Looking for a passionate, engaging teaching role where all your costs are covered for you to play a massive role in helping rebuild a country through women’s empowerment? Join our Barwaaqo University team for a fulfilling experience that many of our past faculty have called “the most meaningful job I’ve ever had” and “career starting”.

Barwaaqo University, opened in 2017 as the first residential college for women in Somaliland. Our mission: training women to be teachers, leaders and engaged citizens here in a part of the world that desperately needs their passion and talent. Recruiting international educators and service-oriented faculty is key to our success. Experience in teaching is less critical than commitment to empowering women of the world. We provide teaching resources and professional development for all first-time teaching candidates.

Barwaaqo University, which will graduate its first class of teachers this year, is the second educational institution supported by the Abaarso Network. The first, Abaarso School of Science & Technology, (www.abaarsoschool.org) featured in the New York Times and BBC World, is a non-profit, coed, college-preparatory boarding school educating the best and the brightest Somali students in the Horn of Africa. The schools are located outside of Hargeisa, Somaliland, a self-governing democratic region of Somalia. Barwaaqo University builds on Abaarso's exceptional success, while expanding the vision of excellence in education to a new population: Somaliland’s young women who already have a high school education. A Barwaaqo education begins with core fundamentals and character education, encouraging critical thinking, ethical decision-making and inculcating a sense of responsibility for building and sustaining community.

Barwaaqo University is looking for individuals interested in dedicating at least one year to teaching and building our community from the ground up. Successful candidates will help build a school culture that puts students first, modeling flexibility and problem-solving while tenaciously working through the challenges inherent in working in the developing world. To be clear: this is not a job; it is a lifestyle, there are often evening and weekend expectations. Our staff and faculty work are a team working long hours by design and with a focused purpose: we have so little time to fill the gaps in the educational backgrounds of our students. Those who fall in love with our students, the school’s culture and Somaliland will find ample leadership opportunities here.

We seek energetic, smart, adaptable problem-solvers with strong interpersonal skills, ample emotional intelligence (EQ) and the ability to laugh—with others and at themselves, too. We seek two types of team players: those who are at home with basic English and math instruction and those who have the background or desire to instruct our upper level students. All staff and faculty must be fluent in English as that is the language of instruction.

Introductory Course Teachers: These individuals work with first and second year students, teaching introductory English, mathematics, and computer science courses. Students spend their first two years at Barwaaqo University in foundational courses to prepare them for their pedagogical classes in the final two years.

Pedagogical Course Teachers: Pedagogical courses provide students with an opportunity to delve into the realm of education in preparation for a teaching career. We are looking for individuals with either a degree in education and/or professional teaching experience, who can teach education courses in both a practical and theoretical manner.

Montessori Course Teachers: Individuals teaching Montessori courses will play a key role in helping to train students in the Montessori methodology of teaching. Courses in this area include teaching practical life, sensorial, culture, language, and mathematics and Montessori theory. These individuals will also assist in a primary program for children from the local village that is taught by Barwaaqo students. We are looking for individuals with a Montessori certification, experience training Montessori teachers is a plus.