URDT believes that training, education and information sharing are key ingredients to sustainable development programmes. URDT currently has 5 established education institutions that is URDT Girls School, URDT Tijhaar Community School Nkondo, URDT Community Schoool Kanyamiyaga, URDT Institute and African Rural University training young people between the ages of 6 – 30 years with over 3300 alumni and works directly with 499 students’ homes by 2018.
URDT’s education establishments have complementary roles and work together to create a pool of young visionary leaders and change agents who have entrepreneurial minds, are value driven and result oriented. As such URDT tackles major challenges in the education sector through its unique institutions.
After finishing the full educational cycle, they can be employed by URDT, other development agencies, government institutions or other development oriented institutions.
The 3 major carrier institutions are briefly described below.
URDT GIRLS PRIMARY & SECONDARY SCHOOL
The URDTGS uses the 2 generation approach whereby students and their parents learn together, develop a shared vision for their home, analyze their current situation, apply systems thinking, team learning, plan together and learn new skills.
Alongside the national curriculum, the students get ‘change agent’ training to generate sustainable income, health, family cooperation and peace at home while they study.
The students transfer their newly gained skills through back-home projects; educative theatre, workshops and radio programmes.
URDT recently adopted a primary and a secondary school to pilot test its 2-generation approach in a community school setting.
URDT INSTITUTE FOR VOCATIONAL STUDIES AND YOUTH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
The institute offers 2 types of education:
- Formal education: an integrated course that delivers all-round artisans who have entrepeneurial minds, integrity and the capacity to become self-employed and contribute to larger development goals. They get technical education at the URDT Solar entre, Metal workshop, Carpentry workshop and Demonstration farm. Duration: 2 years;
- Informal training in direct employable skills like farming as a business, bakery management; food processing and tailoring. Duration: 1, 3 or 6 months.
Cross cutting training: visionary life orientation /principles of the creative process, humanities and social sciences.
Crosscutting themes: citizenry, visionary leadership, environmental management, human rights & gender and entrepreneurship. The latter includes design of business plans and marketing.
ARU educates young women:
- to enable rural communities and other development agencies to design and implement community driven and self-propelling develop programmes: empowering people as creators of their own life and circumstances
- to provide rigorous scientific input to the design and practice of rural transformation processes: transfer the community experiences from the practical to the theoretical and back to the practice through ARU and the URDT- community driven epicentres
ARU offers:
- a four year Bsc in Technologies for Rural Transformation, accredited by Uganda’s National Council for Higher Education. The course offers a one year field practice in close collaboration with communities supported by URDT
- a one year Certificate Course in Rural Entrepreneurship and Business Management
- future programmes will include: Agribusiness and Rural Finance
Admission of new students begins in March. The courses start in September.