Mineke Foundation works in Liberia. Our goal is to help people - especially young people and women - to become economically self-reliant. We focus on education and entrepreneurship. We have three ...
Arts & Crafts Assignment Creator (volunteer, remote)
Practical details
Volunteering • Organisation role
Contact person
Tonia Dabwe
#127516
Scan me or visit www.volunteer.deedmob.com/o/mineke-foundation/opportunities/Arts--Crafts-Assignment-Creator-volunteer-remote/127516 to join
Design arts and crafts assignments that work for children where almost nothing is a given!
We run an Art Education programme at our school in Liberia and we need someone to help us build a bank of art assignments for Grades 7, 8 and 9 (Grade 6 too, if you have capacity). This is a concrete and finite design project and a real creative challenge for the right person!
Please read this part carefully
The assignments have to work in a setting very different from a Western classroom:
- Most of our students live in homes that don’t have running water. Many homes don’t have electricity or indoor toilets. In addition, many children come from homes that are financially insecure. This means that some kids come to school without having eaten. It also means that many kids have never done crafting or even held a colouring pencil before. Assignments have to take this reality into account.
- Materials must be very low-cost and easily available. Specialist art supplies are hard to get or simply not available in Liberia.
- The teachers are building their own art skills from the ground up. Many of our teachers never drew or coloured as children and are learning the fundamentals (such as basic colour mixing) alongside their students. Your instructions must be written in basic English, be clear and step-by-step so that they are easy to follow.
- No Western references. No snow, winter/summer, Halloween, tulips etc. We intentionally create assignments that fit the reality of our students’ lives.
- Nothing locally inappropriate or controversial. No witches, haunted houses, religion or politics.
- At least a third of the assignments should link to another subject, like maths, biology, reading, agriculture, social studies or history. This is because we use Art Eduction to reinforce the wider curriculum. (A digital copy of the national curriculum is available for volunteers to work with.)
If the above sounds like an interesting challenge, we might be a good fit!
What you'll do
- Help build a collection (bank) of art assignments, with distinct assignments for each grade. We plan to reuse these assignments year after year.
- Make at least a third of them cross-curricular.
- Write each assignment in a simple, consistent format: objective, materials needed, clear step-by-step instructions, and what a finished result looks like, so a teacher with no art background can follow it confidently.
- Work with our art education volunteer, and - if you'd like - with colleagues at the school in Liberia.
Who we're looking for
- Someone who enjoys designing within constraints and finds it satisfying rather than limiting.
- A cross-curricular thinker who is able to explain concepts in clear and simple English.
- Willing to put in the time to get to know us and our work
- Comfortable working independently, taking initiative and communicating proactively
- Reliable and willing to volunteer for at least 6 months
- English required. Dutch is a welcome bonus.
- Experience in low-resource or international education settings is a strong plus.
How to apply
Propose one art assignment for a junior high class that meets the constraints outlined above and send it - along with your CV - to info [at] minekefoundation.org. No need to create the full assignment! We just want to see how you handle the constraints. Please note: we cannot move forward with your application if we don’t receive this.
About Mineke Foundation Mineke Foundation works in Liberia to help young people and women become economically self-reliant, through education and entrepreneurship. We run three programmes:
- Damiefa School (affordable private education from kindergarten through Grade 9),
- the Women's Club (entrepreneurship training, vocational courses and microloans) and
- the Resource Center (a multifunctional space with a small library, games and toys, and digital skills training; still in development).
Our work is supported by a team of international volunteers. Also see www.MinekeFoundation.org
Related to
About Mineke Foundation
Mineke Foundation works in Liberia. Our goal is to help people - especially young people and women - to become economically self-reliant. We focus on education and entrepreneurship. We have three projects:
== The Damiefa School offers affordable private education from kindergarten through the first three years of high school. We use the national Liberian curriculum, supplemented with an Art Education program developed by Dutch/American teachers and a Reading Comprehension program specifically developed for Liberia by American teachers. Our ambition is to grow the school into a full-fledged high school.
== Our Women’s Club offers an entrepreneurship program and a social education program. The entrepreneurship program includes short vocational courses, business training & coaching, and microloans. The educational program offers monthly workshops on topics such as (reproductive) health, women’s rights, leadership and sexual violence against women. There is also a savings club with peer-to-peer lending.
== The Resource Center is a multifunctional space with a small library/computer room where employability training for young people is also given. Before Covid, we also offered digital skills training to surrounding schools and (young) adults in the area. We will offer this again in due course.
Check our Facebook page for recent updates: www.facebook.com/MinekeFoundation
Mineke Foundation is an award-winning foundation known for its quality and professionalism. We are an accredited local Liberian NGO, vocational school and private school. A small, committed and motivated local team carries out our projects in Liberia.
The Dutch foundation consists of international volunteers and supports our team in Liberia, including fundraising, social media & communication and knowledge transfer. Both teams work closely together.
Our fun and enthusiastic volunteers will make you feel at home quickly! We all work from home and have regular Zoom calls, also with our team in Liberia. Volunteers living in the Netherlands usually meet twice a year. Good to know: we speak both Dutch and English, but usually speak English during calls & meetings.
Mineke Foundation was founded in 2009 by Tonia Dabwe to build on the work her parents started in Liberia in the late 1960s. The foundation is named after Tonia's Dutch mother who has been missing since the civil war in Liberia.
