REFLECTIONS ON PRACTICE:
MY PROJECT OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE BY ULOMA ONYIDO S
ince 1962, Canadian teachers have worked with educators in developing countries through Project Overseas, a program of- fered by the Canadian Teachers’
Federation (CTF/FCE) in partnership with its member organizations across Canada. Te goal of the program is to “improve teach- ing and learning and to promote equitable, high-quality, publicly funded education for all.” Project Overseas focuses on creating and co-facilitating workshops with overseas col- leagues, helping to strengthen the capacities of partner organizations and addressing gen- der equality for teachers and students. I became aware of and interested in Proj-
ect Overseas when I met a former partici- pant at the ETFO Annual Meeting in 2016. She had been part of a delegation to Nigeria, my country of origin, and her stories filled me with excitement. She shared some of the conversations she had with Nigerian women teachers she met about their self-perceptions, perceptions of women teachers in relation to their male counterparts, gender issues in African education and feminism. I am pas- sionate about gender equity and access to education for girls and women and I saw Project Overseas as an opportunity to en- hance my leadership skills and enrich my teaching practice.
28 ETFO VOICE | FALL 2024 I applied in the fall of 2018, and in July of
2019 I became a member of one of the teams volunteering in Uganda. Tat year there were two teams of five participants, one team working in the capital city of Kampala and the other seven hours away in the western Ugandan town of Kabale. Kabale is a beauti- ful town near the border of Rwanda, with an amazing landscape of hills and cool weather. Before travelling to the region, both teams
had a three-day session of co-planning with our Ugandan co-tutors in the head office of the Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNA- TU) in Kampala. Based on the areas of focus identified by our partner organization, each team member worked with a co-tutor to plan lessons in a subject area. I was responsible for planning and facilitating the math sessions with my co-tutor. We had the opportunity to visit class-
rooms in Kampala and Kabale, observing the learning conditions and environments our co-tutors worked in. Many classes had
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