Machik: GROWING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY FOR TIBET
History and Approach
At the heart of our story lies a primary school in the heart of Kham. With the Chungba Primary School at the heart of our efforts, the work of Machik has expanded over the years, growing organically and incrementally in new directions. Drawing on a commitment to fieldwork and respect for local knowledge, culture and traditions, Machik has charted new pathways for revitalizing local communities and for strengthening Tibetan capacity. Over time, with the support of a growing circle of volunteers, partners and grassroots supporters, Machik's work itself has gathered a community of people---local, regional and global---who share a vision of hope for a strong, healthy and vibrant Tibetan future. Our approach begins with a commitment to grassroots rural community work. We have invested at the micro-level, strengthening Tibetan capacity in rural areas brick by brick. From the beginning, our work has also involved creating new opportunities for training, learning and skills development. But the work has also been about more than bricks and mortar. It is about revitalizing community values and renewing hope and trust in the potential of collective effort.
Education
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Machik's work has grown organically around an effort to build a community-based education project from the ground up in a rural Tibetan township. At the heart of the work have been direct interventions--building an award-winning school, bringing clean energy and safe drinking water, establishing a library and an organic greenhouse, repairing roads and rebuilding homes, facilitating healthcare missions and caring for the elderly and the poor. Education forms the backbone of our work. Building local capacity--whether in the form of creating new opportunities for learning, training, knowledge production or skills development--is a priority that runs through all our efforts. We support education for Tibetan communities through schools, scholarships, training programs, libraries and online resources. We believe that education represents the most fundamental means to strengthening human capacity.
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Youth Leadership
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We are committed to fostering a new generation of bright and responsible Tibetans through mentorships and enrichment programs. Our Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) is a summer learning and mentorship program for Tibetan youths in Tibet. Building on a growing network of Tibetan, Chinese, and global volunteers, SEP fosters mutual understanding and respect. Since 2004, SEP has directly served over 550 Tibetan students in Tibet. Through events like the annual SEP and Mentorships programs, young Tibetans and Chinese are provided a forum to reflect as global citizens on their differences while also developing a shared sense of stake in a transformative future for Tibet. For more information on the 2016 Summer Enrichment Program, please click here.
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Civic Engagement
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We create unique platforms for a global conversation about civic engagement and individual responsibility toward our collective global future. Drawn together by a shared concern for the challenges confronting contemporary Tibet, we gather and grow a community of people--local, regional and global---who share a vision of hope for a strong, healthy and vibrant Tibetan future through our annual events like Machik Weekend and Machik Retreat.
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Creativity and Innovation
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We invest in dynamic individuals and groups who exhibit uncommon commitment to building creative approaches to the challenges on the Tibetan plateau. We identify Machik Social Innovation Fellows who are Tibetan change-makers and trailblazers in their field and support them through training, resources, networks and technology. We are committed to equipping emerging leaders with the tools needed to better engage Tibetan communities in Tibet.
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Women's Empowerment
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We strengthen women's voices by investing in the education and empowerment of young Tibetan women. One of our main priorities is to innovate ways to level the structural inequalities facing women in Tibetan society. We have pursued these goals through specific programs that address the special needs of women--Women's Writing Workshop, which includes projects such as midwifery training, and Machik's Mother's Wish Program, which provides scholarships for girls and young women from low-income, rural and nomadic families to continue their education through middle, high school and college, as well as through long term efforts to plant seeds to strengthen girls' and women's capacity to become equal partners in community leadership.
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Governance
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Machik's Tibet Governance Initiative (TGI) is a unique research initiative that seeks to advance scholarship, research and new perspectives on key issues confronting contemporary Tibet. Guided by a central concern for the well-being of communities on the Tibetan plateau, this program seeks to develop research initiatives that produce fresh insights, analyses and approaches to the challenges of governance and public policy throughout Tibet.
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