Access to education in Uganda remains highly circumstantial, despite many recent strides by the Ugandan government. The primary school completion rate peaked in 2000 at 72.5 percent, following the initiation of universal primary education in 1997. However, due to a variety of circumstances, including instability from Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army’s reign of terror, the rate has hovered between 50 and 60 percent in recent years.
Obstacles to Education for Children in Uganda
Some causes of these lower completion rates relate to the difficulty of finding and retaining teachers. Disadvantaged rural areas do not always attract teachers or accommodate them well. Many educators choose to be absent when they do not receive paychecks from the government regularly.
Children have trouble maintaining regular attendance, as the locations of rural schools can be an unsafe distance to walk to, and many parents cannot afford the uniforms and supplies required for public schools. The government does provide scholarships, but these are competitive. Additionally, meals are not provided, so many children study on empty stomachs.
Even for those that complete primary school, obstacles remain for furthering their educations. Secondary school has two stages with difficult exams to pass to progress to university, creating a competitive system. Wealthier families often send their children to boarding schools, private schools or universities outside of the country, leaving public schools poorer.
Additionally, researchers say primary and secondary school education in Uganda does not provide the literacy, numeracy and life skills necessary for the workforce or a university education.
Females struggle more, due to a 31 percent dropout rate for marriage and 21 percent for pregnancy, while among the majority of males who drop out, 42 percent cite a lack of interest in schooling as the catalyst.
The Zozu Project Provides Education to the Impoverished
The Zozu Project works to combat many of these effects of poverty. Set in motion in 2013 when California physicians Mick and Elaine Lebens traveled to Uganda on a short-term mission trip, the nonprofit works with a local church, Arua Community Church, and runs Solid Rock Christian School, which opened in February 2015 with around 200 students.
Through partnerships with U.S. churches, the Zozu Project pursues its mission in Uganda: “To lift communities out of extreme poverty by partnering with local African leaders to provide family-focused hope, education and economic opportunity.”
Elsie Soderberg, communications director of the Zozu Project, who has been to Uganda twice, explained how the nonprofit focuses on its holistic approach to combating poverty while providing education in Uganda. She told The Borgen Project, “We believe that developing relationships in an empowering community is the best way to change [symptoms of poverty].”
Solid Rock Christian School provides “a hand up, not a hand out” approach to education in Uganda. Unlike public schools, where the amount of required supplies creates a barrier for families living below the poverty line, the Zozu Project offers a hand up by only requiring families to provide what they can, which Soderberg says can be limited to “maybe one ream of paper, one toilet paper,” while not simply giving a handout of free education.
Additionally, Soderberg highlights that the Zozu Project does not have a permanent American staff in Arua, which helps prevent the appearance of American handouts.
Many Americans have become involved in the Zozu Project through their sponsorship program, where more than 250 of the neediest children are connected with an American person or family who provides monthly funds for the child and often corresponds with them as well.
Zozu Goes Beyond Education to Consider the Whole Child
Soderberg also explains that in the few years since the Zozu Project was established, its methods have evolved from relief for the malnourished children who needed medical attention before education to rebuilding and exploring methods to empower the whole community.
This means close work with the local church and part-time medical clinic supported by His Healing Hands as well as home visits. These venture into the homes of children ensure their access to clean water, bed nets and safe walking routes to school, but go beyond the children’s immediate health and safety. In Soderberg’s words, “While children are not involved with school forever, they’re with their parents substantially longer.”
There is not a culture of parental involvement in education, so the staff at Solid Rock Christian School attempts to include parents in the process in order to foster a home environment where children are encouraged to do their homework. Additionally, this year the primary school had its first graduating class, and now the Zozu Project is exploring ways to encourage parents to save for secondary school.
On the other end of the spectrum, Solid Rock Christian Preschool opened this spring to address the needs of students who had been entering first grade unprepared. This exemplifies a larger positive trend for education in Uganda. Nursery schools for children ages 3 to 6 have become more common in larger towns and have been spreading to more rural areas.
In the wake of violence and disruption, particularly in northern Uganda where Arua and Solid Rock Christian School are located, these changes signal a return to peace and hope for the future of education in Uganda.
– Charlotte Preston
Photo: Flickr
How to End Hunger
Between 2015 and 2016, world hunger rose by 20 million people, according to most recent estimates released in a 2016 U.N. report. This issue affects 815 million people worldwide. The single biggest cause of hunger is poverty, but there are also other heavily contributed factors. Since the turn of the century, food production has outpaced population growth, and the world now produces enough food to feed 1.5x the global population. The question of how to end hunger stretches beyond simply farming more effectively. To end hunger, we have to address the issue as more than a supply-demand deficiency.
Poverty
Only 11 percent of world hunger comes from developed countries; by far, the regions most afflicted by hunger are middle- and lower-income. In 2016, 22.7 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans were reported as malnourished. For those living on less than $2 per day, food can be too expensive to maintain a healthy diet. Economic hardship is further expounded by a lack of education and inadequate access to basic needs such as food, potable water and shelter. In this context, poverty and hunger have a cyclical nature. To reduce poverty, you have to reduce hunger and to reduce hunger, you have to reduce poverty. Take a look here to see how the Borgen Project plans to end poverty.
Armed Conflicts and Political Instability
Poverty is not the only factor in global hunger. Armed conflicts and political instability play a major role in keeping food out of hungry mouths. In recent years, conflicts have been rising, which may correspond to the increase of worldwide malnourished people.
War has also increasingly occurred in regions already vulnerable to disease and malnourishment, such as sub-Saharan and Eastern Africa. For example, South Sudan has been the site of a civil war since 2013. In 2017, the fighting played a major role in South Sudan undergoing the first declared famine in six years. Six million people (one in three residents of South Sudan) have been declared severely food insecure.
Violence takes away human capital, removing productive people from countries that need this capital the most. War destroys infrastructure, disrupts children’s schooling and creates more refugees. Peace is no easy task, but it’s a necessary one to achieve food security for all.
Steps Toward Ending World Hunger
The search for how to end hunger continues, despite the recent setbacks. Humanitarian organizations, such as Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) have worked hard to fight hunger and alleviate the problems associated with it. CARE works in 94 countries and impacts 80 million people worldwide.
Other organizations have developed more atypical answers of how to end hunger. Freedom From Hunger, a charitable organization dedicated to ending world hunger through economic empowerment, has instituted savings and micro-financing programs to people at risk of food insecurity. The goal of these programs is to help people plan for the future and pull themselves out of poverty through education, financial services and monetary savings.
The road to ending hunger will be long and hard. There will be more setbacks, but at the end of the day, it’s up to the world to pave a better future.
– Peter Buffo
Photo: Flickr
Credit Access in Kyrgystan: Success and Potential Danger
Kyrgyzstan, though still scarred by a violent government coup d’etat in 2010, has seen robust economic growth thanks to international investment in its agribusiness and energy production industries. National GDP has grown at an average of 4 percent annually since 2015. However, the landlocked Central Asian country still struggles with a pronounced lack of domestic consumption expenditure. Improving low levels of credit access in Kyrgyzstan can boost consumer spending and confidence, which is paramount to ensuring a viable financial future for its citizens.
The Economic Importance of Credit
Credit is integral to the maintenance and growth of a market economy. Individuals and private organizations borrow money to buy goods and services in the market, which raises production and stimulates the consumer economy. Once credit debt and loans are paid back, the cycle continues again and again. It logically follows that if more consumers have access to a reliable credit system that provides loans, the economy expands and poverty is reduced.
This reasoning backs the approach that international multilateral organizations such as the World Bank and the U.N. employ in their efforts to combat poverty. In Kyrgyzstan, agriculture is by far the largest sector of the economy, employing about 40 percent of the working population and comprising nearly 20 percent of the country’s GDP. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations apprised the industry in 2006 and found that approximately 900,000 households contributed half of the agricultural output on 5 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s arable land. In addition, roughly 250,000 private farms employed half of the agricultural labor population while also contributing 40 percent of total output.
Different Types of Credit Access
Although households and private farms are the two largest employers and producers of agricultural output, they cannot rely on the same systems of finance due to their fundamentally different roles in the economy. The categories of credit access in Kyrgyzstan differentiate based on the debtor. As household farms are usually individually operated, micro-financing institutions (MFIs) and non-governmental organizations more aptly serve their personal needs; these small-scale family farms generally have neither the land nor the assets to pay off the sizeable loans. On the other hand, commercial banking suits the privatized farm industry, which can afford to invest in equipment and expansion while employing up to several hundred laborers.
Recognizing this dichotomy, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) invested in multiple projects across different financial sectors. Its Investment Climate Advisory Services Project, initiated in 2009, works to remove barriers to entry in the market that would otherwise dissuade private businesses from expanding. From 2009 to 2012, the IFC also invested $26 million into Kompanion Financial Group, FINCA Kyrgyzstan and UniCredit Kyrgyzstan, all of which provide microfinance services to individuals and small businesses.
Potential Dangers of Expanding Credit
With the relaxation of government regulation and growth in spending, however, comes the danger of a potentially cataclysmic credit bubble. Eurasianet reported in 2012 that only 100 of the near 450 MFI’s in Kyrgyzstan actively engaged with clients; the barriers to starting an MFI are virtually nonexistent. Interested investors need slightly more than $2,000 USD to found their own MFI, and most have no education or background in finance. This lack of barriers, coupled with borrowers that often do not understand the loaning process, can result in overspending of nonexistent money and consequent high debt, which harms those who borrowed money to escape poverty in the first place.
The failure to properly rear a financial market and the motive of profit before anything else promoted in local populations spells disaster for both loaners and borrowers. Financial education of the local population and proper regulatory oversight is crucial for efforts to expand credit access in Kyrgyzstan to succeed. The implementation of finance in an industry as important to Kyrgyzstan as agribusiness bears the grave possibility of worsening the predicaments of those it was designed to help. However, if managed correctly, it also holds a much greater potential to lift Kyrgyzstan’s citizens out of poverty.
– Alex Qi
Photo: Flickr
Girls’ Education in Burundi
At then end of June this year, the Ministry of Education in Burundi decided to ban pregnant girls and teenage fathers from attending school. Girls have always been treated unfairly in comparison to boys when it comes to education, and this new ban is just another example. Although the ban feigns equality by giving teenage fathers the boot: the solution is faulty.
Teenage Pregnancy in Burundi
To begin with, all children deserve the right to education and should not be denied it on the premise of pregnancy. Secondly, there is no access to a reliable method to establish a teenage boy’s paternity. The ban is inherently biased against girls because they cannot hide their pregnancy. Since teenage pregnancy is an issue, girls’ education in Burundi will be affected by this restriction because fewer girls will be able to attend school.
The impact of this new law has the potential to be irreparably damaging, as 11 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 in Burundi are sexually active. Additionally, 40 percent of victims of sexual or physical violence in Burundi are teenage girls. There is simply no way for the Ministry of Education to police sexual violence in order for it to entirely stop affecting girls of school-age. The ban does nothing but punish girls for a situation they have no control over.
Other countries such as Morocco and Sudan have also taken measures in an attempt to prevent premarital sex. The laws they have in place allow young girls to face criminal charges for adultery and extramarital sex. They can also be expelled from school. Officials have stated the laws are necessary to punish girls for “moral failures.”
Poverty and Girls’ Education in Burundi
Burundi is one of the poorest nations in the world, with 65 percent of its population living below the poverty line. Living in a low-income region already is detrimental to girls’ education in Burundi. Girls’ families often cannot afford school supplies and the quality of education is not good either.
The last thing girls need are more roadblocks to getting their education. The new ban on attending school while pregnant perpetuates stigmas and isolate young girls socially. These girls are often already financially disadvantaged and ostracizing them from the school system puts them in a much less supported and dangerous place.
Some countries have policies that allow girls to re-enter school after being expelled. However, it is common for these systems to have many deterrents for girls to actually re-enter. Medical exams and an extended maternity leave are just a few examples.
After a young girl has been ostracized and humiliated, it is unlikely she will want to return to pick up from where she left off. The re-entry programs make the system seem a little more humane. But when thought about realistically, they probably will not provide girls with more opportunity.
Girls’ education in Burundi has a long way to go after the passing of this law. Surpassing financial obstacles in an impoverished country to get an education is hard enough on its own. Girls should not have to live in the fear of losing their shot at getting an education because of a situation that they are not responsible for.
– Amelia Merchant
Photo: Flickr
Cryptocurrency Provides Access to Energy
Access to energy is necessary for daily life in most countries in the world. Electricity allows for economic development and innovation as well as securing basic human rights such as health and security. However, there are more than 1 billion people living without access to energy.
Solar Power and Cryptocurrency
One negative effect of not having secure and affordable access to energy is the expenditure that goes into coal. This leads to impoverished people being forced to buy expensive coal which further leads to environmental and health problems.
As a response to the scarcity of energy, the International Energy Agency confirmed that decentralized energy systems such as solar power would be the lowest cost option for electrification across sub-Saharan Africa due to its geographical location as well as the accessibility and practicality of the solar panels. With solar power, impoverished communities could use the electricity from solar panels to improve education, healthcare and socioeconomic developments.
Crytoeconomy Fueling Solar Energy Initiatives
This is where The Sun Exchange, a solar micro-leasing marketplace, and Powerhive, a rural mini-grid solutions provider, are partnering up to use crypto-economy to create a fully decentralized, blockchain-based global economic system that could distribute the full potential of solar power to impoverished people.
Sun Exchange states its purpose as buying solar cells and leasing them to schools and businesses in areas with a lot of sunlight. Fortunately, this lines up perfectly with the sub-Saharan region of Africa. Powerhive states that its purpose is to develop off-grid utility solutions to create a future where everyone has access to energy.
“Together, we are working towards a world where no one is forced to cook with unsafe kerosene or wood-burning stoves, no child has to worry about how they will study after dark, and lack of energy access ceases to propel cycles of poverty,” said Abraham Cambridge, Founder and CEO of Sun Exchange. “Our partnership with Powerhive underscores the SUNEX token sale opportunity to support a crypto project geared directly towards reducing global inequality and climate impact.”
For example, the new joint initiative plans to fund up to 150 new Powerhive rural mini-grid projects which will provide access to energy for 175,000 people in Kenya.
“At the heart of our projects are the communities we serve,” said Christopher Hornor, Founder and CEO of Powerhive. “By providing the power platform first and then layering in productive use programmes, we create a virtuous cycle of economic and personal empowerment that provides steady profits for both our customers and our investors. Our partnership with Sun Exchange will now give almost anyone the opportunity to invest in innovative low-carbon development projects in Africa and beyond.”
This partnership allows for the international community members to help improve lives across the world and make a small profit. This is possible because through Sun Exchange, individuals across the globe are able to purchase and own remotely-located solar projects set up by Powerhive.
The buyer would now earn a return for the power generated by his or her solar asset while the energy would undeniably improve the life of whoever received that energy in rural Africa. Also, because the payments are done through cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, there are no complications that result from international transactions.
Hornor sums up this partnership as a positive step towards the future for renewable energy and universal access to energy. “The crypto-economy is the best tool we have to fight poverty, hands down. Our customers are hard-working people who have been excluded from the global economy. Now, we are able to bring them onto a platform of modern, clean power and to offer support for new businesses and opportunities for personal and intellectual enrichment.”
– Jenny S. Park
Photo: Flickr
Top 10 Facts About Human Rights in North Korea
In the 2018 North Korea-United States Summit, where the U.S. President Trump met with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader, Kim Jong-un, the focus was mainly on human rights in North Korea. North Korea has long been condemned by the U.N. as a perpetrator of human rights violations.
Facts About Human Rights in North Korea
1. 2.6 million modern-day slaves exist in North Korea.
Today, one in 10 North Korean citizens are held in political prison camps known as “kwanliso”. In the camps, prisoners are starved and beaten up while being forced into hard labor by the government officials. Additionally, many modern-day slaves are victims of human trafficking, child exploitation and debt bondage.
2. Political freedom is virtually non-existent.
Political opposition is not allowed under the totalitarian system in North Korea. The state controls all internet access, television and news organizations, allowing only pro-government content. Freedom of assembly and petition are also prohibited.
3. Class status is determined by loyalty.
Individuals are classified under “songbun”, which divides people into groups of “loyal”, “wavering” or “hostile” classes depending on how devoted they are to the government. This classification often determines people’s employment, housing and access to education. It can also threaten their lives.
4. Arbitrary arrests and torture in custody often occur.
The governmental security forces often subject accused political criminals to arbitrary arrest, long-term detention and other tortures including starvation during interrogation. Those accused of major political crimes are often sent to prison camps without trial; emblematic of the lack of human rights in North Korea. In most cases, families are unaware of what happens to their family member. In fact, earlier relatives of political criminals could also be sent to the camps, though this is less common now.
5. Forced abortion occurs as a form of ethnic cleansing.
The majority of refugees going from North Korea to China are women. They often become victims of rape. Over 5,000 North Koreans are repatriated to North Korea by China every year and once they return to North Korea, pregnant women suspected of carrying “foreign sperm” are forced to have abortions in prison. If not, the suspected half-Chinese children are killed.
6. Religious communities, especially Christians, are persecuted.
According to Christian watchdog organizations, all traces of the formally large Christian community in the pre-regime North Korea have been wiped out. Suspected Christians are tortured and killed as the state suppresses any religion that poses a threat to the government.
7. North Korea abducts foreign nationals.
Japan continues to demand the return of 17 citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. North Korea has admitted to these kidnappings and further accused of abducting over 3,800 South Koreans. Allegedly, these individuals have been kidnapped so that the North Korean government can learn more about the other cultures as part of their espionage efforts.
8. Despite signing several human rights treaties, these abuses continue.
Following increased concern over human rights in North Korea, North Korea has signed treaties that protect women, children and the disabled’s political and economic rights. Despite this commitment to cooperate with the U.N. and other international bodies, the government continues to refuse to work with the South Korean and U.N. human rights organizations.
9. China recently began enforcing more sanctions on North Korea.
China holds perhaps the greatest leverage over North Korea as one of its major trading partners. Historically, China has not demanded changes to the human rights in North Korea because of China’s own issues with human rights violations. But due to nuclear power concerns, in May 2017, China’s sanctions on North Korea‘s government has increased.
10. Despite little improvement, awareness about these crimes continues to grow.
Though the situation still looks bleak, the information known about North Korea has greatly increased since the 1990s when refugee stories first emerged. Since North Korea has been forced to cooperate somewhat with other global powers, there are efforts to reach people in North Korea via social media so they can learn more about their situation and rights.
Human rights in North Korea might not be improving, but global attention to the situation creates awareness of the threat to life that exists in the country. Going forward, international pressure can eventually ensure that basic human rights are given to the people of North Korea.
– Grace Gay
Photo: Google
10 Facts About Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
The Thomas Reuters Foundation surveyed 550 experts on women’s issues, ranking the worst countries for women’s rights. Out of 195 countries, Saudi Arabia ranked as the fifth most dangerous country for women in terms of the risks they face in cultural and religious practices, and second worst in terms of economic access and workplace discrimination. To get a better understanding of the hardships of Saudi Arabia, this article examines 10 facts about human rights in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East and the home of Islam. While Saudi Arabia is known for its plentiful oil reserves, the country is also one of the most dangerous places to live in or travel to. Saudi Arabia is slowly improving in regards to women’s and children’s rights, but still has a lot of progress to make.
Facts about Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
These facts about human rights in Saudi Arabia show the challenges and improvements regarding human rights in the country. Women are gaining more independence and children are being allowed to live their childhoods freely. While there is a lot of progress to make, Saudi Arabia is taking steps towards becoming a more equal and free country.
– Kristen Uedoi
Photo: Flickr
Girls’ Education in the Marshall Islands Warrants Optimism
Labor Reform in Vietnam Promoting Growth
From 2010 to 2016, Vietnam’s poverty headcount ratio fell considerably from 20.7 to 9.8 percent of its population. Another significant amount of growth is reflected in Vietnam’s GDP, which increased from approximately $6.3 billion in 1989 to an estimated $205.3 billion in 2016. This extensive growth is linked to Vietnam’s reform in economic policy in the mid-1980’s, which in turn prompted labor reform in Vietnam.
Đổi Mới Economic Policy
In 1986, the Vietnam government initiated the Đổi Mới, a series of economic policy reforms that affected the country’s rapid recovery and furthered development.
The reform marked Vietnam’s transition from a centralized economy to an open-market one, otherwise known as an open door policy. The open door policy was intended “to promote a multi-sector economic system, emphasizing the state sector, while encouraging the private sector.”
According to the Social Watch, this change increased the gap between the rich and poor, which threatened the progress of poverty reduction.
Amid these economic policy changes and growing disparities between socioeconomic classes, labor rights came to the forefront in Vietnam’s policy agenda. Below are several examples of the reformed labor rights.
Formation of Labor Unions
The Human Rights Watch reported the formation of “independent trade unions” as a result of activist efforts in October 2006. These unions aimed to “protect the rights of workers” and “disseminate information about worker’s rights and exploitive and abusive labor conditions.”
For example, the United Worker-Farmers Organization of Vietnam and the Independent Worker’s Union of Vietnam supported farmers whose lands were taken. It is important to note that these “independent trade unions” are not officially acknowledged by Vietnam law.
Recorded Improvements
According to the World Bank, the gender gap is lessening. As of 2015, households led by women were “less likely to be poor than male-headed households” while the enrollment rates for girls and boys in primary and junior secondary school were almost equal.
In addition, the World Bank noted that women’s participation in the labour force “is within 10 percent of that of men”, a gap which is smaller than in most countries worldwide.
Labour Reform in Vietnam and Problems Today
Despite advances in labor reform in Vietnam, the move toward independent labor unions was halted when the U.S. left the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In July 2017, The Diplomat noted that trade unions in Vietnam strongly relied on the financial support and management from the state. Furthermore, Vietnamese laws require contributions to a trade union fund from employers, effectively making trade unions financially dependent on employers.
This is especially concerning in the wake of the U.S. leaving the TPP, as it halted Vietnam’s labor rights reform. The Diplomat emphasized that “many people argued that the need for labor rights reform is gone because there is no more demand for reform from the United States.”
However, there is a solution to the current state of limited labor rights and corrupt workplaces.
Addressing Corruption with a Potential “Đổi Mới II”
Vietnam can counter corruption through reform, coined as “Đổi Mới II,” which focuses on fighting corruption and enhancing institutional legitimacy through increased democratization. By applying the rule of law more rigorously, governance can be improved.
Labor reform in Vietnam, while not occuring rapidly, is experiencing activism, protests, and potential uncertainty. Despite these factors, however, improvements are possible, especially with the “Đổi Mới II” reform policy and initiatives like introducing independent labor unions, which curtail corruption and advocate on behalf of Vietnam’s laborers.
– Christine Leung
Photo: Flickr
Top 10 Facts About Girls’ Education in Russia
There is always something to see in the international media when it comes to Russia but most of the information out there tell us nothing about the country’s education culture. When it comes to understanding what kind of education culture exist in a nation, it is important to take a look at different dynamics such as girls education with respect to gender gap and more. Here are 10 facts about the girls’ education in Russia.
Facts About Girls’ Education in Russia
Conclusion
These facts about girls’ education in Russia show that the country has both negative and positive images on the questions of girls education. Equality of wages between genders still seems like an issue that needs improvement, but there are positive examples in decreasing the stereotyping of gender in different fields of study, which is very promising. One thing should not be forgotten: improvement in girls’ education is always possible and important.
– Orçun Doğmazer
Photo: Google
The Zozu Project Promotes Education in Uganda
Access to education in Uganda remains highly circumstantial, despite many recent strides by the Ugandan government. The primary school completion rate peaked in 2000 at 72.5 percent, following the initiation of universal primary education in 1997. However, due to a variety of circumstances, including instability from Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army’s reign of terror, the rate has hovered between 50 and 60 percent in recent years.
Obstacles to Education for Children in Uganda
Some causes of these lower completion rates relate to the difficulty of finding and retaining teachers. Disadvantaged rural areas do not always attract teachers or accommodate them well. Many educators choose to be absent when they do not receive paychecks from the government regularly.
Children have trouble maintaining regular attendance, as the locations of rural schools can be an unsafe distance to walk to, and many parents cannot afford the uniforms and supplies required for public schools. The government does provide scholarships, but these are competitive. Additionally, meals are not provided, so many children study on empty stomachs.
Even for those that complete primary school, obstacles remain for furthering their educations. Secondary school has two stages with difficult exams to pass to progress to university, creating a competitive system. Wealthier families often send their children to boarding schools, private schools or universities outside of the country, leaving public schools poorer.
Additionally, researchers say primary and secondary school education in Uganda does not provide the literacy, numeracy and life skills necessary for the workforce or a university education.
Females struggle more, due to a 31 percent dropout rate for marriage and 21 percent for pregnancy, while among the majority of males who drop out, 42 percent cite a lack of interest in schooling as the catalyst.
The Zozu Project Provides Education to the Impoverished
The Zozu Project works to combat many of these effects of poverty. Set in motion in 2013 when California physicians Mick and Elaine Lebens traveled to Uganda on a short-term mission trip, the nonprofit works with a local church, Arua Community Church, and runs Solid Rock Christian School, which opened in February 2015 with around 200 students.
Through partnerships with U.S. churches, the Zozu Project pursues its mission in Uganda: “To lift communities out of extreme poverty by partnering with local African leaders to provide family-focused hope, education and economic opportunity.”
Elsie Soderberg, communications director of the Zozu Project, who has been to Uganda twice, explained how the nonprofit focuses on its holistic approach to combating poverty while providing education in Uganda. She told The Borgen Project, “We believe that developing relationships in an empowering community is the best way to change [symptoms of poverty].”
Solid Rock Christian School provides “a hand up, not a hand out” approach to education in Uganda. Unlike public schools, where the amount of required supplies creates a barrier for families living below the poverty line, the Zozu Project offers a hand up by only requiring families to provide what they can, which Soderberg says can be limited to “maybe one ream of paper, one toilet paper,” while not simply giving a handout of free education.
Additionally, Soderberg highlights that the Zozu Project does not have a permanent American staff in Arua, which helps prevent the appearance of American handouts.
Many Americans have become involved in the Zozu Project through their sponsorship program, where more than 250 of the neediest children are connected with an American person or family who provides monthly funds for the child and often corresponds with them as well.
Zozu Goes Beyond Education to Consider the Whole Child
Soderberg also explains that in the few years since the Zozu Project was established, its methods have evolved from relief for the malnourished children who needed medical attention before education to rebuilding and exploring methods to empower the whole community.
This means close work with the local church and part-time medical clinic supported by His Healing Hands as well as home visits. These venture into the homes of children ensure their access to clean water, bed nets and safe walking routes to school, but go beyond the children’s immediate health and safety. In Soderberg’s words, “While children are not involved with school forever, they’re with their parents substantially longer.”
There is not a culture of parental involvement in education, so the staff at Solid Rock Christian School attempts to include parents in the process in order to foster a home environment where children are encouraged to do their homework. Additionally, this year the primary school had its first graduating class, and now the Zozu Project is exploring ways to encourage parents to save for secondary school.
On the other end of the spectrum, Solid Rock Christian Preschool opened this spring to address the needs of students who had been entering first grade unprepared. This exemplifies a larger positive trend for education in Uganda. Nursery schools for children ages 3 to 6 have become more common in larger towns and have been spreading to more rural areas.
In the wake of violence and disruption, particularly in northern Uganda where Arua and Solid Rock Christian School are located, these changes signal a return to peace and hope for the future of education in Uganda.
– Charlotte Preston
Photo: Flickr