iEARN Pakistan "Connecting youth making a difference"

iEARN Pakistan under Society for International Education is working in close collaboration with iEARN Centers in several countries as well as several other educational organizations on collaborative programs. All these programs are focused at providing unique learning opportunities to students and educators, enabling them to interact with peers and experts globally. Most of these programs involve development and participation of students in Internet Based Collaborative Projects, Curriculum Development and Teacher Training, Students and Teacher Participation in exchange and study programs.

Current and Ongoing Programs:

Youth Empowerment and Leadership Program;
	Youth Empowerment and Leadership Program; a part of Karachi Youth Initiative in partnership with Creative International, teaching, counter violence , civic education and community outreach to at risk youth. The funders are USAID for this project.
Youth Kay Saath:
	Youth Kay Saath: Two seasons of 30 radio programs on FM 100. The radio programs, titled “Youth Key Saath” (With the Youth) will aim to spread awareness about youth initiatives in the target communities of the Karachi Youth Initiative.
Empower Access Program
	The Empower Access Program (EAP) South and Central Asia focused,  professional exchange program for individuals, organizations and offices working directly with people with disabilities.  EAP is sponsored by the US Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. For Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan, EAP is administered by American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS. It is a bilateral exchange program, 15 international fellows from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan will travel to the U.S. to undertake a month-long intensive, tailored fellowship at U.S. host organization.  EAP will enable up to 15 Americans to participate in a reciprocal visit to their Fellows’ host countries. Details of the program, eligibility and application is available at the link below: Empower Access Program
Photojournalism 2.0: Images of Social Change
	Photojournalism 2.0: Images of Social Change foster positive and productive interaction among educators and students in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Tajikistan through a global high school photojournalism education program. Through Photojournalism 2.0: Images of Social Change, participants will use photography to build people-to-people ties that will promote a stable, prosperous, and integrated region.   High school teachers and students seek programs to help them use new media to explore local and global issues, to connect with peers abroad, and to take action as their communities build civil society institutions.   With the support from The Office of Press and Public Diplomacy, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, iEARN USA and the participating iEARN countries will be running this 12 months project beginning October 1st 2012.
Global Connection and Exchange: Journalism 2.0
	Global Connection and Exchange is a project supported and funded by US Education and Cultural Affairs through partnership with iEARN USA in participating iEARN countries globally. SIE has been an implementation partner for the GCE project since 1999, connecting schools and students in participating countries through curriculum based online projects. In the past SIE as part of the iEARN programs has collaborated with Middle East, Near East and South Asia.  At present SIE is implementing the GCE Journalism 2.0 in collaboration with iEARN Thailand, Ecuador, Tajikistan and USA. The project will engage students and teachers of middle and high school to increase leadership skills and ties among the participating countries through classroom based journalism projects.
American India Foundation-O3: Our Family, Our Neighborhood, Our World
	This project is in collaboration between iEARN Pakistan, American India Foundation and iEARN USA. The objective of this project is to promote cross-cultural understanding. The educators from India and Pakistan work with the theme, ‘Our Family, Neighborhood, Our World’, and learn how to use media arts and creative arts as tools for cross-cultural understanding and collaboration in their classrooms and taking action in their communities for social change. This project supports educators in different countries to integrate creative and media arts as part of their social studies, language arts and/or media literacy curricula. During project, both students and teachers, are using an array of new media tools to collaborate in this program, including blogs, Skype and Blackboard Collaborate webinars, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, and the iEARN Collaboration Centre website.
British Council Connecting Classrooms Online Training Program
	After a successful completion of British Council Connecting Classrooms teacher training, the British Council contracted with SIE to provide two-day training to 200 teachers from 91 schools in Karachi for effective participation in Connecting Classrooms Online project portals/forums. The project aims at helping teachers in Online Project-Based Learning focusing Social Action/Community Service projects. SIE has provided training to teachers from different schools in Karachi. Teachers were trained in groups of 20 every Friday and Saturday during the month of March and April 2011. The workshops are aimed at training teachers to use the Connecting Classrooms Online Community to discuss curriculum development, potential links with other teachers globally and engage students in online collaborative projects. The participants were also trained to engage their students in Service Learning projects by developing and posting the Social Action Plans on the portal. http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/

English ACCESS Microscholarship Program-Karachi

English Access is a two years after school English Language learning program for the students ages 14-18. Society for International Education in collaboration with its partner schools and supported by Office of English Language US Department of State is implementing the Access Program in Karachi. SIE have established 15 Access Centres in different towns of Karachi, equipped with State of the Art English Language teaching program. English Access  is implemented in more then 70 countries around the world, and Karachi is the largest English Access program in the world. There are a total of 1500 underserved students are enrolled in these classes and will complete their program in September 2012.

www.iearnpk.org/accesskhi/index.html

SIE-UNICEF Children's Council:

The project trains children and hold consultations with them to identify and prioritize the issues of serious concern to them. Using the mapping of such issues in project areas, Children’s Clubs and Council will be facilitated to develop their C4D strategy and action plan around those key issues. Activities have been designed to institutionalize child participation through ensuring child membership in School Management Committees and the formation of Children’s Clubs to ensure the representation of children in disadvantaged communities. As part of this, a network of child rights organizations and children’s associations (e.g. Girl Guides and Boy Scouts) is promoted and strengthened.

For further details visit www.iearnpk.org/sie/childrencouncil.htm

British Council's Connecting Classroom Online (CCO) Teachers Training:

After a successful completion of British Council Connecting Classrooms teacher training, the British Council contracted with SIE to provide two-day training to 200 teachers for effective participation in Connecting Classrooms Online project portals/forums. The project aims at helping teachers in Online Project-Based Learning focusing Social Action/Community Service projects.

SIE-British Council's Connecting Classrooms Project:

SIE has partnered with British Council for effectively implementing the Connecting Classroom projects nationwide. This includes training 720 teachers from clusters of schools located in 20 cities around Pakistan. The training module to be delivered by SIE will focus project based learning integrating technology for creative classrooms. SIE facilitators have successfully conducted the Quetta and Pishin trainings from 29th –30th September. Know more about Connecting Classrooms at: http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-connecting classrooms.htm

Adobe Youth Voices A global philanthropic initiative to empower youth in underserved communities. Demonstrating the power of technology to engage middle- and high-school-age youth, Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) provides breakthrough learning experiences using video, multimedia, digital art, web, animation, and audio tools that enable youth to explore and comment on their world.  AYV is working with iEARN programs in a many countries empowering youth and educators in media learning.

In collaboration with iEARN USA and the Adobe Incorporation, since 2006 every year a group of high school teachers from iEARN partner school gets scholarships to participate and complete a 9 weeks online course. This enables the teachers to engage their students in projects using video, multimedia, digital art, web, animation, and audio tools that enable youth to explore and comment on their world.

 Youth Exchange and Study  Program-YES    A consortium of partners lead by AYUSA International in cooperation with U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) to conduct the youth exchange. The consortium includes iEARN, ASSE, ASPECT, Sister Cities International  AMIDEAST, CIEE, PIE , CIE, and YFU to give secondary school students in many countries a new opportunity to study at American high schools and live with American host families for one academic year. 

Past and Completed Programs

Global Connections and Exchange:

Global Connections and Exchange is an iEARN program of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Syria, United States and Uzbekistan. iEARN programs in these participating countries will build and refine its effective professional development program, alumni support infrastructure, in country organizational capacity, and civic education-based, online collaboration projects.

Community CATALYST: Is a collaboration among the iEARN programs in   of Pakistan, Uzbekistan and United States. The program is focused at engaging students in using digital animation for creating disaster preparedness messages.

YVS The Youth Volunteering and Community Service Program is a flagship iEARN-PK Alumni initiative. This program is initiated and  implemented by iEARN-PK alumni. focused at mobilizing youth and schools for engaging in community service activities and projects as part of the ongoing school program and curricular initiative.

BRIDGE-Building Respect Through Internet Dialogue  and Global Education-The BRIDGE Program is a collaborative effort among iEARN programs in 18 countries to promote partnerships between secondary schools in the  Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, UAE, Oman, Bangladesh, Nepal,  Tunisia, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia,, United States, West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen. 

The World Education Corps was a pioneering global transformational program piloted by 10 iEARN countries. The program brings enhanced educational opportunities to developing countries and to underserved schools and communities, worldwide.

CIVICS-Community Voices  Collaboration Solutions A project for the development of ESL/EFL and Civics curricula of United States, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. CIVICS was launched in Pakistan in 1999.

FTE -Friendship Through Education, Is a consortium of organizations committed to creating opportunities that facilitate interaction between youth worldwide, building and understanding between nations and bond between humanity. FTE was initiated in Pakistan by iEARN-Pakistan in the October 2001.