About Badi Foundation
Brief History
Farming family in rural China
Established in Macau in 1990, the Badi Foundation is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving society by empowering individuals, institutions and communities through education and training. It develops educational programs and delivers them at the grassroots level, thus enhancing the ability of populations to contribute to the social and economic development of their communities.
The Badi Foundation operates primarily in Macau SAR and the People's Republic of China. Major programs include Social Enterprise, the Center for Curriculum Development, the School of the Nations and the Consultancy Program. A description of the Foundation's work with interns and volunteers as well as with other international agencies can be found in the International Collaboration section.
The Badi Foundation was established in 1990 in Macau through an initial endowment in honor of Badi'u'llah Farid and Shidrokh Amirkia Bargha who were outstanding examples of dedication and self-sacrifice for the well-being of humankind. From the time of its establishment, the Foundation concentrated on development of human resources in both the areas of formal education and non-formal education.
In the area of formal education, initial endeavors began with development of the School of the Nations in Macau. Although established before the Foundation itself, the School was transferred to the Foundation upon its establishment and the Foundation given the responsibility for all aspects of its administration and development. In addition to serving the population of Macau by providing an excellent standard of education, the School also serves as a test site in which curriculum and teacher training materials can be developed.
At the same time, the Foundation also began to contribute to formal education in the People's Republic of China. One early project was exploration of issues related to character development in conjunction with the Central Institute for Educational Research in the People's Republic of China. In addition, during the period from 1994-1997, the Foundation provided teachers and teacher training to schools and education departments in China. Because of the quality of the experts and educators sent by the Badi Foundation, when the People's Republic of China instituted a system requiring that institutions that send foreign experts to the country be approved and registered, the Badi Foundation was in the first group of organizations to receive that approval. Although teacher training programs continue, most notably the Enhancing the Learning Environment program, the Foundation no longer provides teachers to schools since there are now abundant avenues for Chinese schools to find teachers.
Parallel to its work in formal education, the Badi Foundation also began working in non-formal education. In Macau, early projects included training youth as literacy workers. In China, one of the earliest projects was carried out in Hainan Island, where the foundation worked with farmers and with youth in collaboration with the Science and Technology Commission. Programs for farmers concentrated on development of sustainable agricultural systems and provision of micro-credit, while youth programs sought to enable youth to contribute to the development of their communities through health education and development of entrepreneurial skills.
The experience working in both rural and urban China led the Foundation to recognize the intense desire of many people to contribute to the development of their communities. In response, in 1995 the Foundation began developing the Social Enterprise Program, a program dedicated to assisting individuals and groups identify and develop ways in which they can help meet the challenges faced by their communities. Social Enterprise Program which continues to be one of the main efforts in non-formal education.
In 1994, the Foundation established the Center for Curriculum Development to serve as a focus for curriculum and materials development. Materials developed by the CCD are now used in such wide-flung places as Mongolia, China, Bangladesh, Myanmar Thailand and Malaysia. The CCD continues to work closely with the School of the Nations as well as with other educational institutions to assure that materials developed for formal education respond to the needs and potentialities of students.