The overarching goal of the Butare Girls High School: Center of Excellence is to empower Rwanda‘s young women with a high-quality education so they will be equipped to provide for and contribute to their families and communities in ways not previously thought possible. They will be ready to enter the university or pursue careers in technology, health care, business management, retail, tourism and more. Our intent is that graduates will be poised to take Rwandan society to its next level.

Objective 1: To increase the availability and accessibility to secondary education for Rwanda’s female students, beginning in Early 2011.

Together with WDF, Bishop Gasatura is assisting in the design, plan and logistics of hiring teaching and administrative staff for the school. In fact, he has already begun collected architectural drafts and is collecting bids for the retrofit. The Butare Girls High School will be built on land that Bishop Nathan has secured. To date, nearly $50,000 has been raised from friends, board members, and our first Twin Cities fundraising event for the goal of building and operating the school.

We need $230,000 in place by October 1, 2011 to be able to retrofit existing classrooms and provide meals and bathroom facilities in time for the school to accept its first 50 students in 2012. Sponsorship recruitment efforts as well as an aggressive grant submission and major gift fundraising campaigns are underway to meet these deadlines.

Once the retrofit is complete and the school is officially in session, continuing fundraising efforts will focus on operation and construction support for the new facility that will expand the size and create boarding capability for the girls.

Fundraising efforts are managed by the WDF Vice President/Board Chair, a 30-year financial management and budgeting veteran with 10 years service as an officer with various non-profits.

Objective 2: To catalyze positive outcomes and economic growth in the wider community

Beyond providing positive outcomes for individual girls, we also envision the school as a laboratory school for developing curricular methods, teacher training, and e-learning methodologies. For example, we are exploring with a university education department in the U.S. the possibility of establishing an internship program including mentoring and sharing best teaching practices.

The concept is that Butare teachers, with their mentors, would create developmentally and culturally appropriate lesson plans (including Rwandan specific entrepreneurship) to implement the country‘s new national curriculum standards. The plans would be made available to other high schools throughout the country and the laboratory approaches and supporting technology can be created on a parallel path with the opening of the school.

Furthermore, Butare Girls High School is envisioned as the first project in a five-year community plan. The school will be an initial catalyst for change in Butare and the centerpiece of the community, giving girls and their families new hope for a better future. The school will serve as a community resource. When classes are not in session, night courses in vocational training will be available to the entire community. This targeted training will provide the skills necessary to stimulate commerce and create new avenues for entrepreneurship and business development.