Working with children
In this day and age, the safety of children is paramount. To that effect, it is worth knowing therefore that all volunteers at MenelikEducation and at the Academy have worked in education for a considerable amount of time. Be it here in the UK with the CRB checks or in the DR Congo, everyone is subject by law to police checks prior to working with children.
What are CRB checks?
CRB stands for Criminal Records Bureau. It is an executive agency of the Home Office which provides wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service. This service enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work, especially that involve children or vulnerable adults.
Contact
If you want to submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Freedom of Information Act deals with access to official information and gives individuals or organisations the right to request information from any public authority.
You may wish to refer to the ‘Disclosure Log’ which can be located on the ‘Your Rights’ link of the website. Here you willl be able to view information that CRB have previously released under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You may wish to look at this to ensure that the information you are requesting has not previously been made public.
If you wish to submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act please contact the following address:
About the DRC
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has endured political and social turmoil since it was colonised by Belgium. In the troubles after independence Colonel Mobutu Sese Seko seized, and held onto, power for 32 years until he was deposed by Laurent Kabila's rebellion in 1997. The 1998 insurrection by rebels linked to Rwanda and Uganda triggered a war involving six other nations. The UN accused warring sides of prolonging the conflict as they looted natural resources.
The DRC is at the heart of the equatorial region of sub-Saharan Africa and includes 47% of the continent's forest. The Congo River and its tributaries form an economic lifeline due to the lack of decent roads. This vast country has huge deposits of diamonds, copper and coltan - important in the production of high-tech goods - and its forests are home to rare species of wildlife. Five national parks are listed by Unesco as World Heritage in Danger because of threats from conflict and mining. The parks' wildlife includes mountain gorillas, savannah giraffe and rare white rhino.
The population of 56 million is split into many ethnic groups who speak at least 210 languages - but mainly French, Lingala, Kiswahili, Kikongo and Tshiluba. The human toll of the fighting - often called Africa's 'First World War' - has been catastrophic, with more than four million dead since 1998. Around 1,200 people die each day as a direct or indirect result of the conflict - more than half of them children. Many have suffered horrific abuse, including rape and sexual slavery by armed groups. This situation has impoverished the nation and traumatised children. Today it is estimated that more than five million children are still not getting an education and more than six million children aged 12-17 years old have never set foot in a school.
The DRC's economy has been stifled by years of conflict and corruption. War has disrupted farming as well as trade and the country lacks the infrastructure to provide adequate food, clean water, healthcare and education. However, its mineral reserves mean it has the potential to be a wealthy country. The $870m diamond industry provides work for around one million people, but many diggers earn less than $1 a day in dangerous conditions. Between 1999 and 2001, DR Congo enjoyed a brief coltan boom, becoming the second largest producer of tantalum - used in mobile phones.
About MenelikEducation
MenelikEducation is a branch of MenelikMusic set up to carry out much-needed improvements to schools in Kinshasa by restoring their infrastructure, and providing supplies and staff training programmes. In addition to that, MenelikEducation aims to provide an education resource centre for students, teachers and communities. The centre will provide dedicated multi-disciplinary educational training facilities in a friendly and welcoming environment for all users and play a major role in community development initiatives.
MenelikEducation is a small organisation, working at minimal cost to ensure that its help and assistance reaches those who need it most. We do this through collaboration with local education authorities, schools and communities through a needs based analysis. We use local people and volunteers, who assist with teacher training programmes, participate in the organisation of events, help with the setting up of the education resource centre, and with the refurbishment of the five school buildings.
We work in partnership with already established organisations in the country and in Cambridge (UK) and will continue to develop close working arrangements with organisations we feel can help us deliver a complementary and effective service to these communities. We are also in the process of twinning Impington Village College with our schools in Kinshasa and hope to extend this scheme to other schools in other parts of the country and run inter-cultural training awareness workshops, and other relevant programmes.
What we want to achieve
In the middle of 2007, we began the refurbishment of all our schools and the education resource centre in Kinshasa. Refurbishment is expected to be completed by December 2008. The schools will eventually have several classrooms and offices, cement walls and floors, lockable doors and windows, appropriately sized chairs and tables, a teacher's desk and cabinet for locking up supplies, and other necessary equipment and facilities. It is expected that once completed, more teachers will join us. The schools are free of charge for those in greatest need which accounts for about 35% of all our students but we expect this percentage to double in size by 2009. The school also provides lunch to students, which for many is the only guaranteed meal each day. In order to overcome some of the burden that will be associated with an increased number of students, we will look to develop partnerships with local and international businesses, organisations, and communities. We will also collaborate/merge with other schools and colleges in the capital and beyond to help raise educational standards, locally and nationally.
We know for certain that Congolese women are more often than not exploited and lack access to capital as well as the ability to generate income. Therefore, MenelikEducation hopes to establish and provide financial support to “Self-Help” groups. These groups will predominately be made up of women, to start small-scale income-generating activities through our Micro-enterprise Development Programme. We will provide start-up technology, capital, and other resources to various groups for the implementation of projects such as sewing and tailoring shops, bee-keeping projects, horticulture projects, and fisheries. We will build a network of micro-enterprise groups to whom we will provide, through the Resource Centre, project advice and guidance, as well as assist in facilitating knowledge and resource sharing between the groups.
The Resource Centre will also serve as a small Public Library, the first in Kinshasa since independence. Kinois and Kinoises (people living in Kinshasa) will be able to choose from hundreds of books ranging from science and geography to drama and novels. The library will be filled by book donations from universities and libraries in other African counties, the UK, France, Belgium, and Canada, and beyond.
The school project
MenelikEducation is working in partnership with the Groupe Scolaire Lembo and Impington Village College with the aim of increasing the number of children going to school in five deprived areas in the capital city of Kinshasa. Working with the help of schools and communities across the area, we will provide learning programmes for older children who have been denied a primary education, support vulnerable children, rehabilitate schools, train adults/parents and work to strengthen education systems.
Our immediate target is to refurbish and turn the LemboMenelik International Academy into a high quality, environmentally friendly and welcoming institution and replicate our success elsewhere but also to support and encourage other organisations, big or small, to make not a token but a real difference in the DRC. About a year ago, we started educating some 200 students and today we have 2900 students scattered in our five centres, namely:
-
Kasa-Vubu (1200 students),
-
Ngiri-Ngiri (500 students),
-
Bumbu (500 students),
-
Bandal (200 students), and
-
Ngaliema (500 students).
About our Academy
Our Academy is an educational community school for children aged three to eighteen years. The accommodation is quite modest but we are currently looking at funding opportunities for improvements to make the school more user-friendly. The reception/Infant schools each have their own fenced in outdoor learning and play areas. They are all situated in very deprived areas therefore provide a plus to the communities. On reaching the age of seven the children mainly transfer to our Primary and Secondary Schools, which are situated on the same site and usually adjacent to the Reception/Infant schools.
