The International Baccalaureate is one of the fastest growing educational programmes in the world, since its creation in 1971 it is now offered in over 4000 schools across the world. Students start the IB diploma programme aged 16 and it constitutes the pre university requirements that allows students to get into the top universities around the world. One of the reasons the programme is so highly regarded by university admissions is because of the CAS component. This stands for Community, Action and Service.
The IB recognises the importance of life outside the world of scholarship, providing a refreshing counterbalance to academic studies. This is why universities value the IB and why the IB DP can be a useful resource pool for NGOs.
CAS aims to develop students who are:
- reflective thinkers—they understand their own strengths and limitations, identify goals and devise strategies for personal growth
- willing to accept new challenges and new roles
- aware of themselves as members of communities with responsibilities towards each other and the environment
- active participants in sustained, collaborative projects
- Service requires students to understand their capacity to make a meaningful contribution to their community and society. Through Service, students develop and apply personal and social skills in real-life situations involving decision-making, problem solving, initiative, responsibility, and accountability for their actions.
Community, Service and accountability are all watch words of the programme which is why so many students spend the 2 years of their diploma working with innovative NGOs. Students are guided by teachers in their endeavours however they are expected to develop their own sense of independence setting up projects or finding existing ones they believe in. NGOs can benefit from this in a number of ways.
- Get dedicated volunteers. Offer a programme to an IB world school where students volunteer with your organisation, this doesn’t have to be face to face it can be online. You will benefit from committed and motivated students and they will be able to say they contributed to a project and completed the service element of their diploma. The programme can just be general volunteer work or if there is something you’ve been considering like website design students with the necessary skills can complete a project and for something like website design they would also be able to meet the creative criteria of their diploma.
- Get funding for a specific project. Students are great at arranging fundraising activities and schools are a great place for donations, families and teachers all want to support the students in their activities. This often also generates publicity for the project and the school which is a great situation. Approaching a school is easy, ask for the contact details of the CAS coordinator or the head of the IB DP and then discuss ideas. If the students fundraise via an activity like a fun run they will also be able to meet the action criteria so again will be pleased you got in touch!
If there is no IB world school nearby that does not mean you still can’t approach schools. Depending on the country you are operating schools will have a citizenship or social studies programme where students will have to research sustainable projects that make a positive contribution to their community. Also schools try to nurture a sense of community among students: no school uniform day, sports day, family fun days, shows and cake sales happen throughout the year and depending on the size of school can often raise upwards of $2000. Big NGOs with vast amounts of funding send mailings to schools on a regular basis and so when it comes time to pick a charity for the end of year play or for the students to research teachers will obviously go with the NGO they have heard of. To contact a school:
- Find your nearest schools and contact details from a website.
- Ask to speak to either a citizenship or social studies coordinator or the person responsible for university applications. Students need something that sets them apart from other students when applying for university. For many this may be their involvement with an NGO, the skills that students can learn are vast and the independence they gain shine through on application letters.
- Offer to go into the school and make a short presentation. This could just be about what your organisation does or what skills students could gain if they volunteered for you.
- Don’t panic if you get asked to run an assembly, this is a get chance to showcase your organisation to a wide audience and if you need ideas you can always ask the team at FundsforNGOs!
Have you worked with schools to raise funds for your NGO? What were your experiences? Let us know in the comments.
