NET Partner
Duncan Ward and Nicola Courtin
Duncan Ward, Co-Founder of Classroom of Hope, and Nicola Courtin, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Classroom of Hope
Duncan Ward and Nicola Courtin are Co-Founders of the non-profit organistaion, Classroom of Hope. Classroom of Hope was the first partner of the Navitas Education Trust (NET), with the partnership now spanning over ten years. Classroom of Hope builds schools in rural parts of developing countries, and to date, funding from NET has helped build 13 schools. We firmly believe that by working together, we can achieve meaningful change and create a brighter future for all – one classroom at a time.
“Everything can start from a spark, and Navitas was that spark for us.”
Hear Nicola and Duncan's full story
Transcript
We actually see Navitas as a founding partner of Classroom of Hope because it was right in the beginning when we received our first major grant from Navitas.
My name’s Nicola Courtin and I’m the Co-Founder and Creative Director at Classroom of Hope.
Hi, I’m Duncan Ward. I’m the Founder at Classroom of Hope.
When and how did you come to partner with Navitas?
So, we partnered with Navitas, I think since 2014. This was actually our first major grant application that we put in and one of our board members at the time, Ian MacFarlane, had connected with Rod and we had seen the application process.
So, it’s been a significant journey, but one that has been very powerful for us because we actually see Navitas as a founding partner of Classroom of Hope because it was right in the beginning when we received our first major grant from Navitas.
What has been a key moment with your partnership with Navitas?
One of my favourite memories of working with Navitas is when we had some representatives from Navitas come to Cambodia to open Ek Phnom Primary School.
We have had tons of communication obviously with Navitas over the years through emails and video calls and things like that, but there’s just nothing like when people come into the field and see the project first-hand. And this has actually happened a few times over our partnership with Navitas.
Just recently we had two teacher representatives from Navitas come to Lombok to visit a school, one of our block school programs supported by Navitas. And you know, over the years, hands down one of my favourite parts about the job is to go into the field and to see the impact first-hand. And to do that with a donor and a donor who’s been as committed to Classroom of Hope as Navitas has been over the years is something really special.
How has being a NET partner made an impact on your work and the lives of those involved in your NET-supported program?
The impact that Navitas has had for Classroom of Hope and for the students that we support over the years has been significant. Through our 12-year partnership, 11-year partnership, I think it’s been, Navitas has supported 21 schools.
So, 12 of those schools were through our Child-Friendly Schools program, which was right at the beginning of Classroom of Hope, where we were taking schools from what was called dilapidated status to child-friendly status. And Navitas supported that program for several years. They continued to support us while we evolved into building schools and also our Block Schools program.
So, Navitas has supported six schools in Cambodia and three block schools, where we’re building with recycled plastic waste in Indonesia. So, through that support, they’ve also supported 27 toilets. So, helped us to build 27 toilets for our schools because hygiene and sanitation is really important at our schools as well. Through these schools and toilets, Navitas has supported over 6000 students and provided over 700 scholarships as well. And through our scholarship program, Navitas has also donated bicycles to some of our students who need to travel very long distances to get to school.
So, that just in itself is so significant – scholarships and allowing kids to have the tools to actually get to school and, you know, have the right books and uniforms and shoes and in some cases even food rations for families that need to, you know, have enough food to feed their kids so they have energy to get through the day.
The ripple effect of Navitas’ support over the years has been…we actually recently calculated some of the numbers because we’d come up to over a ten-year anniversary celebration of partnering with Navitas. And over the ten-year history, Navitas has given over one million dollars to Classroom of Hope. And some of those impact numbers just show what that type of support has been able to achieve.
What key achievements come to mind during your partnership with Navitas?
One key achievement and milestone that really sticks out for me is, we would not have been able to pivot as an organisation if it wasn’t for that first grant. That first grant gave us the bump that we needed to build capacity, to bring in more expertise, to scale our programs, not just in Cambodia, but across Laos, across Myanmar, across Indonesia, and we also built schools in East Africa and Rwanda.
You know, everything can start from a spark and Navitas was that spark for us. That to me is something very beautiful, and something that we cherish in our organisation because without that we might not be where we are right now and the impact that’s been created.
And just in support of Duncan’s response, Navitas is one of the only donors that we have that’s actually supported every single one of our programs over the years.
This partnership has seen them touch a bit of everything that we’ve done and that’s really special as well. They’ve seen the value in our mission time and time again and always stood by us and believed in us. So, we’re just really grateful to have a partnership that has our backs in that way.