One School at a Time

About us

One School at a Time, founded in 2005, is a non-religious, non-denominational organization with offices in Eldorado Springs, Colorado, USA and Kampala, Uganda. One School at a Time is a non-profit dedicated to improving educational opportunities for children in Uganda by developing long term sustainable partnerships with schools and their local communities.

One School's mission is to improve impoverished schools in Uganda by identifying and working with capable leaders, creating mutual partnerships, and offering critically needed resources using local products and technologies.

Our work
One School at a Time partners with subsistence farming communities in rural Uganda, Africa to boost the performance and quality of existing public schools. We currently partner with 6 schools serving over 2,500 girls and boys. We empower students to stay in school and break the cycle of poverty. Our unique model invites entire communities of parents, teachers, and Board members to come together and:
• Identify their own needs and develop and implement a five-year plan
• Join our team to secure water, sanitation, menstrual pads for older girls, community gardens, school lunch, classrooms, and teacher training in nonviolent communication
• Help first-generation girls avoid early marriage and pregnancy

Projects in Africa
• Water Projects: Built 6 onsite rainwater collection systems (rainwater harvested from the school roof is collected in a 40,000L water tank) and repaired/constructed 7 10,000L rainwater tanks.
• Worked closely with the Ugandan Dept. of Education on all aspects of our partnerships with Ugandan public schools including: health and sanitation, educational materials, teacher support and training, community and parent involvement, and sustainable infrastructure development.
• Provided each partner school with enough farm tools for an entire class to work. With this boost, all partner schools grow enough food for students and teachers to eat lunch.
• Constructed or renovated 27 classrooms and provided accommodations for 6 teachers.
• Engaged parents and families to rally around their schools to support education (often first girls’ education) and develop strategic plans for their schools.
• Provided more than 3,175 reusable sanitary pads kits to more than 550 female students over seven consecutive years (and counting!) to help them stay in school with confidence during their periods. Girls in our work area cannot afford to purchase disposable sanitary pads and may stay home during menstruation or try to manage using old rags or banana leaves.

U.S. Programs
• One School at a Time develops dialogue and awareness amongst our local Boulder, Colorado children about cultural differences, poverty, environmental degradation and inequities in the distribution of world resources through the following programs:
• Sister School Program between selected Boulder schools and Ugandan partner schools in which children send letters and projects back and forth.
• Let Them Eat Cake activity at local schools to help kids learn about inequities in distribution of world resources.

Bay Roberts is the Founder of One School at a Time.
Hussein Tadesse is One School at a Time’s Program Manager in Uganda.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.