Action in Africa + Creative Action Institute
It is an age-old African tradition that a child is not raised not just by their parent(s) but by the entire community. Action in Africa has for a long time emulated this tradition through our community partnerships. Last month, we extensively told you about Action in Africa’s Primary Partnership program, a program where we work with primary schools in the Nakuwadde community to support nutrition, teacher training, and the quality of education for all students in the community, even those that are not part of the AIA scholarship program.
We have always had an innate interest in working with other people who support the socio-economic development of people in Africa, Uganda, and Nakuwadde in particular. In the past, we have partnered with Alive Medical Services to organize annual medical outreach activities to improve access to health care; School for Life to provide affordable quality education, and recently, TeachUNITED to improve the quality of teachers in Nakuwadde. One of our newest partners is the Creative Action Institute, (CAI) a community organization that works in South America, East and West Africa to train and empower girls in leadership and advocacy, through creative leadership training.
Action in Africa is now working with CAI to train some of the AIA secondary scholarship students based on the creative leadership curriculum. The training is administered by the AIA staff to a select group of 26 girls at Mbazzi Secondary School in seniors one and two (comparable to freshman and senior year of high school). They regularly attend Sauti ya Dada sessions in their school club, and they participate in role plays, advocacy training sessions, and other creative efforts which are focused on building their confidence, leadership skills, and sisterhood.
Sauti ya Dada is a two-year program created by CAI that creates and strengthens systems of support, learning, leadership, and advocacy both in and out of school to help marginalized girls in East Africa complete their secondary school education. The phrase Sauti ya Dada is a Swahili term that means the girl’s voice. During the two-hour sessions, the students are mobilized by their group leaders and work closely with a teacher who works as an in-school mentor. The students’ parents also get text messages which are intended to spark important discussions between them and their children.
The aim is to empower girls who appreciate who they are and what they can do for themselves while encouraging them to take up leadership positions in their school. Recently some of the participants like Nalule Martha took a bold step and contested in the School prefectorial election. Marta is now the library prefect of Mbazzi Secondary School. At the end of the two-year training, some of the program participants will have an opportunity to participate in the East African Girls’ Leadership Summit (EAGLS)
To increase the chances of success for our scholarship students, Action in Africa not only pays their school fees but also extend different programs that are intended to improve their personal and employability skills. The Sauti ya Dada program is intended to supplement other programs at the AIA center like professional internships debate, creative writing, acting, and others, and extend them past the gates of the AIA community center, into the schools of the scholarship students. We are glad to work with like-minded individuals and groups, to achieve our common goal of empowering communities.
