Access to quality education remains elusive for many across Uganda, particularly in the rural areas where Building Tomorrow (BT) works. The challenges are numerous and far-reaching: teachers are often isolated with little or no access to a network of peers and professional development; community School Management Committees have not been equipped to effectively carry out their responsibilities; local government officers are severely limited in their time and resources and, perhaps most importantly, parents often see little value in investing in a system that is failing their children. Building Tomorrow has been faced with the question of how to simultaneously affect so many diverse issues. We’ve found the answer in a group of ten extraordinary individuals who now make up the Building Tomorrow Fellows.
Following my experience at the training, I have been blessed with beginning my Master’s program in Fall 2014, and starting my internship here at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! I figured I would share a bit about my experience, so that those interested in International development or working for international organizations (namely the UN), can get a little bit of insight into how to start!
As a girl that called the Alabama suburbs her home, I never dreamed I would find myself in the heart of the most powerful city in the country.Yet, I was pulled to this unfamiliar place in the name of something greater than the wave of inadequacy I felt. The idea of advocating for international education was one that captivated me, and I knew it was something I wanted to experience in a place that has fought for equal rights since it’s founding: Washington, D.C.
by Joyce Mkandawire and Dr. Denise Raquel Dunning,
Malawi banned child marriage last month. The new legislation increasing the legal age of marriage from 15 to 18 is a major victory for girls in Malawi, and a game changer for girls’ education everywhere.
When schools actively create a culture of service, they make education real, relevant, and rewarding. They also prepare students to become global citizens, and teach skills and knowledge they will need for college and career readiness.
With Education for All as our over-riding goal, The Nobelity Project is celebrating ten years as a non-profit, a decade of telling inspiring stories and working to take inspired actions. With a full-time staff of just two (my co-founder and Executive Director Christy Pipkin and a Program Coordinator), we are constantly searching for avenues with a relatively large impact on both education issues and real-world results.
I have always gotten a kick out of doing something that someone said I couldn’t do or that I am not supposed to do—finishing a grueling hike, building something, fixing something or even something as seemingly simple as getting up each and every day and going back to finish something you started even if everyone is against you. All of that takes strength—the strength to do, the strength to overcome and the strength to keep going.
It is spring in D.C. which means sunny days and cherry blossoms. It also means GCE-US Youth Training Advocacy season which always gets me super excited about the power of youth and the great things they are doing around the nation and the world. Our advocates just spent Monday on the Hill talking about education for all with their Members of Congress and we will be sharing their experiences over the next few months.
When the Roatan Bookmobile parks along the seashore at Flowers Bay, a throng of students gather excitedly at the entrance of Thomas McField School in Honduras. Painted with a mural of kids reading and colorful seaside scenes, the bus is a rolling advertisement for the joy of books and the power of education.
57 million children around the world denied an education despite the world's promise to put every child in school by 2015. Tens of millions of children drop out of school before learning how to read and write - forced into early marriages, participating in dangerous work just to feed their families, or pushed out because of school fees they can’t afford. Access to education is one of the best ways to decrease poverty.