POLARIS WORLD FOUNDATION BEGINS A NEW EDUCATION COMPLEX IN MALI IN CONJUNCTION WITH F.C. BARCELONA
Posted by polarisworldsite on July 31, 2008
Polaris World Foundation for Cooperation and Development Aid, in collaboration with F.C. Barcelona Foundation, is beginning the construction of an education complex in the African country of Mali. This project has the technical support of the Salesian Père Michel Centre.
Polaris World Foundation has donated 40,000 euros for the construction and equipping of a community primary school in the city of Bamako. Around 150 children will be able to attend the school per year and, out of school hours, more than 100 adults will have the opportunity to learn to read and write.
The new centre, which is expected to open in October, is being built in the multi-ethnic neighbourhood of Sans-Fil, an area with a very low socioeconomic level and a low literacy rate.
Apart from providing the neighbourhood with infrastructures for education and educational support, the project aims to provide a comprehensive monitoring system for the most vulnerable children, mostly in the area of education, but also in other essential aspects such as childhood development: nutrition, leisure and sport.
In order to be able to do this, the Polaris World Foundation Primary School will house an F.C. Barcelona Foundation XCIS Centre for extra-curricular activities. Here children will be able to have fun doing sport and learn non-academic subjects such as civil values, professional skills, IT, social skills, literacy and healthy habits, etc. The new complex in Mali will also provide basic health care and psychosocial support, as is the case in all the international XCIS Centres that the F.C. Barcelona Foundation has created on several continents.
Commitment to training, healthcare and water
In the almost five years the Polaris World Foundation has been up and running, it has provided more than 2 million euros and set up sixty projects in twenty-one African countries. Its commitment to cooperation and development aid is focussed on three main areas: water, education & vocational training and healthcare. It works on programmes aimed at building and equipping basic health and education centres, and providing professional training in agricultural and technical fields, especially for women in rural areas. It also develops irrigation systems for farm use and provides access to drinking water, among others.
