Importance of Community Engagement for Sustainable Social Change

A Discussion with Joseph Kaliisa, Country Director, Building Tomorrow hosted by Kevin Armstrong

According to the World Bank, in order to accomplish the Millennium Development goal of providing Universal Primary Education for children worldwide by 2015, humanity must undertake the largest building project the world has ever seen – constructing more than 10 million new classrooms throughout 100 countries.

Building Tomorrow (BT) has joined in that task by empowering young people in the US to invest their time, talents, and resources in supporting the construction of primary-level academies throughout sub-Saharan Africa; each providing learning space for 325 children.

Joseph Kaliisa, BT’s Country Director, works directly with communities in Uganda, ensuring a cost and responsibility sharing model for the construction of each BT academy. Through Joseph’s commitment to human rights and the rights of the children of Uganda, BT has successfully leveraged the power of community engagement: BT broke ground on its 10th academy in Uganda last summer.

About The Conversations
Hosted by BT’s Social Investment Council, Conversations in Global Social Change was created to spur learning and engagement with the work being done for positive social change across the globe. We aim to stimulate a lively discussion by offering opportunities for the public to hear from accomplished change-makers, discuss various approaches to social change and meet like-minded community members. All events are free and open to the public and are designed to encourage a fruitful discussion of ideas.