OUR SCHOOL
the concept
Wide Horizons Organizational Development Program (WH) was founded in 2006 by Burmese Migrant Worker’s Education Committee and World Education (WE) as a school where young adults from Myanmar, working in community-based organizations (CBO) could come to develop their English language, computer and community development skills while cultivating the thought process skills associated with effective leadership. By combining a student-centered, experiential approach to education with a curriculum that emphasizes group work, reflective practice, and critical thinking, WH offers a program with impacts that reach beyond the classroom and into the communities it was designed to serve.
how it works
Community organizations along from inside Myanmar and the Thai-Myanmar border nominate
current employees for admittance into Wide Horizons Organizational Development Program (WH) every year. No formal educational qualifications are required of our candidates. Ideal candidates have intermediate English skills, at least 1 year of work or volunteer experience in an organization (clinic, CBO, school, or NGO) and a dedication to developing the capacity of their organization to complete community work. Out of these applicants a multi-cultural, gender balanced cohort of 24 are selected to join the academic program through a competitive application process.
Once admitted, students enter into an immersive residential learning environment in Mawlamyine, Mon State, Myanmar for 10 months. At WH, students live, study and work together. English is spoken 24 hours a day, and skills learned in the classroom are put to immediate use in community life and work. Students practice leadership skills through rotating positions in school governance and through a series of projects in Mawlamyine and nearby Mawlamyine, ensuring that experience and reflection drive their learning as much as their lessons.
work placement
Following the 10-months of academics, students return to their mother organization for a 10-month work placement to build upon the skills they learned at WH by gaining practical experience,knowledge and skills in the work environment. Students contribute to the capacity development of organizations around Myanmar and along the Thai-Myanmar border by sharing their newly gained skills with colleagues.
Students will complete 3 work placement reports and the supervisors of the students will provide 2 performance evaluations. At the end of the work placement, the supervisor and student complete an evaluation of the program. This will make sure the student is continuing to practice their report writing skills whilst they are working and they are continuously reflecting on their work. Previous students have worked for their organizations by: managing boarding houses, teaching, working as finance managers, M&E coordinators, trainers, etc. Furthermore, some students founded their own organizations and schools with new idea in their community to help change/develop communities.