Self Help Foundation

Introduction

Self Help Foundation is a social initiative and platform for young people to apply innovative ways to solve the community problems. Self Help foundation’s goal is to sensitize and empower the war-torn communities to actively pursue their recovery and development first as an individual then as a community by embracing education, skills and information around their communities.

Status of Self help Foundation and Recent Activities

Schools profiling:

Carried out in March 2011 with the aim of creating awareness among the public and putting the situation of students in the northern region in the lime light. This profiling was also aimed at generating data on the schools selected by Self Help Foundation Uganda to establish the underlying issues affecting education like the gender disparities, infrastructure, resource base as well as the socio economic factors that limit students from exploring and using their full potential.

Global Exchange:

The Global exchange program carried out in partnership with AIESEC in Uganda is aimed at developing a global partnership for development.  SHFU has had several interns from Botswana, Kenya and German volunteering the expertise to improve the activities of the organization. Our present intern Larissa Ross from Germany is engaged in establishing linkages and partnerships with local development and governance actors to maximally benefit the youth of Uganda by assuring youths’ access to various socio-economic services. The intern is providing leadership and facilitates SHF Uganda's initiatives and is responsible for development and integration of human resource programs and associated multiple projects to achieve strategic goals and operational objectives.

School fees Sponsorships:

SHF has partnered with a local software developer Afro Cyber Inc to implement an online crowd funding application called Somesha that will enable it raise funds to sponsor needy students in its partner schools. The application enables sponsors sponsor children using mobile money and other payment methods through this online application.

Information Sharing and Management:

This includes engagement in community dialogues, caravans, campaigns, school debates, peer to peer education and running social media campaigns.

Skills training and capacity building:

This involves teaching the community members vocational skills and other productive skills including; quilting, crafting, painting, bee keeping, poultry keeping, commercial and agriculture. We are currently organizing youth training on social entrepreneurship, microfinance and the use of Web2.0 applications for development.

Profile Participant of Beneficiary/direct beneficiary of SHF programming

Ngai Secondary School in Oyam District

Ngai secondary school is located on a 200 acre piece of land in Akuca parish, Ngai Sub County in Oyam district.  The school has received support in the past year 2012, in the form of clubs and computer training from Self help foundation Uganda with the generous support from our international volunteers from Singapore.  A total of five clubs of 20 students were opened including entrepreneurship, agriculture, home economics art and crafts and the computer clubs through which various trainings and information was directly provided to students and teachers of the school. To-date the schools are running and serving as a channel for information and skills to students. Details about club information is readily available upon request but some of the activities are also recapped on the video http://youtu.be/Tokq0UQy98g

Brief History of Ngai Secondary School

Has been in existence for over 20 years and it was opened in 1980. The war mainly affected the performance of the school. This is a school that was turned into military barracks during the 20 year insurgency. As such most of the existing structures were destroyed. A school that was formally running even A’ level classes now ends in O’levels with the highest education ending in senior four mainly due to the destroyed learning environment but also due to lack of support and facilities to run the school. This is however a government sponsored school.

Key Challenges

• Limited classrooms, housing and accommodation for teachers since the teachers’ houses were displaced and part of the school land was grabbed by the community around.

• Vulnerability of students due to poverty in families

• There are only 24 teachers 4 females and 20 males

• There is a high school dropout due to early marriages, unwanted pregnancies and poverty whereby parents cannot afford to pay school fees

Video