UWC runs Short Courses and summer programmes to bring a UWC education and the UWC mission to a wider audience. Courses are typically organized by UWC schools and colleges, national committees, groups of alumni or partner organizations. Every short course is different, but they are usually residential and take place over one to three weeks.
UWC East Africa has hosted the only Short Course in East Africa, Umoja UWC Short Course in Tanzania, since 2018. The course took place in July and brought together young individuals from all around the world under the theme, “Coming Together to Build Community”.
Umoja uses the diverse nature of the short course and the values set in the UWC movement to be able to give young adults between the age of 16 and 20 an opportunity to experience the UWC movement and to become global and local actors, while building a diverse community of change makers, exploring their own identity, and reflecting upon their understanding of the world.
The programme coordinators dubbed Tanzania “a beacon of peace in an area surrounded by conflict… an ideal location” for this holistic exploration. The course is centred around experiential workshops and field trips in the area, making it accessible to venture into different adventures and learning experiences, from tree planting in West Kilimanjaro to visiting local communities by Lake Eyasi and most recently visiting the Materuni waterfalls and coffee tour.
The programme was designed in a way that introduced the participants to the main theme that is ‘Coming Together to Build Communities’ and later broke down to workshops of certain aspects chosen for the programme such as youth activism, environment and climate change, entrepreneurship ,gender, identity and intersectionality as well as conflict and problem solving skills. Later on the team was engaged in a community project that the participants designed to be able to find a long term solution for a community problem or how they can better the lives of the said community.
”I found out about the short course through the UWC website and I must say that was the best decision I made. Things that stood out to me were the great communication before, during and after the short course, the community projects and the overall organization of the short course. After the UMOJA SC I feel prepared and look forward to engaging with the world” – 2022 Umoja alum.
The programme aims to equip participants with the skills they need to be leaders in their own communities and understand the globalising world in which they live from their own individual perspective.
Three years after joining the UWC movement, we are proud to keep offering such an important and life-changing experience to youth beyond our students.
For more information on the UMOJA UWC Short Course please visit https://umoja-shortcourse.uwc.org/