Since its inception three years ago, Edify Uganda has experienced God’s transformation. This has resulted in incredible innovation and growth in Uganda. The growth has come at a rate never before seen in our 12 years of operation. In fact, as of May 2, 2022, our Uganda team served 8,484 schools, along with 1,394,804 students!
For context, Edify Uganda accounts for over 50 percent of all schools Edify partners with, and one-third of all students. At such a scale, a reasonable conclusion would be that Uganda’s team is much larger than Edify’s other operating countries.
The Great Miracle
Yet, by some incredible feat, this is not the case. In reality, the team works alongside all of these schools with only nine staff members. While such growth can only be attributed to the hand of God, the Uganda team has also stewarded their resources incredibly well. This truly best explains the innovation and growth in Uganda that has taken place. The team has implemented various structures and systems to handle the sheer number of partner schools, all the while still living up to the high standards Edify strives for. As Edify continues to expand across the world, we look to Uganda’s example for how to manage cases of explosive growth with great care.
Thoughts from Country Director of Uganda, Godfrey Lugoloobi
Godfrey Lugoloobi has served as Uganda’s Country Director from the very beginning. As a leader and mentor to many, he epitomizes Edify’s core value of Christ-like service. His heart for service is what drove him to Edify, and he continues to cultivate this attitude to this very day.
“I try to remind myself that to whom much is given, much is expected. I try to see my position as an opportunity to serve,” Godfrey shares. Luke 12:49 (NIV).
Under Godfrey’s leadership, numerous systems have been developed. These are systems that speficifically aim to aid the Ugandan staff in partnerships with schools. Perhaps most importantly, various partner organizations have come in on the implementation side of Edify’s work. This ultimately allows the Ugandan staff to delegate effectively and work as a well-functioning team. In looking for these partner organizations, Godfrey outlines the following criteria.
“Partners should be willing to work for a common goal and be flexible in the methodology, but to arrive at the same outcome. Defining what success will look like together with the partners has been a great lesson.” Moreover, as time has passed, more definitive guidelines have developed to guide Edify Uganda’s joint operations.
Impact of Christian School Owner’s Association
Yet another critical organization to Edify’s work in Uganda is the Christian School Owner’s Association (CSOA). Interestingly enough, the roots of the organization stem from Edify itself, initially a way of dividing up and organizing the thousands of partner schools in Uganda. In Godfrey’s words, the CSOA adds “great value” to Edify’s capability to serve schools, giving them a support network of like-minded proprietors.
The Uganda Team’s Plans for the Future
Looking forward, Godfrey hopes to continue to capitalize on the vast amount of Christian low-fee schools in Uganda. An enormous untapped market still exists. For example, with over 50,000 low-fee schools in the nation, 80 percent of them are Christian schools. The Ugandan team shares their hope. “We hope to serve 2,000,000 children in the next three years … we are confident the Lord will enable us to serve 10 million children in the next 27 years in an effort to build a flourishing godly Uganda.”
Godfrey notes that such expansion will require innovative thinking. There is a real need for “scalable and highly impactful approaches” to support further innovation and growth in Uganda. The obvious hope is that the aforementioned growth and structures could be replicated throughout all of Edify’s partner nations. That being said, the reality is that a number of different factors vary greatly from country to country. After all, each nation has their own specific needs that need to be met. For example, they may need to rely more heavily on partner organizations for all three aspects of Edify’s work. Or they may end up putting together a network of Christian proprietors have a lot of merit, and could be adapted by individual partner nations as they see fit.
We can’t wait to see how the Lord will continue to bring changes and growth to Edify. As we look ahead, we are excited to see the role that Uganda is already playing. If you are passionate about flourishing godly nations, please feel free to share this inspiring story with loved ones.