Description
The Partners to Poor supports three main initiatives:
1) Partners to Poor Scholarship
2) Provision of Health Care for the Poor
3) National Award - President's Volunteer Service Award
Partners to Poor Scholarship
The vision of our Partners to Poor Scholarship came from the observation on severity of educational crisis in places where the burden of poverty and disease are greatest. In those places, the awareness and importance of education and academic achievements were often repudiated. Malawi, one of the countries we are working with, has one of the highest dropout rates in Africa, where 60% of primary students drop out of school between Grades Five and Eight. The literacy rate is 63% and the repetition rate is 22%. The majority of primary 1 st grade students in Malawi drop out of school without attaining functional literacy skills. The education system in these impoverished countries suffers greatly from absenteeism, poor performance, and a very high repetition rate.
Even though government of Malawi abolished the school fees for primary education, many parents simply abandon their children's education to help out with family chore. In the scheme of poverty and disease, for Malawians, education serves as nothing more than a burden to comply their family chores rather than a potential for having a brighter future.
The crisis needed to be addressed. The concept was simple, yet unique which was to raise awareness and importance of education, academic achievements, and concept of sharing with community by honoring and rewarding students who have embraced high levels of academic excellence and community service with educational scholarships. By recognizing and rewarding these students who strive for academic excellence and demonstrate strong humanitarian qualities, they become role models in their communities and schools, motivating other children to follow the same footsteps. Partners to Poor emphasize the importance of focusing on educational attainments where education can serve as the means to bring about the positive change in society and thus contribute to the development of community.
Provision of Health Care for the Poor
Treatable and preventable diseases such as Malaria, TB, and Childbirth contribute to the highest death and dropout rates amongst children in the most impoverished communities. For example, there are more than 8 million cases of malaria illness per year experienced by Malawi's population of 10 million. About 40 percent of the deaths in children are related to malaria. Malawi also has one of the highest death rates during childbirth where 4,500 babies die for every 100,000 live birth because 45% of all deliveries are outside of healthcare facilities
Partners to Poor believe that health is a fundamental right, not a privilege. We work to ensure that cost does not prevent access to primary health care for the poor people where the burden of poverty and disease are greatest. We provide medical resources and supports directly to village communities in conjunction with local hospitals and partnering health care providers.
PARTNERS TO POOR - PRESIDENT'S VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD
PARTNERS TO POOR has teamed with the White House to become a Certifying Organization for the President's Volunteer Service Award, a national program recognizing Americans who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to volunteer service. This National Award is issued by the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, to help foster and encourage a culture of volunteer service and civic participation among Americans. We encourage everyone to get involved and to bring along your family, friends and neighbors to build meaning story during their life time. Together, we can make difference one at a time. Please contact us for more information about partnering with Partners to Poor.
Partners to Poor improve the health care and educational standard of poor communities in conjunction with other partnering organizations. Our non-profit programs are financed through individual and corporate donations. 100% of every dollar contributed is directly invested into our education scholarships and health care programs for the poor.
