Proof of Concepts Grants
Supporting Tools, Techniques, and Models for Institutional Growth
Following the 2021 Annual Convening, The Education Collaborative set up a post-convening grant to provide participating institutions with support to implement insights gleaned from convenings into actual projects.
This grant initiative provides funding support to institutions driving change on the continent with their initiatives. Projects should aim at implementing specific solutions to identified structural challenges, leading to positive system changes towards improving student-centered development.
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number of projects underway
awarded in grants to date
How institutions are leveraging the grants
A dual learning curriculum for students in Davis College, Rwanda
Davis College, Rwanda, partnered with hotels in Kigali to successfully implement a dual-learning curriculum for 40 students enrolled in its Hospitality and Tourism Management program. Aimed at enhancing graduate student outcomes, the model incorporated a 4-week training.
Employability skills bootcamp for youth in Sierra Leone
EducAid, through an intensive residential boot camp, enhanced the employability skills of 50 high school graduates in the Port Loko district of Sierra Leone. Participating students underwent a five-day training to improve their understanding of employers’ needs.
Since launching the post-convening grant in 2021, more than 20 institutions across sub-Saharan African have received grants in varying amounts to expand career-service programs, fund faculty research, and expand student-centred programming.
A dual learning curriculum for students in Davis College, Rwanda
Davis College, Rwanda, partnered with hotels in Kigali to successfully implement a dual-learning curriculum for 40 students enrolled in its Hospitality and Tourism Management program. Aimed at enhancing graduate student outcomes, the model incorporated a 4-week training. The training exposed participating students to diverse cultural differences, work-related challenges, workplace norms, ethics and workshops on facilities and systems in the hospitality industry. Students were also engaged in speaker sessions that enhanced their emotional intelligence and learning experience.
Through this initiative, Davis College, Rwanda, has officially partnered with Marriot Four Point Sheraton Hotel to periodically offer practical training to its Hospitality and Tourism Management program students and further plans to replicate the dual-learning curriculum across other departments in the institution.
Employability skills bootcamp for youth in Sierra Leone
EducAid, through an intensive residential boot camp, enhanced the employability skills of 50 high school graduates in the Port Loko district of Sierra Leone. Participating students underwent a five-day training to improve their understanding of employers’ needs and equip them with skills needed to ready them for the world of work. Students participated in activities centred on teamwork, effective communication, interviewing skills, CV writing, Giving Voice to Values and time management. After the boot camp, a support network was created for students to share experiences, opportunities and ideas.