By Jasmin (Bey) Cowin, Ed.D.

Assistant Professor and TESOL Practicum Coordinator

TESOL and Bilingual Department

Graduate School of Education

Touro University, New York, US

Computers for School Burundi

Pro-Bono Global Impact & Sustainability Analyst

http://cfsbu.org/services.html#team

Computers for Schools Burundi (CfSB) is working through webinars and online workshops to provide cultural competency training with a focus on effective interaction with people of diverse cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. Emmanuel Ngendakuriyo, founder and executive director of CfSB and Dr. Cowin believe that the Burundian concept of Gukorera Hamwe is instrumental in forging bonds of unity by working together. Information and communication technology (ICT) integration together with cultural agility and cultural competency training are key to capitalizing on Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) opportunities. Cross-cultural communication skills are vital in todays global multicultural business environment. CEO Ngendakuriyo stated, Cultural competencies and the ensuing soft skills create opportunities to participate in global communication spaces meaningfully and purposefully. Global communication spaces can encompass business ventures, work collaborations, videotelephony environments, online learning, and metaverses.

Senator J. William Fulbright's idea of "waging peace through understanding" inspired the Gukorera Hamwe concept. For CfSB this means practical and hands-on approaches on achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all." CfSB believes that education holds the key to all other 16 SDGs through creating fertile spaces for cross-cultural understanding by exploring and dismantling misconceptions of the 'other'.

Dr. Jasmin (Bey) Cowin, a Rotarian, Fulbright Scholar and CfSBs pro-bono cultural competency trainer, holds a full-time faculty position at Touro University, Graduate School of Education, TESOL and Bilingual Department, New York, US. As an Education Policy Fellow at the EPFP Institute, Columbia University, Teachers College, she became part of a select group of strategic leaders analyzing effective educational policy and leadership trends. She believes profound and lasting transformation starts with and integrates Lynda Millers concept of the philosophy of abundance. Dr. Cowin considers the personal and collective experiences of Gukorera Hamwe as assets of positivity and optimism in an increasingly dystopian world.

Quality education encompasses and addresses relevant materials and content reflective of cultural and national values and industry-specific needs. Through supportive professional training focused on cultural competencies, CfSB staff together with Dr. Cowin train teachers, staff and students to construct physically and communally safe environments interwoven with age-appropriate, professionally relevant life skills. Access and equity to ICT skills together with cultural competency training help confront misunderstandings and unfamiliarity with others. Cultural competencies and the resulting soft skills create growth mindsets and fertile spaces for teachers and students to enter places of discovery, validation, inspiration, and global communication. This project has affected 27000 Burundian children by training 1200 teachers.

Of particular importance is developing new constituencies straddling the intersection of peace and collaboration. CfSB works toward a broadened and diversified movement of Burundians who will be able to access, analyze, and take part in global economies through ICT and cultural competency training. The CfSB team believes ICT skills and access to the information space of the worldwide web will support the growth and well-being of Burundian students and their communities while simultaneously battling Digital Colonialism, defined as the use of digital technology for political, economic, and social domination of another nation or territory.

CfSB works on projects addressing access and equity such as ICT teacher training, cultural competency workshops, direct services to primary and secondary schools, financial education initiatives in primary and secondary schools and beyond. CfSB is invested in creating growth mindsets through fertile spaces of discovery, validation and inspiration by accessing and participating in cultural exchanges. Currently, CfSBs cultural competency training targets three hundred teachers and students to receive ICT skills entwined with Gukorera Hamwe.

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