International

VIDEA strives for excellence and integrity in our international programmes, seeking to develop and deliver programmes collaboratively and transparently. VIDEA is a member of the BC Council for International Cooperation, and the Cooperation Canada and is guided by their general guiding principles.

We strive to maintain a high level of knowledge of international development best practice and lessons learned, implementing them throughout our programming.

Zambia
Access to Education

Zambia – a country of awe inspiring beauty and home to three of our incredible partner organizations including Women for Change, the YWCA, and the Matero Education Project.

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Uganda
Indigenous Knowledge

Uganda – The “Pearl of Africa” has a wealth of natural beauty and diversity. Uganda is home to Mpambo – The Afrikan Multiversity, Arise and Shine Uganda, Environmental Women for Action in Development (EWAD), and Gulu University.

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Tanzania
Gender and Labour Rights

Tanzania – well known for landmarks such as Mt. Kilimanjaro is also home to some of our wonderful partners including Equality for Growth, the Children’s Dignity Forum, and the Women’s Legal Aid Center.

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Zambia – Access to Education

Zambia – a country of awe inspiring beauty. Home to 72 languages, Victoria Falls – one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, and is well known for having a welcoming and friendly population. A landlocked country in Southern Africa, Zambia is bordered by Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola. The 2016 statistics show that Zambia’a population is around 16.59 million people and is known for being a peaceful and diverse country that is rich in natural resources.

Zambia has witnessed a significant growth in population over the last five decades, and as a result, the population is young and faces huge challenges for education provision. Despite these barriers, Zambia has demonstrated commitment to improving its national education system and has undertaken considerable policy development and reform to address the Zambian Education 2030 Vision agenda. For example, new policy initiatives have resulted in increased access to basic education, improved infrastructure, and enhanced equity at primary level. Zambia is not only close to achieving universal primary education (UPE), but is also approaching universal lower secondary education.

Zambia continues to strengthen governance and democratic processes, with government institutions developing and reinforced transparency and accountability efforts. The review of system-wide policy and planning found that Zambia has in place good policy and institutional provisions with regard to educational planning, governance, and management. One key highlight of the Zambian government’s efforts is the passing the passing of the Gender Equality and Equity Bill into law by parliament in 2015. Commitment to women’s inclusion and participation in government has continued to rise over the years, as women continue to take on key and influential government positions. In the 2016 elections, 132 women were elected at the council level, compared to 85 in 2011. At the parliamentary level, 26 women were elected in 2016, up from just 17 in 2011. The country also saw the election of its first female vice president, Inonge Wina, making her the highest-ranking woman to ever hold elected office in Zambia’s history.

Women for Change
Women for Change is a Zambian gender focused non-governmental organisation (NGO), working with communities, especially women and children in rural areas to contribute towards sustainable human development using Popular Education Methodologies (PEM).

VIDEA has partnered with Women for Change for 10 years. This support has included the placement of Canadian Youth Interns and support to deliver VIDEA’s Education Programme in rural Zambia. Currently the education programme provides educational and leadership opportunities for vulnerable young men and women in rural areas across Zambia. This support includes payment of school fees, assistance to succeed in education, the provision of leadership opportunities, and on-going support and mentoring for high school and college/university-aged young people. The purpose of the programme is to demonstrate that given a chance, vulnerable, rural young people can succeed in post-secondary education and can go on to bring a pro-poor analysis into their work as tomorrow’s leaders and policy makers. In addition VIDEA works with WfC to support economic opportunities, such as the fair trade basket enterprise in Senanga, that build sustainable livelihoods and provide opportunities for women and men to work together as equal partners in development, and opportunities for communities to take responsibility for their own development by supporting improved civic education.

YWCA
The YWCA Zambia works towards a peaceful and gender sensitive Zambia with opportunities for a better quality of life for all.

VIDEA has partnered with the YWCA in Zambia for 10 years. This support has included the provision of Canadian youth interns, and support to the Children in Crisis Centre (CCIC) in Lusaka, where the YWCA delivers a component of VIDEA’s Gender Programme. This support helps to provide a safe and nurturing environment at the CCIC where girls who have been the victims of abuse can live safely and gain counselling support while they wait for a safe family of community placement, and take their perpetrators to court.

Matero Education Project
The Matero Education Project seeks to provide equal access to quality education in the Matero compound of Lusaka.

VIDEA has worked with Matero Education project for 6 years. In this time VIDEA’s education programme has provided educational opportunities to vulnerable children in this high-density urban compound, through the payment of school fees and a nutrition programme.

Action Africa

Action Africa Help International (AAH-I) works in the thematic areas of Governance, health care, environmental management, and humanitarian relief. It is a regional African-led non-governmental organisation that supports livelihood-challenged communities in East and Southern Africa to sustainably improve their well-being and standard of living. In partnership, AAH-I has hosted International Aboriginal Internship placements, enriching AAH-I community and youth work while widening VIDEA’s reach for development efforts in Zambia.

Zambia National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL)

The mission for ZNWL is to support Zambian women and girls to proactively take up Leadership roles and actively participate in the development of the nation, through capacity building, policy advocacy and lobbying. VIDEA is excited about this recent partnership and to have ZNWL host IAYI interns in order support their innovative gender focused programming.

Rising Foundations Development Program (RFDP)

RFDP is an NGO based in Lundazi, Zambia committed to improving the livelihoods of rural women and children through community mobilization, partnerships, and capacity building and advocacy. VIDEA has recently partnered with RFDP to host IAYI internships, and looks forward to supporting their initiatives that promote gender equality.

Uganda – Indigenous Knowledge

Uganda – The “Pearl of Africa” is a country with a wealth of natural beauty and diversity. It borders Lake Victoria, contains the source of the Nile, the Rwenzori Mountain range, jungles and many unique species. It is a landlocked country bordered by Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Since gaining independence in 1962, Uganda has seen many changes. Despite a number of challenges, Uganda continues to make positive strides in socio-economic development, education, and gender equality.

In recent years, Uganda has signed and ratified several standards and codes to enhance its commitment to promotion of good political governance. As a result the country has continued on a path of democracy and good political governance through regular elections. These elections, at all levels, have enabled the citizen to participate in the democratic processes at all levels of governance.

Youth unemployment remains a serious policy challenge in Uganda, as 57% of this population is below the age of 19 making Uganda‘s demographics one of the youngest in the world. However, improving the education system and tackling youth unemployment is key to Uganda‘s broad based socio economic development. For example, Uganda has recorded one of the highest rates of poverty reduction on the continent by reducing poverty from 56% in 1992 to 19.7% in 2016.

Mpambo – The Afrikan Multiversity
Mpambo is a unique African organization that is dedicated to the advancement of indigenous knowledge for community renewal and enrichment. It spearheads innovations to empower the community to anticipate and manage  cultural change.

VIDEA has partnered with Mpambo on multiple educational and research projects to spread awareness and engagement with the Multiversity paradigm.

Arise and Shine Uganda
Arise and Shine Uganda believes that the key to sustainable community development is through education. Through education initiatives in rural communities to build schools, increasing attendance for girls as well as boys at schools, and adult education programs, Arise and Shine is trying to promote development through education one village at a time.

VIDEA’s partnership with Arise and Shine Uganda has supported their education work through hosting International Youth and Aboriginal Internship placements. This collaboration has enriched AAS’s community and youth work while widening VIDEA’s reach for development efforts in Uganda.

Environmental Women in Action for Development (EWAD)

EWAD is a non-profit organization located in Entebbe, Uganda. EWAD is dedicated to helping children and the most vulnerable persons in the communities through its programmes, which included working with small-scale artisanal miners to eliminate child labour. EWAD is also very involved in community organization and education specifically on sustainability issues.

VIDEA has partnered with EWAD to host IAYI internships and support their implementation of projects that support human rights work, specifically creating child free labour zones and educational centres that encourage children to finish school.

Gulu University – Indigenous Medicine Department 

Gulu University seeks to be a pillar for academic, professional and sustainable development. The Gulu Univerisity Traditional Medicine Department does this through the prioritization of Indigenous knowledge surrounding health and wellness, and traditional medicine.

Tanzania – Gender and Labour Rights

Tanzania’s geography is one of the most varied and unique in the world; it contains Africa’s highest point, Mount Kilimanjaro (19341ft / 5,895m), as well as many lakes, mountains and numerous beautiful national parks, including the world renowned Serengeti National Park. One of the larger countries in Africa, Zambia is situated alongside the Indian Ocean in eastern Africa and borders Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, The DRC, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique. A beautifully diverse nation – in both geography and population – Tanzania is home to 125 ethnic groups with over 100 languages spoken across the country.

2016 statistics show that the population is around 55.57 million, most of which is made up of youth under the age of 15, making the protection of children a key priority. Since the passing of the Law of the Child Act in 2009, several measures have been taken over the tears to ensure justice for children. For example, in 2013 the government approved a ‘National Plan of Action for Most Vulnerable Children’ to ensure that they receive basic social services and protection from violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation. This Plan was complemented by the ‘National Plan of Action to Prevent and Respond to Violence against Children (2013-2016)’.Today, far more children are surviving childbirth and successfully avoiding potentially fatal diseases such as malaria and HIV and AIDS. Primary school enrolment has nearly doubled. New legislation transforms many of the rights spelled out in the CRC into national law. This progress reflects joint commitment by the Government of Tanzania and all of its development partners to support the achievement of rights by Tanzania’s children.

Despite ongoing challenges, Tanzania has improved in the health sector, along with robust gains in education and incomes, and poverty has been steadily decreasing since 2007. A more stable political situation has also led to an increasing extent of foreign investment in the country.

Equality for Growth

Equality for Growth (EfG) are a gender-focused organisation in Tanzania who focus on helping women traders in the informal market sector in Dar es Salaam to better understand their human and labour rights, develop leadership skills, and organise to claim their labour rights.

Previously, VIDEA has placed two interns at EfG who assisted with delivering resource mobilisation and information programmes. In addition to interns, VIDEA is proud to provide support for EfG in their work to bring female market traders together to work together to claim their rights within the markets and grow their businesses.

Children’s Dignity Forum

The Children’s Dignity Forum (CDF) is a gender and child focused organisation focusing on issues around child marriage, female genital mutilation, and the participation and protection of children. CDF works to secure the human rights of children in Tanzania.

This is a new partnership for VIDEA and we hope to support CDF in the future with the placement of interns and continual support of CDF’s gender focused advocacy work.

Women’s Legal Aid Centre

The Women’s Legal Aid Centre (WLAC) provides legal advice and counseling for marginalized women throughout Tanzania through their main office as well as a mobile outreach unit. WLAC assists women to learn more about issues surrounding gender-based violence, land rights issues, custody challenges, etc.

In the past, VIDEA has also placed two International Youth interns with WLAC, who were able to work alongside staff on a variety of programmes.