“For heaven’s sakes are you condemning a whole generation in the Acholi sub-region to being carpenters and tailors?”

That statement hit me hard. It’s like the aftershock of when you try and open a door that you absolutely know is “open” and with all confidence you grab the knob and push with your whole body just to find that you’ve slammed your face into the door because it is in fact, very much “locked” … It hit me like that.

I was in a meeting with the director of a community-based organization in Gulu who shared with me some very eye opening information and more on the harsh reality of the educational situation in northern Uganda.

When researching, you sometimes get to a point in which you can predict what a participant might say and what your results may look like. You think you know everything there is to know about your particular subject. And for me, I felt as if the majority of the people I was working with shared the same sentiments as I did about the power of community and local initiatives. In general they do, but I’ve finally found the gray area.

Right now, the gray area includes finding out that one of the local organizations that is a part of my study has been speculated of being guilty of nepotism and mismanagement of funds leading to loss of a donor and funding. As much as I believe in community I was faced with another “locked door” situation. But I wanted to address this first before getting into the topic of this post. I’m learning that there may be no formula to running a successful program/initiative- whether run by locals, foreigners, expatriates, a mixture- Locals may understand the situation better, but you find that outsiders grasp that much as well. There is still power in community and local initiatives, but I have learned not to discount those that are not.

I am grateful though. The learning never ends so I am keeping my mind, heart and more importantly EARS open.

…

Talking with the director, some very interesting information came up. He said: “Today most of the interventions are people [the youth] being trained in vocational skills and what are we talking about- carpentry, tailoring, bricklaying and concrete laying”

It doesn’t sound “bad” at first does it? To give the hope of a better future through vocation to thousands of Acholi and Langi youth who don’t have the opportunity to continue their formal education. But as I’ve learned, these vocational skills programs discriminately outnumber those providing scholarships for secondary education and disproportionally outnumber programs for university sponsorship.

So what are we looking at here? … Exactly what is being suggested- The northern community of Uganda will not be able to compete on the same level as the rest of Uganda- especially with central. The Acholi and Langi continue to remain marginalized in accessing meaningful education. When local/national political and civil positions become available who will be qualified to run for them? The carpenters and bricklayers of the north?

I would take the time to discuss the UPE an USE (universal primary/secondary education) but we all know that these two governmental initiatives to aid education in the north are “free in theory” so I shall not misuse time and talk about it.

BUT

I believe that this wouldn’t be such a dire situation if there were more scholarship programs for tertiary education and if access to all levels of education was higher in this region. Yes, things take time and reconstruction is a tedious and extensive process, but it does not mean that the best solution is to settle.

In a way everyone is caught up. Donors don’t like to fund projects that they cannot immediately see the results for. Many NGOs and CBOs receive funding for 1, 2 years and after they must search or renew for that same funding. So there is a real struggle to secure funding for 6-8 years. But with education, “long-term” funding is the name of the game. What we are seeing is organizations and initiatives catering more towards these vocational programs because they will receive funding for them AND in 1 or 2 years donors see results.

A friend put it this way: “Sponsorships don’t pay off in the short-term. You keep sending children to school, but it takes years to realize what the pay-off has been and many donors are not that patient … yet if you are really to make a long-lasting intervention that is the way to go; you’ve got to make for posterity, you’ve got to cater to the future of this region.”

This is creating a lack of human resource in northern Uganda in fields such as medicine, law, administration, politics and among all things education! I would love to see many more youth from the north be able to compete and compete favorably with their counterparts in the rest of the country. After all that has happened in and to this region and people- the bureaucracy of aid is hindering true growth …

So the question still remains “Are we condemning a whole generation in the Acholi sub-region to being carpenters and tailors?”

Comments are welcomed.