FN

Fellowship Network

The Fellowship Network (FN) was formed in 2003 at the conclusion of a four-year World Bank funded project that initiated six primary schools in villages across Malir district. The network was formed with an objective to sustain these schools and ensure high quality of education through the provision of academic and administrative leadership support. The network comprises of six School Management Committees (SMCs) with 15 members each. The Executive Body has five office bearers and seven members. The network also employs 80 staff including teachers, management and support staff. It has an examination sub-committee which administers exams of all the project schools.

As a partner of the Hum Qadam project, the network has benefited from the training programmes by improving its performance and practices. The trainings have strengthened the network’s human resource capacity to effectively deal with the challenges of lack of resources, leadership skills, technical knowledge and project management skill. It has been able take a more inclusive approach to mobilize human resources at local level achieving a gender ratio of 50:50 in its staff cadre.

‘The [Hum Qadam] trainings have helped us bring positive change in our existing programmes / projects and academic activities. It has enabled us to enhance women participation in the governing bodies of the network and its schools and also to engage them as professionals’.

Board member, Fellowship Network

As a result of the training programme on project development and management, the Fellowship network has conceived a five-year project for enrolling those children in schools who are forced into child labor due to ultra-poor conditions of their families. The project will provide employment opportunities to the parents of such children with a condition that they will send their children to school. The project proposal has been developed with technical assistance from the Hum Qadam team at CSRC.

The network provides quality education to 1500 children through its schools within the six villages. 70% of the students are females. To engage parents and the community, the network organizes a grand scale ‘Annual Prize Distribution’ ceremony to appreciate high achievers. This event is a source of instilling enthusiasm among parents to participate in improving their children’s academic performance. The network also supports parents for income generation enabling them to afford for higher education of their children.

The Fellowship Network has undergone a momentous journey. It started off as an organisation having difficulties in enrolling students and now the number of applicants is more than the capacity of the schools. This speaks volumes about the hard work and commitment of Network’s governing board and members.