Where we've been:

The Giving Back to Africa Scholars Program

Scholars and Ann Marie Four Congolese students at Protestant Univeristy of Congo underwent a rigorous application process to become part of the Scholars Program. Between 2007 and 2010, these four Scholars, in addition to their university course work, participated in monthly seminars on a wide range of subjects that combined academic and service learning opportunities. Each Scholar was required to complete rigorous coursework on community assessment, program evaluation, and servant leadership which they practiced by giving back their time and talent to the PAID orphanage and school located 24 miles outside of Kinshasa in a peri-urban refugee settlement called Mpasa II.

The GBASP created a ripple effect of lasting positive change that spreads from the Scholars to the people in the communities where they give back and in turn to the DRC as a whole.

Accomplishments of the Scholars Program at UPC:

Giving Back to Africa:
  • Achieved a 75% graduation rate.
  • Provided servant leadership training and skills based courses that helped 3 of the 4 Scholars graduate with distinction (highly uncommon)
Scholars
  • Lived with orphans at PAID during summer practicums to learn first-hand the meaning of servant leadership in a real world context
  • Impacted the lives of the children at PAID by "giving back" through play, mentoring, and conducting research in the community on the assets and needs of the orphans, staff, school teachers, and community members
  • Learned to create business plans and interview local community members to inform future community-based development
  • held seminars with teachers and community members on a number of topics including family planning and an explanation of the 2009 Law on sexual violence against women that community members greatly appreciated

David Mihigo Matabaro

 

"I learned to get close to communities that were unfamiliar to me, and to get them to take ownership of projects I would set up for them; learned through this project to fit easily into a community." - Malivo Kagaba Jeannot, David Mihigo Matabaro (Attributed to both scholars in achievement report)

 

 

 

 

Malivo Kagaba Jeannot

"...We are pleased to have successfully completed our Giving Back to Africa Scholars Program training. ...With GBA's support, we have graduated from the Protestant University of Congo with Distinction. We have also experimented with field research, design and development of a project... which reflects the realities in the field, learning to apply our studies and use new means of communications." - Malivo Kagaba Jeannot