Understanding the Teach for Nigeria Be The Change Project
The Teach For Nigeria Fellowship is a transformational leadership program that equips Fellows with transferable leadership skills to effect change beyond the classrooms in the communities we serve. After the Fellowship, these individuals (known as “alumni”) go on to become educators, public officials, policymakers, advocates, and social entrepreneurs building on their classroom teaching experience to drive long-term systemic changes in the educational sector in Nigeria.
What is a Be The Change Project(BTCP) ?
A Be The Change Project is a scalable solution to the root causes of the problems militating against quality education in the community where our fellows are placed. This initiative is co-created with input from learners and their influencers, parents and school leaders as well as community stakeholders. It is a pilot test and prototype of an idea with potential to address a problem in the education ecosystem. Be The Change Projects are informed by the daily experience of Fellows working with learners, school leaders and based on well researched evidence.
Be The Change Project is a compulsory and integral component of the Teach For Nigeria Fellowship program and Fellows and school leaders must initiate one or partner with others to implement a project. It is carried out by Fellows in the second year of the Fellowship. Most Be The Change Projects have scaled and evolved into full-fledged, incorporated social enterprises.
Objectives of Be The Change Project
Through BTC Projects,
- We deepen our understanding of the inequities in the education system with emphasis on our role(s) in building a larger movement for equity in education.
- We are empowered with practical skills such as project management skills, team building, relationship management, communication skills and other knowledge that may be key to implementing social impact projects.
- We deepen our collective impact within schools, communities and the entire education sector.
Focus Areas of Be The Change Project
Be The Change Project focus is purposefully to drive solutions that will bring about equities in the education system. Therefore, Fellows are NOT limited to any focus areas. However, in the last four (4) years, our Fellows have implemented a total of 108 Be The Change Projects across these areas:
- Teacher training
- Educational Excellence
- Library, ICT labs, Toilets and Classroom renovations
- Health-based projects
- Financial Literacy and empowerment projects for Mothers
- Art projects
- Digital skills training
- Mini agricultural projects
Be The Change Project Lifecycle
- Problem Identification: At this stage, Fellows work with parents, school and community leaders to provide answers to the big questions posed by the problem. Effort is focused on research, collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, defining the project scope and ascertaining the fitness of the project.
- Proposal Submission and approval: Fellows prepare and present a proposal to the Be The Change Team. Projects that meet the Be the Change criteria are approved.
- Project Ideation: This phase is marked by planning and brainstorming to figure out the most optimal implementation approach. Fellows build their team, secure partnership with related organisations, secure all necessary statutory approvals from parents, school leaders and local government education authority.
- Project Implementation: Fellows work with school and community to implement a basic/atomic unit of the project. This data gathered and impact of the project is used to plan and improve subsequent programs as well as raise funds to drive the project forward. There is immense emphasis on continuous monitoring and evaluation.
- Denouement: This marks the resolution of the set objectives defined for the Be The Change Project. Fellows begin to strengthen structures for sustainability and continuity of the project, project evaluation and reporting.
Criteria for a Be The Change Project
For a project to qualify as Be The Change Project, it must meet the following criteria:
- A problem worth solving: The project must be a solution to a well-researched big problem.
- Student and Community Impact: All Be the Change projects must be targeted at improving learning outcomes, developing skills or personal development of the children in their placement schools and community.
- Innovative: All BTC Projects must be an improvement of an already existing solution.
- Sustainability: All BTC Projects must be sustainable. Ensure that adequate plans are in place to ensure that the project will continue after they graduate from the fellowship. While initiating Be the Change projects, fellows are advised to build relationships with new fellows and the school administration so that the projects they start can continue and scale beyond their time in the Fellowship.
- Impact measurement: Mechanisms must be put in place to measure or track the impact of the change project i.e., improvement in learning outcomes, number of children who benefit from the implementation of the project, evidence that the project goals or objectives were reached.
- Scalability: Projects must be scalable. Be the Change projects should not be limited to only one community. Fellows are advised to develop projects that can be replicated in another community especially after their fellowship.
- Involve Stakeholders: Fellows must collaborate with stakeholders in all the phases of project development and implementation. A Stakeholder is a person who is actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project completion.
