Welcome to the first update from my new position with CUSO International (formerly CUSO-VSO).

I have begun a placement with the Education Development Center(EDC) on a USAID-funded initiative aimed at helping the Rwandan Education Board (REB) to improve literacy and numeracy in grades P1 to P4. I am working as a video module developer and in this capacity I will am responsible for procuring video equipment, training REB staff on the upkeep and use of the purchased equipment as well as the production of several 1-5 minute video modules showing best practices in literacy and numeracy. We will be filming the videos in classrooms where teachers who have been trained in child-centered best practices for literacy – another aspect of this USAID-funded project - will be teaching. The videos will then be isseminated to local school districts, teacher training centers and individual teachers as an example of child-centered approach to literacy and numeracy in action. This is the pilot phase of the project and if the results are successful, it has the potential to be rolled-out to many other low-resourced school districts in sub-Saharan Africa.

The organizations that I am working with, CUSO International, the EDC and the REB are all excellent and well-respected organizations with whom I am very excited to be working.

During the coming months, I will be adding more and more posts about life in Rwanda (Kigali specifically) and working with CUSO International, as well as focusing on fundraising for CUSO International. CUSO International is a wonderful Canada-based organization with a long history of social upliftment and volunteerism. Since it started in 1961 the organization has sent more than 15,000 volunteers abroad and worked in 70 countries around the world. In order to make this happen, CUSO International depends on donations from individuals; whether they be returned volunteers, family and friends of volunteers or simply people committed to social justice.

I hope you will consider donating to this incredible organization. For more information check out their website or for those of you who wish to donate, you can follow this link. In the next few posts, I will give you more information about CUSO International’s set-up, financial systems and projects.

Please check back often for more updates.

Thank you in advance, and please do keep coming back to check out what is new as I can guarantee I will have a lot to say about this new adventure.

Stay well,
William