Our project will provide leadership skills and training to 990 secondary students and their teachers in Nandekula village. They face enormous challenges, but the size of those challenges are matched by their potential to address the barriers to progress in their own community.They will be examples in Nandekula as well as torchbearers for change in other schools in the region by paving the way in the fight against violence, discrimination, gender inequity, and poverty.
The Iganga Parent's Secondary School (IPSS), with 68 teachers is located in Nandekula village and serves 990 students, the majority of whom face extreme poverty. This school's high dropout rates are fueled by immense socioeconomic and cultural challenges. In Uganda, 35% of women drop out due to early marriage and 23% leave school due to early pregnancy. Those students who do graduate in Nandekula often lack the funds and basic skills to pursue higher education or find meaningful work.
This project will provide training and resources to the students and teachers of IPSS to develop the problem-solving and critical thinking skills to identify and address issues of gender, violence, and poverty. They will develop research skills to access new ideas and information related to the issues . They will gain the confidence and leadership skills to implement their solutions as well as the communication and collaboration skills to build capacity with classmates, parents and residents
This is one of 72 schools in a project to empower 1,500 teachers and 30,000 secondary students to make the transition from hesitant, early learners to confident, engaged citizens. These emerging leaders will use their problem-solving and critical thinking skills to identify and address problems in their communities, challenge attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate cycles of violence, poverty, and discrimination, and build positive lasting relationships with the community to sustain change.
