Co•School - Campos urbanos de Verano

We know students from low-income backgrounds suffer from a lack of opportunities during holidays and a misuse of their leisure time (Epiandes, 2014). Private schools and public schools (which these students attend) co-exist in communities but true collaboration is rare, exasperating levels of inequality. Furthermore, Colombia is ranked as the worst country of 65 (PISA, 2012) in developing soft skills such as creativity & problem solving, as well as under-performing in Maths, Science, and Literacy.
CoSchool’s summer camps aim to turn these problems on their head by providing a low cost & high impact approach to learning key skills during holidays for children from low socio-economic backgrounds. We bring communities together; leveraging our partnerships with private schools (using their space) and our network of trained young leaders, our Urban summer camps finally bring the opportunity of vital holiday learning experiences to children in Estrato 1 and 2 in Colombia and beyond.
Categoría de tu proyecto
Educación colaborativa
Cómo se diferencia tu producto o servicio de lo existente en el mercado?
Co•School's summer camps are an innovative approach (low cost, urban summer camps) to an old idea (high cost, rural summer camps). The summer camps have great potential to scale in Colombia. We pride our summer camps on three main points of difference: 1) Creation of collaborative and sharing economies between private and public schools: creating effective partnerships and meaninful 'exchanges' between students in the schools 2) Focus and measurement in the improvement of non-cognitive/character/employability skills. Transferable skills that set students up for success. (As well as reinforcement in academic subjects) 3) The involvement of youth leadership. CoSchools' year round leadership programmes have already produced 120 young leaders (15-18 years old) who are ready to support in the design and leadership of these camps. We believe that CoSchool's other main product supplements the camps perfectly. THE COMPETITION We believe we offer something different, more impactful, and more scalable than what already exists. For example. OBA/ZAMBO: summer camps exclusively aimed at children and families in private schools from estrato 5/6. Our camps are specifically designed to close the gap of inequality, not make it wider. BAKONGO: offer becas to limited numbers of students (less than 30 per camp) from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We aim our camp 100% at students from these backgrounds. Bakongo's costs are higher because their camps are located rurally. EKO Campos de Verano (ASC): also offer becas to limited numbers of students (less than 30 per camp) from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We aim our camp 100% at students from these backgrounds. KIDU: Kidu is a new after-school programme aimed at the middle class who will also be operating summer camps. At a price of $200,000-$300,000 per month, the camps will only be accessible to children from estratos 3/4. Our price of $20,000 per week is more accessible.
Describe el impacto social que genera tu solución
Co•School’s Summer School program has already had identifiable impact on the young people it supports. The program has reached 40 young in Bogota, with this figure projected to reach 300 in 2015. Our camp timetable is focussed 60% on developing non-cognitive/character skills through non-traditional, experiential activities in art, outdoors, sport, drama, music, entrepreneurship etc (in our pilot we focussed on Perseverance, Communication, and Self-managament), and 40% on reinforcing academic competencies in Maths, Science, and Literacy. Again, we do so in a non-traditional way – for example in the pilot we labelled the experiences as ‘Pekerman’s laboratory, Astronauts, and Nature walks’. Quantative social impact: We evaluate the impact of the Summer School experience on students and monitor their performance upon returning to school (3 month and 6 month intervals). Impact is measured via a self-evaluation that tracks the development of non-cognitive skills. As an indication of our impact, the participants on this year’s Summer School program demonstrated shown an average 28% improvement across three skill areas, including: 1. Perseverance: an average of 32% improvement in skills 2. Communication: an average of 36% improvement in skills 3. Self-management: an average of 15.5% improvement in skills We believe these young people will be better equipped with the non-cognitive skills to succeed both at school and beyond. Equally, we anticipate that by the end of this year, our participants will have made progress in their writing, reading comprehension skills and academic performance. We are tracking these improvements in December 2014 and March 2015. Qualitative social impact: We also hope students will be able to build stronger social networks with the other young kids in the neighborhood thus increasing the potential for tolerance and sociability. We create social mobility in communities by bringing together children, families, and schools from two different backgrounds. Following the pilot (between private school San Jorge de Inglaterra and public school 21 Ángeles) we have seen a collaborative relationship between the schools flourish: - Joint teacher training sessions - 'Camp day' for 150 11th grade students of 21 Ángeles in the grounds of San Jorge - Deepening and broadening of already existing social service programmes of San Jorge We foster meaningful partnerships that encourage social mobility and cohesive communities; these stories will multiply as our impact grows.
Descripción breve de la sustentabilidad económica de tu proyecto
Our financial sustainability is possible because through the partnerships we have built with private schools, we can eliminate the two greatest costs of a summer camp: 1) Location - rental of space (we get spaces for NO COST) 2) Transport to rural location (our participants arrive on foot or public transport - NO COST) As CoSchool grows, the financial model of the Campo de Verano will blend with other parts of the organisation. In 2015 the fixed costs of the programme stand at $140,000 COLP per student for a 2 week programe (based on 300 students). Parents will contribute $40,000COLP (we have already validated this price point in the pilot) and for 2015 we are looking to attract financing/sponsorship of $100,000COLP per student (a total of $30MM COLP). In 2016 the fixed costs of the programme stand at $100,000 COLP per student for a 2 week programe (based on 1000 students). Parents will contribute $40,000COLP (we have already validated this price point in the pilot) and for 2015 we are looking to attract financing/sponsorship of $40,000COLP per student (a total of $40MM COLP). CoSchool will meet the remaining $20,000COLP per student. CoSchool expect to reach break-even point as an organisation at the end of 2016, with expected revenue of $435,040,000 COLP; as such from 2017 onwards the Summer Camp will not require financing as CoSchool's other activities (Leadership Programmes, Teacher Training, School consultancy) will meet the costs. We will look to complement this revenue by accessing funding from impact funds, public sector grants and by tying our programs into Colombia’s burgeoning corporate social responsibility market. . Meetings are planned with Coca-Cola, Milo, Postobon, Fundacion Bavaria, and Fundacion Corona to discuss such a partnership for our camps.
¿Cómo es la escala de tu proyecto?¿Zonal, regional, nacional o globlal? ¿Por qué?
We believe that CoSchool's Campo de Verano has the opportunity to scale across the Latin American region. We want to progress towards our goal as follows: 2015: Consolidation (Bogotá) - running two concurrent Campos for 300 children in 2 schools (San Jorge de Inglaterra, Suba & The English School, Toberín &San Antonio) 2016-7: Development (Bogotá, Cali, Medellin)- running five or more concurrent Campos for approx. 1000 children in 5+ schools across 2/3 cities. 2018: Scale & Franchise: (Colombia and beyond) - Creating an ‘out of the box’ solution that allows schools in more remote areas of the country – and even those in other countries across the world – to create the private-public school partnerships through which to deliver the program. Latin America is a homogeneous region and due to similarities in socio-economic bandings and population demographics, we estimate that CoSchool's Campo de Verano could operate successfully in the following countries (listed by order of priority/viability): 1) Mexico 2) Brasil 3) Argentina 4) Ecuador
¿En qué etapa se encuentra tu proyecto?
Testeo
¿Tu emprendimiento se encuentra constituído en algún país?¿Cuál?
Colombia (CoSchool SAS)
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Toda iniciativa debe ser apoyada por eso dejo aqui mi IDEA, ESPERO CONTAR CON SU APOYO, FAMILIA, AMIGOS Y CONOCIDOS. SALUDOS DESDE COLOMBIA VOTA POR MI IDEA?http://socialab.com/ideas/ver/16539
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