Sault College promotes gender equality at Tanzanian schools

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Sault College is partnering with two other Ontario colleges to promote gender equality at two schools in Tanzania and encourage female participation in the workforce.

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Centennial College and Durham College are also part of the $870,000, four-year project at Njombe Folk Development College and Msaginya Folk Development College. Global Affairs Canada is funding the venture.

“We’re very excited to have this opportunity,” said international project manager Jane Sippell during a virtual presentation to the college’s board of governors on Oct. 27.

Durham, with “a greater degree of gender expertise,” is leading the Ontario consortium. The project’s goal is “to improve the economic participation by women and adolescent girls in Tanzania,” said Sippell. The three colleges want to increase awareness of rights for women “and the benefits of economic participation.” Skills-training programs will be developed and female youth assisted to find jobs through career development, interview training and “linking them to the right resources,” such as microloans, Sippell told governors. Community-based workshops centred on gender equality and a gender policy for each school will be created.

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Representatives from Njombe and Msaginya will have the opportunity to come to Canada.

“We learn and grow as much as the Tanzanians,” said Sippell. “It’s definitely a two-way learning opportunity.”

Sault College previously worked with Arusha Technical College and Pwani Regional Vocational Training and Service Centre in Tanzania for three years.

“These projects are considerably more rural,” said Sippell of the latest venture. “Quite a bit more difficult to access.”

The communities where the schools are based, near Njombe and Mpanda, are “very rural” with limited electrical and Internet service and “follow very traditional cultures, which are male dominated in many ways,” said Sippell. Limited English is spoken. A translator will assist representatives from the Ontario colleges. Sippell is in Tanzania now with Durham and Centennial representatives.

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Sault College faculty with expertise in forestry, fisheries, hospitality and adventure tourism may assist with the project. National parks in the area of the Njombe and Msaginya schools “just haven’t had the amount of development or interest or infrastructure” as other major tourist draws in Tanzania, said Sippell. “There is huge potential for tourism. That’s one of the things that we’re going to explore.”

Most of the work done by Sault College staff and faculty will be reimbursed through project funds, said director of human resources and communications Rick Webb in an email.

Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic worked with Sault College between 2014 and 2017. The Sault Ste. Marie post-secondary institution helped the technical and vocational school in Barbados improve its renewable energy instruction.

President Ron Common told governors he’s been involved in international projects throughout his career.

“It’s extremely rewarding to do so,” he said.

Students from 35 countries go to Sault College.

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