What We Do

Home > About Us > What We Do

THE CARTWHEEL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

As it continues its mission, Cartwheel leaps beyond advocating the rights of Indigenous Peoples to quality education. It champions education as a powerful entry point for harnessing the capacities of IP communities toward greater self-reliance. This is the heart of Cartwheel’s Development Framework—a guiding light as it continues to walk hand in hand with its partners in pursuit of shared aspirations.

PROGRAMS

Young Indigenous People (YIP) Leaders Program

The Young Indigenous Peoples Leaders Program is an initiative that contributes to the scholastic, personal and professional development of the selected grantees. It aims to develop future community leaders among promising high school graduates with indigenous roots by providing support for quality culturally-relevant tertiary education and holistic formation. By equipping the indigenous grantees with independent thinking and technical and life skills, the YIP Leaders Program expects to produce graduates who are in a better position to help both themselves and their communities toward a life graced by dignity and opportunity.

Adult Capability Building (ACaP) Program

The Adult Capability Building Program is an approach to education that can be used with adults and older youth, within or outside of a classroom setting, and is particularly suited to the marginalized situation of the indigenous peoples. ACaP seeks to deliver a practical, peace-advocating learning curriculum that is also culturally rooted and gender-sensitive. Family health and nutrition along with life skills training are integrated in the modules, while being a home-based and community-building venture. Learners who finish the program are encouraged to teach new learners with the significant life skills integrated into the program allowing community members to grow and respond to challenges and to structural change/s in a cohesive, beneficial manner.

Education and Child Development (ECD) Program

The Education and Child Development Program focuses on facilitating access to quality and culturally-relevant early childhood education for indigenous children. Quality is achieved by ensuring the teachers are equipped with the right skills and methods, whereas cultural relevance comes with the indigenization of curriculum. The ultimate goal is to see the existing pre-schools being run independently by proactive members of the partner communities.

Programs and Projects

Education and Child Development (ECD)

The Education and Child Development Program focuses on facilitating access to quality and culturally-relevant early childhood education for indigenous children. Quality is ensured by equipping teachers with appropriate skills and methodologies, while cultural relevance is achieved by grounding the curriculum and classroom pedagogy in Indigenous Knowledge, Systems, Values, and Practices (IKSVP).

The ultimate goal of the program is for existing community schools to be independently managed and sustained by proactive members of the partner communities and key institutional stakeholders in their respective localities.

Young Indigenous Peoples (YIP) Leaders Program

The Young Indigenous Peoples Leaders Program is an initiative that contributes to the selected grantees’ scholastic, personal, and professional development. It aims to develop future culture bearers and community leaders among promising indigenous youth by supporting quality culturally-relevant tertiary education, other relevant learning opportunities and holistic formation.

The YIP Leaders Program expects to produce graduates who are in a better position to help both themselves and their communities toward a life graced by dignity and opportunity.

Community Development and Participation

The initiative on Community Development and Participation brings together the children’s duty bearers—parents, teachers, and their wider community—to respond to their current realities. It offers practical and culturally rooted opportunities for capacity building that integrate relevant learning on essential life skills, as well as the safeguarding of rights and well-being. These efforts ultimately seek to create an enabling environment for the development of indigenous children and youth as integral members of their families and communities.

Cultural LINKS Book Development

Cultural LINKS: Leveraging Indigenous Niches through Knowledge and Storytelling is one of Cartwheel’s initiatives to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage of indigenous communities through the co-creation of illustrated storybooks. It draws inspiration from two common practices that have been observed in Cartwheel’s partner communities: nurturing safe spaces for storytelling and integrating expressive arts into their practice.

Tech Capacity Building for Indigenous Peoples Schools

Cartwheel launched Tech Capacity Building for Indigenous Peoples Schools with funding partner, Insight Manila to help bridge technological gaps in indigenous learning spaces. With solar power installations and gadget donation, the initiative supports teachers and students by making learning more accessible, even in communities with very limited access to electricity.

Daloy ng Karunungan: Training for Community Teachers

Daloy ng Karunungan is a capacity-building opportunity for child development workers, teachers, and community leaders serving different indigenous communities across the country. The primary goal of this project is to leverage their skills and knowledge in providing education that is rights-based, culturally relevant, and resilience-building for the indigenous learners they serve.