New grants awarded – February 2021

February 2021 Grants Committee report

We received 27 applications for UK projects ahead of our first Grants Committee meeting of 2021, in February, of which we decided to fund three who each have extensive of experience working with young carers and care experienced young people. We also had some excellent international projects apply, 60 in all, of which the committee agreed to fund seven. Many of these focus on helping to mitigate the devastating effects of Covid-19 on children’s education across the globe.    

UK Grants Awarded: 

• Sheffield Young Carers were awarded a grant of £84,250 for their three-year project, Greater Reach, Brighter Futures: Improving educational outcomes for young carers in Sheffield. They plan to work with local schools to identify and support young carers, with a package of support. The project will pilot an approach with 10 schools, training 100 education professionals, and then focus on learning in order to facilitate wider rollout. 
• YMCA Sutton Coldfield were awarded £87,717 for a three-year project, Young Carers Transitions. They will train 28 schools or colleges in Birmingham to identify and support young carers, and providing 1:1 support from life coaches, for carers aged 12-18. It builds on YMCA’s work enabling young people to decide on the support they need and help develop appropriate programmes. 
• Volunteer Tutors Organisation were awarded £85,404 for their three-year project Learning Beyond Covid-19: refining systems, partnerships, techniques and software to improve the education of Care Experienced and Kinship Care children throughout Scotland.  They will scale up their existing project providing volunteer tutors to support care experienced children, which has operated in Glasgow successfully, and will replicate it in two other Scottish cities to meet additional needs created by Covid-19 school closures.  

International Grants Awarded: 

• Learning for Life were awarded a grant of £30,528 over two years for their project Recovering enrolment, retention and attainment in the classrooms of Nikli, Bangladesh. Working to negate the impact of Covid-19 lockdown through a community-wide awareness campaign particularly targeting girls re-enrolment with the aim of at least 85% of children re-enrolling, and that 95% of children in their six existing floating schools will have catch–up support to pre-Covid expected learning levels. 
• Kyaninga CDC Trust were awarded £58,521 over three years for the project Kyaninga Education Hub’s Inclusive Teaching and Learning Programme. They will train 164 teachers in how to meet the needs of children with disabilities, in a partnership with local authorities. Training covers two years and includes access to their Inclusive Model School to gain hands on experience, in support of their aim of inclusive and equitable quality education. 
• Kidasha – £21,480 for one year project Ensuring the transition of vulnerable children back into school in Nepal in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis. The project aims to facilitate the transition of some of the most vulnerable children back into school, by providing educational materials and lobbying for fee waivers; facilitating out-of-school remedial classes; outreach to families identifying issues preventing school attendance; facilitating parent support groups; and arranging workshops with schools and LEAs to improve response to the issue of out-of-school children. 
• African Adventures Foundation was granted £17,077 over two years for their project, Not Just a WASHroom: Providing equal opportunity for girls and boys to reach their full potential at school. Improving menstrual health facilities (by upgrading/building latrines and hygienic space for washing sanitary towels); community education; and locally producing resusable sanitary pads for three schools in Zanzibar with high levels of girls staying at home during their periods. 
• StreetInvest were awarded £44,181 over three years for Bridging the education gap for street and slum children in Mombasa. Supporting street children in Mombasa to successfully integrate into mainstream schools by developing a catch-up curriculum and running this at their ‘safe space centre’. As well as working with schools to faciliate enrolment and an understanding of the additional challenges and needs of this group.  
• African Revival were awarded £50,191 over three years for, Step Up: Introducing Low–Cost Nursery Education in the Amuru District of Northern Uganda. The project aims to establish nursery schools within five existing government primary schools in order to ease the transition into formal education. They will work with schools to train volunteer teachers, provide books and learning resources and establish village savings schemes with parents to ensure they can pay low nursery fees to keep their children in school. 
• Teach2Teach International were granted £50,701 over two years to Pilot T2T Radio Project  The project aims to build on their existing approach to increase the efficacy of local schools by developing and broadcasting a radio show to increase participation from parents and improve attendance, particularly for children with disabilities.