We congratulate all teachers of the world, we celebrate you. We welcome you to experience education in Africa with us.

Welcome to Mackay Education Volunteers Network (MEV-NET) in Uganda. Your contribution to Education development in Uganda is needed now than before. As a result of the Covid-19 disruption in the country, Ugandan education will never be the same. Many Ugandan children have lost on their education and so on their future goals. Kitara Foundation is currently working with education partners and schools to maximize on its education goals. Our aim is to work with parents, local leaders and village education volunteers to ensure that education continues even when schools are in shut down. 

MEV-NET is an initiative aimed at EMPOWERING villages around the country to drive CHANGE and end the cycle of poverty through EDUCATION. We support people bring social responsibility by connecting village volunteers, international volunteers, students, and working professionals to serve as mentors and education providers to the children in especially in rural communities all over the country. We work with local volunteers in their communities to get involved and become mentors and education providers to children across the country! This is an incredible way to give support to education ‘‘by all for all’’. It’s super easy to get involved and it’s fun to get connected and help mentor these children.

Mackay Education Volunteers Network (MEV-NET) aims at offering support to Formal education with the goal to improve Access and Quality of Education in Uganda. MEV-NET works with Community Education Volunteers (CEVs) to reach out to Local Education Stakeholders, schools and families to meet the education goals of the children. MEV-NET work is in two major areas of (i) Education research and Advocacy (ii) Support Learning through mentoring and village libraries.

Background to Mackay Education Volunteers Network:

Mackay Education Volunteers Network (MEV-NET) was founded in honor of the greatest Educationist missionary in Uganda Alexander Murdoch Mackay who came to Uganda at 27-year of age as an education volunteer through church mission; Born on 13 October 1849 by Rev. Alexander Mackay, Mudoch studied at the Free Church Training School for Teachers at Edinburgh, then at Edinburgh University, and finally at Berlin. Unlike other Missionaries Mackay did not do much is preaching the gospel in Buganda, rather he taught Ugandans how to read and write, as well as equipping them with the skills of performing technical tasks using modern technology.

Mackay arrived in Uganda in November 1878, where he spent nearly 14 years, never once returning to his native Scotland; He worked with his Ugandan learners to translate the Gospel of Matthew into Luganda and applied his engineering skills working with his learners to build 230 miles of roads; He taught various skills to the Ugandan people, including carpentry and farming. He was named ‘‘Muzungu wa Kazi’’ by the Ugandan Swahili speakers. The name means “the white man of work.”

After his arrival, Mackay added new impetus to the missionaries’ efforts in education. It was common to find Mackay with large sheets of papers, writing big letters, making easy syllables, or words and sentences and surrounded by learners. He taught them the English alphabet and how to spell the Luganda words. Eventually, there was a huge rise in the number of learners to the extent that the missionary teachers were overwhelmed.

Mackay did not stop at teaching natives how to read and write, but ensured that they gained some technical skills. This was to be his most successful and productive venture. His ambition was to gather pupils and to teach them to make useful things for their people,” He taught natives how to construct bridges, roads and improved crop husbandry. He also equipped the learners with skills on how to build better houses, make advanced tools like hoes, chairs and tables.

After Kabaka Mwanga succeeded Mutesa I, and shortly after turned harsh to missionaries and their followers. Mwanga dismissed Mackay from Buganda in 1886, after the missionary had been in Buganda for almost nine years. Mackay withdrew and settled on the southern shores of Lake Victoria in the present-day Tanzania, where he kept on teaching, translating and printing learning materials. He, however, kept in touch with his former Christian congregation in Buganda because he hoped to return to the kingdom, which was his second home. But this was not to be. In 1890, after 14 years in Africa, Mackay died of malaria when he was just 40 years old. His body was buried in Tanzania. His efforts as a teacher set a strong foundation for the growth of education, especially technical skills training in the land he had made his second home.

Our Mission

MEV-NET is dedicated to improving the tomorrow of Uganda’s communities through the education of today’s Citizens; our mission is to support improvement of educational standards to world class education through;

1. Education research and advocacy
2. Support learning through mentoring and village libraries.

Our Vision: Upright citizens with skills, knowledge and self esteem to suit millennium challenges.

Our Education Philosophy: First and most obvious is the emphasis on access to affordable high-quality education for ALL Ugandan children. With its booming information economy, Uganda is a land where a good education is often a ticket out of poverty, but it is also a land with extraordinary educational stratification: children with opportunity and means can get an excellent education, while the majority of children have access to poor schools.

At MEV-NET we work to improve access and the quality of education supporting Uganda’s communities to achieve their future goals.

We believe that the only way to improve tomorrow’s options and outcomes in Uganda is through education today. MEV-NET focuses its efforts on access, quality, and success in Ugandan education. We seek to support children, families, and their communities in their educational goals and to work alongside the existing educational systems with leadership present in local communities.

Educational Access – We believe that every Ugandan Child should have access to education. We work to identify potential roadblocks/barriers to educational attainment. We provide support, and information to meet the identified needs and assist individuals in gaining access to education.

Educational Quality – We believe that every Ugandan should participate in and experience high quality education in preparation for the future. We support the work of Education stakeholders, schools, parents and guardians through assessment, dialogue, and teaching to enhance the educational experience.

Educational Success – We believe that every Ugandans should have the opportunity to achieve success through education. We work to increase school completion and attendance rates, decrease failure and dropout rates, and to promote achievement in Ugandan education.

General Aim

Our aim is to help every child to enroll in school and achieve the highest degree of individual development of which he/she  is capable, keeping in mind the needs and values of the society he/she is living in.

To stimulate in learners a sense of pride in their national heritage and culture, a respect for their environment and the ability to observe only the best of other cultures;

Academic Aims

Development of skills, qualities of character, knowledge and physical well being;

To achieve personal satisfaction in an academic medium;

To advocate for learning opportunities where the child can be creative and use one’s initiative.

To foster an inquiring attitude among children;

To develop capacities for thought and judgment;

Social and Moral Aims

We promote social awareness of oneself and others.

We advocate that the school becomes a place that provides the opportunity for learners to interact with each other and with adults in a pleasant way, both at school and in other communities, thus becoming aware of the needs of others.

While acknowledging differences, they learn to appreciate and respect others.  We support education to instill a code of social and moral behavior based on religious principles.

We work with schools to prepare learners for decent leisure and recreation.  Schools try to make the learners understand that in a democratic society each individual has duties and obligations to the community as well as rights within it.

Specific aims

• Work with schools to make learners happy at school.  If learners are happy in their environment, their minds will be at peace and hence open to learning and receptive to new ideas.
• Work with schools, homes and communities to provide an all-round education.  The whole student is considered to be important i.e. the physical, mental, emotional and moral aspect is emphasized.  All this provides a strong foundation that will later help learners become eager students, self-confident and able to interact favorably with each other and with adults, both at school and in other communities.
• Work with schools, homes and communities to make children aware of their needs and the needs of others
• Work to motivate parents/guardians guardians to set goals and commitments to achieving their goals.

Improving Quality of Life in the School

All the school work should be done in an atmosphere of play and fun.  Learning becomes an enjoyable event and hence learners are introduced to the world of formal learning in the most enjoyable ways.

We feel that parents should play a vital role in their children’s education and progress; therefore we try to introduce close ties and co-operation between the school and the home environment.

While lots of things are important, we need to hone in on the few factors that make a big difference in learning, such as motivating teachers and holding them accountable, and creating an environment for children that is engaging and interactive.

MEV-NET works with Parents and the Community to share experiences and knowledge about education through village meetings and school meetings and other meetings as friends of learning.

Graduates in a community can be a great resource as education mentors in their communities. Parents and other Community based stakeholders such as local leaders, churches, workers; old students can be a sustained source of reading materials and other support to learners and their schools.

Working with teachers, parents/guardians and volunteers we will teach children how to learn. Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The purpose of education is to replace an empty, closed mind with an open one. 

Parents, volunteers, teachers, community leaders, and friends of learning are called upon to engage in the learning of the children. Educating a child is an honor to the Nation, community, village, family and the child.

Project Area 1: Education Research and Advocacy

One strategy for improving education in the country is to conduct education research and assessments and to communicate the findings to educational officials and other stakeholders at local and national levels and to focus attention on the educational quality issues that have been raised, especially the fact that millions of children are leaving school without mastery of the very foundational skills needed to fulfill the promise of education.

According to the theory of change adopted from Uwezo Uganda, the quality of a service is more likely to improve if demands are articulated simultaneously by civil society and by professional opinion and if these are directed at various levels of the chain of delivery, in this case policy-makers, educational administrators and teachers.

We recognize that schools remain the formal pathway through which basic education skills would be acquired and hence the need to examine the school contexts of learning. For this reason we have to conduct some school surveys alongside community and household-based assessments.

We recognize that the equity agenda includes interrogating learning levels for children in difficulties or in isolated localities. As a regular part of our work, we will utilize assessment evidence to engage communities and school systems to create awareness and trigger local actions for improved learning.

We want to carry out research and promote innovations that have the potential to improve the level and distribution of learning outcomes in Uganda’s education.

As a result of the research and experimental work we expect that policy actors and practitioners will increase knowledge and awareness of interventions that could improve learning outcomes and make them more equitable.

The findings from the research and experimental work will be used to improve educational policies and practices.

To make the best use of available resources, we plan to support research and innovations aimed at improving access and quality of education. In some of these, our Community Education Volunteers and their local communities can play a significant part. But we shall also be open to support innovations initiated by schools or other partners which demonstrate best practice or have potential to improve children’s learning outcomes.

MEV-NET seeks to produce independent evidence on the quality of learning, the distribution and factors associated with it.

Expected Outcomes 

1. Policy actors, practitioners and the public will gain increased knowledge, awareness and understanding of education outcomes and their distribution.

2. The evidence will be used to improve resource allocation and the delivery of education.

MEV-NET will continue conducting strategic citizen-led education assessments to establish actual education access and quality levels in Uganda.

By providing tools to measure academic improvement, & continue encouraging education through dialogue and mentoring we are able to connect children to brighter futures.

Project Area 2: Mentoring and Village Library

Education plays a big role in the development of a community and establishing a library in each community is just the first step towards creating a space dedicated to learning. We call this hope for the future through books.

By stocking a small community library in the village with books, you can provide all children with access to educational resources that will enable them to expand their education. Books open children’s minds to a world of possibilities and give them the tools they need to dream bigger. And you can inspire that within them through mentoring!

Mission

MEV-NET is committed to long-term management of and support for small community libraries in rural areas. Our goal is to establish long-term relationships with community libraries, rather than provide donations for education. We believe that every child and adult should have the opportunity to pick up a book and read, so we are dedicated to increasing access to reading material and other information in especially rural villages in Uganda.

Many Ugandan human habitats are rural with limited access to educational resources, situated miles from the closest towns where one can purchase a newspaper or books, most villagers don’t have access to reading materials. Even the local schools lack sufficient textbooks for the village’s students. Local institutions such as church or even schools are willing to donate a room or building to create a small library, but they need help to stock enough books for this valuable resource center.

By providing avenues to locally source textbooks, novels and reference materials, this project will enable the villages to establish well-stocked community library, giving village learners access to books and other resources. Local volunteers and friends of learning will manage the library.

The community library will enable citizens especially from the rural villages to continue and enhance their education beyond the primary school level. Library will be the only place where many will have access to books and educational resources.

Developing a Reading Culture in Ugandan villages

MEV-NET is committed to facilitate dedicated educators and volunteers bring the printed word to students desperate for access to the wider world.

How do you pass on book learning if you don’t have any books? You write notes on the blackboard, or you dictate lessons. Your students write down what they can, then go away to study their notes, accurate or not. That’s how most students learn in Uganda. They come from villages where the schools are overcrowded and underfunded, and teachers are lucky if they have one textbook for every ten children.

To make things more difficult, all education beyond the most elementary level is done in English, a foreign language to Ugandans, and one that in rural areas is rarely heard outside the classroom. It is hardly surprising that only a minority of rural children gets into secondary school, and only a small part of that group goes on to higher education. Yet young rural Ugandans and their teachers alike yearn for access to the world outside their villages and, given the opportunity, will work hard to acquire the necessary knowledge and language proficiency to do so.

In much of the urban areas of Uganda, libraries are taken for granted, but their appearance in up-country Ugandan villages is a dream come true. In fact, it has only been since the 1990s that secondary schools have been created in most rural areas. (Before that, anyone wanting to continue school at that level had to go to one of the major towns.) But even today, those rural schools lack the kind of support outside of the classroom that lets students expand their knowledge of the world beyond their villages.

Different libraries in different districts may have different collections and reach out to their communities in different ways, but the same mission will unite them: to enhance education in Uganda by developing a reading culture. The vision is that libraries in villages throughout Uganda will enable rural people to take charge of their own education and will provide a vital infrastructure for educational and developmental innovation.

To Volunteer in Education in Africa contact Kitara Foundation for Regional Tourism at https://kitararcc.com/contact/