Retain Orphan Girl Children in Schools in Uganda

• Summary:
  
  Uganda is still experiencing increasing school dropout cases and early marriages to a tune of over 34%, the most affected are the young adolescent and teenage girls of 15-19 years, especially the orphans who are poorly supported to stay in school. In eastern Uganda, the district of Kibuku is the worst hit by the challenge of girl school dropout, teenage pregnancies and early marriages standing up to 38 percent among the girls of 14-19 years. Other causes of school dropout include failure to manage menstrual hygiene management, poor attitude to girl child education by the parents and orphan care givers, also girls are seen as sources of wealth to the parents especially in the rural settings of Kibuku district and these reasons have contributed to a rise in prostitution practices, un wanted pregnancies child parents and poverty in the district. This project is therefore supports the retention of orphan girl children in schools in Kibuku district, eastern Uganda. The project mobilized and sensitized child caretakers-givers on child rights, provided agricultural inputs to child caretakers-givers, provided scholastic materials to ongoing orphan girl children and reusable sanitary pads.

Achievements;

• 215 Childcare takers sensitized on girl child rights to education
• 6 girls enrolled for vocational skills training i.e. 3 tailoring and 2 computer             
• 20 mobilized and trained in reusable sanitary pads making.
• 120 reusable Distributed to targeted school girls
• provided some money to 8 targeted girls to facilitate buying their food and and babysitters babysitters during examinations

Challenges:

• Limited funding and support to maintain the high number of orphans in schools.
• Difficulty in meeting school requirements for orphan girl children
• Trucker drivers continue to defile the younger girls.

• 
  Recommendations:
  
  Retaining orphan girls in schools in Uganda requires collective effort, donor support and a lot of attention as the high dropout rate undermines the governments to educating the girl child.