International Education Summit Brings Global Education to Gambia

For the first stop on its 2015 TARGET trip, EDGE Institute is traveling to Banjul, The Gambia to conduct a six-day International Education Summit in partnership with Side-by-Side Organization The Gambia. The summit will feature three days of academic and practical skills training with secondary school students followed by three days of intensive teacher training.

Sixty secondary school students from throughout The Gambia have been selected to participate in the summit. In addition to skills-based instruction to improve language learning strategies, the program will promote global understanding and cultural engagement. The program includes a variety of clubs that enable the students to develop and use practical skills to "tell their story" and also translate into real-world occupations.

"Through our TARGET trip, we endeavor to leave the students with the skills they need to grow as independent learners who are able to function in the increasingly interconnected world. We want to give them the tools to engage the world and to do it by telling their own story," said Kylie Barker, Founder and Educational Director of EDGE Institute.

The second component is three days of intense teacher training for fifty teachers from schools throughout The Gambia. The EDGE team of educators with experience teaching and living on five continents will partner with Gambian teachers to enhance global connections. The training will include workshops, panels and keynotes on emerging trends in language teaching, technology in education, and addressing global issues in the classroom.

“We are pleased with this partnership and Side by Side Organisation is excited that Gambian students and teachers are the direct beneficiaries of this important education intervention. Since our formation a decade ago, we have prioritised education because we firmly believe that it is the basis for everything; that knowledge is a changer and a powerful tool to transform the world,” said Mr. Hatab Fadera, National Coordinator of Side By Side Organisation (SBSO) The Gambia.

The International Education Summit will kick off with an opening event to be held June 5 at TANGO Conference Hall in Bakau.

EDGE Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based organization passionate about Education for Global Engagement. As part of its mission to provide and promote excellence in global education, EDGE Institute's TARGET trips (Teaching and Research for Global Engagement and Transformation) make strategic investments to support the educational opportunities in developing countries.

Side by Side Organization is a Gambia-based youth organization which marked its 10th Anniversary on March 4th, 2015. Since its founding, the organisation has been engaging in community services and empowerment of people, especially through education. The vision of the organization is to ensure a healthy society for children, young people, women and men and to facilitate the total protection of the natural environment for sustainable utility while people’s capacities and consciousness are built to contribute to their own development, that of their communities and the nation as a whole.