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Strategic Education Centers
A U.S.-based nonprofit organization
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Goals & History
SEC Program Goals
The second SEC program (2006 -2007), Its Our Future Too! Life Skills Enrichment Curriculum has similar goals much like the first Strategic Education Centers program held in Mbabane and Emcozini during 2001 2004. These three overall goals were to:
- Implement a unique health education program to heighten the awareness of adolescent girls and boys to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS;
- Prepare adolescent girls and boys with job readiness tips, computer literacy and leadership skills to identify and pursue opportunities for higher education and meaningful employment; and
- Assist with the long-term development of a strategy to sustain and build upon these programs to improve the health and education of adolescent boys and girls in Swaziland and other nations in Africa.
NOTE: Click on the News & Photos button for more 2006-2007 Cohort 1 and 2 Saturday School program outcomes at Hillside School in Manzini, Swaziland.
SEC History
The Strategic Education Centers was started by Constance W. Rice, Ph.D., a private citizen in Seattle, Washington USA, because of her concern about the educational status of girls in Swaziland, and the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country.
According to a Swaziland Behavioral Surveillance Survey (BSS, 2001 2002) overview report, youth are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection, and worldwide, most new HIV infections occur among youth under the age of 25. In Swaziland, over 31% of the population lives with HIV/AIDS. Youth are an essential contact point for HIV prevention and sexual health programs, because peer pressure plays an important role in youth conduct.
The first two Strategic Education Centers were opened September 2001 in Mbabane and Emcozini. The Mbabane Center operated out the Swaziland Institute for Development Management (IDM) and served girls in the urban Mbabane area, while the Emcozini site served a rural population in a rural secondary school. Both centers served girls between the ages of 14 17, enrolled in Forms 2 and 4. Between 2001 and 2004, SEC graduated 400 girls from the after-school program.
In 2005, because of the success of the first SEC program, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided a grant to the University of Washington Center for Workforce Development (CWD), which funds the second 2006 2007 SEC Program, Its Our Future Too! and involves SECs stratedc partners the 18th District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the AME Hillside High School.
Strategic Education Centers
info@stratedceducationcenters.orglast updated: 10/03/2008
