African Sister Education Collaborative (ASEC) appeals to superiors to send sisters for training

 ASEC country director, Sister Veronica Daniel is appealing to Religious superiors in South Sudan to send their sisters for training organized by ASEC as they stand chances to gain knowledge on technology, financial management, and administrations which are key to the performance of their duties as they offer essential services in the societies.

 African Sisters Education Collaborative is a Catholic-based organization that was found in 1999 in the United States of America by four congregations to educate sisters in Africa on different skills such as leadership development Initiatives, Information Technology, finance, and administration.

 ASEC is currently running its programs in ten African countries namely Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Lesotho, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Cameroon, and Ghana.

 According to Sister Veronica Daniel, the mission of ASEC is to educate and build the capacity of religious sisters in Africa in their congregation in order to empower them because sisters are involved in many activities such as education, social work, and health sectors in the dioceses.

 She stated that their program usually runs for three years and the training is usually done once in a year over a period of one month after which the sisters are awarded certificates in different courses which include financial management, administrations, and leadership. After the successful completion of the three-year program, a certificate from Mary wood University in the USA would be issued.

 She mentioned that ASEC continues to send sisters for higher education through their scholarship program called Higher Education for Sisters in Africa where the sisters have the opportunity to pursue bachelor's, master's and PhDs in the different universities of the four countries where ASEC is.

 Sister veronica disclosed that ASEC’s activities are fully funded by the Hilton Foundation which makes its activities free of

charge. She, therefore, encourages more sisters to turn up and benefit from the initiative especially those who stayed for a very long time without going for refreshment studies.

 ASEC is currently training its second group in an initiative that started in 2016. The first group (2016-2018) had 18 sisters graduating after the program after the successful completion of the three years. The Second batch which joined in 2019 will graduate in 2021; they have 14 representatives from six different congregations out of the 50 religious congregations in South Sudan.

 Sister Veronica revealed that in all the ten countries where ASEC is, there have been positive turning out of sisters compared to South Sudan which is still lurking behind.

 Speaking to the beneficiaries of the ASEC initiative, sister Jane Charles from Torit dioceses expressed happiness saying that she has really gained a lot in terms of different skills in ICT, financial management, administration, and leadership, which will go a long way in helping her works better. She is currently working in a finance office at a school in Torit.

 Sister Iren Avako the youth coordinator of Catholic Diocese of Tumbra-Yambio expressed the same sentiments saying that they have gained a lot of skills, especially in administration and leadership. She is optimistic that their dioceses will benefit from the effectiveness of their services, having acquired necessary skills.

 Speaking to Rurugene Online News, The sisters expressed their appreciation to ASEC and Hilton Foundation as they too encourage their superiors to send more participants despite the major challenge of transportation.

By Christine Ngbavungugbe & George Kparabatiko