A fellow third-year volunteer Luke and I gave a brief session last month at our All-Volunteer conference talking about teacher training logistics. The session included a sample budget of what to expect to spend on a 1-2 day training for area teachers. I’m including the budget below for anyone interested in implementing trainings in Kyrgyzstan as an idea of where to get started and what kinds of things may be needed to run a training.

A training can be done for as little or as much money as you like. It’s possible to hold a 1 or 2 session training at your school for no cost other than a bit of chalk and the teachers’ time. However, if you’re going to host a multiple session training, it’s usually a good idea to provide a few materials that will assist in the success of the training.

Below is a sample budget of what things you may want to include in a training for 15 participants. Not every training must include all elements, for example most local trainings are held without renting a hotel for the participants, or without paying for teachers’ transportation costs.

There will be other necessary items, for example a teapot, tables, chairs, etc. but this budget assumes these items will be available to be used for free wherever the training is held.

*G = Grant, V = Volunteer, CC = Community Contribution

These are suggestions of funding sources based on volunteer experiences in the past. The volunteer is not required to spend any of their own funds for trainings beyond their own transportation (grants don’t cover volunteer travel). You may find however that you will spend some money here and there for various items like a thank you gift, some additional snacks for lunch or other materials needed for the training like scissors, etc.

Teacher trainings are great for a number of reasons. They allow teachers the opportunity to meet with other teachers to discuss relevant issues, they provide opportunities for professional development and they help improve the quality of instruction provided for students.

Trainings are also relatively inexpensive and can have a high probability of passing when submitted as grant requests. Trainings have a higher chance of being accepted if they also include a follow up process for participants. This can be follow-up observations by you or your counterpart, submitted lesson plans or a number of other ideas. Make sure to include in your budget any costs incurred through follow up, whether that is travel money for your counterpart to go observe teachers or money for another chai break if you are meeting with teachers.