"We See the School as a Framework": Community Ownership of Education and Local Development in the Central African Republic

• In Event: 43.077 - MTCC Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: 43.077-1 - Critical Inquiry on Education Beyond U.S. Borders

Abstract

In this paper, I provide a case study of how, when a community defines itself as a protagonist in its own path of material, spiritual, and social development, the creation of a local school is not simply an end in and of itself. In the Central African Republic (CAR), ongoing civil conflict has forced most international organizations to evacuate, and many government schools to close. The Ahdieh Foundation is a locally-based Central African organization that identified local communities as being in the best position to foster schools and other processes of community life in accordance with their own needs and aspirations. Insights from this study further challenge the presence of continued colonial interests in schooling in CAR and elsewhere.

Author

• Elena VanderDussen Toukan, University of Toronto