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NEW WIDE HORIZONS PROGRAM VIDEOS

By W.H. MaeSot23:10No comments

Check out these new promotional videos about two of our 200 wonderful Wide Horizons alumni.

The first video focuses on Seesar No No from Bago Division, who graduated from the program in 2012 and today works as Nutrition Coordinator for Thai Children's trust. The second video features Aung Pyi Moe, who graduated in 2014 and today also works as our part-time computer teacher on the weekends. During the week, he works as Operations Manager at Mae Tao Clinic. Enjoy! 

See these videos in the following link: Click here 

Video

Wide Horizons is a 2 -Year leadership development program dedicated to building the capacity of young adults from Burma to work effectively in civil society organizations.

The concept

Wide Horizons (WH) was founded in 2006 by Burmese Migrant Worker’s Education Committee and World Education (WE) as a school where young adults from Burma, working in community-based organizations (CBO) could come to develop their English language, computer and community development skills while cultivating the thought process skills associated with effective leadership. By combining a student-centered, experiential approach to education with a curriculum that emphasizes group work, reflective practice, and critical thinking, WH offers a program with impacts that reach beyond the classroom and into the communities it was designed to serve.

How it works

Every year, a local network of community organizations along the Thailand-Burma border nominates current employees for admittance into Wide Horizons. Ideal candidates have intermediate English skills, at least one year of work in an organization, and a dedication to developing their community. Out of these applicants a multi-cultural cohort of 24 are selected to join the program through a competitive application process.

Once admitted, students enter into an immersive residential learning environment in Mae Sot, Tak Province for 10 months. At WH, students live, study and work together. English is spoken 24 hours a day, and skills learned in the classroom are put to immediate use in community life and work. Students practice leadership skills through rotating positions in school governance and through a series of projects in nearby migrant communities, ensuring that experience and reflection drive their learning as much as their lessons.

Curriculum

The curricular framework was designed for the academic component of the Wide Horizons program in 2010 after a detailed needs assessment of the target student population and their organizations was conducted. The curriculum is accessible on an online network, drawing upon multiple resources; this allows for standards-based instruction that is easily differentiated and adaptable to the needs of communities in the ever-changing border context.

The academic component of Wide Horizons emphasizes three core topic areas: English Language, Community Development, and Computer Skills in an environment of English language immersion. During phase one of the program, students live on campus with their teachers, and coordinator. Computer classes take place for three hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

English classes equally emphasize speaking, reading, and writing, and utilize a wide variety of formats designed to support critical thinking and students’ ability to effectively formulate and communicate their points of view. Community Development classes emphasize concrete project management skills relating to the project cycle along with cross-cutting community development topics.

Community Development classes are reinforced through supervised community projects in a local community with the support of WH staff during the school year. Computer classes emphasize advanced computer literacy and train students to use standard software used by most CBOs working along the border and in Myanmar (Burma).

Work Placement

Following the 10-months of academics, students return to their mother organization for a 1-year opportunity to build upon the skills they learned at WH by gaining practical experience, knowledge and skills in the community work environment. Students contribute to the capacity development of Community Based Organizations along the Thai-Burma border by sharing their newly gained skills with colleagues at their mother organization or school.

Previous students have worked for their organizations by:

·     writing professional e-mails, reports, and proposals to donors or interpreting and giving presentations to foreign visitors

·      editing advocacy videos and editing layout for newsletters or blogs/websites

·      coordinating income generation projects or events

·      training staff members or communities in financial literacy, women’s rights, etc.

·      managing boarding houses, student groups or teachers

Staffing

WH has a small, dedicated team of staff that works closely together to maintain the integrity and success of the program.

-    Program Manager: manages the program operations and budget of the program, and supervises all staff.

-      Coordinator: Lives on campus and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administration of the program.

-       Assistant Coordinator:supports students with their daily needs and provides follow-up and support during the students’ work placements in their second year of the program.

-   Teachers: Two full-time teachers work at Wide Horizons. One specializes in English language instruction and the other specializes in community development and project management. In addition one part-time teacher focuses on advanced computer skills. 

Recognition

Within Thailand, the Ministry of Education has recognized WH as an effective higher education opportunity for young people from Burma. Since WH’s founding with support from USAID, WH has been recognized as a leader in capacity development, attracting the attention of a wide variety of donors and academics, and demonstrating positive results in an evaluation affiliated with Harvard University and is receiving certificates from Windham Institute for Progressive Education (Vermont, USA).  We continue to seek out opportunities for WH students to get recognition for their high-quality rigorous coursework within Thailand, Myanmar, and internationally.

Funding

For several years, WH was mainly sponsored by the USAID sponsored Project for Local Empowerment (PLE), as well as by Danish Church Aid (DCA).The last of this funding came to an end in July 2015 and today, WH is sponsored by a network of donors. These donors include:

Thai Children’s’ Trust (http://www.thaichildrenstrust.org.uk/)

Global Neighbors Canada Inc.(http://www.gnci.ca/)

Room To Grow Foundation (for student community projects) (http://roomtogrowfoundation.org/)

Finally, a part of the funding also comes from the teachers’ and students’ own fundraising activities. Read more here

WH is actively seeking new funders and partners for 2014-15. To learn more about donating the program, click here

Wide Horizons

Every year the Wide Horizons students plan, write, edit and publish student newsletters that are distributed to our donors, partners and friends in Thailand and abroad. During the 2015-16 academic year, the students published one newsletter in English that they subsequently translated into Burmese. 
The newsletters have been distributed and read all along the Thai-Burma border, as well as in faraway places like Europe and the United States and the feedback has always been overwhelmingly positive.

Wide Horizons was started in 2006  by Burmese Migrant Worker’s Education Committee (BMWEC) and World Education (WE). WH school was founded by Mr. Pat-rick Kearns who had dream for youth to be good leaders in their communities and orga-nizations inside Burma and along Thai-Bur-ma border. Currently, there are almost 200 alumni who are working in their communi-ties or other NGOs as program managers,

Video

 very year the Wide Horizons students plan, write, edit and publish student newsletters that are