Winter Newsletter 2021

Winter Newsletter 2021

Dear Supporters, 
 
As another covid-filled year comes to an end, we hope that our Winter newsletter will bring you a bit more festive cheer than the recent world news!
 
I remain heartened by the way the staff, volunteers and trustees at APIE and Umubano Academy have navigated through the challenges of 2021. We have had a surprisingly successful year, having reached over 2000 beneficiaries through our projects and been acknowledged for our good work by the Rwanda Education Board. We also had some excellent fundraising achievements - our UK partner schools raised in excess of £5,000 for the scholarship fund this year; an online pitch raised almost £25,000; and James Isles, who inspired us all with his energetic enthusiasm for fundraising, made £1,231 for APIE by running the Brighton marathon. 
 
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for continuing to support us. Whether it was through a donation to our Big Give Campaign (did you see we surpassed our target of 10,000 in just five days?) or through sending us an email to tell us what you think of our newsletters, we love to hear from you and to know what you think of our work. Please do keep in touch and share your feedback with us. 
 
Finally, with 10 days to go until Christmas, I would like to wish you all a very happy festive season! I hope you are able to spend it with loved ones. Having not left Rwanda for the past two years, I am very grateful to now be in Brighton this Christmas, with three generations of family together. We remain positive about the future, and are excited to see what 2022 has in store for APIE. We'll be in touch next year to let you know what we have planned. 
 
Until then, Merry Christmas!
 
Amy Barnecutt, APIE CEO

Our Projects 

Enhancing skills for trainee teachers 
 
Phase II of our UK Aid Direct funded EQUIP project ends this month after great success. This phase focussed on educating trainee teachers at some of Rwanda's Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs). A total of 1651 teachers, TTC tutors and student teachers have now completed the EQUIP course. The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive - One TTC Principal reported that their Early Childhood Education course intake had tripled due to the popularity of EQUIP. This is thanks to the practical strategies EQUIP provided for teachers to use to engage children in active learning and the additional support which was provided by APIE's lesson planning guide. 

Education for Positive Peace pilot project 
 
APIE has begun piloting our Education for Positive Peace project, kindly funded by the Lef-Pillon Trust and the British and Foreign Schools Society. This project is currently being piloted in 6 schools (including Umubano Academy) and one Teacher Training College. Education for Positive Peace supports Rwandan educators to develop their practice and positive behaviour management strategies to promote a holistic and safe learning environment. By focussing on children's personal, social and emotional skills development, we believe they can become global advocates for peace. We are really excited to receive the feedback from our pilot projects before launching our Education for Positive Peace project to 15 other Teacher Training Colleges and their model schools in February 2022.

Networking

APIE was honoured to pitch at The Funding Network's Strategic Funding Group in November. We were blown away by the support APIE received with an incredible £24,850 raised on the night. Thank you to all the donors for becoming a partner in education and helping us to provide quality education to children in Rwanda. 

Fundraising News

The Big Give Christmas Challenge
 
A massive thank you to everyone who donated to our Big Give Christmas Challenge. We are so grateful for your incredible support. Thanks to you, we reached our target in just 5 days!
 
Your donations will provide 20 school places for girls at Umubano Academy, where they can receive a quality education. By funding school places, we will give girls from poor families the chance to receive a high-quality education, as well as reduce the risk of forced marriage, early pregnancy, violence and long-term poverty.

26.2 miles later
 
A huge congratulations to James Isles, who completed the Brighton Marathon in September and raised an incredible £1,231 for APIE!

Thank you to James and everyone who sponsored him. It's fundraisers like James that make APIE's work possible! Please get in touch, if you'd like to take on a fundraising challenge and raise funds for APIE in 2022.

Make your gift count this Christmas 
 
Are you doing some last-minute Christmas shopping? Make those gifts extra special this Christmas by choosing APIE as your nominated charity when you shop with Amazon Smile or Give as you Live. 
 
For every purchase made using these websites, a donation will be made to APIE at no extra cost for you. Just click on the images below to find out more and start shopping! 

Donate here

As always, we love to get feedback and hear ideas. If there is anything you want to let us know, then please get in touch.