After You've Applied
It's great news that you want to link your school through Link Community
Development.
Please read the important information below to find out what happens after
you send your application form to LCD.
 How we find a linked
school
LCD works with primary and secondary schools in South Africa and primary
schools in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda.
Once LCD has your application form we contact our project managers in the
relevant country who find you a suitable school to link with. Link Community
Development has colour profiles and information about all the schools we are
working with in the South and aims to find a link for each one.
Timeline
Because of the varying term dates, and to ensure both schools will gain
maximum benefit from the link, it may take up to four months from when we
receive your application form until your link formally starts. We endeavour to
link your school in a shorter period of time, just please bear with us before we
formally start your link.
What happens next?
When we are sent the details of the school you will be linked with, we send
you a pack of support materials, along with the profile of your partner school and some
ideas to start and maintain your link. We then ask you to put together a profile
of your school. Send this to LCD along with an introductory letter, and we will
pass it on to your partner school.
LCD is able to provide a range of practical support to facilitate and
strengthen your school's partnership, including:
- twice termly mail services between partner schools, ensuring safe delivery of
your correspondence
- access to staff in Africa and the UK who are dedicated to supporting
participating schools
- practically and professionally supported reciprocal visits between staff in
partner schools
- annual reports to keep you up to date with your partner school's
development
- regular workshops, conferences, events and resources organised around key
calendar dates.
Financial Commitment
 We ask schools to
make a contribution of £500 a year (this can be negotiated for small
primary schools) to Link Community Development to support LCD's aims and to run
the programme.
80% of your contribution is transferred directly to the project in South
Africa, Uganda, Ghana or Malawi where your link school is. This is used to help
fund annual grants to your link school, and the support and training provided by
the local project team to all schools in the locality.
The rest of the money, together with funding from the Department for
International Development, contributes towards the management and administration
costs of running the Link Schools Programme in the UK. It enables us to support
schools in the UK by providing education packs, regular newsletters and
practical help with communication.
We ask for an initial installment of £50 when you apply. You don't
need to pay the rest of the fee until one year after you've been formally linked
with your partner school.
For linking inspiration ...
There are a number of places you can look for more information on linking or
on related issues and campaigns. Here are a few to get your linking juices
flowing ...
| 
