	Dedicated to improving the lives of the poor through economic and social development programs

SHIELD

SHIELD (Support to Health, Information, Education, and Leadership in Policy Dialogue) Project

The SHIELD project provides support for refugees and migrants to meet essential health and education needs. SHIELD is a partnership between World Education Thailand, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and Programs for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH). The SHIELD project is made possible by the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

World Education Thailand's goal in the SHIELD project is to support access to quality education for migrants, refugees, and displaced persons from Burma. Under the SHIELD project World Education Thailand helps to develop capacity, provide resource support, and empower communities and their education systems. To carry out this strategy, World Education Thailand:

Develops curricula and teaching materials.
Gives monetary and management support through sub-grants to local organizations, who implement programs in literacy, special education, and experiential learning.
Trains teachers, school directors, community based organization staff, and parents of school children.

In the SHIELD project, World Education Thailand administers the following programs:

The Karen Women's Organization (KWO), through a subgrant from World Education, provides adult literacy courses in Umphium Mai refugee camp.

Migrant and Refugee Teacher Training

World Education Thailand works with migrant, refugee, and Thai teachers to improve their instructional skills so that teachers can better meet the physical, cognitive, social, and psychological needs of their students. World Education Thailand has developed a basic standards approach to teacher and educational systems. Teachers learn how to map their curricula, produce lesson plans with appropriate learning activities, and create environments that are conducive to student learning. World Education Thailand also provides training to Thai language teachers who work with migrant students in Royal Thai Government schools to improve their Thai language abilities.

Special Education

Working through partners such as the Karen Women's Organisation (KWO), World Education Thailand provides training to special education teachers in seven refugee camps along the Thailand-Burma border. World Education Thailand has documented and facilitated the development of Karen sign language, which is now used by the deaf communities in the camps. Currently KWO administers these special education programs with monetary, technical, and administrative support from World Education Thailand.

Migrant School Curriculum Development

World Education Thailand works closely with the Thai Ministry of Education (MoE) to ensure that migrant schools throughout Thailand use a consistent, standards-based curriculum that integrates with the Thai national curriculum. World Education Thailand believes that standardizing curricula is an important step in encouraging the MoE to grant official legal status for the migrant schools and allow migrant students to more easily move from migrant schools to Thai schools in the future.

Two Burmese girls study at a migrant school. The one on the right wears thanaka powder on her face to protect her skin from the sun.

Teacher Preparation Centers

The Teacher Preparation Centers are located in four refugee camps along the border. The centers work with prospective teachers for two years to prepare them to become teachers within the Karen education system (including camp and IDP areas inside of Burma). The program is currently administered by the Karen Education Department (KED) with monetary, technical, and administrative support from World Education Thailand.

Sub Grant Support

World Education Thailand works closely with several established community based organizations (CBOs) along the border through sub-grant support and training in organizational management. The organizations that World Education Thailand works closely with are:

The Karen Women's Organisation - Special Education - Adult Literacy Programs
The Karen Educational Department
The Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee
The Karen Teachers Working Group

Through SHIELD, World Education Thailand is working in Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Tak provinces, with over nine different ethnic minority groups including the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Pa'O, Mon, Ahka, Arakahine, and Kachin.