Educate and Empower Girls and Women of Acholi

RIVER FUND HIV/AIDS FAMILY SUPPORT WOMEN ASSOCIATION.KITGUM

Women and Girls

1)     Introduction

River Fund HIV/AIDS Family Support Women’s Association is an organization working to provide psychosocial and other support and care to women and girls and their families infected and affected by HIVAIDS and other needy people.

The association was established in 2007 by a group of thirty women and is registered as a community based organization (CBO) with Kitgum District Local Government.

 2)     Administration

The Association is administered through an Executive Committee composed of nine (9) members assisted by a Program Coordinator who is a volunteer and member of the Association.

The newly elected committee is composed of;

1. Hellen          Chairperson
2. Hida             Vice Chairperson
3. Maliam         Treasurer
4. Grace           Secretary
5. Clara             Assistant Secretary
6. Karmela        Member
7. Florence               “
8. Florence               “
9. Beatrice                “

 Margaret                 Program Coordinator

A general meeting is held quarterly for all members to update them and plan for new activities. Members also act as volunteers in the implementation of activities since the group at the moment does not have capacity to pay full time staff.

3)     Planned activities for 1^st quarter, January to March 2018

• Identification of new beneficiaries
• Payment of school fees
• Provision of scholastic and sanitary materials
• Supply of food and non-food items
• Capacity building training for mentors
• Life skills training for girls

4)     Activities carried out:

Girls Education

School Visits.

No new beneficiaries have been added pending receipt of additional funding. However, members of the Executive Committee visited the following schools hosting girls under sponsorship

• St. Bakhita Secondary School with 5 girls
• Msgr Vignato Secondary School – 4 girls
• Kitgum Comprehensive College -2 girls

The purpose of these visits were to check that the students had reported back, check their performance for the last term and find out any challenges they may be facing.

Payments of schools fees

Fees were paid for 9 girls (5 at St. Bakhita,. 4 Vignato). Fees for the 2 girls at Kitgum Comprehensive College were settled by the parents.

Distribution of sanitary towels:

Sanitary Pads were distributed to all the 9 girls each receiving 4 packets.  This support is to enable girls keep hygiene and reduced on absences from classes.

Emerging issues:

1)     At Vignato Secondary School the girls reported that they were not attending lessons in Biology, Chemistry and Physics due to absence of those teachers (this was 2 weeks after opening of term)

2)     Unclear terms and conditions for the school based mentors.

Future plans and recommendations

• Termly mentoring to the girls by members of the association.
• Drafting a mentoring guidelines to ensure standards
• Review of criteria for selection of girls to be sponsored.
• Enroll more girls once additional funds are received
• Hold a meeting with parents whose children are studying at Msgr Vignato

Lamola HIV/AIDS Group

Needs assessment.

A field visit was made to this group by a member of the executive to meet and discuss with them their plans for the new planting season and types of seeds and quantities they require.

Challenges faced in the implementation of activities.

1. Delay by the bank to change to the new signatories which also hindered speedy implementation of activities 
2. Delayed hand over to new executive which created an information gap

Conclusion and recommendation.

This has been a learning period for the new office bearers. They have also shown zeal and commitment and should be commended for all the efforts put in to implement activities. To further improve on effectiveness and efficiency it may be necessary to organize capacity building training for the executive as well as other members of the association.

Project Area. 

KITGUM DISTRICT - UGANDA 

Report Period: November 2017 - January 2018 

Background

The River Fund HIV/AIDs Family Support Association is a Community Based Organization (CBO) founded in 2007 by committed and motivated women to contribute towards improving the quality of life of persons infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, through educating and empowering the women and girls on HIV/AIDs Long Term Survival Skills and sponsorship and mentorship of girls in schools, economic empowerment and livelihood food security enhancement for a sustainable development for self-reliance through seeds provision, training in kitchen gardening andsupport to malnourished children through provision of trainings in provision of nutritious meals, and provision of  basic items like soap, sugar, cooking oil, salt.

The organisation envisions a just and caring society where people yearn to help one another and realize that every human being is connected to one another for a change in the world with values such as: sharing, Love, Non-Discrimination, Humility, Peace, Non Violence, Justice, Inclusiveness, Service, Dedication, Honesty, Transparency, and Compassion.

Project. Support to Girl Child Education - GEP

Purpose of the project:

To reduce the drop-out rate and enhance the educational potential of the vulnerable girl child in secondary schools in Northern Uganda through the provision of sponsorship support, guidance and improving the social environment for learning.

Expected outcomes

• At least 80% of targeted vulnerable girls complete secondary education.
• Incidence of pregnancy among targeted vulnerable girls reduced by 90% from current levels. 
• Absenteeism due to girl-child specific factors among the targeted girls reduced by at least 80% from current level.

Outputs

• 30 vulnerable girls sponsored through secondary education in the 3 years of project cycle
• 3 life skills and career guidance training sessions held with targeted girls per term
• 30 menstrual kits provided to targeted girls every school term

Activities conducted.

1.Mentorship.

Mentorship is very important for the improvement in the performance of students at school and understanding the social influences that they experience that may pose challenges to their stay in school. This session provides an avenue for opening up by the students about the challenges they are facing that if not handled may interfere with their studies. During mentorship meetings, the volunteers and the students develop relationships based on mutual as they hold heart to heart discussions with each other and together generate ideas on how to deal with the situations the students are faced with.

The session also provides space for the students to express to the volunteers their week points in their studies which in turn help the volunteers to hold discussions with the teachers concern to enable them provide extra lessons to the students or devise ways of making them understand during class periods.

During the course of the year, students were mentored and guided on different spheres of their personal development. From personal problems challenging them not to perform well in school, to guiding in academic’s spheres.

2. Paying the students’ fees.

The projected provided for a students’ scholarship for the entire year of 2017. A total of 20 students were supported in 8 schools. 3 of the schools are out of the district while the other 5 are within. Of the 20 students supported in 2017, 4 have completed their study course at Kitgum Core PTC, 2 have completed their UACE, one completed UCE while the other 13 have done promotional exams to the next classes.

3.Support with Sanitary towels.

As a way of improving on their hygiene and sanitation, the students were supported with sanitary pads for monthly use.  Each girl was given 3 packets of Sanitary pads while in the month of September, each adolescent girl received 4 packets of the pads.

Successes

1. 20 out of the planned 30 girls to be supported during the project period through their secondary educational level have been supported with fees.
2. 180 pkts of Sanitary pads were given to the girls being supported in the 3 school terms in 2017.
3. 12 sessions of mentorship were conducted with the students.
4. 04 out of 20 students supported have completed their training course in primary teaching and are now ready to get employed.
5. 02 of the students supported have completed UACE and are waiting to join public universities or tertiary institutions.

Conclusions

Close monitoring and follow up at school by project implementers is key in fostering mentorship of the girls

Continuous support for the girls already in the project and enrolment of more girls in the project for support.

We are grateful to the River Fund and GlobalGiving for this support and for making it possible to provide support to the girls in 2017.