If you were to ask any member of our team, I am confident they would agree with the sentiment that one of Building Tomorrow’s greatest strengths as an organization is our willingness – eagerness, truly – to critically review every aspect of our model; constantly seeking out opportunities for improvement, no matter how large or small.
And over the years, our community partners, staff and supporters have gone above and beyond, proving time and again their commitment to the shared belief that every child deserves the opportunity to learn in a safe, supportive and high quality learning environment.
Last week’s story highlighting Henry Katongole’s innovative bar design is a prime example. Countless other stories exist. Teachers are sharing best practices within their own networks, parents are taking an active role in the education of their children, and government officials are lobbying hard for support beyond what was initially committed. But it’s not been an easy process and we most certainly did not get where we are today without facing our fair share of challenges.
All that said and done, we have learned an incredible amount along the way. So much so that earlier this year we embarked on a project to document, in great detail, the evolution of Building Tomorrow’s model from 2006 to 2012 and outline a step-by-step look at our programs, policies, and overall quality of education strategy moving forward in 2013.
This document, what we’ve come to call “the Blueprint,” was born out of several community and staff conversations whereby we audited our model and the changes taking place at each of our partner sites. We documented every step and we applied best practices—as witnessed in our partner communities—in our strategy moving forward.
Today, BT’s work in Uganda can be divided into five distinct phases: site identification, pre-construction activities, active construction, post-construction activities, and start-up support. Intensive monitoring and evaluation is being developed and will be deployed at nearly every step along the way.
The Blueprint itself is very much a living document. Day-to-day, BT’s entire staff reference this document and an accompanying checklist to track the ongoing progress of any potential or active site. As we work to achieve the goals we set forth at CGI in 2011—constructing 60 schools by 2016—and bring our model to scale, the Blueprint ensures our entire team stays on-task, is knowledgeable about expectations, can communicate our progress, and can replicate our model over and over again.
As you consider offering your support to Building Tomorrow as the year draws to an end, we invite you to take a look and welcome your questions, comments and feedback. Despite its length, it has proved a useful tool already. In fact, other organizations and individuals have already shared with us how invaluable it is and has been as they develop their own programming. We couldn’t be more excited for this type of feedback and, as we said before, we welcome yours as well.
Thank you so very much for your support over the years. For helping us get this far and for putting us in a position to dramatically scale our work and expand our reach throughout 2014.
–george
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