2.2 The Sonder Project Overview 2.2.1 Project Goals and Objectives Curriculum Review Using a Domain-Alignment Checklist
The Sonder Project seeks to disrupt the inter‐generational poverty cycle in rural areas of Malawi and Burkina Faso by tackling two mutually reinforcing barriers: the cost of education and the health‐time burden of unsafe and / or inaccessible water. Its specific objectives are to:( i) eliminate obstacles facing students in attaining education through scholarships, school supplies, and material support;( ii) improve learning outcomes and student retention through academic and life‐skills camps and sustained mentorship;( iii) provide reliable access to safe water in partner schools and local communities;( iv) reduce the time girls and women spend collecting water, freeing hours for study and income‐generating activities; and( v) strengthen local capacity to operate and maintain water infrastructure, ensuring sustainability.
The activities of The Sonder project are motivated by the Theory of Change( ToC) depicted below, for both the WASH and Education projects studied during this evaluation, Water is Our Right( WASH) and Education is Power( EIP).
Figure 1: The Sonder Project’ s Theory of Change
Unsafe water, high school costs, and time‐intensive domestic chores trap rural families in a cycle of poor health, lost study time, and low educational completion. The Sonder Project’ s model asserts that removing these combined constraints will unlock a cascade of positive change. Scholarships, mentoring, and educational life‐skills camps yield immediate outputs( school fees paid, school supplies issued, material and leadership sessions provided), while water systems provide daily access to clean water. These outputs produce intermediate outcomes including reduced water‐borne diseases, higher school attendance, more hours devoted to study, and greater psychosocial support, particularly for girls.
Over successive school years the project expects higher exam pass rates, and increased female retention to Form 4( the end of secondary school). Healthier, better‐educated graduates transition to higher education, secure better employment or higher chances of engaging in entrepreneurship, raise household incomes, and increase the chances of reinvestment in their
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