Project Proposal

Project Title:
Asa)

AGAPP (Aklat, Gabay at Aruga tungo sa Pag-Angat at Pag-

(Creating School-Community Libraries/Early Childhood Classrooms in 100 Public

Schools)
Proponents: Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF) in collaboration with
AGAPP Working Group
Project Goal:
To harness the constructive energies of volunteers who seek to continue
supporting the agenda for good governance of President Benigno C. Aquino III
and for progressive national development through their active participation in a
child and school-focused project that promotes the convergence of various
programs and services designed for the benefit of underprivileged children who
attend public schools in disadvantaged communities.
Project Objectives:

To construct Silid-Pangarap at Pang-Agap i.e. school-library facilities that

will also serve as preschool classrooms for schools in depressed and
disadvantaged communities

To provide training for teachers and school heads on integrated early

childhood education curriculum that effectively supports emergent literacy
for children aged five to eight who are enrolled in the kindergarten
through the primary grades of public schools

To promote home-school-community partnerships by enabling school

heads and teachers to organize family literacy activities and parent
education activities in these school libraries

To facilitate partnerships between individual volunteers, organizations and

networks who share the goals and visions of improving the quality of
public education and of promoting early childhood care and development
and essential services such as feeding programs

Rationale:

The early childhood years (0-8) are the most critical formative years of
childrens lives and are the building blocks for human development. The quality
of care and teaching that we provide them in the early years of childhood makes
a tremendous difference in their overall well-being, their success in school and
later life. Yet only 29% of Filipino children aged 3 to 5 have access to some form
of early childhood care and development program. Only half of public schools
have preschool classrooms.
Unang aklat na binasa, unang hakbang sa pagasa.
Becoming fully literate is a pre-requisite to school achievement and success.
The roots of literacy are established in the early years as the windows of
opportunity for language development and learning are wide open before age
10. Thus, learning experiences provided at home and in the community through
playgroups, day care centers and preschool programs are essential to planting
the seeds of literacy. However, many of the children who live in poverty are
currently unable to attend public day care or public preschool programs. Their
parents do need all the help they can get starting with information about the
importance of the quality of care, support and interaction with their children in
the first years of life from birth and as they make the all-important transition to
primary school. Longitudinal studies and program experiences in many
countries including the Philippines have demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of
investing in early childhood care and development (ECCD) programs that
address both children and their caregivers and teachers.
This project seeks to achieve the twin goals of enhancing the public schools
resources for supporting literacy development and for providing a basic ECCD
service for 5 year olds through the preschool program. This will be done by
providing the physical facilities and essential tools and materials that serve these
dual purposes with a capacity-building program to motivate teachers and school
heads to enable them to organize and facilitate developmentally-appropriate
child and family-focused activities. The project will also facilitate and promote
the convergence of other essential child- and family-focused interventions such
as supplementary feeding, health promotion, extended day or child care support,
micro-enterprise for parents that are implemented by NGOs, civic organizations
or the municipality and barangay-based service providers.
Project

Components:

There are four project components:

1) Aklat sa Silid Pangarap at Pang-agap: Design, Construction, Furnishing of
School-Community Library + Preschool classrooms
2) Gabay: Capacity-building: Training of Teachers and School heads, Parent
education activities
3) Aruga: Promoting access to essential ECCD services for children and
parents

4) Kaagapay: Organization, Networking, Information, Communication &

Social Mobilization
The first component provides the physical space and material resources; the
second invests in nurturing the skills, competencies and attitudes of those who
are tasked to teach and care for young children; the third component promotes
convergence of both public services and private sector resources for the benefit
of children and their caregivers; the fourth builds on the spirit of committed
volunteerism, seeks to harness the generosity of the private sector and creates a
network of partnerships and support for young children and families in
disadvantaged communities.
The following matrix provides information about the project activities, objectives,
indicators and time frames for each of these components.