PCV 8 May 2010

Brief Project Description:
Ten girls from the Girls’ Club of the Bassila Public Secondary School will be invited to attend a week-long “Creativity Camp” from Monday, July 7 to Friday, July 16. The participants will be selected on the basis of a short-story writing competition; the competition was announced in May, and participants were invited to attend weekly creative writing workshops to develop their writing skills and to produce their stories. Stories will be judged by one male HCN, one female HCN, and one PCV, none of whom know the contestants. The authors of the top ten submissions will receive invitations to participate in Creativity Camp and permission slips for their parents.

Participants will meet at the Bassila Internet Café every morning for three hours to learn to use a computer, to learn to type, to learn to navigate the internet, and to type and publish their short stories. The camp will serve to encourage creativity and to teach participants essential computer skills.

The computer lessons will follow the following schedule:

Day 1: Working in pairs, participants will learn the basic components of computer hardware and will practice opening and closing programs in Windows XP. They will use Microsoft Paint to practice keyboard and mouse manipulation and will practice drawing, clicking, cutting and pasting, selecting objects, and dragging-and-dropping. Participants will learn to print and will see how a printer works; they will each get to print one Paint drawing.

Day 2: For the first hour, participants will work in pairs to learn how to open Microsoft Word and its basic functions. They will learn the positions of important keys so that they can type full sentences using appropriate punctuation. For the second hour, participants will work individually to practice typing using a computerized worksheet. They will learn how to appropriately position their hands on the keyboard and basic touch-typing. Each participant will receive a paper copy of a keyboard and a plastic sheet-protector so that she can practice typing at home. For the third hour, participants will work individually to begin typing their short stories in Microsoft Word.

Day 3-4: Participants will work individually to type their short stories in Microsoft Word. They will learn basic formatting changes (fonts and paragraph styles) and how to insert images in a document. If there is sufficient time, they will continue to practice touch-typing using the computerized worksheet. Participants will use typing software to test their typing speeds. The fastest typist will receive a prize of four free hours of credit at the Internet Café.

Day 5: Participants will work in pairs to learn how to use Windows Explorer to navigate the internet. They will learn how to type web addresses and will practice navigating by visiting the Beninese Government website, Yahoo!, and Google. They will learn to open links and to use the forward and back buttons in Windows Explorer to navigate to already-viewed pages. Then, they will learn to use Google to perform a basic search. They will perform a Google Images search to find images related to their short stories and will copy and paste these images into their completed stories. Finally, they will receive certificates of participation. Following the camp, they will receive photocopies of all participants’ stories.

Dates of Project: July 12, 2010 – July 16, 2010
Number of People Involved: This project is co-organized by the PCV and the director of the Internet Café, an adult male HCN. The director and his staff (one adult male HCN and one adult female HCN) will work with the PCV to teach and assist participants throughout the camp. Ten young female HCNs will participate in the camp. Their selection through a short story competition will ensure their motivation to participate. They will ensure their parents’ permission to participate, and they will participate actively in all sessions.
Budget:

Item Number Unit Price Cost
Hours of computer time 150 200 CFA 30.000 CFA
Printing (drawing and final stories) 20 100 CFA 2.000 CFA
Prize for the highest Words Per Minute 1 1.500 CFA 1.500 CFA
Photocopies: Invitations 10 20 CFA 200 CFA
Photocopies: Permission slip 10 20 CFA 200 CFA
Photocopies: Keyboard layout 10 20 CFA 200 CFA
Photocopies: Short stories 110 20 CFA 2.200 CFA
Sheet protectors 10 100 CFA 1.000 CFA
Certificates 10 500 CFA 5.000 CFA
Total Cost 42.300 CFA

Amount Requested: 42.300 CFA

Comments

GAD Coordinator: This looks great, as per usual! Recommend funding.
GAD Finance: This sounds like an amazing project. Recommend funding.

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