Members of the joint team from DePaul University and Tangaza University College met in June 2019 at DePaul for planning sessions on the program for Catholic sister leaders in East Africa. In the front row, left to right, are Sister Patricia Bombard, who leads the Tangaza-DePaul partnership; Angelique Mutombo, senior program officer, Catholic Sisters Initiative (Africa) at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; and Sister Agnes Njeri. In the back row, left to right, are Ramya Ramanath, Sister Vincenta Javier, Sister Alice Dralu Anzoyo, Marisa Alicea, Sister Loretta Brennan, Sister Joan Burke and Susanne Dumbleton. (Image courtesy of the Office of Advancement)DePaul received a $1.5 million gift from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to support its ongoing partnership with Tangaza University College in Kenya. The gift will help DePaul University in its efforts to deliver an array of continuing education and leadership training programs to Catholic sisters in Africa over the next three years.
“DePaul is deeply grateful to the Hilton Foundation for recognizing the important role Catholic sisters play in meeting the needs of vulnerable populations in East Africa and for the benefits of this unique partnership between DePaul and Tangaza," says DePaul President A. Gabriel Esteban, Ph.D.
Since 2006, DePaul has maintained a thriving partnership with Tangaza University College in Nairobi, Kenya, one of the constituent colleges of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. Funding from the Hilton Foundation has enabled the universities to work together to design, deliver and evaluate leadership programming in the African context, building the capacity of Catholic sisters to strengthen their impact. Hundreds of sisters, lay leaders and youth have already attended and benefited from workshops, conferences and coaching through the Centre for Leadership and Management at Tangaza.
This generous gift from the Hilton Foundation directly supports DePaul and Tangaza's continued partnership by expanding leadership development curriculum and continuing education offerings for Catholic sisters in Africa over a wider geographic area.
Among the beneficiaries are 250 Catholic sisters serving in Kenya and Tanzania who are on track to earn a certificate in the practice of organizational leadership through the Centre for Leadership and Management. Funding will also support a train-the-trainer model program to enable certified sisters to become trainers themselves, as well as the expansion of programming at The Leaders Guild at Tangaza to include continuing education opportunities for over 400 Catholic sisters and their lay counterparts.
Funds will also support the engagement of over 1,000 youth participants annually through leadership conferences, as well as a program to improve data collection efforts in keeping with the Hilton Foundation's goal to support and increase the visibility of the role of Catholic sisters in addressing critical human needs.
“We thank the Hilton Foundation and our colleagues at Tangaza for making it possible for us to provide effective, affordable and sustainable training for Catholic sisters to build their leadership, human resources, financial management and communications skills, enhancing the impactful work they do in East Africa," says Sister Patricia Bombard, B.V.M., who leads the Tangaza-DePaul partnership and is an adjunct faculty member in the School of Public Service.