Thoughts on Sustainability

Call to service inspired many Peace Corps volunteers – USATODAY.com

The education project review for Peace Corps Tanzania was completed a few months ago and I was reminded of it when I saw this news article.

The condensed version of the most personally salient point: …Sustainability, especially in ICT education remains a big challenge.

Sustainability. It’s turned into a kind of buzzword now with developmental economics and international aid. It’s so easy to build a school, but damn hard to field the teachers. It’s also next to impossible (in Tz at least) to train quality teachers, especially in the field of ICT. Brain drain anyone?

Examples abound: My first counterpart has left for Australia for further studies in ICT because 1) he’s good at it, and 2) he knows there’re better opportunities to use his skills (and escape Tz). My current counterpart will be following suit, although in Dar, for much the same reasons. With the loss of those two HCNs, the competent Tz members of my school’s ICT department number one, and he’s ALSO waiting on results of his masters’ app. After he leaves, there will be no one–which means I get to train yet another person who will hopefully stick around long after I’ve gone (don’t think my school’s getting another PCV)…Which is unlikely since the turnover rate is 2-3 years here.

Sustainability. What can be done? Obviously, not building capacity because you know someone will leave afterwards is not the way to go about it. I think the only way to go forward is to teach these skills to as many people as possible because in the end it will just be a numbers game–not everyone will be able to go abroad or to university, and thus there will always be people who stay at the TCs. It seems like a crap shoot who gets in where, thus, I say, train everyone.

I’m toying with the idea of extending for a third year. Ideally, this would be dealing with the sustainability “problem” at the TCs. I’d really like to be given the chance to work with the Moro Wakute group and train ICT tutors in how to do the Solaris administration work. It seems to be the only unsustainable leg of the three legged stool that is TC ICT: The other two legs being hardware repair (which they can do to an extent, assuming they’ve taken the CISCO course; harder stuff can be taken to computer fundis) and teaching the syllabus (theoretically this is being addressed at the university level: ie, it’s above my ‘paygrade’ to care about; indeed, as far as teaching the diploma level syllabus goes, all of my counterparts are able to perform superbly–better than me sometimes, as they can explain concepts in detail in fluent swahili if need be). So that leaves solaris admin work.
Thoughts? Is this something that would be feasible/advisable? Should I extend and do it (I’m leaning towards extending, 90% sure)? How do I even get the ball rolling…