live aid

Tony Wrightson takes continuing education to developing countries.

When we caught up with Tony Wrightson he was having 'down time', back in New Zealand on the Napier waterfront - the place he might call home - anticipating a working year that will take him from Cambridge in the United Kingdom, to Uganda, to Nigeria and Guyana, and on to Khartoum in the Sudan. Sometimes living in hotels, sometimes mud huts, he will work in war zones, meet old and new friends, and improve the quality of the lives of thousands of people.

Tony is an expert in education - particularly literacy and distance education - and he's no mean advertise-ment for lifelong learning himself. Among the string of qualifications he has amassed are a BA (Massey and then an honours year at Victoria), an MSc (a career detour into applied cartography at the University of Illinois), a Postgraduate Diploma in Distance Education from the University of Sweden, and Diplomas in English as a Second Language and in Education, gained while he was working in Papua New Guinea and studying extramurally with Massey.

Could he even be a little overqualified? Not according to Tony. This sort of educational CV is typical of the people employed by the International Extension College in Cambridge. The IEC, an associate organisation of the University of London, provides distance education in developing countries and delivers education and training in the field, including technical expertise and upskilling in literacy.
Tony Wrightson explains: "The College bids for projects, funded by the likes of the World Bank, the European Union and, indeed, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. So staff are constantly upgrading their skills and knowledge to meet new requirements.
"I'm one of a team of eight field consultants. And yes, my year is varied.

My first stop will be the Cambridge office for a workshop on distance education in Uganda, Guyana and Nigeria. We will do comparative research on the effectiveness of distance education in those countries, compared with more conventional education from, say, colleges of education. We will design the project, then the teams will go back to those countries to set it up. I'll visit over the next 24 months.
"Then I go to Khartoum in the Sudan where we have an ongoing project on post literacy amongst displaced people from the Southern Sudanese war. There are six million in Sudan, as well as refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is fraught. It's a struggle. Last year a round of fighting destroyed schools, bridges and power generators.

"I'm head of a technical advisory team which is improving literacy standards, using local languages, including the Eritrean language, Tigrinya, as a basis. We work with a small group, by encouraging them to write their own material in their own language for use by others in the population. We publish the material. So a relatively small number of about 1000 people become a catalyst for literacy and learning for others. One example: a group of women is writing about the highly controversial subject of female circumcision.

"I will be in Uganda for three weeks to advise on in a Nuffield Foundation project to upgrade Uganda's largest teacher education programme, run by the Institute of Teacher Education in Kyambogo. The aims are to upgrade their ability to deliver by distance education and also to develop secondary teacher training.

"In northern Uganda we have a four-year programme, to train 3500 teachers. Yes, that seems a very large number but you have to factor in inevitable death rates from Aids and war.

"In Tibet we're involved in a community development project centred on village schools in the remote area of Medrogonkar. In these isolated communities, the school is the focus. The teachers are mostly male and authoritarian and girls do not stay long at school. To change that, we are involving and educating parents in the benefits of upskilling for girls as well as boys. We initiate projects to support the schools, such as yak growing, and training in improving the quality of the local water.

"You ask about MFAT projects. They have funded some good stuff. One project, with assistance from Oxfam NZ, involves community development in the difficult environment of Bougainville. Former combatants living in remote areas are being helped to upskill in business development, gardening, growing rice, and producing cocoa.

"As head of a team, I spend about half of my time in the field on my own before I'm joined by other specialists. I'm self-contained but happiest working in a team. I don't like quick visits, flying in for a month to offer advice or initiate a project, but it's often necessary. I prefer to be able to return or, better still, maintain longer-term involvement.

"And yes, there have been painful and difficult moments, really too many to single out. But perhaps the most profoundly disturbing took place in northern Uganda where there is insurgency from the remnants of Idi Amin's followers. I was travelling in a Suzuki with two Ugandans as companions, in wet weather on soggy terrain. We drove over a landmine but perhaps the Suzuki was too small or perhaps we didn't hit it directly. The Landrover following directly behind us triggered the mine. The 17 people inside were thrown 20 feet. People reduced to mincemeat. We stopped but we could do nothing and we were in a very isolated place between Gulu and Kitgum. We had to drive on.

"Living conditions in Africa? In urban areas it is fair to good but I prefer staying in the villages. Africa has its problems and its horrors including war and Aids. But the other side is the joy of
experiencing village hospitality. Small things, like having to carry water, are very minor when you are in such a hugely positive environment, where the people are extremely happy."
Tony Wrightson says his respect for the value of distance learning began as a student at Massey. It raised his awareness of the possibilities. The University's extramural programmes, he says, are respected internationally and widely used by the International Extension College.

And what counts as 'downtime' for Tony? His pastimes are tramping and mountain climbing: recent ascents include Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro. He has started (and intends to continue) volunteer work at the local hospital. He has written several reports on the projects of the past year. And was it mentioned that he has a PhD in distance education in progress?