Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Bagniewski.
Hi Erin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I worked in consulting and at Fortune 6 health insurance company for the first 16 years of my career. In 2016, I resigned after working there for 12 years because I could not connect the new job to “meaningful” work. I quickly researched going to Africa, and within a month, I was on my way to Zambia. I spend six life-changing weeks volunteering in schools and with community programs in Livingstone, Zambia. I got to know some of these intelligent students with much potential well, but I was saddened that they had no one to help them learn and achieve their full potential. How do you learn when no one facilitates learning? Next, I landed a job with HealthPartners, a US-based health insurance and health provider nonprofit, in their Uganda field office. This was a time of self-reflection and a time when I found my calling and some inner peace I didn’t know I had been looking for.
While in Uganda, I joined the Rotary Club of Mbarara and made amazing local connections. The President at the time, Allan Asignwire, introduced me to Rwemiyenje Primary School in January 2018.
I moved back to the US in June 2018, and once again, wondering what was next. I wanted to work in International Development focused on SDG4 and improving the quality of education, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa. I applied for grad school (Master’s in Comparative and International Development Education), got accepted, and focused all of my course work and research on improving the quality of education in under-resourced primary schools in sub-Saharan Africa. I joined Africa Strong Inc, a nonprofit started in 2016 by an individual I volunteered with in Zambia. I have slowly transformed the organization to focus on Teacher Professional Development and working on the improvements we have made with Butakara Foundation at Rwemiyenje Primary School in Uganda. I put all of my heart and energy into Africa Strong. While there is still a lot to do, we are making progress and an impact.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There have been plenty of struggles along the way. People often tell me I was courageous to leave my job and start on the new journey that took me to Zambia and eventually Uganda. That to me was the easy part. The struggle was adjusting back to life in Minneapolis when I moved back. I also struggled to find a job using my new degree. I faced a lot of rejections and, even more, just no response. In all of this, I met amazing people who willingly introduced me to the next person, ultimately leading to my current job. However, landing a position aligned to my degree came after I had to take a side step and take a 7-month contract job back in Healthcare. When I took the contract job after almost a year of job searching, I wondered if I was taking a step backward. If all the work I had done over the last 5 years was for nothing, and all the self-doubting questions that I think are natural in a mid-career change process like this.
I face common obstacles daily in learning and growing in the nonprofit space. A lot of what I have done with Africa Strong Inc is self-taught, learned through online courses, networking, and leveraging transferrable skills. We are a small volunteer-run nonprofit. We are passionate and want to see our mission come to life. We face many obstacles, like many small nonprofits, the most significant being donor acquisition. We are seeking volunteers and board members with fundraising, finance/accounting, marketing/social media, and nonprofit experience.
We’ve been impressed with Africa Strong Inc., but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Our Vision is To help children realize their potential and empower them to make a difference in the world for themselves and others. While our Mission is to provide a safe and quality learning environment to improve learning outcomes. We set out to accomplish this through our strategy of partnering with like-minded organizations to address the three underlying challenges that prevent students from receiving quality and relevant education today:
1) ATTRACT AND RETAIN QUALITY EDUCATORS: We will collaborate with teachers to provide professional development to ensure new inquiry-based teaching methods are shared and a part of teachers to develop 21st-century and literacy skills in students. Estimates predict a shortage of 24 million teachers in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia by 2030.
2) CONDUCIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: We will support the school leadership and community to address educational facility issues that detract from their learning experience by investing in better facilities and supplies.
3) ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION: We will create and improve opportunities for students and teachers to access education by overcoming the barriers that prevent them from attending school
Over the past 6 years, Africa Strong has delivered on its strategy and partnered with the local organizations and schools in Zambia and Uganda to address 3 fundamental challenges mentioned above the schools face.
Africa Strong has had a profound impact on the communities we’ve served. By the numbers, Impacted over 2,075 people in Uganda and Zambia:
-Established libraries at 3 schools Uganda.
-Donated 100 Chromebooks to 3 schools/programs in Uganda.
-Improved sanitation facilities for the girl child (100 girls) at Rwemiyenje Primary School.
-Increased school enrollment by 200 students at Rwemiyenje Primary School.
-Built dormitories, expanding the boarding capacity by 50% at Rwemiyenje Primary School. .
-Provided home study materials during 20-month school closure due to COVID to students at Rwemiyenje Primary School.
-Built an eco-friendly kitchen making sure 700 students are served at least one warm meal a day at Rwemiyenje Primary School.
-Reduced Teachers absenteeism from 40% to 5% by renovating and building teacher housing at Rwemiyenje Primary School.
-Increased student performance on Primary Leaving Exam resulting in continuous metric improvement each year at Rwemiyenje Primary School.
-Removed the barrier for girl education by providing reusable menstruation kits to 60 female students at Rwemiyenje Primary School.
Africa Strong Inc is looking to partner on several significant projects in the coming years.
-We established a relationship with the local teachers’ college, Bishop Stuart, and are working with the Deputy Headteacher. Initial discussions and discovery are underway with, a Teacher Professional Development organization out of South Africa to expand our work to teachers in 6 districts. The partner we are in discussion with will seek funding for this project.
-To best serve the community, we know it is time to pivot and partner with additional schools in the district before it is too late. Students are already traveling from other schools to Rwemiyenje, which introduces new challenges and risks, especially for girls. This will require significant funding.
-Lema Technologies will conduct a needs assessment for a solar, water purification, and WiFi Solution. Based on the estimate, we will determine a path forward.
-We want to launch a program to work with a local organization to train community tailors to make reusable menstruation kits. We will provide these menstruation kits to girls at Rwemiyenje (and ideally other nearby schools). Additionally, we want to deliver annual menstrual hygiene training for girls and boys.
-Lastly, we are looking for connections to fabric companies willing to donate scrap material for the menstruation kits.
What matters most to you? Why?
With Africa Strong, partnering and collaborating are very important to us. We find organizations with expertise and partner to solve problems and challenges. We value the input of working closely with the school leadership to accomplish their projects. We want to make sure their voice is heard. It matters that our projects are locally driven and culturally sensitive, and appropriate.
Also, teacher professional development and giving teachers the tools and skills they need education the students is a top priority. This matters most to me and has become a big project for Africa Strong. We are hopeful that our initial discussions with the teachers’ college in Southwestern Uganda and a Teacher Professional Development organization out of South Africa will proceed this year. Our goal is to implement continuous professional development for 7,000+ teachers. This is more than we could have ever imagined doing as the small organization we are, but through building relationships and partnering with like-minded organizations, we could accomplish something big.
Knowing my work is having an impact, however big or small, is what matters to me. Giving back, doing good, and being kind are important. I am a Rotarian and serve on the Books For Africa board in addition to volunteering as the Executive Director at Africa Strong. I value using my time and skills for the good of others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://africastronginc.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/africastronginc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/africastronginc
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA90EXK90hwfeMykfeADRAA
