New School in Comun Pampa, Bolivia
Mano a Mano recently completed a new school with 4 fully-equipped classrooms and community bathrooms in the community of Comun Pampa, Bolivia. The new school replaces the old school, which was a converted union headquarters with adobe walls and a leaking metal roof, and will provide a better learning environment for the 30 students and 5 teachers in the area. Thank you to everyone that was involved in this project!
Mano a Mano’s newest school project in Comun Pampa, Bolivia
Comun Pampa
Panoramic view of Comun Pampa
Comun Pampa is a community of about 700 people in the municipality of Aiquile, province of Campero, department of Cochabamba, Bolivia – about a 4-hour drive from the city of Cochabamba.
Map of Comun Pampa
The new school will be a much more comfortable learning environment for the 30 students in Comun Pampa and the surrounding areas, and a more comfortable working environment for the 5 teachers.
Working Together to Make These Projects Possible
Every project that Mano a Mano does, including this school in Comun Pampa, depends on many people working together (read more about our partnership model here). The Comun Pampa School project was a collaboration with:
- the Alcaldia of Aiquile
- funding from donors in the US
- our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia
- the communities of Comun Pampa
A significant portion of the funding comes from Bolivian sources; in this case the Alcaldia of Aiquile provided 59% of funding and the community of Comun Pampa contributed 2.3%. Mano a Mano provided funding raised through US supporters, and our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia organized everything and built the project from start to finish.
Why Are These Projects Important?
Children in Comun Pampa
Access to education in rural Bolivia is a huge challenge; Bolivian adults (25-65) in urban areas have on average 9.98 years of schooling, whereas Bolivian adults in rural areas have on average 4.85 years of schooling, one of the biggest gaps in Latin America. Education can have a big impact; each additional year of schooling can increase income by up to 10%, and a child born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to survive past age 5. The first step in improving education for kids in rural areas is to decrease the distance to get to a school, improve school infrastructure & the learning environment, and have motivated teachers that are consistently available.