U.S. Embassy in Burundi: English Access Micro Scholarship Program

Deadline: 12-Apr-22

The U.S. Embassy in Burundi is pleased to announce a call for English Access Micro Scholarship Program.

The intended audience of this handbook is both potential and current English Micro scholarship Program (“hereafter known as “Access” or “Access Program”) providers’ administrative staff and teachers.

The goal of this handbook is to give an overview of the Access Program, detail the process of applying to host an Access Program and serve as a guide that highlights important program policies and resources available to Access providers and teachers. The policies and procedures of the Access Program will be updated in this handbook on an as-needed basis and providers will be notified of major changes.

Access Goals and Objectives

The goal of the Access Program is to provide participants with improved English skills that may lead to better jobs and educational prospects, including future exchanges and study in the United States.
The objectives of the Access Program are to equip students with effective English language communication and critical thinking skills through meaningful interaction, cooperative and student-centered learning strategies, interest and age-appropriate activities, and real-life application.
The service-learning component of the Access Program increases the students’ awareness of issues facing their respective communities, while also giving them an understanding of the ways they can positively contribute to civil society.
Access students will:
- Be given a foundation of English language skills
  - Equipping students with English language skills can increase their competitiveness in the job market, allow them to expand their network, build people-to-people connections, and make students more competitive for future U.S. Embassy/Consulate exchanges.
- Gain an appreciation for U.S. culture and democratic values
  - A key element of the Access Program is to familiarize students with important features of U.S. culture and democratic values to encourage mutual understanding between the U.S. and the host country. Students are encouraged to develop respect for and interest in other cultures, customs, and beliefs. Providers are encouraged to thoughtfully design their curriculum to integrate the following topics: global citizenship, critical thinking, human rights, U.S. democracy, and government, U.S. civil society, diversity and tolerance, U.S. History, U.S. education system, U.S. family and relationship values, U.S. and global gender issues, climate and the environment, the U.S. and global health, and STEM.
- Develop digital literacy skills
  - In addition to learning general computer skills, using and understanding a wider variety of informational technologies has become essential to a young person’s personal and academic future. Providing Access Program participants with these tools for an ever-changing digital world has become an objective for the Access Program. This will give program participants the ability to find, evaluate and critically analyze online information for its trustworthiness and accuracy, give students opportunities to connect and collaborate with others in and outside their Access group and be able to create and share content. Digital literacy activities can also be integrated into the curriculum so that the program’s learners gain the appropriate skills for helping to build a positive online identity, understand the features of a safe and secure online identity, and contribute to the global online community.
- Participate in Personal Development Activities
  - The Access Program seeks to foster students’ personal development by building balanced intellectual and emotional capabilities to better prepare them for future academic and professional endeavors. Students should be introduced to topics such as career development and employable skills, critical thinking, self-confidence, media literacy, 21st century and soft skills, leadership skills, emotional literacy, and self-awareness, pursuing higher education, and applying for U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs.
- Take part in Service Learning activities
  - Service-learning is a teaching approach that combines specific learning objectives with service to the community to provide a learning experience in which students develop new skills and a deeper understanding of their community. Students must be actively involved in the service-learning project planning process and should lead the assessment of community needs, design the project to address the community need, and reflect before, during, and after the service experience. In addition, service activities should be designed to meet specific learning objectives as well as empower the students with the skills of researching, planning, implementing, and reflecting. Students need to use English as much as possible while completing their service-learning project.

Eligibility Criteria

If your school, educational institution, or organization is interested in hosting an Access Program, please review the questions below to verify your eligibility. Please note that for-profit organizations are not eligible to apply. If you can respond “YES” to the following statements, you are ready to host an Access Program! If you respond “NO” to any of these statements, please consult with your U.S. Embassy/Consulate POC or RELO before continuing the process
Can your educational institution or organization
- legally operate within the country where the proposed Access Program will be implemented? (“Legally operate” means the Applicant Organization is incorporated, registered, or licensed as a legal entity in the country where the Access Program will be implemented)
- open a bank account that accepts wire transfers in U.S. Dollars?
- follow a reporting schedule and submit program and financial reports on time?
- fulfill the mandatory minimum of 360 program hours over 20-24 months?
- acquire a room or space to accommodate the class?
- retain teachers, administration, and students that can devote extended
- periods (6-8 hours) for Enhancement activities, Intensive Sessions, and
- teacher training events (for Access teachers) that can occur on weekends?
- acquire and use Microsoft Excel 2010 (or newer) for reporting purposes?