THE CULTURE PILLAR
The TaSCA Institute of Indigenous Cultures and the Performing Arts: ICPA
Facilitated and run by the Peace Africa Children’s Ensemble, the ICPA will create a space that brings together students from the TaSCA Secondary School, community elders, and the Ugandan community at large. The ICPA’s emphasis will be to provide a space for community elders to explore and share practices that have been passed down for generations. Programming will also be accessible to other schools in the region and across Uganda. In keeping with InteRoot’s commitment to inclusion, the Institute will not only embrace the dominant Ugandan culture in the region (Buganda), but will actively work to include the 65 other existing indigenous cultures in the nation.
THE EDUCATION PILLAR
The Tat Sat Community Academy Senior Secondary School: TaSCA SS
For far too long, the system of education in East Africa has been overshadowed by the British system of education, which places western values and priorities above those of local communities. To address this legacy productively, TaSCA plans to house an innovative Secondary School merging both formal and informal forms of education. The informal will be implemented through Ugandan indigenous performance art as well as a skill-based trade curriculum. The school will combine this approach with a formal system of education, which operates under the Ministry of Education and all Ugandan educational guidelines. TaSCA SS will ultimately host 500 students. Grade levels will be equivalent to 6th through 12th grade, and the student teacher ratio is estimated to be 20:1. Per student spending is projected to be well above Ugandan norms, while overall budget and student costs – due to the school’s nonprofit structure – will be well under Ugandan norms.
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PILLAR
The TaSCA Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization: SACCO
The TaSCA project will incorporate a Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization, or “SACCO,” as its driver for sustainability. The SACCO will be registered under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, and thus conform to all Ugandan laws and financial regulations. The purpose of the SACCO will be to (1) promote economic development within the community, (2) provide financial mechanisms that directly sustain the TaSCA project as a whole, and (3) serve as a center for education and financial support for students and community members. Senior students, for example, will participate in the evaluation, approval, and distribution of loans (subject to conflict of interest controls), which in turn will encourage financial literacy and entrepreneurship through hands on experience. More importantly, through long term memberships and micro-investment, students will graduate with a significant graduate fund to support their post-education goals and endeavors.
