Open Letter to African Leaders

Protect and revitalize higher education in Africa.

“Contrary to the conventional wisdom that basic education is sufficient for African development, higher education builds the intellectual capital required for sustainable development.” — Suzanne Grant Lewis, Partnership for Higher Education in Africa

Lameck Okeyo, Iduka Volunteer Intern at Kenyatta University near Nairobi, Kenya

African Leaders need to know that their constituents care about education and support their commitment to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG 2) of achieving universal primary education for all by 2015. However, that cannot happen at the expense of higher education.

Rwanda’s recent decision to reallocate a large percentage of its higher education budget to the primary education sector is not the model to follow if we are serious about accommodating the newly enrolled primary school aged children, eradicating poverty and unleashing Africa’s full potential.

According to the UNESCO, a total of 1.2 million additional teachers are needed in the region to reach the internationally agreed goal of getting all children into primary school by 2015. Without continuing investment in higher education we will not be able to train these new teachers and ensure that, by 2015, all children have access to and complete primary education that is free, compulsory and of good quality.

Adding to the pressure is the impact of the global financial crisis that is forcing many poor countries to make further cuts to higher education. The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) reported earlier this month that “Mozambique’s education sector, which has made remarkable progress over the past 10 years, narrowly avoided having to cut 20% of its education funding and reduce by half its new school building programme following a last minute and much welcomed bail-out by the World Bank which provided $56 million.”

If we are to meet the MDG 2, we must stand up against drastic money-saving measures, including enlarging classes, closing schools, laying off teachers, and imposing further cuts to higher education.

You can help protect and revitalize higher education in Africa! Ask African leaders to strengthen higher education by signing this petition now.

We will deliver this petition to the: AU Head of Education Division and to all African leaders Jolandie Rust will meet during her Cycle for Education tour of Africa.

JOIN OUR GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION BY:

1) Signing the petition;

2) Spreading the word far and wide! Please re-post the link on your social network sites by clicking on the Facebook and Twitter icons below;

3) Clicking on the “+ Share” icon below to get to the Email button that enables you to send this forward action alert  to your friends, family members and colleagues.

Thank you for caring about higher education in Africa!

Volunteer Internship Program (VIP)

Iduka’s Volunteer Internship Program (VIP) operates under the Student and Community Outreach Committee and has two major components: the Iduka Student Volunteer Program (iSVIP) and the Community Volunteer Program (iCVIP).

The VIP is designed to provide current students, recent graduates, and members of the community at large the opportunity to learn about our program while participating in meaningful social projects.

iSVIP

The iSVIP is developed to teach volunteers the practical application of community organization and online engagement to further the cause of post-secondary education and the promotion and revitalization of higher education in Africa.

The iSVIP focus its activities on several approaches, including self study and research on education related issues, computer based learning, but much of the internship is spent learning practical skills through hands on activities related to the tasks students are expected to do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

The program teaches skills in two stages and four development phases. Stage 1: preparation and funding; Stage 2: implementation, evaluation, and duplication.

• During Stage 1, a large part of the volunteer’s time will be spent raising awareness about our program and recruiting online support that is critical to the funding phase of every pilot project.
• During Stage 2, students are encouraged to interact with Field Partners and provide them training and assistance as needed.

Depending on the skill and experience of the volunteer, the research can cover basic data collection for online posting, or research and analysis of education related data for Iduka’s program and fund development teams.

 

VIP

Student Volunteer Positions Available

Volunteering opportunities are available for students who believe in the transformative power of education and wish to further their post-secondary studies. The volunteering program is available for a select number of students at a time. Students are encouraged to participate in a pilot project that will be beneficial to the supporting of Iduka’s expansion goals, even if that means in volunteering for pilot projects taking place outside student’s geographical area.

We are currently developing a pilot project targeting underserved students attending post-secondary education institutions in specific geographical areas in Africa. To help us in this endeavor, we have the following country coordinator positions available for the following countries:

Central Africa: Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe

North Africa: Algeria, Mauritania, Western Sahara

Southern Africa: Angola

West Africa: Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau

Iduka internships are virtual volunteer positions, that may sometimes require off-line participation in local community outreach events. Though not a paying position, Iduka’s Volunteer Internship Program has many benefits for students. Most notably it gives students who have prior Iduka experience an advantage when they apply for an Iduka Grant.

If you are interested in volunteer, please visit the volunteer! page. We also appreciate your help in spreading the word about these opportunities.

Iduka Africa Pilot Project (IAPP)

The Iduka Africa Pilot Project (IAPP) is a series of five small projects, one per African sub-region:

Central Africa

East Africa

North Africa

Southern Africa

West Africa

After completing these projects, our goal is to launch a global campaign to HELPAfrica (Help Educate Literacy Partners in Africa).

The HELPAfrica Campaign targets the 1.2 million more teachers Africa needs to train in order to reach the internationally agreed goal of getting all children into primary school by 2015.

During our pilot project phase, we will focus in providing grants to interns who are assisting us developing and implementing our HELPAfrica Campaign throughout the region.

After completing the pilot project phase, the focus will shift to give financial aid to students who want to pursue a career in education and to teachers who want to further their studies. Our goal is to help educate all students interested in elevating Africa to full partner status in the international community.

At the end of our HELPAfrica Campaign, Iduka will open its grant program to all underserved, underprivileged, and underrepresented students who are committed to the Millennium Development Goals aiming at eradicating poverty around the world.

For updates about our IAPP, please make sure to join the project’s Facebook Group by clicking here.

Feel free to share your comments or send us your questions via email. Your engagement and support is key to the success of our project!

Business Palooza

 

Angela Lorefice (Secretary) at Business Palooza

Originally uploaded by Iduka Microloans

Angela Lorefice (Secretary) and Joan Barnes (Chair) at a local community outreach event in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Iduka fundraising event

 

Iduka fundraising event

Originally uploaded by Iduka Microloans

Joan Barnes (Chair), Darlene Craddock (Director), and Angela Lorefice (Secretary) at the Miami Charity XLIV Superbowl fundraising event promoted by Business Events Florida and Martini Networking.

Channel5 Interview

 

WPTV

Originally uploaded by Iduka Microloans

Miguel Martim (Executive Director), Darlene Craddock (Director) with Mônica Magalhães (WPTV) after a TV interview at Channel5, West Palm Beach, Florida.