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Empowerment for the Poor – Uganda’s Giving Children Hope School project is a social project to empower Orphans and other Vulnerable Children.
Uganda has continued to be challenged by the crisis situation of orphan hood and other vulnerable children where by, out of the 56% which constitutes the percentage of the Ugandan children population, 46% (7.5 millions) are Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and 46 % of these orphans are due to AIDS (Uganda Bureau of statistics (UBOS) 2000/01 Report). Worse still, the report also highlights that more than 3 million children are living below the poverty line and approximately 105,000 children aged 0-14 years are HIV positive.
The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development /Uganda AIDS Commission Report (MGLSD/UAC Report of 2002) continued to highlight that one of every five children in Uganda is orphaned, and most are between 5 and 15 years of age and that the major causes of OVC crisis in Uganda is attributed to HIV/AIDS scourge, severe poverty, natural disasters and displacements, land grabbing, domestic violations among others.
In order to ensure that OVC live in safe, healthy and productive lives, We started the Give Children Hope School Project. The school is located in Kabagolo LC1, Nabattu Parish Malangala Sub County, Mityana District situated on 5 acres of land having started in 2020. Currently the project has 400 pupils who are supported with education, psychosocial support, child protection & child safety and nutrition services among others. For the last 4 years, the project has so far helped 200 children to access, retain and complete primary education
The project derives its mandate from United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Children (1989) as well as contributing to the sustainable Development Goals on Education like SDG 4 “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities.”
· SDG 4.1: By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.
· SDG 4.5: By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.
· SDG 4.6: By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy.
To contribute to these targets under SDG 4, Empowerment for the Poor-Uganda’ strategy includes:
Address financial barriers to education such as costs of uniforms, school materials and examination fees among vulnerable families
The project also addresses vulnerability of girls to education which include teenage pregnancy, early marriage, distance to schools and fear of Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) on route to school, and social norms of prioritizing the education of boys over that of girls and HIV infection. Aware that New HIV, STIs infections and unintended pregnancies where Two thirds of all new HIV infections are found in adolescent girls in Uganda and yet only 30 per cent of Adolescent Girls receive HIV testing Services (HTS) (UPHIA 2019). Understanding that , the HIV prevalence among adolescents aged 15-19 years in Mityana district is at 6.7% (UPHIA 2020) and 3 times higher among adolescents aged 20-25 years (UPHIA 2020). Besides, alarmed that, 25% of Ugandan teenagers become pregnant before age 17, and close to 50% are married before celebrating their 18th birthday (UNCEF;2021), the project prioritize reducing the vulnerability of girls.
Empowerment for the Poor – Uganda therefore responds to all the above education challenges through her program that supports orphans and vulnerable children aged 5- 18 years who lost one or both parents, HIV positive children or whose parents are HIV positive, also children who were neglected and abandoned by their parents as well as children who live in circumstances that expose them to various dangers, such as economic, social and sexual exploitation, children living with elderly or whose parents were imprisoned and servicing long sente.
Education and/or Vocational Training: We promote access to early childhood, Primary and vocational school education through sponsorship in our school among orphans and Vulnerable children; where we have a system to provide scholastic and non-scholastic materials which allow the child to remain in school; providing vocational training and start up kits to teenage mothers or adolescents who dropped out of school.
Food Security and Nutrition : We also promote nutrition support to OVC by giving children nutritious foods and food supplements. We established kitchen gardens among OVC households to boost the nutrition needs of children and help them overcome malnutrition. 4.3
Health Care: To critically vulnerable children whose caregivers cannot as well as promoting, malaria prevention, age-appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention messages, sanitation and hygiene of the children.
Pscysocial and mental health Services: We carry out counseling services for HIV positive children and OVCs suffering from anxiety, grief, and trauma through our child friend safe spaces
Child Care and Support including Shelter: W provide temporary emergency assistance such as bedding blankets, mattress, bed sheets , clothing; shoes, sweaters, temporarily essential shelter critically vulnerable children whoo have been dumped or rejected.
Economic Strengthening: We promotes social economic strengthening to OVC care givers to help them start income generating to be able to support their children
Prevention Care Services: The program promotes prevention services designed to prevent transmission of HIV to others via prevention messages focused on disclosure, partner testing, carrying out girls advocacy to prevent violence against children
Impact.
For the last 5 years, we have worked to:
Increase access, retention and completeness to education among 550 children
Support 150 children to complete primary school