Pupils in purple uniform gathered outdoors at John Bosco Academy, Adagom

Our model

A school on its own does not keep a child in class.

Hunger, illness and a family with no income take more children out of class than any exam does. So a Community Education Centre runs two programmes, education and healthcare — and builds the school farms, HELP-A-KID, economic empowerment and the skills centres into the education itself, for parents and community members as well as pupils. It takes a village to raise a child.

The Community Education Centre

Two programmes. One community. Several systems.

The Community Education Centre is our answer to a hard lesson: a school on its own does not keep a child in class. Hunger, illness and a family without income take more children out of class than any exam does. This is Education for Africa’s Future.

ProgrammeEducation
- School farms
- HELP-A-KID
- Economic empowerment
- Skills centres (VASAC)
ProgrammeHealthcare
- School clinics
- Medical outreach
- Hygiene and sanitation

Where the model stands

Proven twice. Next, near Abuja.

The model was first built at Idum-Mbube, in Ogoja, and at Victoria, in Ikom. At each, a school, a health centre and a farm were built. Both are working, and both are now being handed to the institutions that will run them from 2027 — which is what they were built for. We intend to replicate the model across Nigeria, beginning with a proposed centre near Abuja.

The front of St. Joseph’s Schools, Idum-Mbube, a two-storey block in blue and red

Centre one

Idum-Mbube, Ogoja

St. Joseph’s Schools and Orphanage, the Sr. Augustina Abuo Memorial Medical Clinic and the CORA Farms — a demonstration of the CEC model. Today it is being handed on.

Centre two

Victoria, Ikom

The Victoria Schools, the Victoria Medical Center and the CORA Farms. Being handed on.

A new block going up at the Victoria Schools, Ikom, beside a paved walkway

Proposed

Proposed CEC near Abuja

Our next Community Education Centre, proposed at a location near Abuja.

The model, live

What a centre looks like on an ordinary day.

Pupils at school and on the farm; the schools and their grounds; the trustees who oversee the work; and the partners the schools are being handed on to.

Pupils in red and yellow house colours crossing the courtyard at St. Joseph’s — St. Joseph’s courtyard, between classes — Idum-Mbube, Ogoja

Pupils in purple uniform planting the ridges of the school demonstration farm — The school demonstration farm at John Bosco Academy

A man crouching among small pupils in purple uniform, who crowd round him — A happy moment for the children of John Bosco Academy, Adagom

Visitors and CORAfrica staff beside the John Bosco Academy signboard at Adagom — Handing over our institutions to partners from Franciscan University of Steubenville

Visitors standing at the side of a classroom while a teacher takes a lesson — Our partners from Franciscan University of Steubenville, visiting a class

Trustees seated round a meeting table — Members of the Board of Trustees at a meeting

Trustees and guests standing together in front of a grey building — After the meeting

Trustees and guests lined up beside a CORAfrica banner outside the office — Trustees and guests, after the meeting

Fr. Peter at his cocoa nursery farm.

How a centre works

Study teams, not just classes.

Our Vocational and Skills Acquisition Centres are designed around pilot systems in which children and young people form study teams together with parents, teachers and community members. A skill practised alongside the adults who will employ or finance it is a skill that survives leaving school.

Children and parents together

The school provides for parents and guardians as well as pupils, through farming support and micro-credit where it is available.

Skills that outlast school

Trades from computing and fashion design to building, solar installation and farming, to be taught hands-on.

Built to be handed on

Each centre is designed to be run by its community and partners, so that CORAfrica can move on and begin the next.

The priority

Our new Community Education Centre.

Our first two centres, at Idum-Mbube and Victoria-Ikom, proved the model, and are being handed to the institutions that will run them from 2027. The next is proposed at a location near Abuja, and it is where our capital effort is going now.

Capital

What it needs

Capital to build it. Its budget is being prepared, and institutions that would like to fund it should talk to us.

The model

What it will be

A school at the centre of its community, with education and healthcare as its two programmes and agriculture and economic empowerment built in, for parents as well as pupils.

Rationale

Why near Abuja

It is the first step in replicating the model across Nigeria, and it places the work beside the government agencies and partners our plan commits us to working with.

Read the strategic plan

It takes a village to raise a child. This is Education for Africa’s Future.