By Patrick Rosario:
As the famous expression goes, give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. Education is one of the most empowering ways communities in India and around the globe are becoming stronger, more self-sufficient and branching out to do great things with others. The power behind learning can transform the way a community works together. This synergy can help a community become stronger and in turn, communities can go from rags to riches.
Education happens around the globe every day. Yet the news seldom covers the positive impacts education outreach programs have on these communities. This is limiting as it fails to help other communities learn of opportunities and give hope to those communities that want to live a better life.
But what is educational outreach? And how can you get involved in one of these programs?
Educational outreach programs are a range in the types of resources they provide and skills they teach. In general, these programs deliver new knowledge of how to do perform a certain task, bring new skills into an area where they were previously not available, and work closely to train individuals so that this new knowledge can continue working long into the future, even after the outreach team is gone.
To get involved, here are a few ways you can reach out to communities in India, or abroad, and help a them grow.
– Provide public education — Public education can come in the form of public service announcements on the television, flyers passed out to residents, hosted events that help teach the citizens of the community, and just basic conversation with the people that live there. Typically, a strong educational outreach program will have several of these features helping people know about upcoming events and teach people all at the same time what they can do to strengthen their communities.
– Help create alliances among neighbouring communities — Neighbourhood associations are powerful tools that help communities come together and use their individual talents and skills toward a greater good for the areas around them. The resources available in one community may not be the same in another. Likewise, one community may be strong in business relations while another may be better at making textiles. Working together, these two communities can create a mutually beneficial alliance and help grow revenues to the region as a whole just by learning how to work together.
– Teach about how other successful communities got their start — Modelling past behaviours are a sure way to achieve success. Communities that have had success serve as good examples and teachers to new communities that may be faced with similar struggles. Educational outreach programs from model communities can provide discussions, meetings and plans to help other communities grow simply based on their own success.
– Give people resources to be successful — Within each community, people often have a need for certain resources in order to grow. For example, having group office centres where people can go to learn through online education courses or find jobs on the internet is important for their personal growth. When an educational outreach program is able to set these resources up and teach people how to use them to their advantage, the communities can benefit by getting the supplies and access to the information necessary for them to thrive.
– Take advantage of a network of foreigners — People overseas that have moved from India, or any country, may need the services and help of people in communities. Through educational outreach programs, teams can be put in touch with each other to help fulfil a common goal. For example, by working virtually, people can come together and create goods in India that can be sold overseas to a niche target market. This is another way to combine skillsets for a greater good that will benefit every person involved.
Educational outreach programs offer an easy way for the average person to get involved and create a better place in the world. Where will your next educational outreach program take you and how will you help make a difference in the lives of people in your community?
[box bg=”#fdf78c” color=”#000″]About the author: Patrick Del Rosario is part of the team behind Open Colleges, one of Australia’s pioneer and leading providers of Business management courses and Human resources courses. When not working, Patrick enjoys blogging about career and business. Patrick is also a photography enthusiast and is currently running a photography studio in the Philippines. If you have a blog and would like to feature his works, you can find him here. [/box]