My friends are never surprised to hear I have a business trip coming up – some even refer to me as a “traveling frog,” or “lyagushka puteshestvennitsya,” after a character in a popular Russian children’s story. Because of my field experience and program portfolio, I’m usually headed somewhere I can use my Russian. So my friends were understandably confused when I mentioned I was planning a trip to assess the basic education sector in Uganda: “Why Africa?”
Uganda is surely a world away from Ukraine, where I taught English in the Peace Corps, and Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where I’ve also worked. Yet as I met with teachers, school administrators, Ministry officials and Peace Corps volunteers in Uganda, I began to identify common challenges—the need for more student-centered teaching methods, outdated or insufficient classroom materials, a lack of extracurricular opportunities for youth, and the need to educate diverse students in multi-lingual societies. IREX has helped educators around the globe address these issues through our work nurturing teacher leadership [14] and training instructors to use technology effectively to enhance learning [15].
I also came to understand that while IREX’s origin [16] in academic exchange with the former Soviet Union is a vibrant part of our organizational history, it does not limit the applicability of our approach. IREX enables local individuals and institutions to build key elements of a vibrant society: quality education, independent media, and strong communities. Our staff comes from a range of backgrounds, but we are united by the commitment to make a better world and the conviction that this cannot be done in a vacuum, whether we are working in Romania [17], Rwanda [18], or Liberia [19].
Early in my career, living in the former Soviet Union taught me how to be away from home – culturally as well as physically—and to ask questions and listen to the answers rather than marching in with solutions of my own. While regional expertise will always be key to implementing successful, sensitive programming, I believe good development starts with good listening—which is something dynamic organizations like IREX can do anywhere in the world.