Aang Serian's community college has a curriculum in "Indigenous Knowledge" (IK) and Globalisation that focuses on four areas: History, Culture, Environment and Health. The college, housed in a small rented office in Arusha, has 60 part-time students. In addition to the IK and Globalisation course, many students focus on Traditional Music and Dance, English, Kiswahili, Spanish, French, Computing and Media Studies. Volunteers, who work for a minimum of 6 to 12 weeks in areas like teacher training, curriculum development, and English conversation classes, are central to this effort. A rural campus in Eluay Village, Monduli District is being established. There, vocational subjects such as Ethnobotany, Organic Agriculture, and Integrated Livestock Management (combining indigenous and modern veterinary knowledge) will be added. An additional aim is the introduction of Basic Literacy courses for adults and the redesign of language curricula, which is currently based on standard courses, in an effort to provide students with interesting and relevant reading materials.

In 2001, Aang Serian was invited to collaborate with another local NGO in a research project funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Members have subsequently carried out further research on traditional health care systems and forest conservation in northern Tanzania, in association with the University of Kent at Canterbury and the Global Initiative for Traditional Systems of Health in Oxford. The co-directors have presented the organisation's work in a number of national and international arenas. With regard to these efforts, Aang Serian promotes local participation in traditional medicine research, and is committed to returning findings to communities and upholding international conventions on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Other projects include a fair trade shop in Arusha that sells local handicrafts; a recording studio producing CDs of traditional music and "fusion music"; and an "Educational Journeys" programme enabling students from overseas to visit rural villages in Tanzania. The latter programme is designed to prevent loss of Tanzanian customs, medicines, and oral history. Sessions lasting 3 to 7 days are led by experienced English-speaking guides who have grown up in the villages in question. Options include the WaChagga Programme (traditional dances, historic caves and churches, vanishing crafts, and the flora and fauna of Kilimanjaro's foothills), the WaMaasai Programme (learn how to milk goats, make bead jewelry, and identify medicinal plants), and the WaRangi Programme (travel in a donkey cart, study ancient cave paintings, visit elders, and learn the art of bird trapping).

Recently, Aang Serian has begun forming an international network of organisations that work to improve education for indigenous peoples while simultaneously preserving and promoting indigenous knowledge. The purpose of this network is to facilitate communication, share ideas, and promote cooperation. A working title for this network is the International Network for Sustainable Education. Ultimately, this network would participate in a meeting in August 2003 in Tanzania (in association with Survival International and senior anthropologists at the University of East London, UK), as a precursor to a World Assembly of Indigenous Nations, scheduled for 2004.

Indigenous Knowledge, Education, Youth, Environment, Health.

Aang Serian was formed in collaboration with a recent Oxford graduate from England.