Change a Community « Developments in Literacy

Books not Bombs

Excerpts from the May 12, 2010 column by New York Times Op-Ed Columnist, Nicholas Kristof entitled If we want Times Square to be safer from terrorists, we need to start by helping make Pakistan safer as well. Pulitzer-prize winning Kristof repeated his appeal to support DIL in another December 23rd, 2010 column “A Most Meaningful Gift Idea”. He credits DIL for building “terrific modern schools in Pakistan, particularly for girls” and utilizing “the transformative power of education” to counteract extremism. Kristof’s endorsement raised over $131,000 for DIL. Watch Kristof’s video tour of a DIL school entitled “Books not Bombs”

Change a Community

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Goal

As a nonprofit, DIL’s ultimate goal is to produce long-term sustainable change in the lives of those our programs touch.

What we do

Empowering communities is a central outcome of DIL’s work in Pakistan. DIL projects take special measures to involve community stakeholders in maintaining and operating its schools. Through this process, communities begin to value education, embrace education for girls, and demonstrate higher hopes for the future of its children.

Activities

1. Female Education Councils
These provide mothers formal avenues of participating in school affairs.

2. School sustainability projects
These aim to increase enrollment, decrease attrition, foster home support for students, and maintain school facilities.

3. Building partnerships with other Community-Based Organizations

4. Provide mentoring and technical advice on job searches & income generation opportunities

Impact

1) Capacity-building at the local nonprofit level to manage 100 of 175 DIL schools.

2) Successful partnerships and collaborations such as that between DIL schools and the Pakistan Institute for Environment Development Action Research (PIEDAR) to promote clean water and sanitation, recycling, and tree planting.

Books not Bombs