A School In Uganda Makes "Yes We Can More than Just a Campaign Slogan..."
A recent Christian Science Monitor article takes a look at one school's approach to helping young women address the challenges of poverty and unemployment in Uganda.
With a median age of 15, Uganda has the world's youngest population, according to a 2008 World Bank report. It also has the highest youth (ages 15-24) unemployment rate: 83 percent. It's common to find 20-somethings with law and business degrees stocking supermarket shelves.
The article points out an all girls school in Kagdai, Uganda, that is trying to break this cycle. Sponsored by the non-profit Uganda Rural Development Programme the school is choosing to fight poverty by unleashing the potential in 250 of Uganda's poorest girls. The URDT's mission statement says that they wish to give the girls the tools, and encouragement they need in order to become the "creators of their desired circumstances."
To do so the school uses a two-generational approach that helps both the future generation (students) as well as the current generation (parents). So, the daughters team up with their parents and figure out what part of their lives they want to change then with the help of their teachers, together they make that change happen. Whether this is learning to grow enough crops to feed their family, or building a cleaner latrine, the school reminds the girls that they are their own number one resource for change.
Thanks to URDT's encouragement these girls are creating both jobs and change for themselves. As the Christian Science Monitor says, the students are making "yes we can more than just a campaign slogan from a far away land."
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wow, that sounds like a
wow, that sounds like a really powerful program! Smart and practical in recognizing social and economic gains that are possible when girls are given a chance to succeed. It's not just about getting more girls into school, but helping them use their education to take control over their lives. These young girls in Uganda will determine the future of their country but they have to become aware of all the power they have. It's good to hear about a program that is taking seriously the need for girls to have positive self-esteem to start changing their society. I'm sure that the solutions these girls come up with will be well worth the investment.
Universal Secondary Education In Uganda
According to the 2009 Education For All Global Monitoring Report, remarkable gains have been made in the effort to provide education to all by 2015.
Yet still, in sub-Saharan Africa, only 25 percent of children eligible for secondary school are enrolled. Even then, about 25 percent after their first year will drop out, and only a handful remain by graduation. A recent article by The Guardian highlighted the Universal Secondary Education (USE) Government Program in Uganda which is trying to turn this statistic around. Acting Secondary Education Commissioner Robinson Nsumba-Lyazi commented on the program.
This sounds like a
This sounds like a well-thought out and sustainable program. Its strength seems to be that it is very in touch with the realities on the ground, something programs imposed from the outside may not be. By designing the education program to fit the local economic characteristics, the program makes it more likely that their graduates will find ways to employ the skills they learn. Development programs that know the local realities seem like the right way to go, and I especially admire the empowerment aspects of the URDT program. It ensures that the effects of the program will continue past graduation.
“We don't start with the problem, we start with vision”
I am amazed with how powerful a vision can be in bringing individuals out of poverty. In the early 80s my mother was a high school teacher in inner-city Atlanta and says her biggest surprise was just how many of them lacked any vision for the future. In between homework assignments, exam grades, and their lives after high school there was a major disconnect in which they couldn’t trace hard work now with success later. Perhaps even more so than a lack of education, I think that a lack of vision is a fundamental cause and symptom of poverty.
Yet, blaming the problem on underfunded schools and on a lack of effective programs is easier to do and suggestive of an easier solution. Not that a lack of education and the absence of these programs are not part of the problem and can’t be part of the solution; on the contrary, I consider these things to be critical ingredients for encouraging a vision amongst the poor and for giving them the tools to follow this vision. Rather, I think that this problem of a lack of vision runs deeper than underfunding. Our efforts against poverty should focus on encouraging the impoverished to embrace a vision of their own instead of simply offering them our aid or training—efforts just like URDT. Of course this is much harder to do and requires an enormous deal of individual attention and patience. As Ms. Mbaime said in the article, "The most important thing I learned was that I can't force them to do what they don't want to do…You can't just come from school and tell them what to do. You have to encourage them to have their own vision." Yet, to ignore this matter of vision would cost us in the fight against poverty and the struggle to empower the poor.
P.S: Having been to Uganda to work with schools in the past I am especially encouraged by this article. I hope to return there someday and see this program in action!
Amazing program!
Wow! This sounds like an incredibly wonderful program, especially given the fact that providing a strong education for women leads to smaller and healthier families, which in turn leads to lower poverty rates. The program sounds very encouraging in that it will help women to work toward goals that they set and decide is important for themselves and their families, rather than simply providing a general overarching education.
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