Teach Ag Uganda:

Advancing Global Food Security Education

A project funded by the USDE Fulbright-Hays Program

 

What is Teach Ag Uganda?

During July 2023, Teach Ag Uganda unfolded as a transformative professional learning experience for U.S. educators to delve into the complex network of food security within the cultural, educational, and agricultural systems of Uganda.

The Global Teach Ag Network partnered with Field of Hope to facilitate collaborative projects between U.S. and Ugandan educators, concentrating on food security. Ugandan and U.S. educators had the opportunity to implement poultry/aquaculture projects with students at their educational institutions while sharing knowledge on food security, agriculture, and culture with students at their home institutions.

Field of Hope’s Mission: To build resilience in livelihood, food, and nutritional security in resource-constrained communities through youth agricultural education, smallholder farmer advancement, and leadership development.  

Timeline

From September 2022 to June 2023, educators from Teach Ag Uganda held monthly preparation sessions for the collaborative learning experience.

U.S. educators traveled to Uganda in July 2023

All the TeachAgUganda experience were shared in the Global Teaching Agriculture Network (GTAN) Community

Join the GTAN Community to discover what they learned! 

 

What were the objectives of this program?

  1. Increase the global competence of participating educators
  2. Focus on the intersection of culture, education, and the agriculture systems in Uganda
  3. Promote the integration of international studies and food security education into the secondary classroom

Why Uganda?

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy, contributing 24% to GDP and accounting for 52% of export earnings. The sector employs approximately 60% of the total labor force. Participants will learn about food security challenges in the context of the current agricultural system.

CULTURE

Participants were be exposed to diverse cultural norms and traditional practices, gender norms (e.g., women and men’s roles in farming activities), and languages. The cultural norms of the educational system were also be explored.

EDUCATION

 Participants gained an understanding of Uganda’s education system from the primary to the university level, and the program organized exposure visits for participants to learn about these systems..  

TIMING

A newly developed agriculture curriculum was launched at the beginning of the 2020 school year. The new syllabus uses science, technology, and entrepreneurship approach to agricultural education designed to build practical knowledge and skills across a four-year high school program. The curriculum is a result of years of reflection on the part of the Ugandan government, drawing on European and U.S. models, emphasizing inquiry-based instruction, independent thinking, experiential learning, leadership, and entrepreneurship. 

 

Site Teams

St.Gracious Secondary School

St. Katherine Secondary School

Comboni College

Dara Christian High School

Asili Girls Secondary School