| Broad Fellowship Objective | Advancing IAEF Program goals through conducting learner instruction using US based and Uganda contextualized Agriculture teaching materials aligned with the newly revised lower secondary curriculum for agriculture with a focus on project-based and learner centered instructional methodologies. Fellowship focus areas: classroom instruction, field based practical activities, youth extension and community engagement, entrepreneurship projects, leadership development, digitized AgEducation and trade awareness initiatives |
| Tentative Fellowship Duration | March 2023 – December 2023 (Approx. 9 months) |
| Desired fellowship skills/ expertise | Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Education/ Agricultural Science, Agribusiness/Agriculture Economics, or training in any agriculture related field. Understanding of the US agriculture Education System, membership with National FFA, NAAE or National 4-H council is a plusExperience with international travel and working across diverse cultures.Excellent computer skills, youth training, and interpersonal skills |
| Important Notice: | This assignment will be accomplished under a fellowship arrangement and NOT as an employment opportunity with CRS.Fellows must provide an official transcript of undergraduate and/or graduate degree prior to fellowship departure (this is required for visa purposes) |
The International Agriculture Education Fellowship Program (IAEFP) is a three-year commenced 2020 but faced delays implementation due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The program will run through March 2024. The IAEF program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Uganda. The program has two broad goals; I) to improve developing countries’ ability to meet the food and fiber needs of their domestic population, and II) to strengthen trade linkages between Uganda and the US agricultural industry. The program provides opportunities for eligible U.S. citizens to assist developing countries in establishing school-based agricultural education and youth extension programs. To achieve these goals, CRS will work closely with the Government of Uganda (GoU) to identify components of the newly revised lower secondary school agriculture curriculum and develop complementary teacher instructional materials to be used through classroom instruction, practical field-based demonstrations, small entrepreneurial projects, and youth extension programs for community engagement. Additional activities will include promoting digitized agriculture education among the teachers and learners, leadership skills development and create awareness about US- Uganda agriculture trade initiatives.
Through the IAEFP, CRS will recruit, train and place five fellows in Uganda’s secondary schools for eight months to help advance program goals. IAEFP fellows will help scale up innovative agricultural education programs in selected schools in alignment with the government of Uganda’s newly revised Lower Secondary Curriculum, launched at the beginning of the 2020 school year, which emphasizes an active, learner-centered, and project-based approach to pedagogy.
Agriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy, contributing 24% to GDP and accounting for 52% of export earnings. The sector employs approximately 60% of the total labor force. Agriculture is also crucial to Uganda achieving its 2040 goal of transitioning into a middle-income economy. Agro-industrialization has been identified as one of the priorities in the National Development Plan (NDP) III, 2020-25 aimed at increasing the commercialization and competitiveness of agricultural production and processing. However, to achieve the above goals, key improvements are needed including increasing labor productivity in the agro-industrial value chain and creating jobs across an increasingly comprehensive food and agricultural economy which encompasses the private sector, research, academia, government and policy, food sciences, economics, and trade. Accomplishing these goals will also be crucial to reducing high youth unemployment rates.
Agriculture education is central to human capital development and contribute greatly to labor productivity in the agriculture value chain. Despite the many opportunities in the agriculture sector, young people in Uganda are disinterested in pursuing careers in agriculture. This population relates agriculture with poverty—it is seen as a subsistence livelihood rather than as a potential money-making venture and providing a wide range of respectable success-oriented career paths. The country’s education system has significantly contributed to the youth’s disinterest in agriculture, right from the obsolete agriculture curriculum that has been used in schools to the passive, teacher -centered learning methodologies, dominated by theoretical rather than practical field demonstrations. Historically, education systems throughout the developing world are tied to their colonial past. In Uganda, vestiges of this are reflected in agriculture training at all levels, focusing more on theoretical approaches, rote learning methodologies and often no relation to workforce preparedness or even on practical aspects of the subject. With the growing digital world, the youth are keen on technological advancements, hence the digitalization of agriculture and agriculture education would be fundamental for young people to desire and pursue opportunities and careers in the agriculture sector.
The NDP III is leading an educational transformation that now prioritizes human capital development, strengthening mechanisms for quality educational content, effective learner-centered service delivery, and improving the quality and relevance of skills development geared toward preparing students for a comprehensive workforce. To achieve the NDPIII objectives, in 2020, GoU through the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) and the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) rolled out the newly revised lower secondary school curriculum to foster a learning environment that places the learner at the centre of the learning experience. The aim of this curriculum is to promote positive values and attitudes, effective learning, and acquisition of skills to produce a secondary school graduate who has the competences that are required in the 21st century, thereby reducing unemployment among graduates. The curriculum is also aimed at reducing the content overload and contact hours in the classroom to create time for research and practical work, as well as creative ventures, promoting emerging fields of knowledge across all subjects and doing away with obsolete information.
The new agriculture syllabus uses a science- based technology and entrepreneurial approach to agriculture education designed to build practical knowledge and student skills across a four-year high school program. The new curriculum roll-out was started with new students from the primary section as a fresh cohort to enable follow up and curriculum evaluation through the lower secondary period. However, curriculum implementation and roll out was hampered by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which led to the closure of schools. In addition, incorporating this new curriculum approach in schools across the country, training of teachers, developing instructional materials (teaching guides, lesson plans, assessment tools), layering practical field and laboratory applications and facilitating of student entrepreneurial projects is still a major challenge for Uganda. Therefore, CRS’IAEF program will strategically focus on supporting GoU to address this challenge through the placement of fellows in early adopting schools or centers of excellence to help teachers and administrators understand and implement the new agriculture curriculum, focusing in the practical and active learner instruction benchmarking from the US agriculture education approach incorporating leadership, entrepreneurship, and digital methodologies.
The overall objective of the fellowship it to advance IAEF Program goals through conducting teacher and learner instruction using US based and Uganda contextualized Agriculture teaching materials aligned with the newly revised lower secondary curriculum with a focus on pedagogic instructional methodologies. Focus areas will include classroom instruction, practical field-based demonstrations, entrepreneurship projects development with teachers and students, youth extension programs and community engagement, and digitized Agriculture education initiatives.
Each fellow will be placed in a pre-selected secondary school in Uganda for a complete school calendar year (Term I, II, & III). The fellow will be required to work closely with the agriculture teacher, school administrators and other contact teachers within school who may be interested in integrating agriculture in teaching other subjects. The school will identify one staff to act as the fellow’s point of contact throughout the fellowship. Fellows may also work closely with student interns from National Teacher Training Colleges (NTCs) and relevant Universities, this is a sustainability measure to ensure skills transfer beyond the project duration.
During the school breaks, fellows will the placed with other CRS projects to provide learning opportunities and provide technical support to project staff or partners. Project placements will depend on fellows’ skills set and interest. A separate scope of work will be shared with each fellow depending on the technical gaps identified at project level.
The anticipated deliverables include:
| Dates | Broad activity categorization |
| March 13,2023 | Arrival at Uganda Entebbe International Airport. Pick up by CRS contracted transport company (Silver fleet) and check in at Hotel Interservice/CRS Guest house. March 14:Rest-day at the hotel – there are no scheduled activities |
| March 15 – April 7, 2023 | Orientation workshop. A detailed orientation schedule will be provided to fellows before arrival in Uganda. Finalize all related logistical preparations before field placement. |
| April 8-9, 2023 | Flag off fellows to the field |
| April 10 – October 27, 2023 | Commence fellowship activities as specified under the specific activities section |
| End of Term I (May 2023) | Participate in one-week joint project review and reflection event (the activity schedule will be developed in collaboration with the fellows. |
| During the school Break (At the end of Term II/August 2023 | Fellows will be placed with other CRS projects, partners. Placements will be made based on fellows’ skills set and required technical expertise. |
| December 1, 2023 | End of Fellowship: Final reporting and debrief with US Embassy/USDA- WA/Nairobi POST |
| December 4-8, 2023 | Fellowship wrap up and US Departure *There could be a one-week further extension for community centered activities |
In Kampala, Fellows will stay at hotel Interservice or at a CRS guest house (depending on availability and accommodation capacity) which is within 10 minutes walking distance from CRS Offices located behind the United States Embassy. While in the field, each fellow will stay at a pre-selected venue (a school residence inside the school, where school accommodation is non-existent, fellows will be accommodated at carefully selected housing outside the school). All fellows housing will be selected and vetted to comply with CRS policies on international staff housing. The accommodation will have basic facilities such as running water and power. Each fellow will be provided with a basic phone and mobile internet dongle – each installed with a CRS simcard to facilitate phone and internet communication while in Uganda.
CRS will provide each fellow with a monthly stipend to cater for meals and other incidentals while in Uganda. For more information, please refer to country information that will be provided.
| Item category | Cost details |
| Monthly allowance for fellows (covers meals and other incidentals) | $596 /per fellow |
| Housing & utilities, furniture, and appliances | covered by CRS |
| Laptops, mobile phones, and Internet dongles | Provided by CRS, including Ugandan sim cards to facilitate field communication |
| Costs for three-week TDY to the field (per diem, accommodation, transport) | covered by CRS |
| International medical and evacuation coverage | covered by CRS |
| Costs incurred in US | |
| Return flight ticket Uganda to US | covered by CRS |
| Travel related Vaccinations | covered by CRS |
| Visa and work permit processing fees | covered by CRS |
| CRS Baltimore |
| Priyanka Subba US. Operations Manager/IAEFP Recruiter 228 W. Lexington Street Baltimore, MD 21201-3443 443.955.7194 Email: Priyanka.subba@crs.org |
| CRS Uganda |
| Maria Nakayiza Program Manager International Agriculture Education Fellowship Program Office Tel: +256 031 226 5658 Mobile cell phone +256 783922882 Email: maria.nakayiza@crs.org |
| School Head teachers’ contacts will be shared per fellow’s site. |