Can virtual volunteering fill education gaps in Uganda?

KAMPALA — Near the poorest slum in the Ugandan capital, Madina Nakyanzi, 13, and her classmates now learn science, math, english, and even dancing through computer screens and through “e-volunteers.” “We learnt algebra,” the student, who attends a school in Namuwongo thanks to charity Uganda Hands for Hope, tells Devex. “We learnt what science is, how to ask questions, and how and why.” Her classmate, Miracle Lokuru, 14, has learned how to read and adds “I have learnt about gravity. I have learnt confidence.” Uganda Hands for Hope, whose students now even learn Irish dancing online through volunteers some 6,000 miles (10,000 km) away, is just one of a number of NGOs today making use of virtual volunteers. While some of their efforts were unintentionally fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and they’ve now stuck, some organizations are finding remote volunteers let them tap into a wider pool of experts and may save on physical international volunteers, and carbon footprint. But as they’re also discovering, it’s not the answer to everything. “Volunteering that used to be short-term can now be sustained in the long run through the power of technology.” --— Renuka Baboo, founder, JayBaboo Foundation The idea for a virtual classroom at Uganda Hands for Hope’s school in Kampala was the brainchild of Gollapalli Pragna Sree, a 15-year-old secondary student in the capital. Sree was first volunteering physically for the NGO but wanted to do more. She connected Uganda Hands for Hope to Chicago-based AVS Academy. The academy, which creates digital spaces where students can be involved with extracurricular activities, raised funds for the pupils to start online classes. These began about a year ago. Today, Sree and her friends from AVS Academy, some of them U.S.-based volunteer teachers, run weekly hourly classes in math and English for Ugandan children. Now, every week the charity advises in advance all its volunteers what part of the curriculum they require to be taught online. Separately, through India-based nonprofit the JayBaboo Foundation, which discovered Uganda Hands for Hope online, the children have learned about science and sustainability. From near the slums of Namuwongo, they’ve gotten to see NASA’s space shuttle launch online, and have learned about gravity through song and dance remotely. They’ve also had math lessons through the film Happy Feet after the charity asked for support with teaching the subject due to a turnover and absence of teachers. An international book reading day featuring “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” also took place online. All of this and more has been taught in sessions designed and run by Renuka Baboo, the founder of JayBaboo Foundation, and her scientist husband Robert Selwyn, who spearheads the social impact and innovation side of the classes. The duo conducts weekly group sessions with about 30 to 45 sixth and seventh graders at Uganda’s Hands for Hope school. Baboo has a corporate communications background and has worked with HP, VMware, Columbia University Medical Center, and Silicon Valley start-ups. “Organizations may choose virtual volunteering to expand their horizons, explore the power of a diverse talent pool, and reach out to a global community of supporters,” she said. Both Sree and Baboo admitted that the time difference was a challenge for some volunteers, with many in the United States who wanted to help out forced to stay up late. Then there were also technical issues such as with microphones and sound. But thanks to them and others, Uganda Hands for Hope is now sharing its curriculum between its physical teachers and online volunteers. The charity’s founder and director Joseph Cummiskey said that there had been a need for more support in teaching. “We’ve got gaps, the last few people have dropped off or never returned again,” he said. Cummiskey said that while online volunteering addressed this, it was also about trying to “combine knowledge.” “It’s not saying that one [online or physical learning] is better than another, it just exposes someone to things from both sides,” he said. Kids Club Kampala, a small NGO based in Birmingham that also works in the Ugandan capital supporting children who live in slums there, began using online U.K. volunteers for marketing, fundraising, and administration support research during the pandemic. They’ve kept this going. Today, KCK has seven staffers, 10 long-term volunteers, and on average the same number of online volunteers — 10 per year. “It means that we've been able to be a lot more inclusive as an organization,” said co-founder and CEO Olivia Barker White. She said that it had allowed the charity to offer people with neurodiverse backgrounds and students volunteering and work experience. “We've also had some volunteers who've had autism, and they haven't necessarily been able to engage with volunteering before due to having issues with not being able to travel or not wanting to necessarily leave the house,” said Barker White. “People don't need to have to travel to come to our office to volunteer, they can volunteer from wherever they are in the world, they don't need to have a set hour or set routine, they can volunteer in their spare time for evenings, weekends if that works better for them,” she said. Barker White added that it also meant that volunteers didn’t have to pay for their own travel. Voluntary Service Overseas, which describes itself as the globe’s leading independent international development organization working through volunteers, now has about 15 e-volunteers. The charity had been working with people remotely, particularly with returned physical volunteers who had connected back to them since at least 2013, volunteer resource manager Funke Yaya told Devex in an interview. Many of them were retirees who were donating two or three hours a week of their time. “E-volunteering has given VSO an opportunity to harness highly skilled professionals whose personal circumstance may not have permitted them to be in a physical location but are willing to support the vision of the organization by volunteering in a remote and flexible way,” said Yaya. She said that besides being environmentally friendly, online volunteering could also be cost-effective. There are already some success stories. “During COVID a group of e-volunteers with technical expertise in early childhood learning, psychosocial support, numeracy, and literacy supported our education practice areas in adapting teaching and learning to online form including webinars, WhatsApp text, radio, and recorded lessons,” said Yaya. Chris Evans, now aged 60, was a physical volunteer on a VSO community forestry program in Jajarkot, Nepal, in 1985. He began his career through this. Evans, who has since taught permaculture in the United Kingdom, Europe, Nepal, India, the U.S., and Mexico, said that when he was approached about e-volunteering by the NGO in 2020 during COVID-19 lockdowns, he was reluctant about online learning. Today, Evans volunteers online, helping teach agroecology through VSO programs and others to people across Africa and Asia from his home in Herefordshire, U.K. He said that for some whom he interacted with in Nepal — for instance those at the Himalayan Permaculture Centre, a grassroots NGO set up by farmers — working remotely was a new concept. “They’re finding that, yes, it's alien,” Evans told Devex in an interview. “The internet connectivity is a bit limited in some places, and sometimes the electricity can go out.” But he said that doing it “at a basic level” wasn’t too hard. Evans stressed that online volunteering was supposed to complement existing programs and staff, not replace them. Cummiskey, however, said that there were “definitely more advanced than any disadvantages.” “I would definitely recommend it,” he said. “I've also found a lot of enthusiasm for people wanting to see it as a great way forward. While it may be hard to build physical rapport with those they’re volunteering with, Baboo hopes to visit Uganda later this year and stay there for a few months to work with the children and inspire them to explore science, technology, engineering, and math, and sustainability models, conduct webinars featuring renowned industry professionals, shoot documentaries, and more. “Volunteering that used to be short-term can now be sustained in the long run through the power of technology,” said Baboo.“JayBaboo is on a long-term journey in this path or purpose.”