Gender Equality Uganda Project #11924

Empower 10,000 Vulnerable Girls in Uganda

by Just Like My Child Foundation

Empower 10,000 Vulnerable Girls in Uganda

Project Report | Jan 26, 2021
It's True: Girls are the Solution!

By Audrey Kanyesigye | Country Director

For 13 years we’ve been teaching Girl Power Project® curriculum to girls, boys and the communities at large in over 90 regions in rural Uganda and have seen firsthand that educating girls is the solution to many of the issues our world faces today.

We’re excited to announce that the data scientifically proving the transformative impact of Girl Power Project® at the community level has been published in the Journal of Universality of Global Education Issues. We can now scientifically prove what we’ve known to be true all these years, Girl Power Project® transforms not just the lives of girls, but boys, teachers, parents, police, health care workers and the community at large!

“The stakeholders observed increased confidence in their communities, increased communication and confidence to communicate between parents and children in their communities, increase in attendance and a decrease in dropout rates, increased gender equality, and an overall increased capacity in their communities to respond to violence against girls.”

Click Here to Read the Whole Paper.

To say that 2020 was an interesting year would be an understatement. Yet through all the ups the lockdowns, the closures and the chaos, we were able to get some critical work done to protect adolescent girls with your support.

We are so grateful for you, our donors, as well as our outstanding team here in the USA and in Uganda who kept their focus on the work that we do - transforming the world, one girl at a time.

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Sep 22, 2020
Girl Power Radio Show Intercepts a Child Marriage!

By Audrey Kanyesigye | Country Director

Team Prepping for the First Girl Power Radio Hour

What do you do in Uganda when you can't reach girls where they are? When schools are closed down and girls are more vulnerable than ever because they're stuck at home in increasingly unsafe environments?

Well, you do what we've all learned to do lately: you meet with them virtually!

However, In rural Uganda, internet connectivity is still highly unreliable and the vast majority of young girls do not have access to a device with streaming or video capability.

So, if you're super industrious like our Just Like My Chid Uganda team, you take to the airwaves via radio -- still a very popular medium in rural Uganda.

Last week we launched the first of a series of Girl Power Hour Radio Show segments aimed at sharing Girl Power Project curriculum with adolescent girls and the communities in which they live.

The signal strength covers three districts that we work in - Luwero, Nakaseke and Nakasongola - and will be aired every Thursday until the end of the year covering different lessons of the Girl Power Project Curriculum.

The first episode featured a 17 year old girl power mentor who also recieves a sponsorship for secondary school from Just Like My Child Foundation.

She talked about how much she learned from the Girl Power Project on health, confidence, following her dreams and that her primary focus is now education first before getting married and pregnant. She also vowed to continue to empower other girls to do the same. Girl Power graduates mentoring other girls is the "good kind of virus" that has spread rapidly throughout our communities.

In fact, during the "call in" portion of the show, a caller asked the Just Like My Child Foundation team to assist police and community members in intercepting a forced child marriaged between a 60 year old man and an adolescent girl. This immediate success of educating the community at large is exactly the impact we are hoping to achieve.

We are very proud and grateful that the communities are still receiving the powerful lessons held within the Girl Power Curriculum.

As the world continues to reel from this Global Pandemic, we at Just Like My Child Foundation are working with our partners, searching for ways to reach even more girls with the scientifically validated Girl Power Project curriculum that you as a supporter have helped us to evolve over the past 14 years. We are so appreciative of your continued love and support.

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May 28, 2020
Grit and Resilience

By Audrey Kanyesigye | Country Director

Dear Supporters,

Greetings! We in Uganda are thinking of you daily and hope that you and your family, friends, colleagues and loved ones are all healthy, safe and well.

COVID 19 has placed us in uncharted waters. This health, social and economic crisis has an even greater negative impact on adolescent girls in Uganda who are now out of school. When girls are out of school and isolated in this context they are at greater risk of becoming victims of rape, violence, early pregnancy, forced child marriage and food insecurity. It’s exactly the circumstance we have worked so hard to help girls avoid.

And yet, the investment that you’ve made in the future of these girls through Girl Power Project® has created grit and resilience to guide them through these times. Every decision we make is being guided by our long standing commitment to putting the health and wellbeing of vulnerable adolescent girls and their broader communities at the center of our work.

We are happy to report that our team is healthy, safe and social distancing. With your support we are working with our most vulnerable girls remotely every day to proactively implement measures that protect them through communication, education and prevention. We are sending our sponsored girls funds via mobile money for essentials such as food, medication and soap to ensure they are not forced to use their bodies -- sometimes the only asset they own -- to pay for their basic needs to survive.

Moreover the girls -- over 20,000 of them now who have gone through Girl Power Project® have access to Community Legal Volunteers and Girl Power Advocates-- individuals who serve as critical point persons for girls to access via phone. They are going above and beyond in their role as leaders and champions of girls in this especially difficult time.

The value of the seeds we have planted by working hand in hand, day after day, at the deepest of grass roots with our fellow community members is bearing more and more fruit as these leaders shine in these challenging times.

We could not be more proud that our Girl Power Project® trained girls are bravely and confidently working together to protect themselves and their communities from COVID19 and other threats.

Please take extra good care of yourselves and be brave, even if you are scared. We will come out on the other side of this stronger than ever.

With gratitude, love and in solidarity,
Audrey Kanyesigye
Country Director - JLMC Uganda

Audrey Kanyesigye, Country Director - JLMC Uganda

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