Creative’s President and CEO, M. Charito Kruvant, Co-Authors New Book on Increasing the Competitiveness of Small Businesses

August 27, 2008

2 min read

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Creative’s President and CEO, M. Charito Kruvant, Co-Authors New Book on Increasing the Competitiveness of Small Businesses

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text] NEWS_CharitoBook This summer, Mrs. Kruvant along with Dr. Sharon T. Freeman, co-authored “Gems of Wisdom for Increasing the Competitiveness of 8 (a) Business Development Firms.” The book offers insights from those who work with 8 (a) BD contractors and how to do business with the federal government.

It’s a sequel to a book published last year, “Gems of Wisdom for Succeeding in the 8(a) Business Development Program and Beyond,” offering guidance and lessons learned from successful SBA 8(a) entrepreneurs. For copies, click here www.aasbea.com.

“The more the private sector and business got interested in the topic, the more information they needed from the government,” Mrs. Kruvant said. “This sequel takes away the mystery and distills the basic rules of success within a complex process, along with integrity and commitment to our community, real technical expertise, perseverance and patience.”

The “Gems of Wisdom” series is an effort to help “level the playing field” so that small business and government get the benefits of competition, Mrs. Kruvant said. “Everybody wins.”

As a minority woman and a graduate of the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program, Mrs. Kruvant makes sure her own firm supports small, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses.

She has served as Chair of the Small Business Administration Washington Metropolitan District Office (SBA-WMDO) Advisory Council along with Creative’s Director of External Relations, Stephen Horblitt, who has also served as member of the Advisory Council.

Over the course of her more than 31 years in international development, Mrs. Kruvant has been the recipient of numerous awards for her support of small, minority and women-owned business. They include the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Washington Metropolitan Area District Office Director’s Award for 2007, and the Entrepreneurial Visionary Award (2003) from the Women’s Business Center.

Creative’s Procurement and Logistics Unit purchases all office products at less cost from small businesses, including those that are Small Business Administration 8 (a) firms or those owned by Service Disabled Veterans. Creative has also increased the firm’s small business purchasing by requesting quotes from small business for the education and civil society programs Creative implements out of 18 offices worldwide, even when small businesses are not required under the procurement.

Creative has a firm practice of purchasing goods and services from small businesses in Washington, D.C., including International Procurement Services, Comptronics, Inc., IT Total Solutions, and Caddo Office Supplies.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

NORTH AFRICA: Algeria-United States School Linkages Program Reveals Students Have Much in Common

August 27, 2008

4 min read

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NORTH AFRICA:

Algeria-United States School Linkages Program Reveals Students Have Much in Common

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Given the opportunity to engage in personal one-on-one conversation, today’s youth realize that they have more in common with their global counterparts than they ever knew. The US-Algeria School Linkages program (Linkages) has provided such a forum to approximately 1,000 Algerian and American students, most of whom have reported that the program has allowed them to create virtual friendships with students they otherwise might never have met.

Supported by the U.S. Department of State and implemented by Creative Associates International, in partnership with Michigan State University, the Linkages Program uses innovative technology to connect high school students and teachers in Michigan and Nevada with their counterparts in nine different states across Algeria.

Students communicated through an interactive website, participating in online discussion forums and exchanging PowerPoint community profiles during the 2007-2008 academic year. By sharing stories about their lives and their communities, students were able to not only see the similarities that exist between the two cultures, but learned to appreciate the differences as well. As one Algerian student said, “We got closer and appreciated each other much more. We also became more tolerant.” An American student also noted that the program helped them discover new ways to enrich their own lives: “We all learned that there are many things we can learn from Algerians about time and family and values to improve our own way of life in the U.S.”

The program drew a very positive reaction from both American and Algerian teachers and students alike. Eighty-five percent of the students and teachers who responded to a survey said they would strongly recommend the program to others. Teachers were also very satisfied that the program met its goals and provided them with an opportunity to communicate with their colleagues on important pedagogical issues and classroom strategies. Many noted that the program improved students’ ability to communicate cross culturally.

Katie Mitchell, a teacher involved in Linkages from East Grand Rapids High School in Michigan said: “The most positive part of this project is watching the students read some of the comments, and reading their thoughtful comments. It’s a nice break, and because my kids are honors kids, and sometimes want to see the purpose, it is a great opportunity to teach them that communication – particularly cross-cultural – is going to be one of the most important skills they have in the future, and they need to start thinking about how their ideas are being interpreted by a global audience.”

In addition to facilitating cultural understanding, the Linkages program also responded to two educational reform goals set by the Ministry of National Education in Algeria: making students the center of the classroom and utilizing technology to improve English language instruction. Because many students’ technology skills greatly surpassed those of their teachers, students were able to take the lead in preparing their community profiles. Linkages succeeded in bridging the gap between the traditional teacher and student relationship, helping them to work together. One Algerian teacher noted, “I think we learn much from our students, from other colleagues and we get closer to our students.”

Having weekly access to native American speakers through the website also improved the Algerian students’ ability to use English as a communicative tool. Teachers noted that by the end of the program, their students were expressing themselves more freely and using new vocabulary learned from their American counterparts. For 80 percent of students and 72 percent of teachers written English skills improved “quite a bit” or more. “By participating in this project, I learned many things. First, I feel very changed in my English, my pronunciation, my grammar and my vocabulary, and I really know more about how Americans live and specifically how students live, and more than that I know more about American culture,” said one of a number of Algerian students who said “they learned a lot of English” through Linkages.

Survey findings also showed the Linkages program improved students’ group work skills and a teachers’ abilities to facilitate group work. Teachers also found that the program helped students organize and present information better.

“They learned how to work in groups. For example, they learned to better complete each other’s work, to make suggestions, to think how to (better) other’s output, in one word how to make a collective production,” said one Algerian teacher.

By bridging the geographical barrier between Algeria and the United States through technology, the Linkages program was able to bring a diverse group of students together to explore issues that are important to them and today’s global society. “The School Linkages program is a great opportunity for citizen-to-citizen exchange (even without leaving one’s country). Thanks to this program, Algerian and American High School students have been able to learn a great deal about each other’s culture, history and daily reality,” said Rafik Mansour, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers. “They were better able to understand and appreciate their differences but they were also reminded of how much they have in common.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

SUDAN: HEAR Project Takes Crucial Steps to Long-term Development of Children

July 15, 2008

3 min read

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SUDAN:

HEAR Project Takes Crucial Steps to Long-term Development of Children

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The HEAR Sudan project has embarked on a health program which provides vitamin A supplements and de-worming tablets to more than 10,000 children. This simple but crucial measure seeks to reduce the high rates of student absenteeism and lethargy in the classroom.

The Health, Education and Reconciliation project, known as HEAR Sudan, is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Creative Associates International and its partners, the Education Development Center (EDC) and John Snow, Inc. (JSI). It operates in the Three Areas of Sudan – Abyei, Southern Kordofan (Kauda) and Blue Nile (Kurmuk).

Adopting a holistic approach, HEAR Sudan recognizes that many children suffer debilitating illnesses caused by drinking contaminated water, a problem exacerbated by a lack of knowledge of basic hygiene and insufficient access to vitamin A.

To improve student health and school performance, HEAR Sudan distributed vitamin A and de-worming supplements to children last fall and again in February and March 2008, in Abyei and Kauda. The supplements, supplied by the World Health Organization (WHO), are one of the simplest and most cost-effective interventions for improving a child’s health and, as a corollary, academic performance.

According to the WHO, vitamin A deficiency does its worst damage during childhood and is a major contributor to childhood mortality and illness. In its early stages, vitamin A deficiency causes blindness. In addition, the WHO maintains that vitamin A is also essential for the functioning of the immune system, a fact less well known. Even before blindness occurs, vitamin A deficient children are at increased risk of dying from infectious diseases such as measles, diarrhea and malaria. By taking vitamin A supplements, child mortality can be reduced in at-risk populations by as much as 23 to 34 percent.

Vitamin A deficiency usually coincides with worm infection, which is why HEAR Sudan emphasizes de-worming to help reduce such incidences. Through JSI’s efforts, HEAR Sudan has also distributed de-worming medicines along with the vitamin supplements. Worm infections are associated with a significant loss of micronutrients and can impede the absorption of vitamin A, contributing to retarded growth, anemia and low cognitive performance in school.

“As a result of treating school-age children, we can reduce the burden of disease due to intestinal worm infection by so much as 70 percent in the community as a whole,” said John Boveington, HEAR Sudan’s Chief of Party.

HEAR Sudan’s other components involve providing students with well-skilled teachers and supportive PTAs to ensure they have a safe learning environment. By its scheduled completion in September 2009, HEAR Sudan will have increased the number of school-aged students enrolled and retained in primary school in the Three Areas by 9,000. Expected outcomes include improving the quality of teaching by training 380 teachers; strengthening 180 PTAs and completing 90 community-development projects. Nearly 200 communities and 380 health workers will be involved in strengthening school and health services. HEAR is a project being implemented under the USAID Assistance to Basic Education/Linkages in Education and Health (ABE-LINK) Indefinite Quantity Contract.

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Creative Senior Adviser Meets with Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan

July 8, 2008

1 min read

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Creative Senior Adviser Meets with Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan

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At the invitation of the CEO of Jordan Education Initiative (JEI) Haif Banayan, Creative Associates Senior Adviser Nuran Kolan attended the JEI Update Meeting held in Amman, Jordan on July 1, 2008.

In a private meeting, Kolan briefed Her Majesty Queen Rania on Creative’s activities and the potential to partner with JEI in Jordan, the region and the world.

Her Majesty is a keen supporter of JEI and its public-private partnership mechanism established in the area of ICTs in Jordanian schools.

Creative has a long record of working with public-private partnerships and is currently implementing the Technology for Improved Learning Outcomes (TILO) project in Egypt, which has at its core, technology in the classroom with a strong connection to public-private partnerships.

The JEI Update Meeting was also attended by the Minister of Education and Minister of Planning, and the former Minister of Education as well as the Deputy Mission Director, USAID.

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Pinckney, Michigan students learn Algerian ways

March 19, 2008

2 min read

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Pinckney, Michigan students learn Algerian ways

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By LEANNE SMITH

The Ann Arbor News

High school students in the Algerian province of Blida don’t know much about fast food and drive-through restaurants. Most of them don’t even have cars.

Then again, Pinckney Community High Schoolstudents don’t know what Berber tribal music sounds like, and most of them don’t speak two or three languages.

By the end of the school year, teenagers in both places will know a lot more about each other and where they live because of a unique interactive social studies lesson developed by Michigan State University‘s College of Education.

“I tell my students that the best learning is done through travel,” said Pinckney High social studies teacher Shane Clary. “In a way, that’s what they’re doing.”

Instead of using planes, trains or automobiles, juniors and seniors in Clary’s western world history class are visiting their Algerian counterparts this semester via computer, video-conferencing and Internet blogging.

“It’s an awesome and unbelievable opportunity to be able to talk directly with kids from another country,” Clary said. “It’s easier than learning from a textbook, and it’s much more interesting.”

Pinckney is one of several Michigan schools participating in E3Link, a program originated by the U.S. State Department‘s Middle East Partnership Initiative in 2005 to help develop an understanding of culture, community and country among students in the United States and the North African country of Algeria.

“It’s important to do this,” said Jenna Craft, a junior in Clary’s class. “As Americans, we think we’re the best. This makes us see what other countries don’t have and that makes us more grateful of what we do have.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, visited Pinckney High when students from both countries connected for the first time in a video-conference get-acquainted session. There were a few technical difficulties, but the experience was eye-opening to students in both places.

“I have to admit that I really don’t know anything about Algeria or Algerian people,” said Pinckney senior Ashley Peapples. “I bet I’ll learn a lot.”

Students in both classrooms shared brief descriptions of their communities with each other. They talked about what they liked to do in their spare time and the differences between their music and parties and celebrations.

“I think they’ll discover as they go along that they have a lot more in common than they don’t,” Rogers said.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]