|
 |
To prevent wars and genocide, cultures of peace must be built. We help to build cultures of peace and foster the education, rehabilitation and community reintegration of children and youth affected by conflict. These are among our critical strategies to end child soldiering.
|
| |
 |
| |
|
|

|
Lira Palwo Senior Secondary School students in Pader district
Northern Uganda perform Bwola dance on 10 September 2010 in UMECS-sponsored
Peace Activities Event in which Lira Palwo hosted Sir Samuel Baker
School from Gulu in a day of peace drama, debate, poems, songs,
music and dance.
The woman elder, tall, dignified and traditionally dressed, had
traveled all morning from the village to the secondary school in
Gulu where her son attended. She asked to meet with the Head Teacher
and was told to wait. In about 20 minutes, she was told to enter the
Head Teacher’s office. There, she was offered a chair and sat down.
The Head Teacher greeted her and asked what brought her to his
school. “I have come to ask you a question,” the mother said with a
twinkle in her eye. “What have you done to my child? He no longer
misbehaves!” The Head Teacher broke into a broad smile. “You are not
the first parent to ask the same question. Perhaps you know the
reason? “I think I do,” the mother responded. My son has explained
he is part of a new program. I have come to thank you.”
That July conversation is one of many similar such positive
encounters that have taken place this past year in seven secondary
schools in Northern Uganda. The visitors are some of the parents of the
2,441 students collectively participating in “the program,” in the seven
schools. The program is UMECS Peace Education and Guidance &
Counseling in Secondary Schools in Northern Uganda.

A Kitgum Alliance student debates Pabo Senior Secondary
School team as part of UMECS-sponsored Peace Activities
Event hosted at Pabo, Amuru district on 13th Sept 2010
As we announced last year, in a highly competitive process, UMECS-Uganda won
a grant from USAID in Uganda to pilot this program. Chief goals include
building a culture of peace to prevent new wars, building peaceful
schools and communities, replacing cycles of revenge with
reconciliation, and providing guidance and psychosocial needs of
children and youth affected by conflict. Uganda has suffered through
cycles of war, including the brutal, twenty year war in Northern Uganda
that ended in 2006.
After one year of implementation in collaboration with the Ministry of
Education and Sports, the program has had groundbreaking results:
greatly reduced violence, bullying and indiscipline at all seven pilot
schools; improved academic performance; engaged students determined to
build cultures of peace in their schools, communities and society;
transition from punitive to restorative justice at all seven schools; a
highly empowered teacher cadre who feel ownership of this program and
mandate to prevent new wars; the prominent role of students as peer
counselors and peer mediators. 2,441 students and 88 trained teachers
are participating in the pilot.
“These results exceed our highest expectations,” notes Charles Onencan,
UMECS-Uganda Associate Executive Director and the project’s manager. “We
expected substantial results over time, but did not imagine the results
would be as transformative as quickly as they have been. Combining
guidance and counseling with peace education is one of the reasons for
this early success. Training students as peer counselors and peer
mediators is another. This has created a unique, innovative model we
believe can work anywhere. We think we’re on to something.”
Ministry of Education and Sports Commissioner George Wirefred
Opiro reinforces this premise: “There are significant links between
Peace Education and Guidance and Counseling, including the role of peer
mediation and acquiring the values, skills and competencies for students
and community members to resolve conflicts peacefully through
relationship, dialogue and peer counseling.”
Joel Ojok, UMECS-Uganda Counseling and Guidance Program Director agrees. “In
transforming students into peacebuilders, guidance and counseling is the
key that unlocks doors. Our students have become more open and
supportive of each other. They now have more confidence and skills. They
can now practice nonviolence. This is why in less than a year, whereas
bullying was a serious problem at many of our pilot schools, bullying
has practically disappeared.”
Upon winning the grant last year, which follows more than three years of
planning the project with partner secondary schools, district leaders
and the Ministry of Education and Sports, we familiarized the project
with Northern Uganda Acholi sub-region district leaders in Amuru, Gulu,
Kitgum and Pader districts and selected seven secondary schools to pilot
the program: Pabo Senior Secondary School in Amuru; Sir Samuel Baker
School, Gulu High School, Gulu College and Sacred Heart Secondary School
in Gulu, Kitgum Alliance College in Kitgum and Lira Palwo Senior
Secondary School in Pader.
In a collaborative process, we selected 88 secondary school teachers from
the seven schools and lecturers from Unyama-National Teachers College
for peace education and guidance and counseling training. From 30
November – 21 December 2009, teachers and lecturers participated in
certificate level training conducted by Makerere University Institute of
Adult and Continuing Education. The trainings were a major experience
and built in program ownership and camaraderie with the teachers.

88 teachers and lecturers during their Nov-Dec 2009 certificate level
Training in peace education and guidance and counseling at Gulu College.
Makerere University
Institute of Adult and Continuing Education conducted the trainings
Mr. Michael Obote, a trained guidance counselor at Gulu High
School stated on 21 December on the occasion of awarding the
certificates: “This has been more than a training we have attained. The
opportunity has created a strong bond of brotherhood and sisterhood and
created cadres of peacebuilders, guidance and counseling educators
throughout Uganda.”
In January, we built a curriculum development team of trained teachers,
UMECS staff and expert curriculum developers, including Mr. James Lumoro,
Regional Inspector of Schools for Northern Uganda. Two “teacher-owned,
student-centered” curricula in peace education and
guidance and counseling were developed in time for instructional
readiness Copies of each curricula are available on this home page,
below, and in our Peace Education section.

A peace education class at Gulu College
The program rolled out in February 2010, during Term 1 at the seven pilot
secondary schools. The program components are:
-
Peace
Education Classes
-
Student-centered peace activities (peace drama, peace poetry,
debates, music, song and dance)
-
Guidance classes (problem solving, decision making, peer counseling,
peer mediation, career guidance, relationships, communications,
HIV/AIDS, gender equality, et al)
-
Counseling (group and individual)
So what is Peace Education? Ms. Patricia Alum Alice, an economics and
geography teacher at Gulu College who teaches peace education to Senior
1 & 2 students says that peace education is understood by her students
as “the process of acquiring the values, the knowledge and developing
the attitudes, skills and behaviors to live in harmony with oneself,
with others, and with the natural environment.”
Commissioner Opiro notes that the major goals of peace education are to
build a culture of peace so as to prevent new wars and build peaceful
schools and communities.
Ms. Alum expands the role of peace education, indicating that healing
and forgiveness are major components of peacebuilding and peace
education. “Peace is not possible without forgiveness. The only way our
students can learn the habit of forgiveness is by seeing us, their
teachers, forgive others and forgive ourselves.” She notes that Martin
Luther King once said: “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a
permanent attitude.”
Commissioner Opiro affirms that Peace Education “promotes forgiveness as
a value and provides the values, skills and competencies to address
conflict through dialogue, cultural traditions, relationship building
and other nonviolent means.”

Sacred Heart Secondary School students conduct a debate at a
7th July 2010 Peace Activities Event
Student centered peace activities are critical to attaining the goals
of the program, such as peace drama, poetry, debates and dance, and
permit students to express their understanding and practice of peace
through creative expression. Hundreds of these activities in which more
than two-thousand students have participated, has helped to transcend
peace education from the study of peace to the expression of peace to
the practice of peace. Interschool and intra-school events are the most
exciting, when students perform before their peers, teachers and
community members.
“Students have amazed even themselves with the development of their
creative talents to express peace and build cultures of peace,” says
Margaret Akech, UMECS Peace Education Coordinator, who works directly
with participating schools and teachers to implement the program’s
activities.
These activities include UMECS-sponsored Peace Activity Events at each
school and multi school events such as have been held in Gulu, Amuru and Pader districts, and in Kampala.
For more information about our program, please download the launch
edition of our Journal of Peace Education and Guidance and Counseling
by clicking
here
|
|

Teachers, Ministry of Education and Sports, USAID and UMECS-Uganda
officials gather for group photo following the launch of the Peace
Education and Guidance & Counseling trainings on 30 Nov 2009. UMECS-Uganda
Associate Executive Director Charles Onencan is in center.
|
|

|
 |
|
The A-Factor Project (A for Agriculture)
designed to transition dependence on donors to fund secondary,
vocational and technical school education in Northern Uganda to
sustainable self-sufficiency through youth-led agricultural
entrepreneurship. Starting in 2011, new students will earn the funds
to finance their education while become experience-based
entrepreneurs and modern agriculturalists…and UMECS-Uganda Peace
Education Center is in the planning stages. Architectural
plans have been developed for The Center which will be a nucleus for
programmatic peace education, peace educator research and the
development of peace education activities, courses and trainings.
More About UMECS > |
|

Ministry of Education and Sports Commissioner
George Wirefred Opiro speaks
with the media following the launch of peace education and guidance
and counseling trainings 30 Nov 2009
|
UMECS Books Campaign a Huge
Success
Schools in Northern Uganda Benefit

Dr. Ronald Zeigler, Director of Nyumburu Cultural Center at the
University of Maryland, US performs on the flute at Gulu College
School in Gulu, Northern Uganda as part of a 15th July 2010
celebration and week-long tour of schools that received books
through UMECS Strengthening Schools in Northern Uganda Program.
UMECS-Uganda hosted “Dr. Z’s” visit during which time, the Gulu College
Nyumburu Cultural Center Library was officially launched.
Thanks to UMECS-Uganda's successful books campaign and the dedication
provided by UMECS partner Nyumburu Cultural Center at the University
of Maryland in leading the campaign, thousands of students in
secondary schools in Northern Uganda are now benefiting from
improved teaching, learning and academic performance. As part of
UMECS Strengthening Schools in Northern Uganda Program, this
campaign helps to end the book drought in many Northern Uganda
Secondary Schools. A shortage of books has contributed to students
performing poorly on high stakes national exams. The campaign
includes Books for Africa that has been providing books to
twenty-five African nations over the past twenty years. Our campaign
provided thousands of high quality course specific books in math and
science, business and economics, literature and technical subjects.
We were able to donate books to Pabo Secondary School in Amuru
District, Gulu High School, and Lira Palwo Senior Secondary in Pader
among others, including a donation of 700 high quality medical texts
to the Faculty of Medicine at Gulu University. The largest recipient
was Gulu College School that serves a populous student body from
around Greater Northern Uganda – enough books to launch their school
library appropriately named Gulu College Nyumburu Cultural Center
Library. This past July, UMECS-Uganda hosted Dr. Ronald Zeigler, Director
of Nyumburu Cultural Center for a weeklong tour of the books and
schools that benefited from the donations. |

UMECS-Uganda sponsors 111 war-affected children and youth, including
former child soldiers, in our Northern Uganda Education Program.
Our holistic sponsorship begins in secondary school and runs through
higher education graduation. Here are brief updates on 5 of our
students:
Joyce Ajok from Kitgum graduated from J&S Nursery School
Teachers Training College in Gulu last year and now serves as a
teacher in their on-campus nursery school. In 2005, Joyce was among
our first students – an orphan living in a displacement camp in
Kitgum as the war raged on. Joyce’s life was statistically heading
nowhere. We enrolled Joyce at Y. Y. Okot Memorial College School in
Kitgum where, over four years, she did remarkably well and passed
her O-level exams. She could have proceeded to an A-level program;
however, in her own words, "becoming a nursery school teacher had been my
life’s dream." We enrolled Joyce in nursery school teacher training
college. Joyce, who is excelling as a nursery school teacher, plans
to teach for another year and then seek a degree in early childhood
education. We will continue to support Joyce every step of the way.
Felix Oceng from Amuru district enrolled at St. Joseph’s
Technical School in 2007 and is now completing his third and final
year in Bricklaying and Concrete Practice (BCP). Next year, we will
enroll Felix in a two year Crafts Program at Kiryandongo Technical
Institute, leading next to an Advanced Tech Program. Felix is
preparing to become a general builder and contractor.
Harriet Atimango from Gulu is now a Senior 5 A-Level student
at Bishop Cipriano Kihangire Secondary School in Kampala. Last year,
Harriet completed her four year O-Level program at Sacred Heart
Secondary School under our auspices and passed in Division 1. She is
now taking Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Entrepreneurship in
her A-Level preparation for university where she plans to major in
electrical engineering.
Raymond Lubangakene from Gulu, now a Senior 4 at St. Joseph’s
College, Layibi, is writing his O-Level exams in preparation for
admission to a top A-level school. Raymond has consistently ranked
Number 1 in his class at St. Joseph’s Layibi for the past four
years.
Polycarp Oyet from Pader is now in Senior 6 at Kabalega
Secondary School in Masindi and writing his A-Level exams in
preparation for university admission. Polycarp will attend a
university in Kampala next year, majoring in economics and business
administration. |
|

Three of UMECS-Uganda sponsored students from Katakwi District. Our
20
students from Katakwi – of 111 sponsored students in our Northern
Uganda Education Program - are enrolled at St. Mary’s Madera and
Halycon High School in Soroti and Katakwi High School. |
|
|

As a mother and secondary school teacher in Northern
Uganda, Margaret Akech is a stakeholder in peace. As UMECS-Uganda Peace
Education Coordinator, she is more than a stakeholder; Margaret is
responsible for coordinating peace education classes and student
centered peace activities in secondary schools as part of
UMECS Peace Education and Guidance & Counseling Program in Secondary
Schools in Northern Uganda. It keeps her busy. “My work is
rewarding,” she says. “I work directly with our trained peace
educators in seven secondary schools, helping to coordinate peace
education classes and the student peace activities. It is exciting
to see how students creatively express what they are learning in
peace classes in their drama performances, debates, poetry and
music.”
A graduate of Gulu University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business
Education, Margaret also earned a Diploma in Secondary
Education from Nkozi National Teachers College. She holds a
certificate in Peace Education from Makerere University Institute of
Adult and Continuing Education. Margaret was a full time entrepreneurship
and commerce teacher at Gulu Central High School with previous
experience managing food distribution programs in the displacement
camps during the war. She is fluent in five languages: Acholi,
Luganda, Runyoro, Swahii and English. Margaret has known peace and
war and like her UMECS-Uganda team members, she is determined there will be
“war no more” in Uganda. “Our children should not have to go through
what we did,” she says and feels her role as Peace Education
Coordinator is having a transformative effect. “Before we started
our program, bullying had been a problem at most of the schools. It
is now mostly eradicated. Indiscipline cases have greatly reduced.
Students have become peace builders. Teachers and parents give
credit to our program for making these changes. I see it as having
provided students with the opportunity to be trained as peer
counselors and peer mediators. I see how their participation in
activities such as peace drama has built confidence and creative
expression. By providing guidance and counseling with peace
education, students have become open so they are actively involved
in problem solving. They now are practicing nonviolence. They
understand the role youth must play in building cultures of peace.
We are doing our part and they are doing their part. The youth can
become leaders in peacebuilding and this is being proven by the
results.”

A Peace Education Class at Sacred Heart Secondary School, Gulu |
|

UMECS-Uganda has launched a quarterly publication, the
Journal of Peace Education and Guidance & Counseling. The Journal is
designed to serve as a forum for Peace Educators and Guidance
Counselors with a Ugandan and African focus. The Journal will also
feature global writers and articles. A call for articles will be put
out in December 2010 on this website and our e-newsletter. The
launch edition, which you may download here, focuses on the details
and results of our Peace Education and Guidance & Counseling
Program in Secondary Schools in Northern Uganda with
stories, documentation and pictures. The next edition, Jan/Feb 2011,
will present a wider range of topics from within Uganda, other
African countries and globally. A unique aspect of the Journal is
that it combines peace education and guidance & counseling as this
combination is at the core of the success of our program in
secondary schools in Northern Uganda. To download the Journal,
please
click here |
 |
| : Click on icon above and save file on your computer. The Slide Show has been compressed as ZIP file format (.zip), approx. file size 6.5 MB. Once you have downloaded the file, you may have to unzip it (using an application such as WINZIP). Double click the PowerPoint file (.ppt) to view the slide show. |
 |
To build cultures of peace in classrooms,
schools, local communities and globally, peace can be taught in
school. To review and download primary and secondary school peace
education resources, click here
|
|
Every great once in a while, a book comes along that changes the way society thinks about a fundamental social justice issue. That book, in 1852, was Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the anti-slavery novel by the abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was a powerful force on the American and British conscience to end the African slave trade and slavery.
more> |
|

Peace Education students from Gulu College perform a drama
demonstrating
how communities can transition from violent conflict to peaceful
dialogue at Peace Activities Event with Sacred Heart Secondary
School, 31st July 2010 Ministry |
|