Education Bridge (Fall 2024)

Project Background

Education Bridge aims to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through holistic education and conflict transformation by educating a generation of peacemakers and transformational leaders to address the perpetual cycle of poverty and violence in South Sudan. Education Bridge drives this change through a unique and holistic approach to secondary education that merges peacebuilding curriculum, leadership development and academic excellence that is implemented through our schools - Greenbelt Academies.  Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, the Greenbelt Academy currently serves over 1,200 students in grades 9-12 at two schools in the capital, Juba (Central Equatoria State), and in Bor (Jonglei State). These two high-performing secondary schools are ranked among the highest in the country. In addition to a desire to add more secondary schools across the country, Education Bridge has launched a teacher training network for its alumni as a pathway into primary school teaching. 

Education Bridge has worked with Notre Dame DAT teams over multiple semesters on projects related to developing a peacebuilding curriculum, enhancing opportunities for girls, contributing to organizational sustainability, and developing international partnerships. They are now considering the possibility of expanding schools and developing criteria for doing so.

Definition of Opportunity

The immense youth unemployment crisis across Africa presents an important opportunity to education organisations on the continent: how will we prepare young people to successfully transition into a world where they will need to address intensifying global challenges and create employment opportunities for their communities? In South Sudan, this is an especially pertinent question - with over 70% of the country's population being under the age of 30. Less than 1% of young people transition into university, and employment opportunities are extremely scarce. This poses a serious threat to the potential for dignified livelihoods, but also for the overall peace and stability within the country. Education Bridge is focused on developing a generation of transformational leaders and peacemakers who can end violent conflict and poverty in their communities. Over the last years, Education Bridge has developed a secondary school program that serves this purpose well. In the next few years, Education Bridge will have to expand their programming to ensure they are providing their students and alumni with the right support to successfully transition into the important community leadership role that will see alumni make meaningful changes in the country. Some questions to consider: What will enable Education Bridge alumni to become high-impact leaders in their communities? What support do they need at different stages of their journeys? What are the biggest challenges they might face, and how could Education Bridge best mobilise resources to help their students address and overcome them?

Definition of Success

A successful project will have a number of key outputs: 1. A strategy that defines and outlines key programmatic approaches to addressing the challenge at hand. 2. Work with Education Bridge to identify potential funding organizations and develop an actual proposal for at least one of those organizations and 3. Help develop a pitch for a proposal that can be used to approach potential funders passionate about this work with Education Bridge. 

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables

Education Bridge (Spring 2025)

Project Background

Education Bridge aims to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through holistic education and conflict transformation by educating a generation of peacemakers and transformational leaders to address the perpetual cycle of poverty and violence in South Sudan. Education Bridge drives this change through a unique and holistic approach to secondary education that merges peacebuilding curriculum, leadership development and academic excellence that is implemented through our schools - Greenbelt Academies.  Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, the Greenbelt Academy currently serves over 1,200 students in grades 9-12 at two schools in the capital, Juba (Central Equatoria State), and in Bor (Jonglei State). These two high-performing secondary schools are ranked among the highest in the country. In addition to a desire to add more secondary schools across the country, Education Bridge has launched a teacher training network for its alumni as a pathway into primary school teaching. 

Education Bridge has worked with Notre Dame DAT teams over multiple semesters on projects related to developing a peacebuilding curriculum, enhancing opportunities for girls, contributing to organizational sustainability, and developing international partnerships. They are now considering the possibility of expanding schools and developing criteria for doing so.

Definition of Opportunity

Education Bridge wants to begin exploring a strategic expansion, potentially, to an additional state in South Sudan. This research project will assess the feasibility of expansion by conducting a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of three potential locations in South Sudan: Lakes State, Upper Nile State, and Western Equatoria State.

This project builds on previous work by a Notre Dame Development Advisory Team from Fall 2023, which explored Education Bridge’s organizational sustainability and international partnerships. The project proposes to:

• Identify key factors for successful expansion, including demand, infrastructure, security, teacher availability, and financial viability.

• Conduct a comparative SWOT analysis of the three target states to evaluate their suitability for a new Greenbelt Academy.

• Develop criteria and recommendations for prioritizing locations for future expansion.

Definition of Success

Success for this project means delivering a comprehensive SWOT analysis of the three target states, providing Education Bridge with a clear assessment of opportunities and challenges for expansion. The research will also establish a set of recommended criteria to guide strategic decision-making on where and how to grow the school network. Additionally, the project may include case studies on successful education expansion models in South Sudan or neighboring countries, offering valuable insights and best practices to inform Education Bridge’s approach.

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables

Education Bridge (Fall 2023)

Project Background

Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through holistic education and conflict transformation. As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy Bor, in South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17 (who was a student in this International Development in Practice class), Greenbelt Academy Bor High School has grades 9-12, and in a very short time, has become one of the strongest academic schools in South Sudan. Last year, Education Bridge opened its second school, Greenbelt Academy Juba, in the capital of South Sudan. Greenbelt Academies seek to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Education Bridge aspires to achieve its mission by building a network of secondary schools that provide access to quality secondary education, innovative peace education, and transformative leadership development. The organization plans to build a network of 10 secondary schools across the country. Their two schools currently serve more than 750 students in grades 9-12. In 2021, Greenbelt Academy in Bor ranked as the top school in South Sudan based on national standardized exams.

Definition of Opportunity

As we continue expanding our school network, we want to ensure that we do not lose or compromise what makes us unique and successful as a school network. We ask the DAT team to explore similar networks (e.g., charter schools and international school networks in other parts of the world) and to provide recommendations on how the schools have been able to scale with quality. More specifically, we hope the team will explore what should be key elements to evaluate before expanding our school network.

Definition of Success

The team’s work should provide targets on some of these aspects to be assessed as indicators of readiness for engaging in an expansion strategy.

Based on experiences of other school networks, provide actionable recommendations that address concrete institutional, instructional and operational criteria that Education Bridge should assess before further expansion. We are also interested in how Education Bridge can use data from their own experiences to accelerate the growth and quality of their programs, and inform the criteria around expansion.

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables

Education Bridge Fall 2023 by Joseph Drey on Scribd

Prototyping Writing Workshops For Students & Teacher | Education Bridge (Fall 2022)

Project Background

Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peacebuilding.  As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy Bor, in South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, Greenbelt Academy Bor currently serves 500 students in grades 9-12, and in a very short time, has become one of the strongest academic schools in South Sudan. Early last year, Education Bridge opened its second school, Greenbelt Academy Juba, in the capital of South Sudan. Greenbelt Academies seek to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Definition of Opportunity

Building more effective communication skills (both written and oral) for high schools are critical. There is an opportunity to build a new communications/writing program – by working closely with the writing program at Notre Dame. This might mean to work alongside EB students in drafting and writing essays for college admissions, pre college admissions, and admissions to other programs such as the African Leadership Academy. You might also explore ways to engage faculty, administrators, and students currently at the school to help each other support and build a writing program. 

Definition of Success

Education Bridge aims to provide growth pathways for students where Education Bridge builds networks of the most talented students and educators in South Sudan, and finds new ways to support their growth over time (for example, building communication skills capacity).

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

Creation of a New Empowerment Curriculum | Education Bridge (Spring 2022)

Project Background

Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peacebuilding.  As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy Bor, in South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, Greenbelt Academy Bor currently serves 500 students in grades 9-12, and in a very short time, has become one of the strongest academic schools in South Sudan. Early last year, Education Bridge opened its second school, Greenbelt Academy Juba, in the capital of South Sudan. Greenbelt Academies seek to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Definition of Opportunity

With the recent launch of a new school in Juba, Education Bridge is now poised as one of the top secondary schools in South Sudan. Now, the organization is looking for ways to attract and foster high-quality teachers to improve learning outcomes across the schools. Further, once launched, Education Bridge is looking for ways to see the impact of its efforts. It should be easy to see changes in teacher practices. It will likely be much harder to see changes in student outcomes, and you will need a control group to make this pilot evaluation credible.

Definition of Success

Conversations with Majak, Jenny, & the Board will help to provide context and ideas for this training. Further, it may also be very helpful to contact students that are currently at Education Bridge, or alumni for more context.

)) how to ensure student learning gains and measure this impact?

2) the extent to which you want to consider professional growth pathways beyond this initial training, such that this training program would be viewed as a first step in a sequence?

3) How do you conceptualize the design and measure the success of the program and how do you draw upon the best available research about what works to improve teaching and student learning outcomes in LMICs in primary education? 

4) The other thing worth thinking about is the extent to which your vision for the program is about human capital formation of your alumni (or other promising young educators) and creating cohorts of smart, talented, innovative teachers to grow as educational leaders and innovators within the system. 

Meet the Team

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Final Deliverable

Education Bridge (Fall 2021)

Project Background

  Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peacebuilding.  As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy Bor, in South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, Greenbelt Academy Bor currently serves 500 students in grades 9-12, and in a very short time, has become one of the strongest academic schools in South Sudan. In 2022, Education Bridge plans to open its second school, Greenbelt Academy Juba, in the capital of South Sudan. Greenbelt Academies seek to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Definition of Opportunity

Education Bridge has worked with Notre Dame DAT teams over multiple semesters on projects related to developing a peacebuilding curriculum, building enhanced opportunities for students, and enhancing international partnerships. Education Bridge now seeks assistance on how to successfully transition from a singular school to a network of schools across South Sudan. The goal of this project would be to research and create a system and brand to effectively manage multiple Greenbelt Academies. 

Definition of Success

 The development and implementation of a sustainable management and branding program that will enable Education Bridge to effectively manage a network of Greenbelt Academies. Systems should be implemented to make the management and branding process efficient and effective, including a database of branding materials for school management to access, communication channels for inter-school exchange, as well as other materials that the DAT team deems useful. 

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables

Accompanying the College Admissions Process | Education Bridge (Spring 2021)

Project Background:

Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peacebuilding.  As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy, in Bor, South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, Greenbelt Academy currently serves 450 students in grades 9-12, and in a very short time, has become one of the strongest academic schools in South Sudan. The Greenbelt Academy seeks to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Opportunity:

Education Bridge has worked with Notre Dame DAT teams over multiple semesters on projects related to developing a peacebuilding curriculum, building enhanced opportunities for students, and enhancing international partnerships. Education Bridge now wants to establish a mentorship program to connect ND student mentors with Greenbelt Academy students. The goal of this program would be to guide and assist Greenbelt Academy students in applying to opportunities such as the ND Summer Scholars Program, Ashinaga Africa Initiative, Yale Young African Scholars, African Leadership Academy, among other programs. 

 

Definition of Success:

The development and implementation of a sustainable mentorship program that will assist/advise 20-30 Greenbelt Academy students in applying to 3 opportunities each on an annual basis. Systems should be implemented to make the mentorship process efficient and effective, including a database of opportunities for students and mentors to refer to, communication templates between the mentor and student, templates for individualized application schedules, as well as other materials that the DAT team deems useful. 

Meet the Team:

Final Deliverables:

Final Presentation

Mentorship Program Framework

Marketing & Donor Communication | Education Bridge (Fall 2020)

Project Background:

Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peacebuilding. As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy, in Bor, South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, the Greenbelt Academy currently serves over 400 students in grades 9-12, and in a very short time, has become one of the strongest academic schools in South Sudan. The Greenbelt Academy seeks to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Opportunity:

Education Bridge has worked with Notre Dame DAT teams over multiple semesters on projects related to developing a peacebuilding curriculum, building enhanced opportunities for girls, and enhancing international partnerships. Education Bridge now wants to consolidate some of this work, and help map opportunities for future development, particularly in ways that raise the profile of their work internationally with key stakeholders, as well as develop a communication plan for long-term sustainability.

Definition of Success:

The development of a good system for managing regular stakeholder communication (including to the network of people who are currently committed to supporting the yearly educational costs for one South Sudanese student), with concrete suggestions on a communication strategy that helps build enduring networks and sustainable partnerships that will be relevant for Education Bridge. This could include a better plan for newsletters (possibly using mailchip), fundraising, and storytelling

Meet the Team:

Final Deliverable

Eb Comprehensive Deliverable | F2020 by DAT on Scribd

Strategic Frameworks for Peacebuilding | Education Bridge (Spring 2020)

Project Background:

Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peace building.  As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy, in Bor, South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, the Greenbelt Academy currently serves over 400 students in grades 9-12. The Greenbelt Academy seeks to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Definition of Opportunity:

Education Bridge has worked with Notre Dame DAT teams over multiple semesters on projects related to developing a peace building curriculum, building enhanced opportunities for girls, and enhancing international partnerships. Education Bridge now wants to consolidate some of this work, and help map opportunities for future development, particularly in ways that raise the profile of their work internationally as well as develop a plan for long-term sustainability. 

What does success look like? 

The development of a good model, with concrete suggestions on building networks and sustainable partnerships that will be relevant for Education Bridge, as well as concrete proposals that Education Bridge can utilize and implement as part of its strategic planning process to become a more dynamic and sustainable organization.

Meet the Team:

Building International Partnerships for Students and Teachers - Education Bridge (Fall 2019)

Project Background:

Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peacebuilding. As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy, in Bor, South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, the Greenbelt Academy currently serves over 400 students in grades 9-11, with plans to double the school population and have grades 9-12 over the next years. The Greenbelt Academy seeks to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Definition of Opportunity:

Education Bridge has worked with Notre Dame DAT teams over multiple semesters on projects related to developing a peacebuilding curriculum, building enhanced opportunities for girls, contributing to organizational sustainability, and international partnerships. For example, this past year’s DAT resulted in Education Bridge high school students attending Notre Dame’s Pre-College Program (on ND scholarships), as well as a similar program at Yale. Education Bridge now wants to explore the possibility of continuing to build networks internationally in the service of its students and teachers that expand opportunities, as well as formalize relationships that support the development of the overall organizational culture of Education Bridge.

Initial Ideas:

Education Bridge will work with a team of ND students to research how other non-profit organizations, especially those running educational and/or child development programs in the international context, have effectively built mission-driven international networks. We would like to focus on students' opportunities and/or faculty/staff professional development opportunities.

How can we connect our students with a wider set of global possibilities, whether through technology or by travel, that will help expand their understanding of the world and their possibility to make a transformational change? We believe we can draw lessons from the African Leadership Academy and other institutions, and want to explore student exchange, model UN, leadership development and the like. How can we build on the success this past semester with the partnerships with Notre Dame and Yale? We might like a usable database of summer educational programs in the US students can explore (ND Pre-College might be very valuable for acquiring information).

One key question is how to make our students and faculty competitive especially through the university application process. A big part of our international partnership model is related to universities and we need to understand what universities look for in these kinds of candidates and partnerships. A good model for partnering will help us build lasting relationships with universities that will go a long way.

How can we find relevant development opportunities in support of teachers and administrators? We could also imagine a “Greenbelt Fellowship” that might draw talented educators and professionals to work with the Greenbelt Academy to help develop and train current teachers, develop new curricular and extracurricular activities, and more generally expose the school to more innovative pedagogy and technology.

What does success look like?

The development of a number of good models and concrete contacts and ideas for building networks and sustainable partnerships will be relevant for Education Bridge students and teachers, as well as concrete proposals that Education Bridge can utilize and implement as part of its strategic planning process to become a more dynamic and sustainable organization.

Contact Persons: Majak Anyieth, Founder and President of Education Bridge. Majak is a 2018 graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He is also a Dalai Lama Fellow, an Echoing Green Social Entrepreneurship Fellow, and a StartingBloc Fellow. The team will also have access to talk with Education Bridge board members and supporters, most of whom are in South Bend IN.

Meet the Team:

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Building International Partnerships - Education Bridge, South Sudan (Fall 2018)

Client Profile

Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peace building.  As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy, in Bor, South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, the Greenbelt Academy currently serves over 200 students in grades 9-10, with plans to double the school population and have grades 9-12 over the next two years. The Greenbelt Academy seeks to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Definition of Opportunity

Education Bridge has worked with Notre Dame DAT teams over multiple semesters on projects related to developing a peace building curriculum, building enhanced opportunities for girls, and contributing to organizational sustainability. Education Bridge now wants to explore the possibility of building networks internationally in service of its students and teachers that expand opportunities, as well as formalize relationships that support the development of the overall organizational culture of Education Bridge.

Initial Ideas

Education Bridge looks forward to working with a team of Notre Dame students to research how other non-profit organizations, especially those running educational and/or child development programs in the international context, have effectively build international networks in service of their mission.

• How do the best non-profit educational organizations think about building high functioning networks in service of their mission?

• How can we connect our students with a wider set of global possibilities, whether through technology or by travel, that will help expand their understanding of the world and their possibility to make transformational change? We believe we can draw lessons from the African Leadership Academy and other institutions, and want to explore student exchange, model UN, leadership development and the like.

• In support of teachers and administrators, how can we find relevant development opportunities for them?  We could also imagine a “Greenbelt Fellowship” that might draw talented educators and professionals to work with the Greenbelt Academy to help develop and train current teachers, develop new curricular and extracurricular activities, and more generally expose the school to more innovative pedagogy and technology.

Definiton of Success

The development of a number of good models of building networks and sustainable partnerships will be relevant for Education Bridge students and teachers, as well as concrete proposals that Education Bridge can utilize and implement as part of its strategic planning process to become a more dynamic and sustainable organization.

Meet the Team

Recommendations

Next Steps 

Impact:

Program for conflict resolution - Education Bridge (Fall 2015)

Client Profile

Some pastoral communities in South Sudan have for a long time encouraged cultures of violence. These cultures are problematic as they incite youth to engage in violent activities that disturb communal peace and interfere with development in these communities. Education Bridge believes using educational seminars and workshops that introduce youth to non-violent means of conflict resolution and negotiation is one of the ways to break these destructive practices and encourage positive community engagement.

Definition of Problem

Education Bridge would like a DAT team to help look at other successful conflict resolution and negotiation programs in other countries and design a weeklong seminar that incorporates some of the best practices for use by Education Bridge.

Initial Steps and Options

• Talk to Ngor Majak (a junior at ND who is helping build a school in South Sudan) and one of Education Bridge officials to understand more about the problem and explore many questions that could help you design a culturally relevant seminar.

• Research and evaluate four or five successful conflict resolution and/or negotiation programs (ideally targeting young people). Study their practices in depth and determine how elements from a few of them could be best incorporated in the Education Bridge Seminar, keeping cultural relevance in mind.

• If you incorporate games, try them out and have fun!

• Help put together a curriculum that a team could really use.

Definition of Success

Help build an excellent program and teaching materials that would serve for a weeklong seminar that both uses existing materials from other organizations and develops/refines them in a culturally sensitive package relevant for South Sudan. 

Education Bridge hopes to incorporate some of the best practices and methods for conflict resolution and negotiation globally and make them available for students ages 14-20 in ways that both influence their thinking about violence and conflict, as well as help change behaviors.

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Presentation

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Executive Summary

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