Alleviating disparities between rural and urban areas is a major focus of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. In particular, SDG 2 ⎼ Zero Hunger includes a specific target to “increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure”.
Sustainable rural development is key to improving the economic, social and environmental status of countries across the globe. In Tanzania, 75% of the entire population resides in areas defined as “rural” and are heavily reliant on agricultural production for not only sustenance but income. For these reasons, it is imperative to develop and implement innovative solutions in Tanzania, which can empower rural areas and help close the rural-urban divide.
Sr. Magreth John Gabriel, SOLQA, is aware of these possibilities and plans to serve her congregation in this area after completing her post-secondary education.
Sr. Magreth received an ASEC Two-Year Scholarship in 2017 to earn her secondary education credentials (Form V and VI) at the Bigwa Secondary School in Tanzania.
She graduated from the Bigwa Secondary School in May 2019, achieving Division II results on her national exams. Sr. Magreth has since been accepted to continue her education at the Institute of Rural Development Planning through the University of Dodoma, to assist her congregation in developing its rural ministries.
With her post-secondary education, Sr. Magreth will work to improve rural living in her community and develop innovative solutions for her congregation, all of which would have not been possible without obtaining her secondary school credentials. Sr. Magreth writes of her continuing education opportunity,
“I promise to study hard so that I may be able to fulfill the congregation’s requirement and become a good instrument in serving people with wider knowledge.”
