Unforgettable Encounters: Students Dance with Joy and Exchange Gifts with GM for Green TVET Guests at Don Bosco Muhazi TVET School

On Tuesday, December 5, 2023, Johanna Dreher, the program manager for the Jugend Eine Welt Austria, was warmly welcomed by the students at Don Bosco Muhazi TVET School. Alongside her were Mr. Innocent Mutala, the coordinator of Gender Matter for Green TVET in AGL, and Prossy Ogwang, the project’s Gender advisor. The students expressed their joy and appreciation through dance and the exchange of gifts.

The purpose of their visit was to assess the progress of the project by touring the center, visiting new constructions, and meeting with program responsible and management for a general discussion of the status.

Led by the Principal, Father Raymond Bavumiragiye, along with provincial economer father Servelien Ufitamahoro with Gender Officer Aurore Niyitanga and Job Service Officer Jules Mudahemuka Sugira, the team inaugurated the new girls’ room, the counseling room, and the newly completed girls’ toilets.

They were also shown other activities, such as new sturdy metal dustbins and suggestion boxes placed throughout the school buildings. and they visited the achievements of the first group of students who are taking agriculture short courses. Some of their activities included planting bananas, tomatoes, peppers, beetroot, carrots, corns, cabbage and onions in the initial phase.

Johanna Dreher and the project coordination team from Uganda, participated in the activity of handing the goats to the single mothers who are the student of agriculture short course as startup tools kits which help them after their graduation.

In his speech, one of the students thanked the visitors for their visit and everything they are sponsoring in the school. He highlighted one of the difficulties faced by students who live far from the school and lack proper accommodation. As a consequence, they are vulnerable to experiences such as sexual abuse and engaging in negative behaviors like drug use. This is due to the lack of supervision and support in the ghettos where they reside.

Father Raymond, the school director, expressed his gratitude to the project, for the good partnership, which benefits the students and the community around the school. He also pointed on asking help about the lack of dormitory as an answer to many difficulties within the school.

Johanna Dreher acknowledged that the activities of the Gender Matters for Green TVET at Don Bosco Muhazi are being excellently implemented, especially when compared to the time when the project started. She congratulated the team from Muhazi for their collaboration and promised to closely follow up on the issue of dormitories.

Gender Matters for Green TVET project is sponsored mainly by Austrian Development Agency and Jugend Eine Welt with the aim of reducing policy-related, practical, physical, and attitudinal gendered access/participation barriers; it is also by improving access to high-quality green TVET courses, with a particular focus on girls / young women and also by Improving employability of graduates, especially girls and young women

An important focus lies on improving access to and quality of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the partner countries. The organization has established an excellent cooperation with the project partner in the region: The Salesians of Don Bosco in the Province AGL (African Great Lakes), covering the countries Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.