Elgon Education Foundation (EEF) is an African rural-based and community-focused educational establishment, with its base in Mbale region, Uganda.It was conceived in 2006 and registered in 2009.
The Foundation is focused around three programmes, namely:
Community Education - which covers promotion of integrated water and sanitation, promotion of alternative energy options, promotion of formal education, local knowledge on environmental management;
Promotion of Girls’ education – in an atmosphere of good local governance as the backdrop of service delivery.
Research and Publications.
Vision
Realisation of rural communities empowered through packaged education for the enhancement of their livelihoods and wellbeing.
Mission
To provide tailored formal and informal educational services for rural communities with their active participation.
Values EEF promotes and is informed by the following values:
Truth and integrity
Transparency and accountability
Promotion of human rights
Gender equality
Caring concern for the underprivileged
Esteem of the human worth of the individual
Promotion of a culture of life-long learning and reflection
Our Values EEF promotes and is informed by the following values:
Truth and integrity
Transparency and accountability
Promotion of human rights
Gender equality
Caring concern for the underprivileged
Esteem of the human worth of the individual
Promotion of a culture of life-long learning and reflection
A Word from the Chairman Board of Trustees
If a local resident who died in 1948 were to suddenly re-open his eyes in 2008, and find his former self standing on BuMalele hill in Manafwa District, Uganda, he would instantly have the shock of his new life.
Looking east, he would at once see that along the entire stretch of the summit of Namisindwa Ridge (one of the five ridges of Mount Elgon), that used to be 100% forested – there stands not a single tall tree!
Lowering his gaze, he would see that except for Namisindwa’s perpendicular cliff, its entire slopes, all the way to where it tapers into Kenya, are intensively under the hoe of subsistence, as is the whole expanse of countryside between Namisindwa and BuMalele hill – with not a single spot of fallow land in view.
Next, he would be told that the former perennial Sambaka river of swelling waters now completely dries up during the dry season, and is a mere trickle most of the year.
He would see that immediately below BuMalele hill, on the 60 acres of land that used to belong to one man 60 years ago, there is now on average one family of about 10 souls to every 2 acres or 1 acre.
He would then be told that the majority of the occupants of the tiny mud-and-wattle houses of rusty corrugated iron sheets or grass thatch live in abject poverty and squalor: that only 1 in 10 houses has a pit latrine; that firewood for cooking is so scarce some homes resort to dry maize stalks, dry banana leaves and banana fibre; and that alcoholism index, the mortality rate, and maternal mortality rate are among the highest in the world.
He would also be informed that in the nearest and typical primary school (now under a system called Universal Primary Education – PLE), some pupils sit on stones for lack of expensive wooden benches; that with the approximately 80% enrollment rate of pupils in Primary One, the number of girls is only slightly less than that of the boys, but that by Primary Seven, after a high drop-out rate, the girls are just about 50% of the boys; and that the failure rate in PLE plus incomplete results is over 70%.
To the dead man now temporarily back, BuMalele hill and its environs might appear like a true picture of the whole world. Should he see the beginnings of a positive revolutionary change in this sick and pathetic scenario, this would typify for him a positive change taking place all over Manafwa District, the entire Elgon Region, and the whole world. He would be a happy spirit as he returns to the other world.
Welcome and thank you immensely everyone who is going to be our precious partner in working towards realising the worthy goals of Elgon Education Foundation.
Professor Timothy Wangusa, Ph.D.