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Category Archives: Protection

I want to see girls who can move with their heads up

I want to see girls who can move with their heads up

Lillian, one of our APPCO staff members, is a skills facilitator and a personate girl child activist. She has facilitated many sessions to mentor girls and young women and share her knowledge on Life skills, SRHR, menstrual hygiene and human rights.

When schools in Uganda closed for a period of 21 months during COVID-19, many girls had to be home, leaving them vulnerable to gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy, among other deteriorating effects of COVID 19. To avoid leaving the girls in the Mukono district behind, APPCO implements the Action for Girls Empowerment Project (AGE) since 2021.

Lillian participated in training the girls with various skills which included Soap and shampoo Making, tailoring, baking, hairdressing, and producing bags. These trainings are aimed at building their capacities in relevant skills which can serve as a source of revenue during these challenging times.

Pictures above show Lillian actively participating with the girls during the different training sessions in Mukono district, Uganda.

“I want to see a girl child well established, confident with high esteem who can move with her head up”

is Lillian’s motivation to inspire the girls.

Many of the girls had dropped out of school, were young mothers, early married or living with a disability. Therefore, Lillian’s soft skills sessions on social skills, interpersonal skills, and a positive attitude were also instrumental in raising their self-esteem and overcoming stigma and trauma. Lilian expressed that “It gives me great joy when these girls and some of their parents get to call me for advice every now and then”.

“The majority of the girls have grown more self-assured, are now mentors in their communities, talk and express themselves freely in public, they also freely share their experiences with their peers.” –

Lillian

When schools reopened, Lillian got involved in the initiative of starting school clubs for the young students in various schools around Mukono district with the health club, human rights clubs, and many others created. In these clubs, topics such as sexual and reproductive health, menstrual hygiene, gender-based violence and others are debated.

Funded by the Children’s Rights and Violence Prevention Fund (CRVPF), the AGE intervention promotes self-confidence and empowerment of female youth by building capacities in health, life skills and income generation.

Back to school Campaign in Gulu district.

BACK TO SCHOOL CAMPAIGN  IN GULU DISTRICT.

Appco conducted a back-to-school campaign in northern Uganda following the long break as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. The campaign that had engaging activities targeted community groups. The community dialogue had various groups participating to remind parents that they have a responsibility for sending their children back to school since the new school year was soon starting.

Learning, going to school, and remaining in school so that they can complete school is the most important activity in a child’s life because it prepares children for the world of work, brings hope and dignity to children and their families, and opens doors to a prosperous life filled with knowledge, experiment, and wonder. The discussion focused on taking and supporting children to remain and complete school. Disability Inclusiveness where Children with disability have equal opportunities with children without disabilities Emphasis was put on parents and caretakers to take children to schools that they can afford.

As part of the community participation, the members were argued to create advocacy posters messages. Posters were displayed with different messages and discussion was generated from these posters as shown in the above pictures:

Our Project coordinator Murungi Prosy during the discussions emphasized that “Every child has a right to Education, health and protection and every parent or caretaker has a responsibility of spending quality time with their children”. She encouraged parents to “set examples” for their children to follow, create an enabling environment at home for children to freely discuss body changes, HIV, and understand the unique needs of young people, especially adolescents getting the urge to be attracted to the opposite sex.

Gulu district residents use community radio interventions to advocate against gender-based violence.

COMMUNITY RADIO INTERVENTION

Because of the lockdown, social gatherings were banned and these made it hard to reach some communities. APPCO came up with the idea of using community radios to create awareness within the community. Before the installation of the community radio, a consultative meeting was conducted in

both sub-counties, and members from the communities were selected to spearhead the management and maintenance of the community radio. The organization agreed to have pilot community radios in Unyama sub-county and Bardege division. The community was consulted on this and agreed to manage

these radios. These radios played a role in reaching many people within the communities with the message of Ending GBV. Both the church and the political wing welcomed the approach and this became a tool for conveying information by the leaders to the advocacy of ending GBV.

COMMUNICATION FROM THE PROJECT COORDINATOR

She thanked the LC1 for allowing them to host the radio in his compound and the general public for being positive about the radio. She went ahead to emphasize that the radio is not for the LC1 but for the community. The reason as to why the radio was installed was due to the ban on gatherings and yet there is a need to continue with awareness creation which caused the need for community radio.

The radio management committee was tasked with the management of the community radio and therefore there is a need for community contribution towards payment of bills like electricity and maintenance of the radio. She was glad that there were witnesses from the local government and elected leaders. She emphasized that the radio shouldn’t be used for politics but instead for announcements and adverts for its sustainability.

WHAT THE CDO SAY DURING THE RADIO LAUNCH

The CDO present appreciated the effort from APPCO towards creating communication channels during this hard time of COVID-19. He advised the Community to utilize the community radio and take the owner of the radio to sustain its usage and maintenance. “All community members need to know the referral pathway”. He later used the community radio that evening to re-echo elder persons for SAGE enrolment since most of them had missed out.

APPCO supports refugee and host community children with scholastic materials

APPCO supports refugee and host community children with scholastic materials

APPCO is supporting over 8,600 refugee and host community children with scholastic materials to support keep them in school. Over 12 refugee and host community primary schools have been supported in Yumbe and Lamwo districts in Westnile supported by Education Can Not Wait (ECW)

Community Mapping- Children With Disabilities in Post Conflict Uganda

Effects of wars on CWD in Uganda:

There have been several political unrests, including the recent Lord Resistance Army-led conflict in northern Uganda, which lasted from 1987 to 2007 and created almost a million internally displaced persons who were subsequently constantly raided by rebels.

One of the greatest effects of this war was the increase in the number of CWD. Many victims suffered physical, sensory, psychological and emotional trauma, including loss of limbs, sight and hearing, due to attacks with weapons and land mines. Physical trauma is often addressed first; however, mental trauma, if untreated, may lead to mental illnesses and post-traumatic stress syndrome disorders. Unfortunately, people with mental illness aren’t often deemed victims of war because their scars aren’t visible.