Field Notes is a blog series that delves into the implementation, monitoring and evaluation side of SABAQ. This post explores employment generation as a result of SABAQ Centers opening up in the communities we operate.

When we started out SABAQ, our focus was on creating learning opportunities for out-of-school children who had never been given a chance to explore their potential. Two years down the line and it’s just not the 21,800 children enrolled in 545 SABAQ Centers that we have to show for.

SABAQ Centers are run by facilitators, who act both as a teacher and a manager of sorts of the Center they teach at. We wanted someone who knew the children and the surroundings nearby. With the National Rural Support Program (NRSP), we trained natives from the community that SABAQ Centers were set up in, creating employment opportunities as well. Becoming a facilitator and contributing to their communities is especiallya source of pride for all of these men and women which only further strengthens their ownership of the Centers they manage

To date, over 630 community members have been trained to become facilitators.