Brighter Generation
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Mission Statement
Brighter Generation is a virtual program to teach the disadvantaged youth in Ethiopia, Africa by involving professional diaspora and global volunteers from the comfort of their homes while gaining an unforgettable experience, cultural exchange, and life-long friendships. This program was launched to improve the quality of education and to give hope to the next generation in Ethiopia, most critically economically disadvantaged students. The education system in Ethiopia has failed its students; only 54% of students continue past eighth grade and only 13% of the youth population graduates from secondary school. The recent National Examination score of Ethiopian students, in which only 5% of students scored above 50%, was an alarming sign for the developing country. While there are efforts to change the education quality, the Ethiopian diaspora and global volunteers have the potential to contribute significantly and enhance education in Ethiopia. Additionally, in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic restricted many from traveling to explore the world and learn about different cultures. This restriction has also impacted non-profit organizations that support college and graduate students through international outreach opportunities. Financially under-served students in the US are among the most affected by this circumstance, limiting their future opportunities. Brighter Generation, however, provides a platform for volunteers, including under-served college students, to participate in a global outreach service while gaining valuable international outreach experience and developing their resumes. For their volunteer service participation, the program provides college students community service credit and strong recommendation letters to support their career endeavors. The program completed a three-month pilot program in June 2022, and the first expansion in June 2023 demonstrates the feasibility of the new teaching model in Africa. In this pilot and first expansion effort, 80+ volunteer instructors globally taught more than 1,000 students in 30+ locations in Ethiopia essential skills in communication, reading, writing, critical thinking, leadership, computer programming, proposal writing, and community projects. In the next phase of the program, we aim to scale up to reach more than 2,000 students per session; thus, we seek your generous support.
About This Cause
With 120 million residents, Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous nation. Nearly 40% of its population is under the age of 15 (O'Neill, 2022). Yet, the school system cannot keep up with the needs of these young people, including providing a quality education that prepares students to become innovators and leaders that address their communities’ needs. 1) 85% of students make it past Grade 5, and only 54% of students make it past Grade 8 (UNICEF, n.d.). 2) While 24.6 % of high school-age adolescents (15-18 years) are enrolled in high school (Unicef, n.d.), only 13.09% of the youth graduate (International Data & Economic Analysis, USAID, n.d.). 3) English is the language medium in high school education in Ethiopia while students lack English proficiency. In the lower grades, English is taught in the local language by teachers who “have extremely limited competence in the English language and limited exposure outside the classroom” (Vujich, 2013, 16). Lacking fluency in English, many students refuse to ask questions in class; consequently, students fall behind on the material and fail to develop essential skills of proficiency such as reading, writing, and critical thinking. Unable to overcome the language barrier, this effect follows students throughout their lives, limiting their academic and professional careers. The Brighter Generation program aims to address these dire education needs in Ethiopia. Brighter Generation successfully demonstrated a new model of educational instruction using the virtual system, a technology-enabled solution in its pilot, which took place between July 2022 - October 2022. To execute this pilot program, the program recruited more than thirty professional and global volunteer instructors with a wide range of professional experience in fields including biochemistry, astrophysics, public health, pharmacy, engineering, Information Technology (IT), management, and teaching. With their busy lifestyles and personal commitments, these highly skilled professionals could rarely travel to remote places in Ethiopia to teach for an extended period. However, the virtual-enabled system allowed them to teach under-served communities from the comfort of their homes. Furthermore, COVID-19-related traveling restrictions affected many non-profit organizations that support college and graduate students through international outreach opportunities. Economically under-served and minority students in the US are among the most affected by this circumstance, limiting their future opportunities in their career search. Brighter Generation, however, provides a platform for volunteers, including under-served college students, to participate in a global outreach service while gaining valuable international outreach experience and developing their resumes. For their volunteer participation, the program provides college students community service credit and strong recommendation letters to support their career endeavors. The pilot program was launched across nine centers and involved more than 104 students. In our first expansion, we increased the number of students to 750 students in 30+ locations in Ethiopia, impacting underserved yet high-achiever students with equal gender distribution through an extensive interview process. The comprehensive curriculum included weekly lessons, class exercises, homework assignments, and an integrated learning management system. The program aims to empower students by improving English communication, writing, reading, critical thinking, computer programming, and leadership skills and developing problem-solving skills through impactful community projects. In this program, we have developed a Learning Management System (LMS) using Moodle software where instructors and students can interact virtually and post weekly lessons, homework, quizzes, and other reading and practice materials. Not only does this system facilitate communication between teachers and students, but it also improves students' digital proficiency and ability to communicate professionally. After a successful pilot demonstration of the Brighter Generation program, in the next phase II (2023 - 2026), we plan to expand the program in order to teach thousands of students in Ethiopia by June 2026 and to reach even more students by training and qualifying hundreds of local teachers with your support. -Phase II (June 2023 - October 2026) -Increase teaching locations from 30+ centers to 200 centers. -Expand the number of students to 10,000 per session. -Recruit more than 300 Ethiopian diaspora and global volunteer instructors. -Recruit 300 college interns to participate in the Brighter Generation program. -Train 1000 additional Ethiopian teachers to impact more than 100,000 students annually.