Volunteer Breda heads off to Uganda
A teacher from St Patrick’s Loreto Primary School in Bray is one of a number of volunteers who flew to Uganda recently.
Breda Dunleavy and Lisa Barrins, a teacher from St Aidan’s National School in Sligo, left for Karamoja to commence their VSO placements.
Over the next year, they will work with the District Education Officers in Kotido and Moroto, mentoring school leaders on inclusive education practices and helping them to develop education strategies that address the challenges affecting girls’ education. They will also collaborate with local community groups to reduce negative attitudes towards educating marginalised groups, not just girls but also children with disabilities and orphans.
Lisa, who has already volunteered on education projects in Ghana, South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda, looks forward to embracing the new challenges this volunteer placement will bring.
‘I’m delighted to be involved in this Irish Aid project where I’ll be working and living amongst the local Karamojong people in Moroto’, she said.
Breda is similarly excited to put her wealth of education experience to the test.
‘I am looking forward to meeting the teachers in the local schools and sharing ideas and experiences together to further the educational experience of all the children in the Karamoja region.’
Educating girls is often not seen as a priority in Karamoja, one of poorest and least developed regions in Uganda. In one district, only 6.4 per cent of girls finish primary school at all. VSO Ireland has launched a new development programme to help more Ugandan girls go to school and address societal norms preventing them from getting the education they deserve. This project will be implemented by skilled Irish and Ugandan volunteers, and is being funded by Irish Aid, the Government’s official overseas aid programme which works on behalf of Irish people to address poverty and inequality around the world.
VSO Ireland has already delivered a successful inclusive education programme in Karamoja, which increased literacy rates by 20 per cent and numeracy outcomes by 10 per cent.