, you will learn more about how we work with qualitative prevention and leadership development to support the right to a future free of violence.

3 Sources: Osofsky, 1999, The Impact of Violence on Children, Levin, 2008, The

Violent Safe Haven Teachers’ and Principals’ Perceptions of Student Aggres-sion at Three High Risk Public Schools in San Salvador, MINED 2013 4 Sources: Levin, 2007, School Achievement in El Salvador. A Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of Social Class, Cultural Capital, Gender and Public or Private School on the Results in Mathematics and Reading Comprehension among 9th Grade Students, Library Research Service 2013

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EIGHT YEARS OF LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT HISTORY TIMELINE

OUTREACH

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OUR PROGRAMS

READING FOR THE FUTURE

Country: El Salvador

Implementation Period: Feb – Oct 2015

Local Program Manager: Lorena Rodríguez

DESCRIPTION AND KEY OBJECTIVES

Reading for the Future is a violence prevention program in collaboration with public schools in urban and rural high risk areas, target group be-ing children aged 11-12. The themes of the pro-gram are peaceful conflict resolution, democracy and human rights, gender equality, environmen-tal sustainability, and intercultural understanding. The main objectives of the program is to empow-er a new generation of leaders by promoting self-reflection, encouraging long-term thinking, em-powering dreams and ambitions for the future, strengthening school-school and home-school relations, and developing social networks and capacity building. 695 children have participated in the program since it was initiated in 2010.

METHODOLOGY

We work with workshop groups of ideally 10-15 children, if possible with an equal distribution of girls and boys (except the groups from the girl school Centro Escolar Margarita Durán). The in-tention is that each group should be a mix of children from different family backgrounds and levels of academic achievement. Each workshop is attended by 1-2 facilitators. The program in-cludes the following elements:

Weekly workshops: 10 times x 2,5 hours per group

Workshops of “free creation”: 2 per group Field trips: 1 per workshop group Parental meetings: 1 per workshop group Closing ceremonies: 1 per workshop group

The methodology implies a mix of activities with the entire group and activities in smaller groups. The activities include:

Reading Writing Reflection/analysis Discussion Team building activities Elaboration of life plans Public speaking Games and role plays Drawing Dramatization Creative exploration

Reading Mamá Mu by the Swedish authors Jujja and Tomas Wieslander, with illustrations by our sponsor Sven Nordqvist.

GOALS SET IN ACTIVITY PLAN 2015

These were the main goals set in the Activity Plan 2015:

Expanding the basic program Reading for the Future to a total of 210 children in 5th grade at partner schools in urban and rural areas of El Salvador

Conduct diagnostic tests and evaluations of each program participant

Organize closing ceremonies, parental meet-ings and field trips for the participants and their families together with the school teach-ers

RESULT SUMMARY

During 2015, Reading for the Future was imple-mented at seven schools, three of them in rural areas and four in urban areas of El Salvador. The girl school Centro Escolar Margarita Durán in urban Santa Tecla (partner since the program started in 2010), Centro Escolar Caserío Corin-to/Las Termópilas and Centro Escolar Colonia El

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Coco in rural Chiltiupán (partners since 2013), Centro Escolar Pedro Pablo Castillos in rural Nue-vo Cuscatlán (partner since 2014), and Centro Escolar Centroamérica in urban Santa Tecla (partner since 2014) continued the collaboration with us. New partnerships were initiated with, and Centro Escolar El Zonte in rural Chiltiupán and Centro Escolar Hacienda Florencia in urban Antiguo Cuscatlán.

12 groups and a total of 201 children (107 girls and 94 boys) from our seven partner schools participated in Reading for the Future during 2015. The total number of workshops amounted to 120. The goal of 210 participants could not be met because of drop-outs due to external factors such as domestic problems, migration, and de-ceases in the families.

A group of graduates from Reading for the Future.

Six field trips were organized during 2015 to two different destinations. A group of approximately 247 participants and family members from the schools Margarita Durán, Pedro Pablo Castillos, Hacienda Florencia, Centroamérica and El Zonte went to the botanical garden Jardín Botánico de la Laguna. 85 participants and family members from the schools Corinto and El Coco went to the national zoological park. Unfortunately, this year, we could not participate in the yearly liberation of sea turtles with VIVAZUL because of the high increase of gang activities in the area. It is im-portant to notice that many of the parents partic-ipating in the field trips express that they have never before experienced quality time with their children the way they did that day. This shows the importance of the field trips, not only with

regards to the learning of the participants, but also with regards to the contribution to improved family interaction.

Closing ceremonies were organized for all work-shop groups, to which the participants’ families were invited to enjoy their children’s perfor-mances.

Each participant went through an oral diagnostic test at the beginning of the cycle. The objective was to evaluate the reading habits, reading com-prehension skills, and analytical skills of each individual. Also, we gathered information regard-ing the family background, reading habits of the parents, expectations on the program, and other relevant areas of interest in order to get to know the participants better.

The graph below shows important background information of the participants based on four variables; prevalence of books at home, family situation, reading habits of the parent(s), and work commitment besides school. These varia-bles are among those known to have a high im-pact on school achievement in El Salvador.5

Of the participating children in Reading for the Future, 56% stated that there is a presence of books at home (not specify-ing type or number). 51% live with both parents. 31% stated that their parent(s) sometimes read. 16% stated that they work besides school.

OBSERVED IMPACT

After having worked with the participants during several months of workshops, the implementa-tion of diagnostic tests and evaluations, and

5 I.e.: Levin, 2007, School Achievement in El Salvador. A Quantitative Analysis

of the Impact of Social Class, Cultural Capital, Gender and Public or Private

School on the Results in Mathematics and Reading Comprehension among 9th

Grade Students

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speaking with parents and teachers, these are the most important changes that the facilitators ob-served on a group level:

Increased active participation over the cycle, especially for the more timid children

Improved tolerance and respect within the group

Higher prevalence of analytical discussions in the group

Improved self-esteem, especially among more timid participants

Less impulsive behavior More confidence when speaking in public

within and outside of the group Increased study motivation Increased motivation to read and readiness

to visit the school library (when such exists) Improved reading comprehension Improved reflection skills Improved creativity Increased knowledge and respect towards

the environment Improved self-leadership Improved family interaction

With regards to the reading skills, the diagnostic tests and evaluation showed that at the begin-ning of the program, 64% of the participants could read fluently. 32% of the participants had severe difficulties, having to spell each letter while reading. At the end of the program, 82% of the participants read fluently, while the share of participants with severe difficulties had dropped to 23%.

At the beginning of the program, 69% of the par-ticipants answered correctly to all questions re-garding the content of a text. The rate had in-creased to 87% with regards to the text in the final evaluation.

COMMENTS AND LESSONS LEARNED

The implementation of a program such as Read-ing for the Future in the context at hand is not without challenges, most of them which are ex-ternal ones connected to the school or communi-ty level. Examples of common challenges include limitations in space and quality of school facilities where the workshops are being held, lack of sup-

port from some individual teachers and parents due to unwillingness to and/or fear of change, diversity of needs and capabilities among the children, severe daily violence in the families and communities included in the program, and un-predictable weather conditions that often im-pede school activities during certain periods of the year. Several of our partner schools are locat-ed at a distance from our office in Santa Tecla, which means that transportation is on a good day time consuming, and on a bad day impossible. The team has to confront these challenges and many more with a pragmatic, yet solution orient-ed and creative mindset. The key is communica-tion and continuous relationsship and trust build-ing with students, parents, teachers, school man-agement, and community actors in all geograph-ical areas of operation.

The children, especially the girls, are generally more timid in the countryside than in the cities, and we have seen a big change in the participants throughout the workshop cycles. At the same time, the children in some of our rural partner schools have one major advantage: They have the access to functioning and well-equipped school libraries. When asking the participants at the beginning of a workshop cycle how many books they have read or if they can summarize a book they like, most children in these schools will name several books read and be able to tell you about them. This very rarely happens at schools that lack a functioning school library. The impact we have seen of both having access to a school library and participate in workshops based on reading and reflection is impressive, and we therefore want to further support initiatives to create and maintain school libraries.

The past five years have helped us to try out and develop a methodology that shows real impact in

“It was a challenge to coordinate workshops for more than 200 students at seven different schools. But I feel very satisfied to have succeeded. My ambition was to bring empathy, sympathy, joy, dedication, responsibility, tenderness, and fun into each and every workshop. I saw the motivation grow among the children to be part of our pro-grams.” Lorena Rodríguez, coordinator of Reading for the Future 2015

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the participants. We have also seen that it is pos-sible to implement a workshop cycle in less time but with sustained quality. This enables us to reach more children.

An important challenge that remains is to keep developing and implementing the evaluation strategies and guidelines.

LEADERS FOR THE FUTURE


Implementation Period: Feb – Oct 2015

Local Program Manager: Aleyda Méndez


Leaders for the Future is an advanced program open both for graduates from Reading for the Future and new participants, with the purpose of further promoting the values and practices of sustainable leadership among Salvadoran youth. The program was launched in 2013. The objective of Leaders for the Future is to further promote the impact of the themes and methodology of our basic program. The idea is to train the partic-ipants to become mentors for their younger peers, community project managers, and ambas-sadors of non-violence at their respective schools. The ambition is also to be able to recruit facilitators from this group in the future.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology of Leaders for the Future is based on the same themes and activities as Read-ing for the Future, but with a stronger focus on leadership development and project facilitation. Throughout the workshop period, the partici-pants receive tools to elaborate pilot project at their schools, which they present at the end of the program cycle. The idea is that they will be able to implement these pilot projects and thus develop their leadership skills not only based on theory but also on practice. Some key elements are:

Knowing and reflecting upon different lead-ership types

Human rights and practicing democracy Motivation and team development

Communication and execution of campaigns Resource planning and management Project implementation

The program in 2015 was divided into three phases. The 1st phase consisted of eight theme workshops and two “free creation” workshops, of which one artistic and one sport oriented. The 2nd phase consisted of the planning and implementa-tion of events, aiming at involving other students, family members, and teachers in projects for a common good. The 3rd phase consisted of the closing and graduation ceremonies, where every student who had participated in at least 80% of the program workshop and related activities re-ceived a diploma.


These where the main goals set in the Activity Plan 2015:

Reach 120 participants at our partner schools Keep developing the methodology

RESULT SUMMARY

A total of 120 children (53 girls, 67 boys) aged 12-14 (6th and 7th grade) formed five groups of mixed ages, one at each of our four partner schools Caserío Corinto/Las Termópilas and Colonia El Coco (partners since 2013) and Hacienda Floren-cia and El Zonte (new). 67 of the participants had graduated from the basic program Reading for the Future the year before. The plan was to in-clude an additional 40 participants at Pedro Pablo Castillo, however, the school entered into reno-vation which meant that the program could not be implemented there. Each group participated in the ten workshops as described in the meth-odology.

As a result of the program, three art festivals, one school cleaning event and one beach clean-ing event were planned and executed by the program participants.

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OBSERVED IMPACT

Through observations and oral and written evalu-ations of the participants before and after the program, the facilitators conclude the following impact of Leaders for the Future:

Improved collaboration within the group Increased tolerance towards different opin-

ions Greater motivation to challenge oneself Improved ability to reflect Improvement of democratic processes within

the group Increased understanding and implementation

of leadership in action Improved project management skills Increases capabilities to organize and act as a

group Improved self-esteem Decrease in violent behavior within the group Improved public speaking skills

The pilot phase of the program Leaders for the Future was launched in 2013 and has kept expanding since.


We are proud to conclude that we have managed to develop the methodology successfully since the launch of the pilot in 2013. Leaders for the Future has a huge potential to further expand its impact in existing and future partner schools. It has proven successful in mixing different age groups and also to include students who have not been involved in our basic program.

The program goes well in line with the goals of the Ministry of Education in El Salvador to devel-op full-time, quality activities for students in all geographical areas.

The major challenge ahead is to develop the evaluation methods for the program in order to be able to better evaluate the impact both on the individual and group level, as well as to keep de-veloping the connection with our other programs Reading for the Future and Shaping My Future for accelerated individual, school, and community impact.

SHAPING MY FUTURE


Implementation Period: April – Nov 2015

Local Program Manager: Carolina Arteaga


Recognizing the impact of our two first workshop programs and continuously aspiring to expand their outreach, we saw the opportunity in 2014 to complement them with an additional program, Shaping My Future, with the potential to multiply our impact on current program participants as well as reach out to children and youth that so far have not been included. By opening Motivational Study Resource Centers, we wanted to provide certain resources that are crucial to educational development and that are deficient or, in many cases, non-existent for students in the public school system; motivational study support and recreational activities outside school hours, em-powering positive leadership in practice in con-nection with the surrounding community.

The purpose of the Resource Centers is to moti-vate the students to set and achieve short- and long-term goals by exploring their capabilities and increasing their awareness of and confidence in themselves as leaders. The Resource Centers become physical hubs for replicating and multi-plying the effects of our three programs; Reading for the Future, Leaders for the Future, and Shap-ing My Future. It is a unique concept that has not previously existed in El Salvador or, to our know-ing, in the Central American region.

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The participants in Shaping My Future get the training to keep operating the Motivational Study Resource Centers with the support of the school staff and the Schools for the Future.

The goals of the program are to:

Provide a creative, violent free space for edu-cational development at our public partner schools outside school hours

Empower the students to take an active part in the sustainable operation of the Motiva-tional Study Resource Centers

Incorporate activities from all our three pro-grams into the Resource Centers

Increase students’ motivation to explore and develop their capabilities, short- and long-term

Help improving students’ school achievement and chances to progress with their studies

Promote proactive, non-violent self- and community leadership

Inform students and their families about op-portunities for further education and provide guidance in the process

Develop recreational activities and training also for teachers and other community members

METHODOLOGY

It is important that our three programs are aligned in order to achieve the strongest possible impact. The program methodology of Shaping My Future is based partly on the experience we have gained throughout the years from our other pro-grams, and partly on the lessons learned in this newest program since the pilot launch.

Shaping My Future consists of two parts. One part aims to continuously train new facilitators among the students to operate the Resource Centers with the support of the school manage-ment and the Schools for the Future team. The participants are trained in violence prevention and leadership, building on the methodology in our other programs, in order to empower them as facilitators of the Resource Centers.

The second part of the program aims to develop, support, and evaluate the activities offered by the Resource Centers, to ensure a sustainable

management and make sure that it corresponds to the needs of the children and the community surrounding them. Doing this, we aim to contrib-ute with learning opportunities outside school hours, applying an integrated model that con-nects the school with the community and where the students get to put their knowledge and in-sights into practice; “learning by doing”.

Creative workshop in action.

PART 1: TRAINING OF LOCAL MOTIVATION AND STUDY RESOURCE CENTER F ACILITATORS

The first part of the program consist of 5 theoret-ical workshops led by the program coordinator and 5 artistic/creative workshops led by experts in different creative fields. Each weekly workshop last 1,5-2,5 hours, depending on the school. All workshops are inclusive, interactive, dynamic, and team based.

Theoretical workshops and purpose:

Leadership & motivation: To identify and understand different types of leadership in order to develop our leadership skills. To learn how to use the power of self-motivation in order to define goals, canalize our energy and strive forward

Long-term thinking & life plan: To visualize our future and set long-, medium- and short-term goals

Human Rights: To be aware of our rights in order to confront injustice and lead the change in society

Learning about my history: To learn and re-flect upon the history of the country, of which few young people have proper

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knowledge. To analyze social problems on a structural macro level, in order to identify solucion on our own community level

Critical thinking, reflection & analysis: To understand the importance of an analytical approach. To define how we want to and can contribute to the resolution of social prob-lems that affect in particular the youth of El Salvador.

Artistic/creative workshops, examples:

Introduction to dramatization and theatre Introduction to vocalization and singing Introduction to drawing Introduction to breakdance Introduction to stencil

As a part of the methodology, the participants take part in learning trips with students from other partner schools in order to exchange expe-riences and grow the students’ networks. Paren-tal meetings are organized in order to raise awareness among the parents, thus strengthen-ing their involvement and the impact of the pro-gram.

Participants who are suitable and prepared for the task get the opportunity to put into practice their skills and capabilities to run the new Moti-vational Study Resource Centers at their respec-tive schools, with the support of the school man-agement, parents, and the Schools for the Future team. They move on to the second part of Shap-ing My Future.

PART 2: OPERATION OF THE MOTIVATIONAL STUDY RESOURCE CENTERS

The Resource Centers are open to all students at the schools and are run by selected students who have completed the local facilitator training pro-gram outlined above, with the support of the school management and the Schools for the Fu-ture team. The structure and agenda of the Re-source Centers varies from school to school, based on the specific needs, possibilities, and resources available. The common key compo-nents are; access to creativity workshops (Span-ish: talleres de creación libre), motivational study support and coaching, and the access to books and material for recreational activities.

In addition to the above, the Resource Centers can offer theme specific seminars and workshops, meetings and trainings for teachers and parents, and information and guidance for higher educa-tion.

The outcome of the Motivational Study Resource Centers is evaluated based on student question-naires and interviews, evaluative tests, teacher and parent interviews, school achievement pro-gress of the students, documentation of Resource Center visits and activities, the number of hours that the children and youth invest in positive activities, available school statistics, and team observations.

A group of graduates from Shaping My Future.


These where the main goals set in the Activity Plan 2015:

100 facilitator training participants in age group 14-17 at four of our partner schools

Increased awareness of societal challenges and how to become proactive, non-violent change agents among the trained facilitators

Functioning Motivational Study Resource Centers in at least two but preferably all of the partner schools, run by the students with support from the school management and the Schools for the Future team, offering in-teractive, creative workshops, study support and coaching, and access to books and mate-rial for recreational activities for 400-1000 students aged 6-17

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Increased study motivation and improved school achievement among the students at the schools included in the program

RESULT SUMMARY

The first part of Shaping My Future was imple-mented at four public schools (Centros Escolares Hacienda Florencia, El Zonte, Caserío Corinto, and Colonia El Coco). 103 students participated in the program, of which half in 8th grade (age group 14-15) and half in 9th grade (age group 16-17). 55 of the participants were girls and 48 boys. 92 of the participants completed 80-100% of the work-shops. 11 students completed the majority of the workshops but less than 80%, because of reasons such as helping their families or other commit-ments.

Motivational Study Resource Centers were opened at two of the schools; Caserío Corinto and El Coco. 27 students from the first phase facilitated the Resource Centers. The total num-ber of students at the two schools was 427, and 416 of these students were engaged in different activities organized by the Resource Centers, which is an impressive result. The students of-fered their peers workshops in photography, reading, drawing, dancing, and leadership.

The program participants also participated in the event JUVENTOUR for the second year.

Community beach cleaning day in El Zonte.

Shaping My Future was coordinated full-time by Carolina Arteaga, with the support of Luis Al-varenga in the theoretical workshops. Experts and professional artists in different areas facili-

tated the artistic/creative workshops; Laura Lind-holm (dramatization and theatre), Romeo Reyes (vocalization and singing), Luis Alvarenga (draw-ing), Manuel Aguilar (breakdance), and Yesenia López (stencil). Unfortunately, we could not in-volve volunteers from our partner university In-stituto de Educación Superior El Espiritu Santo (IEE-SES), because the schedule intervenes with their classes and it is time consuming for them to travel to rural areas with us.

OBSERVED IMPACT

Through observations and participant evalua-tions, the team has identified the following points of impact of Shaping My Future 2015:

Many participants were shy, introverted and passive at the beginning of the program, but soon started to participate actively and to overcome their fear of speaking in public

Increased exchange of ideas and experiences among the participants throughout the pro-gram, through work in teams consisting of students of different age groups

Increased respect, empathy, tolerance, equal-ity, and helpfulness each other among the group members throughout the program

Increased awareness of human rights and their practical implementation

Increased awareness of social and economi-cal issues on a structural level

Increased awareness of what leadership is and how to implement it in one own’s life and community

Improved ability to analyze and reflect upon information and using this ability in the form-ing of opinions and decision making

Improved understanding of the importance of goals and how to define and strive to reach them

Improved study motivation The high interest in the creative workshops

resulted in singing and dance performances in festivals and closing ceremonies organized by the participants

The participants expressed that they pre-ferred Schools for the Future’s workshops to other activities, because of the active, inclu-sive, dynamic, and team based methodology

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We will stay in contact with the pilot participants via a Facebook group, which enables us to follow them into the future. For future groups, the eval-uation methods will keep developing in order to measure the impact of the program, both short and long-term.


The team members express that the experiences from 2014 were very valuable in developing the methodology and program format for 2015. The combination of theoretical and artistic/creative workshops in the first phase of this year has been very successful overall. Identified challenges in the first phase consist of the following:

Limited space for the workshops at one of the schools in particular

Limited time available for the workshop at some of the schools in particular

Poor physical/sound quality of some didactic material

Insatisfactory communication with some of the teachers at some schools

As in our other programs, many parents are hard to reach and the participation are low in parental meetings

The team identifies the following lessons learned:

Look more into the facility options in order to get more space with less distraction for the workshops, especially at one of the schools

Dedicate more time to negotiate the time for the workshops in order to get enough weekly time at all schools

Important to find ways to improve the di-dactic material

Find new ways to communicate with some of the teachers, based on the experience from this phase

The parental involvement is low overall in Salvadoran schools, but some show high commitment and we should continue the communication with them

The experience from our other two programs Reading for the Future and Leaders for the Future has been crucial to the development of Shaping My Future, both in terms of methodology, ongo-ing partnerships, and, not least, the team mem-

bers. We now see how the new program contrib-utes also to the operation and development of the other two, increasing our overall impact on the Salvadoran youth.

MOVING INTO 2016

In 2016, our focus is to further align and connect our three successful workshop programs and to make the Motivational Study Resource Centers the physical hubs where the program participants can offer quality activities to all students at their schools, thus practicing the leadership skills and knowledge gained in the programs. The number of students enrolled in our workshop programs will decrease compared to 2015, however, through the Resource Centers the number of additional children reached by quality activities will start increasing.

Reading for the Future

Our goal for 2016 is to involve 100 children in the age group 11-12 at four partner schools in our basic program Reading for the Future. Each par-ticipant will attend ten workshops, a total of 2,5 hours every week. Closing ceremonies, parental meetings and field trips will be organized for all participants and their families together with the school teachers.

Joyful reading is at the core of our programs.

In order to secure long-term success with the program Reading for the Future, we have to keep up the creativity and continue to work hard on our credibility through continuous evaluations and self-reflection. Diagnostic tests based on last

15

year’s format will be implemented, and evalua-tions will be executed throughout the workshop cycles in order to improve our ability to measure the impact of the program. Our local team will be further trained in evaluation methods and im-plementation.

Leaders for the Future

The advanced program Leaders for the Future will reach 100 students at four partner schools during 2016. There will be a mix of students from age group 12-13 (of which many will be graduates from Reading for the Future) and students from older age groups.

The workshops will take place weekly during ten weeks, a total of 30 hours per group, with the objective to help the participants to start up and lead projects at their respective schools and in their communities. The methodology is based on the same themes and activities as Reading for the Future, but with a stronger focus on leadership and project facilitation.

Shaping My Future

Our goal for 2016 is to offer 100 students in age group 14-17 (of which some are former partici-pants from Reading for the Future and Leaders for the Future) at four to five of our partner schools to complete the facilitator program Shap-ing My Future during 2016. We expect increased awareness of societal challenges and how to be-come proactive, non-violent change agents among the trained facilitators.

The ambition is to operate functioning Motiva-tional Study Resource Centers in at least two of the partner schools, run by the students from the facilitator program with support from the school management and the Schools for the Future team, offering interactive, creative workshops, study support and coaching, and access to books and material for recreational activities. 400-800 students aged 6-17 are expected to visit a Re-source Center outside school hours and at least 25% of these are expected to enrol in regular activities of the Centers.

The goal is to promote study motivation and im-proved school achievement among the students

at the schools included in the program, and that an increased number of parents get engaged in their children’s education thanks to the activities of the Motivational Study Resource Centers.

Playful, interactive group exercises is part of our workshop methodology.

The methodology of Shaping My Future in 2016 will be based on the lessons learned in the past years. We will keep developing, trying out, evalu-ate, modify, and improve it in order to strengthen our impact. The vision for the future is to expand the program to a greater number of schools and communities in El Salvador and other countries in Central America.

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INFORMATION

SPREADING PRESENTATIONS, NETWORKING & EVENTS


Keep up and our presence at external net-

working events in Sweden and El Salvador

To keep finding opportunities to give presen-

tations, especially at schools, universities, and

forums related to our field of interest

Keep developing yearly campaigns

RESULT SUMMARY

During 2015, Schools for the Future was present at several external networking events in El Salva-dor and Sweden.

In El Salvador, we had the opportunity to be pre-sent with a table at the III Congreso Pedagógico Municipal (3rd Municipal Congress of Pedagogy), organized by the Municipality of Santa Tecla. The title of the congress was “La escuela en tiempos de violencia” (“The school in times of violence”).

We attended the annual JUVENTOUR organized by Instituto Nacional de la Juventud (Youth Insti-tute), in the violence prevention section together with other organizations who work within that area. The yearly event attracts several hundreds of visitors nationally.

The team participated in the event ”Central Ame-rica Donors’ Forum”, with media business leaders and philanthropists, to discuss economic deve-lopment and poverty reduction in Central Ame-rica.

The team also attended a three-day conference called “Asocio para el desarrollo” (“In association for development”) organized by the Fundación Empresarial para el Desarrollo (FEPADE), to learn about the opportunity to enter a network for microcredits to minimize poverty, unemployment and violence in the country.

We were also invited to the Encuentro Pedagógi-co (pedagogy conference) organized by the US NGO CONTEXTOS and in the book launch of Refu-erzo escolar (School reinforcement) organized by a member of our network, Departamento de Investigación at the University Francisco Gavidia.

Furthermore, Schools for the Future in El Salva-dor was invited to participate with our newest program Shaping My Future in the competition “Compitiendo para prevenir” (“Competing to prevent”) organized by Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social (FUNDEMAS). The team ended up among the five finalists who got the chance to pitch the program to a panel of busi-ness profiles, and received a smaller donation for the effort.

The team gave presentations at several events organized for the sales team and partners of Ori-flame Central America and engaged in two suc-cessful fundraising campaigns with them.

In Sweden, we were invited to welcome the new Embassador of El Salvador to Sweden, Anita Escher Echeverría, at her residence in Stockholm.

Our first dance event! The guests of honour were the new Ambassa-dor of El Salvador to Sweden, Sra Anita E. Echeverría, and founders of our partner organization, Time Village.

We arranged two events in Stockholm, one in June (a party with latin dance classes, 60 guests) and one in November (annual fall party, 78 guests), to inform about our programs, recruit members and raise money.

We were invited as guest speaker to a seminar on education at Karolinska Institutet Center for Gen-der Medicine, part of the Stanford MOOC "Inter-national Women's Health and Human Rights", to

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talk about our experience from the Schools for the Future programs in El Salvador.

We were invited to our new partner TimeVillage’s event “NGO 2.0: New opportunities in the net-work society” at Impact Hub to speak about our experiences from working with online networking and discuss future opportunities with companies and NGOs, and to their auction at SUP46 where individuals auctioned out their services and do-nated the money to Schools for the Future.

During our Salvadoran team member Luis Al-varenga’s visit to Sweden, we visited two very different schools in Stockholm, Käppala skola and Husbygårdskolan, and engaged the students in workshops on leadership for violence prevention that we use in our programs in El Salvador.

We also attended the Forum Syd annual meeting in Stockholm.

INFORMATION MATERIAL & ONLINE ACTIVITIES


Maintain the social media activities to drive

traffic and generate donations

RESULT SUMMARY

Google Analytics data from January 1st - Decem-ber 31st 2015 suggest that the number of visits to our website www.schoolsfortheuture.org throughout the year was 2165 (2014: 1639), and the number of unique visitors amounted to 1661 (2014: 1288). An estimated 76% of the unique visitors had never been to our website before. 54% of the website visits were generated by searching our name in search engines like Google or by entering our web link directly into the browser. 6% of the website visits were generated via social media links, mostly Facebook. Overall we attracted visits from 100 countries all over the world. Top countries in terms of website visits are Sweden (35%), the United States (14%), Brazil (6%), El Salvador (6%), and Russia (4%). The share of visits from El Salvador dropped from 17% in 2014, most likely because we did not gain as

much media attention in El Salvador as we did when Shaping My Future was launched there the year before. Most parts of the website are trans-lated into Spanish. We have not been focusing on search engine optimization this year.

Our global Facebook page, “Schools for the Fu-ture”, had 855 followers at the end of 2015, as compared to 720 at the beginning of the year (an increase by 19%). 53% are women, 45% are men (2% are undefined). Approximately 15% of our followers are in the age group 13-24, 48% are in the age group 25-34, and 36% are 35 or older. The global page has followers from 45 countries, of which the top countries are Sweden (45%), El Salvador (28%), and United States (6%). The local Facebook page “Schools for the Future – El Sal-vador” (in Spanish), had 681 followers at the end of 2015, as compared to 627 at the beginning of the year (an increase by 9%). 53% are women, 46% are men (1% are undefined). Approximately 32% of our followers are in the age group 13-24, 49% are in the age group 25-34, and 19% are 35 or older. The local page has followers from 30 countries, of which the top countries are El Sal-vador (73%), United States (11%), and Sweden (5%).

Our Facebook and Twitter accounts, and website homepage.

Our Twitter account, @Schools4tFuture, had 225 followers at the end of 2015, as compared to 188 followers at the beginning of the year (an in-crease by 20%), and was following 288. 72 tweets and re-tweets were published during 2015. When closing the year, we had published a total num-

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ber of 778 tweets and re-tweets since the ac-count was created in March 2010.

Throughout the year, the booklet Te cuento mis derechos (Swedish title: Jag vill berätta om mina rättigheter) was launched in partnership with the Swedish company Nordnet AB, containing short stories on children’s rights, written by children in Reading for the Future in El Salvador and pub-lished in original Spanish with Swedish transla-tions.

Our new booklet Te cuento mis derechos.

PUBLIC RELATIONS


Keep attracting media attention

RESULT SUMMARY

During 2015, the team did not prioritize media attention on the same high level as in 2014 when our newest program Shaping My Future was launched. Instead, we focused our limited human resources on the implementation of our core activities.

MOVING INTO 2016

In 2016, we will keep participating in external events and give presentations about our pro-grams and fields of interest, both in Sweden and El Salvador, in order to raise awareness, build partnerships, recruit members, and collect dona-tions. We will also aim to keep developing the successful campaigns and events we realized last year.

We should keep up the activity on Facebook and Twitter, and a local social media strategy should be elaborated in El Salvador. Our social media activities should aim at driving traffic to the web-site and generating donations.

During the upcoming year, if our human re-sources allow, we will aim to regain public atten-tion by participation in TV and radio interviews in El Salvador. These promotion channels are means to attract volunteers as well as to raise awareness and credibility for our programs. Media attention in Sweden may be a focus if there are members interested in promoting that area. We have had several articles and interviews published in the Swedish media in the past and we want to be a voice in the educational discourse also in Swe-den.

Minna Levin and Carolina Arteaga in the national TV pro-gram Cooperación in Canal 10, El Salvador, in 2014.

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ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

LOCAL TEAM

TEAM MEMBERS

The Executive Committee of Schools for the Fu-ture El Salvador during 2015 consisted of Luis Alvarenga (27, student in communication, part of the team since 2010), Aleyda Méndez (31, stu-dent in public auditing, part of the team since 2010), Carolina Arteaga (32, marketing and com-munication, part of the team since 2012), and Lorena Mejía (27, public relations and communi-cation, part of the team since 2013), all of Salva-doran nationality. The local Executive Committee is responsible for the administration and contin-uous implementation of our programs in the country, and for reporting to the Executive Com-mittee in Sweden. All local Executive Committee members worked as workshop facilitators, be-sides their administrative responsibilities. Eleven additional volunteers have been supporting us as workshop facilitators during the year (eight Sal-vadorans and three Swedes). In total, volunteers outside the local Executive Committee have con-tributed with almost 2800 volunteer hours in El Salvador throughout 2015.

TEAM TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING

Our local coordinator in El Salvador, Luis Al-varenga, received a scholarship through our part-ner Plataforma Global El Salvador (an organiza-tion that empowers young leaders with a focus on human rights) to participate in a 2-week course in Denmark called Training of Trainers on the theme Youth in politics, organized by Mellem-folkeligt Samvirke Actionaid/Denmark. Partici-pants from El Salvador, Kenya, Jordan, Palestine, Burma, and Denmark shared their experiences of the situation of the youth population in their respective communities.

Our team members were also selected to partici-pate in a training on gender identity and sexual orientation, given by Plataforma Global El Salva-dor. Other trainings related to sex education an

field work diagnostics were received by the team, the latter given by Inés Dávila, sociologist at the University of El Salvador.

Members of the local team together with Swedish volunteers, at one of our partner schools in rural El Salvador.

GLOBAL TEAM

TEAM MEMBERS

The Executive Committee of Schools for the Fu-ture in Sweden during 2015 consisted of Minna Levin (33, founder and President since 2008), Robert Karlsson (32, Secretary and Executive Committee Member since 2013), Johan Öberg (31, treasurer, first term in the Executive Com-mittee), Anna Steorn (33, first term in the Execu-tive Committee), Alicja Bejger (37, first term in the Executive Committee), and Emelie Adenlöf (19, first term in the Executive Committee).

Minna Levin, sociologist and independent con-sultant, has been visiting El Salvador between one to five months almost every year since 2008. She has written two academic papers related to educational development and violence in El Sal-vador and has served as international election observer in two presidential elections in the country.

Robert Karlsson is an economist, seller, and con-sultant. He visited the country and participated in workshops in 2013.

Johan Öberg works in finance and accounting, and has previous experience from NGO board involvement.

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Anna Steorn, self-employed project manager by profession, visited the country and participated in workshops in 2014.

Alicja Bejger is an economist and banker with an interest in Latin America. She has been an active member of Schools for the Future since 2013.

Emelie Adenlöf recently graduated from the high school International School of the Stockholm Region (ISSR), where she is currently working as a teacher. As a student at ISSR, she started the Schools for the Future student initiative to sup-port the organization together with her peers. The initiative is now running its third year.

The Executive Committee in Sweden contributed with a total of 727 volunteer hours to the organi-zation during 2015. The team has been supported by several members during the year, who have been key actors in the organization of fundraising events and campaigns. These members contrib-uted with more than 200 volunteer hours throughout the year in Sweden.

We were invited to the school Käppala skola during our Salva-doran team member Luis Alvarenga’s visit to Sweden in Sep-tember 2015.

MEMBERSHIP BASE

In the end of December, we had 52 individual members and one organizational member (LIBROS - Biblioteksstöd till Centralamerika) glob-

ally and six individual members in Schools for the Future El Salvador.

Of our global members, 32 were women and 20 are men. The majority are 30-49 years old. The majority of our members are Swedish or live in Sweden.

Of our members in Schools for the Future El Sal-vador, five are female and one is male, and they are 19-32 years old. Five are Salvadoran and one is Swedish.

FUNDING

Financially, the programs were supported mainly by donations from individuals (both members and others) outside of El Salvador, one Swedish NGO, the company Oriflame and the Jochnick Foundation. Funds were raised continuously throughout the year, through events and cam-paigns.

During 2015, we managed to raise 338 430 in membership fees and donations, a total revenue increase of 33% compared to 2014. The Jochnick Foundation and the Swedish author and illustra-tor Sven Nordqvist and his family decided to con-tinue as sponsors of the programs. 53 321 SEK was raised through events and campaigns such as the latin dance party in May, the yearly fundrais-ing party in November, attracting 78 guests, and the Christmas campaign at the end of the year. The Christmas campaign consisted in selling packages of books, material, workshop scholar-ships, fruit snacks, etc. to our network. The buy-ers received paper or digital gift certificates with a description of the contribution and how it helps children and youth in El Salvador, which they then could give away as a Christmas gifts to friends and family. The certificates were designed by My Olsson at Mydesign. A crowdfunding cam-paign was launched on charitystorm.org, where 11 955 SEK were raised with the help from 36 donors, as a contribution to the purchase of a vehicle in El Salvador that will be completed in the first months of 2016. The purpose of purchas-ing a car is to enable us to keep reaching our rural partner schools.

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During 2015, Schools for the Future applied for and received 11 260 EUR from Oriflame/Jochnick Foundation. Donations were also made by LIBROS - Biblioteksstöd till Centralamerika and Idun So-cial Dance.

The fast currency increase of the USD to the SEK in the past years have led to a substantial loss of resources for Schools for the Future. The changed currency rate will keep imposing serious limita-tions laso on the 2016 budget.

Christmas gift certificates for the Christmas Campaign, de-signed by My Olsson at mydesign.


EL SALVADOR

Our partnerships with the public schools Margari-ta Durán and Centroamérica in urban Santa Te-cla, Pedro Pablo Castillos in urban Nuevo Cus-catlán, Caserío Corinto/Las Termópilas and Colo-nia El Coco, both in rural areas of Chiltiupán, con-tinued throughout 2015. New partnerships were initiated with the schools Hacienda Florencia in urban de Nuevo Cuscatlán and El Zonte in rural Chiltiupán.

The 5-year agreement with the educational insti-tute Instituto Especializado en Educación Supe-rior El Espíritu Santo continued, which will pro-vide us with volunteers from their student base. The partnership with the Municipality (Alcaldía) of Santa Tecla continued, giving us the oppor-tunity to carry out our activities in the Palacio Tecleño de la Cultura y las Artes. The children’s library (Biblioteca Infantil Tecleña) located in the

Palacio let us use their books, as a complement to the titles belonging to Schools for the Future.

We were happy to receive enthusiastic support from Oriflame Central America. We received financial donations throughout the year, an addi-tional contribution to the purchase of a vehicle to be able to keep reaching rural schools, and the company made it possible for us to continue the process to gain full legal status in El Salvador. Several meetings, campaigns and events were organized as a result of the collaboration. The CEO Gustaf Anderson met with the Swedish team during his visit to Stockholm.

We worked with the movement Jóvenes contra la violencia El Salvador, the NGOs VIVAZUL, and Plataforma Global El Salvador in trainings and events.

SWEDEN

The Jochnick Foundation/Oriflame continued to sponsor our newest program Shaping My Future. In collaboration with the company Nordnet AB, the booklet Te cuento mis derechos, with stories written by our Salvadoran program participants, was printed and distributed. The high school In-ternational School of the Stockholm Region con-tinued to run their project group to support our programs with fundraising among students and parents, and to help us with volunteers during our annual fall party. We also continued our col-laborating with the Swedish volunteer agency Amzungo Volontärresor, enabling us to receive Swedish volunteers to work in our programs. Part of the volunteer fee goes directly to our funding. We received two volunteers for three and one month respectively in 2015. The International School of the Stockholm Region, the artist Tanja Wahlgren, and the meetup group Eat, Cook and Mingle supported us at our annual Fall Party. We continued as members of the umbrella organiza-tion Forum Syd. The NGO LIBROS - Biblioteksstöd till Centralamerika was supporting us with dona-tions. The Salvadoran Embassy in Sweden partic-ipated in our fundraising events and invited us to networking events. Magnolia Café, Gallery & Flowers let us use their facilities for meetings.

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Members of Schools for the Future’s Salvadoran team to-gether with our partner Oriflame in Central America.

MOVING INTO 2016

TEAM DEVELOPMENT

Our three programs Reading for the Future, Leaders for the Future and Shaping My Future in El Salvador will be sustained during 2016. Our team of four experienced full-time members will be executing the plans and ensure growing stabil-ity and sustainability locally. Two of these have been deeply engaged in Schools for the Future since we started our activities in 2010, one has been involved since 2012, and one since 2013.

As in past years, the team will be continuously trained in different areas relevant for our activi-ties. Some examples of key areas where the team still lacks sufficient training is advanced evalua-tion methods, identification of dyslexia and other diagnoses, and strategic fundraising.

We will aim at recruiting additional volunteers as workshop facilitators. We will focus on recruit-ment at Salvadoran universities, where the stu-dents can include program work with Schools for the Future in their mandatory “social work hours”. This could be a good way of introducing them to our activities, and the chance of retain-ing some of them in a long-term perspective should not be underestimated.

In Sweden, we will keep activating our members in campaign planning and execution, and we will aim at increasing the involvement of our mem-bers.

MEMBERSHIP BASE

In 2016, we should keep recruiting new members in Sweden, El Salvador and worldwide, while re-taining those we already have. Giving lectures and workshops are important means to reaching these goals, as well as interacting with supporters via Facebook and Twitter.

FUNDING

The costs in 2016 will, according to the proposed budget, increase by 99% compared to last year. The increase is to a high extent related to two developments. Firstly, our team members in El Salvador are becoming more senior in their roles. Secondly, the registration of the local branch in El Salvador that is planned to be completed in 2016 will imply significant costs related to taxes on salaries, pensions, and insurances. With the as-sets we had at the end of the year, plus already promised sponsorship, we have covered 38% of the proposed costs for the year. The remaining amount will be raised through fundraising and membership campaigns, and via relationships with new and existing partners and donors.

The legal process to register as a local branch in El Salvador will continue and hopefully be final-ized in the first months of 2016, which will enable the local team to apply for corporate and organi-zational donations locally.


During 2016, the relationships with our existing partners in Sweden and El Salvador should be continued and further developed. Special efforts should be put into the relationships with Salva-doran universities in order to recruit volunteers and develop our scholarship information activi-ties. Also, in order to receive funding, trainings, material, and other resources, we aim at develop-ing new partnerships as well as re-connecting with former ones.

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LOOKING AHEAD

EXPANDING OUR IMPACT IN 2016

Each year passing by in a young organization’s development becomes crucial to the growth in maturity, quality, and reach of its mission. 2015 was no exception, enabling us to develop the quality of our existing programs through a stable, experienced team of facilitators and administra-tors.

In 2016, our focus will be on meeting the chal-lenge of increased costs while further strengthen-ing the stability of the organization and the alignment of our three programs. Reading for the Future will be implemented in four public schools, reaching 100 children in age group 11-12. Leaders for the Future will involve four schools and 100 participants in age groups 12-16. Shaping My Future will enable 100 students in age group 14-17 to facilitate Motivational Study Resource Centers at their respective schools, which will have the potential to reach an addi-tional 400-1000 fellow students in age group 7-17. In summary, we will reach 300 plus 400-1000 children and youth aged 7-17 in vulnerable areas with high quality activities throughout 2016. Ad-ditionally, we will reach hundreds of mothers, fathers and other family members, as well as teachers, in activities such as parental meetings and field trips.

SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE IN THREE YEARS

Our vision is never limited to short-term oppor-tunities. We think long-term while acting accord-ing to the conditions of the moment. What is possible for us to do right now, in order to enable the big vision of the future? Thus, the vision guides us whereas the analysis of the reality of the moment gives our programs the structure and substance to function and our team the con-tinuous learning and capacity building necessary to ensure long-term stability, credibility, and growth.

Three years from now, we picture ourselves as an organization with a sustainable work force of seven full-time team members, 30 part-time facil-itators, and one part-time psychologist in El Sal-vador. Furthermore, task forces of volunteers are helping us in different areas, such as program development, recruitment, fundraising, internal and external communication, etc. We also envi-sion an expanded program to keep receiving vol-unteers from other countries, such as the other Central American countries and Europe. This will help the knowledge exchange between countries, but also promote the expansion of our method-ology to other parts of the world.

Our ambition is to have initiated contacts in every department of El Salvador and that we are work-ing closely with at a minimum of ten schools, at least one of them in the remote Eastern part of the country, where the help is needed the most. In three years, our basic program Reading for the Future welcomes 200 new children aged 11-12 yearly, and we are developing our methodology to also include children aged 7-10. The advanced program Leaders for the Future is training 200 of our graduates to become community leaders of reading and non-violence, and ambassadors of Schools for the Future. The community Motiva-tional Study Resource Centers and the program Shaping My Future has expanded its unique methodology and model, giving 2000 children aged 7-16 at ten schools the motivation and tools needed to proceed with their studies. The Re-source Centers include recreational activities and becomes a hub for young people to meet, study, play, and develop their creative skills and interest after school hours. The Centers become role models for study motivation and support throughout Central America.

We have seen that our workshop programs in combination with the access to a school library seems to have a bigger impact than just one of the two. Therefore, Schools for the Future keeps collaborating with other NGO’s to enable the creation and operation of school libraries at our partner schools.

In three years, in order to accelerate the impact of our program methodology, a teacher training program will be launched, training hundreds of

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educators and teacher students in our work model. This enables the teachers to implement elements of the model in their everyday activities in the classroom, benefitting thousands of stu-dents every year. Schools for the Future also aims to create a digital platform contributing to crea-tive classroom interaction through the provision of didactic material based on our methodology, used by teachers and trainers in the Salvadoran educational system. A parental program is being implemented along with our other activities, completing our individual-family-school-community model.

In Sweden, the Executive Committee is coordinat-ing task forces of volunteers within areas such as fundraising and events, external relations, mar-keting/communication, member recruitment, etc. We are working with Swedish teachers and schools, aspiring to have an impact on the Swe-dish educational system, contributing with expe-rience and knowledge from our activities in El Salvador.

JOIN OUR JOURNEY!

Do you want to contribute to our growth and impact in El Salvador, Sweden, and elsewhere? Visit www.schoolsforthefuture.org to learn more about how you can support us.

Some of the books used in the program Reading for the Future: Alex Dogboy, Colin y los monos and La hija del puma by Monica Zak, Cuentos de la selva by Horacio Quiroga, Ronja, la hija del bandolero by Astrid Lindgren, Trampa para zorros by Sven Nordqvist, Los niños del bosque and El huevo del sol by Elsa Beskow, Pippi Calzaslargas by Astrid Lindgren, and ¿Dónde está mi hermana? by Sven Nordqvist.

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FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING REPORT

2015

When initiating 2015, Schools for the Future had

a total of 120 666 SEK in monetary assets. Dur-

ing 2015, the organization received 338 430 SEK

in membership fees, and donations. We had

administrational, marketing, and legalization

costs of 27 019 SEK in Sweden, and Local Com-

mittee and program costs of 324 342 SEK in El

Salvador. The assets on January the 1st 2016

amount to 107 732 SEK in monetary assets, and

a variation of books, furniture, laptops, cameras,

and other material in non-monetary assets.

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MONETARY ASSETS JAN 1ST (SEK) 2015 2014 Bank account Sweden 118806 77886

Cash Sweden 0 5840

Bank account El Salvador 257 16403

Cash El Salvador 4719 441

PayPal account 0 229

Outstanding demand6 1561 1300

Outstanding debt7 -4677 -6500

TOTAL MONETARY ASSETS JAN 1ST 120666 95599

REVENUES (SEK) 2015 2014 MEMBERSHIP FEES

Membership fees Sweden 6100 7 100

Membership fees El Salvador 253 289

Total 6353 7 389

DONATIONS SWEDEN Individual donations 48159 54729

Organizational donations 154000 80500

Corporate donations 8509 1360

Events & campaigns 53321 48020

TOTAL 263989 184609

DONATIONS EL SALVADOR Individual donations 7597 437

Corporate donations 56777 37787

TOTAL 64374 38224

OTHER

Other income 3714 24000

Interest income 0 23

Currency fluctuation 0 268

TOTAL 3714 24291

TOTAL REVENUES 338430 254513

6 Office rent deposit

7 VAT in Sweden

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COSTS (SEK) 2015 2014

COSTS SWEDEN ADMINISTRATIONAL COSTS SWEDEN

Bank account fees 3 326 2417

Accounting program 2 984 896

iZettle fee 0 254

Other 2 622 400

Total 8 932 3967

MARKETING COSTS SWEDEN Web host 1 885 369

Fall party 4 658 5701

Other 0 372

Total 6 543 6442

OTHER COSTS SWEDEN Forum Syd membership 1 000 900

Legalization process, Salvadoran branch 3 200 5000

Tax costs 7 344 0

Total 11 544 5900

TOTAL COSTS SWEDEN 27 019 16309

LOCAL COMMITTEE AND PROGRAM COSTS, EL SALVADOR

TEAM Scholarships/salary: Local coordinator + facilitator 50645 39515

Scholarships/salary: Reading for the Future Director + facilitator 38153 35399

Scholarships/salary: Leaders for the Future Director + facilitator 45581 35399

Scholarships/salary: Shaping My Future Director + facilitator 43555 -

Expenses volunteers 6774 -

Total 184708 110313

ADMINISTRATION Office rent 21524 16470

Electricity & water 1635 1095

Telephone & internet 11021 7259

Office material 4214 1951

Other 2750 1536

Total 41144 28311

INVESTMENTS Furniture 0 617

Electronics 4465 14518

Total 4465 15135

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MARKETING 1853 97

PROGRAM COSTS Reading for the Future

Workshops: Material 1440 409

Workshops: Refreshments 7217 1688

Workshops: Transport 6747 7441

Field trips 16363 10560

Parental meetings 489 225

Closing ceremonies 959 664

Lunch volunteers 1971 1958

Unforeseen 1316 131

TOTAL 36502 23076

Leaders for the Future

Workshops: Material 1273 178

Workshops: Refreshments 3876 176

Workshops: Transport 5337 3437

Field trips 4732 1971

Parental meetings 0 0


Lunch volunteers 2513 3449

Unforeseen 821 186

TOTAL 19214 11056

Shaping My Future

Material 1 970 722

Learning events 5 367 2513

Marketing 0 2720

Flight ticket, global coordinator 0 10558

Accomodation, transport etc 30 days, global coordinator 0 1360

Volunteers 1 605 0

Workshops 6 097 0


Unforeseen 978 1861

TOTAL 16 796 19734

TEAM DEVELOPMENT

Team building & training 6 918 2334

Total 6 918 2334

OTHER

Team Christmas gifts 0 3055

PayPal fee 0 26

Expenses Global Volunteers 2190 0

29

Exchange rate differences 5 119 0

Other 5 434 0

Total 12 743 3081

TOTAL, LOCAL COMMITTEE & PROGRAM COSTS EL SALVADOR 324343 213137

SUMMARY COSTS (SEK) 2015 2014

Sweden 27019 16309

El Salvador 324343 213137

TOTAL COSTS 351362 229446

MONETARY ASSETS JAN 1ST (SEK) 2016 2015

Bank account Sweden 95342 118806

Cash Sweden 0 0

Bank account El Salvador 11090 257

Cash El Salvador 0 4719

PayPal account 0 0

Outstanding demand8 1300 1561

TOTAL 107733 125343

Outstanding debt9 0 -4677

TOTAL ASSETS JAN 1ST 107732 120666

8 Office rent deposit

9 VAT in Sweden

30

BUDGET 2016

MONETARY ASSETS JAN 1ST 2016 SEK Monetary assets Sweden 95342

Monetary assets El Salvador 11090

PayPal account 0

Outstanding demand10 1300

Outstanding debt 0


REVENUES 2016 SEK MEMBERSHIP FEES SEK

Membership fees Sweden 7000

Membership fees El Salvador 1000

TOTAL 8000

DONATIONS SWEDEN Events & campaigns 70000

Independent individual donations 5000

Organizational donations 110000

Corporate donations 50000

TOTAL 235000

DONATIONS EL SALVADOR SEK

Events & Campaigns 20000

Organizational donations 200000

Corporate donations 210000

TOTAL 430000

OTHER 0

TOTAL REVENUES 673000

10

Office rent deposit

31

COSTS 2016 SEK COSTS SWEDEN ADMINISTRATIONAL COSTS SWEDEN

Bank account fees 3400

Accounting program 3000

iZettle fee 250

Unforeseen 2000

TOTAL 8650

MARKETING COSTS SWEDEN Web host 3800

Campaigns 6000

Other 1000

Total 10800

OTHER COSTS SWEDEN Forum Syd membership 1000

Taxes 0

Total 1000

TOTAL COSTS SWEDEN 20450

LOCAL COMMITTEE AND PROGRAM COSTS, EL SALVADOR

TEAM

Scholarships/salary: Local coordinator + facilitator11 94051

Scholarships/salary: Reading for the Future Director + facilitator 65337

Scholarships/salary: Leaders for the Future Director + facilitator 84490

Scholarships/salary: Shaping My Future Director + facilitator 65337

Volunteer expenses 10200

Taxes, insurances, and other 103030

TOTAL 422445

ADMINISTRATION Office rent 25500

Electricity and water 5100

Telephone & internet 7310

Office material 14875

Accounting and bank costs 3400

Municipality taxes 2550

Other 3400

TOTAL 62135

11

Exchange rate SEK/USD: 8,5

32

GENERAL INVESTMENTS12 50730

VEHICLE INSURANCE & MAINTENANCE 18530

MARKETING 10200

PROGRAM COSTS Reading for the Future

Workshops: Material 6800

Workshops: Refreshments 6375

Workshops: Transport 6800

Field trips 12750

Parental meetings 1275

Closing ceremonies 2550

Events Information 850

Unforeseen 3400

TOTAL 40800

Leaders for the Future Workshops: Material 4250



Field trips 6800



Events information 850

Unforeseen 3400

TOTAL 26350

Shaping My Future Workshops: Material 4250



Field trips 6800



Events Information 850

Unforeseen 3400

TOTAL 26350

TEAM DEVELOPMENT SEK

Team building & training 14450

TOTAL 14450

12

Including purchase of vehicle

33

OTHER SEK

Unforeseen 8 500

TOTAL 8 500

TOTAL LOCAL COMMITTEE & PROGRAM COSTS EL SALVADOR 680490

SUMMARY COSTS 2016 SEK Sweden 20450

El Salvador 680490

TOTAL COSTS 2016 700940

MONETARY ASSETS JAN 1ST 2017 SEK Surplus 2016 79792


A full inventory list of purchased and donated electronics, books, and other material is available upon request.

Documents

ANNUAL REPORT 2015 & ACTIVITY PLAN 2016, Schools for the Future