Plan Uganda Annual Progress Report 2010

A YEAR IN

UGANDA

SUMMARY REPORT

Lake Nasser

2010

The promotion of education for girls has been a priority in Uganda

3

ERITREA

OUR PRIORITIES

GOOD REASONS

in Uganda

why Plan works in Uganda

• Protecting children, young people and families affected by HIV/AIDS and working with communities to prevent its spread

• More than half the population live on less than US$1 a day • A third of children aged 5–14 are engaged in child labour

• Only 42 per cent of pregnant women give birth with the help of a skilled attendant

• Enabling children and their families to increase their resources, creating a better environment to nurture children and promote their rights • Improving the health of children and their families • Helping to ensure children have access to a decent education

CENTRAL

‘Plan works with communities to give them the tools and skills to make life more secure for their children.’

AFRICA REPUBLIC

A latrine unit is completed in the village of Mukwana-Morwa

SUDAN ETHIOPIA

Uganda Facts Capital: Kampala Population: 32.3 million Languages: English (official),

Swahili, Luganda Climate: Southern Uganda is quite wet with rain generally spread throughout the year. At Entebbe on the northern shore of Lake Victoria, most rain falls from March to June and the November/December period.

Further to the north a dry season gradually emerges. The north eastern Karamoja region has the driest climate and is prone to drought.

Economy: Uganda has substantial natural resources including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral

deposits of copper and cobalt. The country has largely untapped reserves of both crude oil and natural gas. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80 per cent of the work force. In the 1950s the British Colonial regime encouraged some 500,000 subsistence farmers to join co-operatives.

Since 1986, the government (with the support of foreign countries and international agencies) has acted to rehabilitate an economy decimated during the regime of Idi Amin and subsequent civil war.

KENYA

Arua

Gulu

DR CONGO

Moroto

Lira Luwero West Katikamu Bamunanika

Kamuli West Kamuli

Kampala

Mbarara

Jinja Entebbe

Tororo North Tororo East Tororo West Kawempe

Lake Victor ia

RWANDA

TANZANIA BURUNDI

UGANDA Country Office Program Units

Focus on:

food and economic security Plan works with communities to give them the skills and resources to produce more food and boost their economic security.

Our program includes training farmers to diversify their crop production. We help families plant produce like cassava and raise livestock to add to their household

provisions. We enable women to save and access credit to start small businesses. We also support savings clubs for children, helping them plan for the future.

Savings the Key

Children learn to use stamps at an early childhood care centre

Masani may only be 13 years old, but she is already certain of what she wants to do in the future. She intends to become a businesswoman and buy a goat.

Plan is working with children, families and communities to find sustainable solutions to the challenges in Uganda. We have only given you a small insight into Plan’s work in Uganda with this report but over the past year we also:

to future security

It may seem a modest ambition for a teenager, but in Buswayingo, Masani’s village in southeastern Uganda, it’s an admirable plan. Masani knows that if her goat produces kids, she can sell some, breed from others and be well on the way to ridding herself of the poverty that has held her family back for generations.

Buswayingo is one of Uganda’s poorest communities. People living here rely on the land to survive, keeping livestock and growing crops to feed their families and sell at the market.

Sadly, poverty often leaves such families struggling to provide for their children, so Plan works to give them the tools and skills to make life more secure. We teach them how to keep their children healthy, promote the value of education, help them to increase their crop yields and boost their household income.

Learning to save In Buswayingo, we are helping children like Masani plant seeds for the future – not literally, but dollar by dollar.

Masani is one of 330 pupils at Buzibirira Primary School who are members of the Aflatoun Savings Club. Here, they are learning that putting aside even the smallest amounts of money soon makes a big difference to their prospects.

You might wonder how desperately poor children would have any money to save.

Anecdotally we know they sometimes receive pocket money or small sums from relatives on special occasions. They may also win prizes for school work or sporting competitions or earn money by taking on jobs after school.

With Plan’s support, Aflatoun teaches children the value of saving guides them through the practicalities of running a savings account and helps them plan how to make their savings work for them later.

Produced for Uganda by Plan International Australia.

Masani had never thought she could save until Hariet, the Aflatoun teacher, explained she could invest as little as 50 shillings (3 cents) whenever she wanted. She was encouraged to deposit her coins with the village savings and loans association, a co-operative that pools savings and makes loans to individual members to buy household items, or set up small businesses.

Self-esteem Hariet also discussed ways that Masani and her friends could raise extra money, suggesting they make items to sell, like baskets, mats and brooms.

‘When I saw my friends starting to save, I also started knitting baskets which I sell to our local market, and I get a little money,’ explains Masani. ‘So far I have saved 4000 shillings (about A$2.30) from the first basket that I sold. I have a second basket that I am going to donate to my school for exhibition, and I have started on the third one, which I hope to finish by the end of second term.’

Aflatoun’s strength lies in raising children’s selfesteem, bringing out their talents and teaching them to take control of their resources. They learn how to express themselves and their views are taken seriously. As their confidence grows, so too does their belief that they can change their lives and make a positive impact on their communities.

So far, 140 members of Buzibirira Primary School Aflatoun Club have saved a total of 250,000 shillings (about A$142).

‘Now, of what money I earn, I make sure I save some of it,’ says Masani. Plan has no doubt that in future she will buy her goat, and more, transforming her fortunes and those of the next generation.

Some names have been changed for child protection and privacy reasons

‘Aflatoun’s strength lies in raising children’s self-esteem, bringing out their talents and teaching them to take control of their resources.’

The Bigger Picture

• Educated 11,000 young people on HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and other reproductive health issues • Worked with a partner organisation to enable 25,000 poor households to increase their agricultural production by at least 40 per cent • Protected children’s health by training 20 nutritional nurses to help malnourished children Your support as a sponsor is crucial to achieving these results. With the resources provided by sponsors, Plan expertise and the collaboration of communities and local partners we are making a big difference to the lives of people in Uganda.

Thank you for your involvement!

To learn more about Plan’s work in Uganda visit plan.org.au/ourwork/southernafrica/uganda

‘I would like to give a heartfelt thanks to our sponsors, donors and partners for their support and collaboration in making sure that we successfully overcame the hurdles we faced and had a positive impact on children’ – Subhadra Belbase, Plan’s Country Director in Uganda