Educate 150 Orphans and vulnerable girls in Uganda

Educate 150 orphans and vulnerable girls in Uganda has remained impactful in the lives of the girls targeted by the project. This quarter, we are preparing for the 16th days of Activism against Gender Based Violence. This is to continue creating awareness about the danger of violence against women and making our girls more assertive to confront and prevent related violation from happening in their lives. It is also to keep all stakeholders/ duty bearers and institutions mindful of their roles and responsibilities in protecting the girl child. 

Not forgetting our generous donors, we remain grateful to you for all your support to the project. 

As many families recover from the Corona virus pandemic, Education to 150 orphans and vulnerable girls’ project remain critical. Vulnerable girls who were not able to go back to school continue to engage in skills training of their interest .

Those who were fit to go back to school for formal education resumed for 2 months and later drugged back home. this is because primary schools in in Uganda have been closed due to industral action by teachers. Young people especially girls have resumed the challaging and risky community life.

Girls who have already acquired the training FOWAC provided are being monitored on their progress and are being encouraged to support fellow girls in learning some of the skills.

Currently, FOWAC has not enrolled new lots of girls for the next vocational skills training under GlobalGiving because, it has not been able to fundraise adequately to meet the target.

FOWAC is committed to supporting vulnerable girls to become self-reliant and dignified in society.

FOWAC thank all its previous donors . Any further heartfelt support through FOWAC for the vulnerable girls to stay in school and attain sources of livelihood, is welcomed.

Educate 150 girls’ project is still progressing well. Though, Covid-19 has left many families in hardship.

It is estimated that economic recovery from the pandemic may take a minimum of five years for most families.

 As schools reopened, able families managed to return their children to resume formal education. The less privileged girls whose parents cannot afford school fees and recovery requirements demanded by schools have remained at home and some of  them joint informal learning.

FOWAC effort to ensure that those unprivileged girls attain lifetime skill for their livelihood is the major focus for now.

As planned,15 girls have been identified and are being assessed to start training in mid-month of February.

Training packages are: Designing, Knitting, Sawing, Shoe making and, Craft bag designing. Some schools and parents are now buying pullovers from the girls.

Challanges: training is quite costly because the training machines often get broken and need to be repaied.The girls trained and those who will still undergo vocational skills training require more training equipment and start up tools. Our target is to raise more fund to repair the broken machines, buy new ones for those that cannot be repaired and support some of the very vulnarable girls especially girls with disability.

Thank You for all your Donations to FOWAC.

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Covid -19 continues to leave a devastating impact on the girl child. As the school remains closed nationwide, FOWAC remains engaged with the young girls to keep them busy learning through selected training in vocational skills.These trainings are lifetime wealth to the girls even when they will be going back to school to continue with their formal education. it is planned that during their holiday period, they can still resume to perfect their skills and at the same time make money which can facilitate them to pay school fees, and acquire scholastic materials, for example; tailoring, knitting, designing and craft work.

It is now 1 year since FOWAC has been fundraising through GlobalGiving to support vulnerable women and girls. Under "Educate 150 Orphans and Vulnerable Girls in Uganda" 35 girls are being provided training in different skills of their choice. Interestingly, the trainers are girls previously trained by FOWAC and they are in all the villages FOWAC operates. The training is creating a multiplier effect, peer to peer learning, stakeholders involvement, support and proven very sustainable. 

We thank GlobalGiving for keeping us connected with the world to seek support for the girls and we thank all our donors for their help. Our appeal is, GIVE, your open heart is not in vain.

         Education for 150 Orphans and Vulnerable Girls project in Uganda  

                                   received $1,033 out of proposed $5,000, till date.

Education is at the core for uplifting and empowering women and girls in achieving their potential. Covid-19 has severely impacted and continues to have devastating consequences on the lives of the girl child. The struggle to return girls back to school and retain them in formal education is what every concerned person and institution is struggling with. While parents struggle to adapt to the educational and learning changes during covid-19, another phase of Lock-down has been directed by the President of Uganda for 42 days. This is due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases as the country registers 40,734 reported cases, 15,147 recovered and 334 deaths.

FOWAC through support from its donors driven byGlobalGiving has secured support to 39 girls out of 150 proposed targets to acquire basic scholastic needs for them to return to school. The 39 identified girls were provided with important requirements for their educational needs like uniforms, books, school dues, laundry and hygiene and sanitation equipment.

FOWAC appreciates its generous donors and GlobalGiving who dedicated the International Women's Week to make a difference in the lives of 39 Orphans and Vulnerable girls in the three schools in Kitgum- (wigweng, Akobi and gweng pa mon primary schools).

Challenges ahead for this accomplishment:

As the country enters into a second lock down phase for another 42 days, schools are suspended due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, there is a growing concern that girls who survived being drugged into unwanted marriages during lock-down can be vulnerable and easily lured this time. The need is for the government to devise effective means to keep the girls busy in alternative educational learning during the lock-down.

Solution:

FOWAC plans to discuss with the district authorities to allow the girls to safely visit the counselling and skill centers established by FOWAC in the four locations, where they can continue to be provided with guidance and counselling, skills training and possibly have values learning for girls in candidate classes.

Current organisation gaps:

FOWAC has established resource centers, strategically located in most hard-to-reach communities. The major challenge is that the centers are not equipped with digital gadgets to facilitate online learning which requires a television screen, laptops, internet and an instructor or a person responsible for providing supervision and guidance.

USOB' poverty level study 7^th survey 2020 shows that technology to promote information sharing is generally low in Uganda and significantly worse in the poor regions of northern Uganda. Statistic reveals that usage of: Radios=32%, Television=19%, Computers = 2%. This makes it difficult for FOWAC to coordinate information that would reach and help the neediest communities in this unprecedented Covid -19 time.

Appeal:

FOWAC urgent appeal is for funding to these centres to acquire 6 television screens, 6 laptops, internet connectivity and facilitate 6 instructors for the 6 locations. This will create a huge contribution to the most vulnerable, disadvantaged, and at-risk girls in the community to keep engaged in learning programs.

Short term impact of this support to orphans and vulnerable girls:

In early April 2021 when schools officially opened, 39 girls were identified from 3 hard to reach schools and were provided with the basic requirements to be in school.

Parents and guardians who perceive education with no value were also talked to on a case-by-case.

Through psycho-social support, we witnessed the willingness among girls to be in school and committed to reject ideas that keep them home and sell them for cheap to men.