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Greenland International School is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school started by an Egyptian elite group of young parents in 1994. The school first started with a few kindergarten classes in a small rented villa in Cairo's high-class district of Mohandessin. As time passed, the small villa was no longer able to accommodate for the increasing inflow of children, meanwhile, the owners also wanted to expand the kindergarten classes to offer a full service program for preparatory and secondary schooling. This need obviously obligated the establishment of newer and bigger premises for Greenland. However, finding an affordable location with reasonable distance from Mohandessin was nothing but an easy task for the owners, especially at a time when real-estate and land prices were considered to be at their maximum. Three years later, precisely in September 1997, the school's building was established in Geziret Mohamed; a poor neighborhood of the underprivileged district of Imbaba. Although this location was accompanied by many challenges, it was chosen because of primarily two reasons: firstly, because of the proximity of distance to Mohandessin and to Greenland kindergarten, (where many parents send their children already), and secondly because of the affordable price per square meter of land. Not only the school's owners believed that Geziret Mohamed is a good deal with regards to price and distance, but also and more importantly, they saw a nurturing environment in which they could establish community-based work as a fundamental part of education in Egypt. In 2004, the school's administration founded the Green Land Charity Association with a starting capital of 35,000 Egyptian pounds collected from the donations of the school's shareholders, aiming to implement eight environmental, educational and health development non-profitable projects in Geziret Mohamed. This study takes the 'Mostwasaf project' as an example of an award-winning community service project undertaken by Greenland students. This project was aimed at renovating, cleaning and equipping a small local hospital all by mere efforts of Greenland students. It received 'The 2007 Robert Blackburn International Award' for the best community service project among 2167 IB schools in 125 countries and attended by 582,000 students from different nationalities. (GPIS, 2007-2008). This case focuses on analyzing the community-based initiative introduced by the school's staff and students. It also takes a close look at their management process for renovating and restoring the small charity hospital serving the community. The purpose of this study is to highlight the main lessons learnt that could serve as a model for business and corporations to follow in other poor and deprived areas in the MENA region. This model is believed to help businesses and corporations realize a sustainable approach to development in a win-win relationship with the local community. |
