Programs
Education
Marial Bai Secondary School and the Alok Girls’ Academy are paving the way for the standard of education in South Sudan, and are model schools that are setting high standards of education in the region and nationally. Beyond traditional classroom education, we teach our students diversity, project-based learning, after-school activities, alumni networking, mentoring, and sustainability.
Farming
Four million people are affected by food insecurity in South Sudan. The acute malnutrition rate for children under five is nearly double the global average. The VAD Foundation seeks to enhance the well being of our communities by teaching students and community members sustainable farming skills through our horticulture, aquaculture, and animal husbandry programs.
Vocational Skills
The VAD Foundation vocational training program allows girls, women, and youth who dropped out of school, or who have already completed primary and secondary education, to develop their livelihood and vocational skills. We seek to empower the entrepreneurial spirit, promote small enterprise, introduce business management skills, and create employment opportunities for our community.
Education
Marial Bai Secondary School
The worst effect of the civil wars in South Sudan has been on the children, who – after witnessing many atrocities – have limited access to quality education. Marial Bai Secondary School (MBSS) has been a beacon of hope to communities that are committed to rebuilding and supporting youth education. MBSS is located in Marial Bai, a village in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, South Sudan, and is the hometown of Valentino Achak Deng. The village is a trading center that attracts visitors from hundreds of miles away and is now also a center of learning because of Valentino and The VAD Foundation’s efforts.
As the school was completed in 2009, thousands of prospective students applied to enroll. The pilot class began with 85 students and our classrooms have grown to over 500 students, comprising of boys and girls from across South Sudan.
MBSS also offers students the chance to participate in extracurricular activities such as student government, debate, and to develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills to help equip them with the knowledge for their future careers. We also conduct vocational training programs that are offered to both the students and community members to help them build thriving and sustainable communities.
“I come to school so I can be an educated person in the future. When I finish school, I want to be a doctor and help my nation, those in my community, and others from outside. ”
Alok Girls’ Academy
To invest in girls’ education is also to invest in decreasing poverty, preventing disease, and lessening violence. When a woman prospers, her family prospers – when families prosper, whole communities prosper. Currently in South Sudan, less than 1% of young women finish high school, and many girls drop out or never enroll due to early marriage, pregnancy, and duties at home.
To promote and encourage girl’s education, The VAD Foundation established the Alok Girls’ Academy (AGA) in 2018 to offer girls educational opportunities. AGA is comprised of both primary and secondary education, with a focus on supporting girls from underprivileged upbringings in the city of Aweil and the surrounding States. Since 2018, enrollment at AGA has grown from 144 to over 500 students due to the high demand for education in the young country.
With thousands of girls continuing to seek educational opportunities at AGA, we continue to receive an overwhelming number of applications and plan to expand enrollment of girls in the coming years. Due to the overwhelming need to support more girls in the pursuit of formal education, we are constantly seeking partnerships and support from organizations.
Farming
Horticulture
In 2013, The VAD Foundation successfully launched a horticulture program to teach farming skills to community members and our students. The program supplements the schools’ nutrition programs for staff and students throughout the academic year, while offering training on sustainable farming. Our schools harvest crops such as fruits, vegetables, and sorghum. By tending to the crops, our students learn the skills of agriculture, environmental stewardship, and sustainable commerce through hands-on experience.
Our horticulture vocational training program supports and trains female farmers from villages across the state. Each farmer is trained to cultivate and tend to 5 acres of food crops over 3 years, with the end goal of self-sustainment.
Aquaculture
Aquaculture is the farming of fish and aquatic plants. Based on community needs, The VAD Foundation introduced a training program for women, youth, and local farmers to teach fish farming and aquaponics techniques.
On-site at the schools and in the communities, we have created demonstration ponds that house fish for local farmers. Each year, we train and support local farmers in the building, cultivating, and supplying of fish farms to create sustainable means.
The Foundation has established the only fishponds and training programs in South Sudan in pursuit of community empowerment and sustainability. Fish farming helps to improve food security, economic status, and the nutritional health of a community.
Animal Husbandry
Animal husbandry is a form of agriculture that includes raising animals for meat, milk, eggs, and other essential products. South Sudan is one of the leading cattle keeping countries in Africa, and The VAD Foundation recognizes the importance of empowering local cattle farmers to promote food security and peace, and transform family livelihood.
The VAD Foundation supports sustainable animal husbandry by offering training to cattle keepers on modern ways of animal husbandry, identifying and working with partners to offer veterinary and related services to farmers, engaging in research to prevent disease and sickness, and encouraging and training local farmers on alternative animal husbandry activities, such as beekeeping and poultry.
Through these initiatives, we continue to help improve the livelihoods of communities through higher cattle production and the promotion of self-employment initiatives.
Vocational Skills
The VAD Foundation is working to empower girls, women, and youth of South Sudan through vocational skill development.
We strive to provide opportunities beyond traditional education to the students, women, and youth of our communities. While some of these training programs are offered at our schools, due to high demand, we are working to establish a vocational training center so we can expand our reach of training.
All of our program trainings are essential to the development and growth of the communities in which we serve. We teach a variety of classes, all of which provide the skills and knowledge for specific trades and occupations. Some of our programs include carpentry, metalwork, welding, masonry, and clothing design and tailoring.
Support Our Programs
Whether it’s education, sustainable farming, or vocational skills development, every penny raised supports grassroots community development in South Sudan.