SOLs 24/7, Timor-Leste

Raj is providing Timor-Leste?s underprivileged youth with holistic life-skills education, enabling them to become responsible, dynamic, disciplined and socially conscious citizens.

1. The new idea

Raj sees a tremendous need to offer youth who are denied basic social services and have no access to proper education, a holistic life-skills training. Young people can put this knowledge to good account by securing their job placements, initiating small businesses and improving their standard of living. A pioneer in Cambodia with SOLS 24/7 and the Leadership Character Development Institute (LCDI), Raj is able to empower future leaders of the country and reduce Timor-Leste dependence on external assistance.

2. The problem

While fast developing economies are experiencing science and technology breakthroughs, many poor people still live in the shadow of these conveniences. The 70 % unemployment rate in Timor-Leste, the lack of educational infrastructure and the unsupportive environment do not encourage school enrolment. Recent civil strife renders the situation even more difficult because of massive destruction and the migration of more than 250 000 skilled professionals, leaving the country with very few qualified personnel. The first victims of such a situation are youth from the poorest communities dispersed throughout the mountains. The absences of public transport and proper road conditions have a direct impact on school attendance.

So far, most of the aid and government projects have focused on primary education and neglected out-of-school-youth. SOLs 24/7 is giving youth aged between 15-25 years old the opportunity to escape from the vicious cycle of violence and gangs.

3. The strategy

Raj?s model, which has been carried out in Cambodia and can easily be replicated in cities across Timor-Leste, is based on an education program focusing on academic skills, leadership, character building skills and lessons on social consciousness. Academic skills consist of training in English, entrepreneurship, business, marketing, accounting, management and basic computer usage. With soft-skills focusing on capacity-building, students are increasing their confidence and discipline. Social consciousness lessons highlight issues on HIV, domestic violence, drug abuse, environment and religious tolerance and encourage students to participate in community services. This program lasts 24 months through 4 stages.

Raj and his partners originally launched the project in Cambodia in 2000 and achieved a 300 % enrolment growth rate during the first year. SOLs 24/7 became the largest non-formal education provider present in 22 provinces within 6 years. Its success led to the creation of the Grassroots Development Institute (GDI), a local Cambodian NGO that has since assumed the leadership of the program. Such results gave Raj the idea of expanding his operations to other Southeast Asian countries. In 2006, despite the unrest Timor-Leste was experiencing, SOLs 24/7 decided to expand and address the needs of Timorese youth. The organization is now registered as an international NGO.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Minister of Labour and Community re-insertion in November 2006 enables SOLs 24/7 to work within the guidelines of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (RDTL) and benefit from the relevant information, visas, tax-free and other incentives RDTL will provide. Within the same month SOLs 24/7 set up its Teacher Training Centre (TTC) and the first enrolment began gathering thirty-nine boarding students from ten out of thirteen districts in Timor-Leste.

In December 2006, SOLs signed a Memorandum of Agreement and Lease for 20 years with the Village of Ulmera for Sekolah Unggul (School for the Elite). The school was built during the Indonesian occupation in the mid 1990s and will be turned into SOLs 24/7 TTC. The school requires massive renovation before accommodating 500 to 1,000 boarding students. The current TTC in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, will then be turned into the Academic Training Center.

Additionally, the organization launched its 2007 International Camps in East Timor. Volunteers from 16 to 65 joining SOLs 24/7 are immersed in the Science of Life Systems? activities. ?The most valuable lesson which I am learning here is that how powerful and effective the teachers are and how important they are for the students,? says Naoko, a Social Entrepreneurship student who did her internship in Timor-Leste. This efficiency has been publicly recognised when the program won two international youth awards.

4. The person

Raj was born in 1983 and educated in Papua New Guinea, India and Malaysia. He is the youngest Microsoft Certified Systems
Engineer in ASEAN. He has several volunteer experiences with UNDP, the Salvation Army Centre for the handicapped in Malacca and other international and local NGOs. Besides SOLs 24/7, Raj is running two businesses in Malaysia.