In addition to helping international students and professional gain educational experiences, Sustainable Bolivia has developed a scholarship program to assist Bolivian students with their higher education studies.
Unfortunately many gifted and ambitious Bolivian students are unable to receive a higher education degree as it is financially unattainable. Financial aid and scholarships are extremely limited in Bolivia, thus many students never have the opportunity to realize their full academic and professional potential. This situation leads to a cycle of poverty where individuals from lower economic backgrounds are never able to attend university and must accept lower paying jobs. In an effort to break this cycle, Sustainable Bolivia has developed a scholarship program for students who would otherwise be unable to attend university or higher education.
The program originally started with Sustainable Bolivia’s cleaning lady, Lidia, called the ‘Pedro Medina Scholarship Fund’. This fund was initiated after Lidia proved herself to be extremely intelligent and made a very positive impression on all the staff, yet due to financial and familial obligations, she was unable to continue her studies. Through fundraising efforts initiated by our lawyer at the time, we have been able to raise just under $7,000 to pay for her studies and help support her family. Lidia has already completed a year and a half of a five year nursing school with good marks.
As of January, 2010, Sustainable Bolivia initiated a new scholarship program, the ‘Don and Jackie Taylor Scholarship Fund’. The aim of the program is to benefit vulnerable young people from low-income backgrounds who attend several of our partner organizations’ centers. We have a close relationship with each of these organizations, who receive our volunteers, interns and support.
The first phase of the program is to assist three students who live at an orphanage run by one our partner organizations. They will all begin their university studies this January 2010, studying Architecture, Communication and Media, and Psychology respectively. Sustainable Bolivia will support them for all four years of their BA degree providing all school fees, including books and transportation, as well as a small living stipend. With the help of fundraising efforts from past volunteers, we have been able to raise more than $8,000 of the total $12,000 needed. The second phase of the program is to assist three girls who live in a care-home run by another of our partners to study year-long vocational courses. They have chosen technical courses which will give them the skills and training to work in specific professions. So far we have raised $3000 to be able to cover all of the expenses of two of the three girls.
We hope to raise much more over the coming years through fund-raising campaigns and donations to extend this program to assist more students from these and other partner organizations. Our aim is to provide long-term and long-lasting support to young adults from impoverished backgrounds for many years to come.
Click here for a more detailed description of SB's Scholarship Program