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History

The Chairman of Knowledge for Children, Arnold Roozenbeek, founded his own schoolbook project in 2005. After completing his university degree he wanted to contribute to the development of rural areas in Africa. He first worked for a local NGO in Cameroon, but he did not agree with the policies in place. As fate would have it, Arnold then met Maimo Jacob who wanted to do something for his own local community. Maimo had worked for many years as Inspector of Primary Schools and therefore had detailed knowledge of the problems in these schools. Together they founded the schoolbook project 2005. Maimo showed a lot of dedication, put his car at the disposal of the project and paid all the necessary expenses involved with the use of the car. This proved his involvement. Maimo and Arnold were each other’s dream come true. Through a shared passion and mission they were able to successfully complete the schoolbook project. Subsequently the Knowledge for Children Foundation was created and Wilco Wolfs, a good friend of Arnold, travelled to Cameroon in 2006 and continued the schoolbook project for another year, in cooperation with Maimo. Wilco, Maimo and other involved locals ensured that the schoolbook project and the Cameroonian organisation became more professional. Knowledgeable local board-members were subsequently appointed in Cameroon.

From October 2007 to February 2008 Jerica van Niekerk, an education specialist with previous experience in Cambodia, executed the third schoolbook project in cooperation with the local board. During this project Knowledge for Children introduced the concept of financial contributions to the project by the local community itself too. In 2008, the boards in both Cameroon and the Netherlands independently thought about the vision for 2009 - 2011. The result of this was the first vision document of Knowledge for Children. Arnold and Geert Roozenbeek, as representatives of the board in the Netherlands, reached an agreement on this vision together with the local board in Cameroon.

One of the most important parts of this vision was that Jerica would spend all of 2009 in Cameroon as an advisor and facilitator to realise the goal of more autonomy for the local board in Cameroon, as well as for the local communities of schools.