Support the Buffalo Tanzania Education Project

The Buffalo Tanzania Education Project (BTEP) is a newly developed partnership between the University at Buffalo and the Mara region of Tanzania supporting the design and development of a school for girls.

Support the BTEP project

Infrastructure

Another critical part of the BTEP project is raising funds for the construction and continued development for the school. Funds will go towards the following:

$11,000 will build and outfit a classroom for 45 girls
$2,000 will pay a teacher's salary for one year
$500 will send a girl to school for a year

Programmatic

A number of research and/or programmatic initiatives are being explored in the following areas:

Early childhood education
Social Work
Teacher preparation
Social entrepreneurship

Sweet Home High School Fundraiser

Bracelets

Honors students at Sweet Home High School have begun to sell bracelets imprinted with the phrase "If you educate a girl, you educate a nation." Bracelets are $3 and all proceeds will go to benefit the Mara School. If you are interested in ordering bracelets, please email Katie Biggie at kjbiggie@buffalo.edu.

BTEP Video

See the work being done by the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa to address the need for a school for girls in the Mara region of Tanzania and the Kitenga village site where it will be built.

Summer 2009 visit

An initial trip to Tanzania is planned for July 2009 with Dr. Mara Huber Director, and Katie Biggie of the Center for Educational Collaboration; Dr. Mary Gresham, dean of the Graduate School of Education; Dr. Kate Kost, associate dean of the School of Social Work; Dean Brian Carter and Annette Lecuyer of the School of Architecture and Planning; Brenda Williams-McDuffie of the Buffalo Urban League.

Outcomes and impact

Our objective is to increase educational opportunities for girls in this region through the design and development of a secondary school for girls and, eventually, a comprehensive educational campus. A key principle of this project is to empower the community within the Musoma area in a manner that will help to strengthen the health and vitality of the region.

Similar to our model with the Buffalo Public Schools, we have identified four keys areas of interest and need: education, health, infrastructure and planning, and economics. Each of those areas will be the focus of the beginning of the project with more topics added as the school progresses.

Progress will be accomplished through the mobilization of diverse programmatic resources around the above areas of need, enhancing opportunities for UB and the broader community to engage in a meaningful way.