Sustainable Community Development

Community Education Services (CES) Canada

8 Pine Lane RR#1, Barrie Ontario Canada L4M4Y8

www.cescan.ca  705-835-2325

Community Education Services (CES) Canada is a non-profit humanitarian organization dedicated to providing access to education for orphans and other HIV / Aids affected children living in Kenya.

CES Canada Model for Sustainable Community Development 

 “There is no dignity in dependence.  Expressions of humanitarian aid to emergent need does not foster sustainability.  Rather, our mission is rooted in strategic partnerships that strengthen and build communities over time.  CES Canada is committed to reducing poverty and illiteracy by providing access to rural education in Kenya through a model of Sustainable Community Development.”  

Community Development – Terms of reference

Since 2004, CES Canada has been involved in Development assistance in rural western Kenya. It has improved the lives of many of children through programs in health, education, nutrition, access to water and sanitation, and family incomes. However, some children continue to be marginalized from these benefits, including:

*working children

*sexually exploited and trafficked children

*children orphaned or affected by the HIV/Aids pandemic

*children living in extreme poverty

Children remain a disproportionately large number of the poor, and poverty affects them at critical stages in their intellectual and physical development.  Not only can this seriously hinder their own future well-being, productivity, and prosperity, it can undermine efforts to fight poverty in the community at large.

Children, especially girls, face many risks, including exploitation, abuse, discrimination, violence, and neglect.  It is clear however, that even vulnerable and excluded children can be active and contributing members of the community. Many run households, look after younger siblings, earn income, and have children themselves.  With support and encouragement they can have greater freedom to make the positive choices needed to complete their education.  

This results in their taking greater control over their lives and having the capacity to persevere and make a better life for themselves, their family and their community.  Children are fully capable of participating in developing, implementing, and evaluating initiatives meant to benefit them.

The Case for a Sustainable Development Strategy

Development programs empower local people to analyze their own problems and seek their own solutions.  In the case of CES Canada, they help school communities to determine key issues and create a plan that belongs to the community.  

Charity, on the other hand, implies a notion that the outside provider knows best. Well meaning people analyze the situation and act on behalf of the recipients who are reduced to beneficiaries rather than participants. Charity often overlooks the importance of local ownership, contributions and sweat equity in moving a community forward to address issues of poverty.

For development programs to succeed, it is critical that the local community be part of the planning well before outside funds are utilized.  Development programs are concerned with root causes of poverty rather than the symptoms.  Poverty is complex and communities require an integrated strategy that may include such initiatives such as water, crop production, economic development strategies and community health services.  There is seldom a “one approach fits all” solution.  Development Programs aim at transformational change that can be monitored and evaluated.  

Charity generally overlooks the complexity and offers only a temporary alleviation of a symptom of poverty. While meeting an immediate need, it is unable to provide base line research that will ultimately provide recommendations to change or eradicate systemic problems that exist.

CES Canada Implementation Strategy

CES Canada’s mandate is to alleviate poverty by providing access to secondary education, primarily for youth orphaned by the HIV/Aids pandemic. Through scholarships for needy students and infrastructure projects that strengthen school communities, CES Canada seeks to demonstrate the following ideals:

*to advocate for the rights of all children, particularly those in need of protection

*to demonstrate the fundamental belief that all children have a right to be educated

*to build capacity for the local school community to implement commitments to their children

*to promote Project PREPARE (Program to Reduce Poverty and Provide Access to Rural Education) through the four key foundations of Education, Water, Healthcare and Economic Development 

 *to ensure participation with all stakeholders in policy dialogue, research and project implementation

*to promote the participation of youth in the development, implementation, and evaluation of initiatives designed to help them