Collaboration is central to ASEC’s mission, exemplified by partnerships with educational institutions and national conferences of religious across ten African countries, all aimed at empowering Catholic sisters through education, as highlighted in the 2023 HESA Partners Conference.
Partnership is central to ASEC’s commitment to collaboration. ASEC is supported by its eight corporate member institutions, seven associate members, three friends of ASEC, partners for the Research Initiative, and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which sponsors SLDI and HESA. In ASEC’s ten countries of operation in Africa, ASEC partners with national conferences of religious to implement its programs. The national conferences in Africa are, in most cases, the home to ASEC’s Africa country offices.
Together with our partners, ASEC is also supported by hundreds of individual donors who generously contribute to the work of ASEC.
2023 HESA Partners Conference
To effectively deliver the HESA program, ASEC partners with the Hilton Foundation and 24 colleges and universities in Africa and the U.S. HESA partners share common values and goals with ASEC, as well as an underlying commitment to education for women religious in Africa and knowledge of the reality that to educate a sister is to educate her community and improve society.
In June 2023, ASEC held the 2023 HESA Partners Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, focusing on The Mission of a Catholic University in the 21st Century. Once per grant phase, the HESA Partners Conference gathers representatives from ASEC’s 24 partner colleges and universities in Africa and the U.S. for networking and learning.
Nearly 70 representatives from ASEC’s partner colleges and universities, including vice chancellors, academic deans, HESA liaisons, and ASEC staff attended the conference. Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, CM, EdD, President of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, and Michael James, PhD, Lecturer of Educational Leadership and Higher Education and Director of the Institute for Administrators in Catholic Higher Education, Boston College, facilitated sessions around the theme.
Participants highly rated their experience at the conference and were invigorated by the discussion around topics including the purposes and challenges of Catholic higher education in Africa. In the months since the conference, participants reported the development of initiatives inspired by the activities and networking during the conference.
“The presence of the HESA sisters on campus has tremendously shaped the spiritual tone of the campus. As a result, we have an increased number of students joining religious life.” -HESA Partner Representative
“I have been empowered to clarify my mission and university mission,” one partner participant shared. Another participant explained, “With commitment dialogue and networking, we can help each other and our students understand the purpose of Catholic higher education, bring change to society, and strengthen Church teachings.”
University leaders present at the conference also spoke of the role HESA students as Catholic sisters play in the culture of their institutions. More than 90% of partner representatives reported that HESA students contributed to a more vibrant Catholic identity at their institutions.
ASEC staff in the U.S. and Kenya, worked to develop the conference in collaboration with the facilitators and global partners for the HESA program. ASEC is grateful to the staff, facilitators, and partners who made the 2023 HESA Partners Conference a success.
Be a Ray of Hope
Communities across Africa are counting on Catholic Sisters, but 48 lack the education needed to carry out their important mission work. You can be a Ray of Hope for a Sister who needs you by donating to her education today.
This article is addressing the following UN Sustainable Development Goal(s):
