»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ

Our Work for Children in Uganda

»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵis one of the largest children’s charity in Uganda, where we’ve worked since 1959. We reach the most vulnerable girls and boys and their families, addressing their health and nutrition needs, their food security and families’ livelihoods. We increase access to education and protect children from harm. We also respond to emergencies.

We’re also working in multiple refugee sites, where many children have walked for days without food, water or rest and are in desperate need of care. Our Emergency Health Unit has helped to rapidly scale-up health services to meet refugees’ needs.Ìý

We provide primary health care, reproductive health care, family planning and childhood vaccinations. We also run child-friendly spaces and are accelerating learning programs and classroom construction so children can catch up on their educations.

With Ebola cases on the rise in Uganda, we’re also supporting local efforts to educate people about the disease and its prevention and providing logistical support to district health task forces. We deployed an Ebola expert and an in-country response team.Ìý

We’re scaling up our community awareness efforts and education in schools about proper hygiene. And we’re partnering with other agencies on public education campaigns and training village health teams.

Here are some recent examples of our work:

A healthy start in life

• We’re advancing the Helping Babies Survive program, developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, to improve the quality of comprehensive newborn care in low-resource settings, including training health providersÌý
• Through our Strengthening Partnerships, Results and Innovations in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) project, we’re working with local leaders to improve nutrition for mothers, infants and young children
• We worked with government ministries and district partners to identify the most vulnerable children and families in 35 communities, providing them with the knowledge and skills to effectively access services
• We’re constructing wells and water tanks to ensure communities have access to safe drinking water, reducing the risk of water-related diseases and improving sanitation, health and hygiene

The opportunity to learn

• We’re training teachers on early literacy and math strategies and teaching parents at-home strategies to engage early learners
• We’re ensuring children are benefitting from teachers using positive discipline and gender participation strategies
• We demonstrated significant gains in literacy (by 17 %) and numeracy (by 24%), with conducive learning and improved teacher capacityÌýÌý
• We’re strengthening our education team’s understanding of inclusive education, including how to address discrimination and promote child participation
• We’re providing immunizations, as well as vision and hearing screenings in schools, in addition to setting up medical camps in rural communities
• We’re helping adolescents access quality health care – and training teachers on how and when to refer teens to health clinics

Protection from harm

• Through our Responsible, Engaged and Loving (REAL) Fathers Project in Northern Uganda, we helped fathers improve their parenting practices and reduce violence in the home, with significant declines in intimate partner violence (by 29%) and use of physical punishment (by 18%)
• Through our Parenting without Violence approach, we’re reducing physical and humiliating punishment of children by up to 24%
• We’re ensuring children know their rights, with a focus on ending violence, government investment in child-centered initiatives and sexual and reproductive health
• We’re implementing our Healing and Education through the Arts (HEART) program in preschools and child-friendly spaces in refugee camps and in communities in northern Uganda

Girls Empowerment and Gender Equality

• Our pioneering Gender Roles Equality and Transformations (GREAT) project in Northern Uganda is improving reproductive health and reducing sexual and gender-based violence among adolescents – and the program has been expanded country-wide by the government
• Through our Life Skills for Success approach, we’re helping adolescent girls build life and vocation skills in safe spaces, leading to a 35% increase in the likelihood of their engagement in income-generating activities

Emergency response

• We’re pilot testing our Return to Learning initiative to provide refugee girls and boys with uninterrupted learning opportunities
• We provided access to safe, protective, inclusive and quality early learning environments for children in the Bidibidi refugee camp, as well as those from the host community, recording a significant improvement in learning and developmental achievement
• Our Ebola response team is supporting local efforts in communities to educate people about the disease and its prevention, including training health workers, volunteers, teachers, village health teams and laboratory staff on key steps for preventing and responding to cases, plus providing materials to health facilities and installing handwashing facilities in communities to reduce the risk of contamination