CUSO-VSO Ottawa, Ontario
Web: http://www.cuso-vso.org/
email: questions@cuso-vso.org

Interview with Education Program Adviser Andrea BacsfalusiAndrea

Interview conducted by HRPGP staff member Virgil Haden-Pawlowski

An Abbreviated Summary of the Interview with Andrea:
CUSO-VSO is a non-profit development agency that works through volunteers. Each year they send hundreds of global citizens to work on collaborative development projects in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean. They are one of North America's leading international development organizations that works through volunteers. Andrea works mainly with education programs but also with a youth inclusion program in Latin America.

About CUSO-VSO on Education:
A non profit international development organization that works through volunteers to overcome poverty, CUSO-VSO is the human side of development sending people to areas of need rather than aid funds. They have a people to people approach to their work. Working in over 40 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, volunteering is seen as part of the solution to addressing development issues, and their people to people approach is crucial for long term sustainable solutions. Skilled professional volunteers come from a wide range of skilled backgrounds, working in education, disability, secure livelihoods, participation and governance and natural resource management. Working side by side with committed people in the field volunteers help to make positive change happen. This is done by strengthening individual capabilities and building on the capacity of organizations in the countries where they work.

Education is one of CUSO-VSO's goal areas, with about 30% of volunteers sent overseas by CUSO-CSO working in education. Research has shown that education plays a role as a catalyst for human development and that progress in education allows progress in a wide range of sectors like health and nutrition and poverty reduction more widely.

In Andrea's role, she supports five of the 17 education programs maintained. Currently 17 countries have education programs, each country has an office where local colleagues work with partners to develop a strategic plan. Andrea supports the work of education program managers in Rwanda, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Mozambique. She identifies the skilled professionals who can fill the placements which have been developed within the strategic plan and program area for education.

Out of school children number about 75 million with a majority being girls and almost 80% of these children living in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. While enrolment is on the rise, there aren't enough trained teachers in the places needed. In order to achieve MDG targets of education for all we will need 18 million teachers by 2015.

CUSO-VSO has 3 main objectives on education:
1. Improve the quality of teaching in schools, teacher training colleges and professional development centres which serve poor and marginalized groups, especially girls and children with disabilities.

2. Improve the management of education systems and resources for poor and marginalized groups, especially women and people with disabilities.

3. That education provision is more inclusive of learners from marginalized groups, especially girls and children with disabilities.

Click here for CUSO-VSO's Education Goal Report for 2009.

I asked Andrea a few questions about her work and the operations of CUSO-VSO:

 How does CUSO-VSO contribute to the sustainability of education systems in the future and the continued valuing of teachers which its work promotes?
CUSO-VSO volunteers work on methodology with teachers that are either pre-service or in-service so that the teachers are more confident and are better equipped and motivated to teach. CUSO-VSO also works in advocacy, helping to guide governments to give better conditions and salaries for teachers. In this respect there has been much success and CUSO-VSO has helped to increase teacher salaries in Rwanda and Cambodia. These successes in training teachers, education leaders, principals, education advisers and officers in district offices allow those individuals to better manage the delivery of education and make the work accomplished sustainable.

How does gender come into play when discussing the challenges to education in developing areas of the world? And how is gender considered for when designing CUSO-VSO programs?
One of the ways support for education related initiatives in the community is gained is by working with communities to form mother-teacher associations and get mothers involved in promoting education in their communities and making sure that their daughters go to school. The mothers have also turned to request literacy programs to which CUSO-VSO has responded to appropriately.

Is the influence of adult literacy on children in the family considered in the work of CUSO-VSO?
Adult literacy has been shown in CUSO-VSO programs to be an important influence on the participation of students in education programs and attending school. CUSO-VSO programs have therefore been developed to reflect this.

What are some of the biggest challenges CUSO-VSO faces in its work to extend access to education?  Whether it be related to funding or otherwise.
Increasing awareness among the Canadian public on the importance of education, and funding for education is a continuous challenge. Getting enough skilled and experienced staff is also a regular challenge.

On another point, CUSO-VSO also works very closely with corporate partners to achieve its goals. Partners are in both the U.S. And Canada, which support CUSO-VSO with funding as well as in-kind donations through providing professional workers from these corporations.

How do we provide total education to people in developing areas of the world? What would you see as some of the main stops along a road map to total education?
As a start political will and commitment to providing more funds to education and supporting programs working in education, That involves raising awareness in the general public and across the globe. A lot of progress has been made, now we need to continue the push forward.


Our thanks to Andrea and CUSO-VSO for participating in this informative interview. Our success in Eradicating Poverty lies in our cooperation.