Reach A Hand Uganda - Organisation Profile

ORGANISATION

PROFILE 2015 www.reachahand.org

and @reach ah

nd

/reach aha

www. reac hahand.org

ORGANISATION PROFILE 2015

OUR CORE VALUES

WHO WE ARE

• Belief in young people; we recognize that young people’s concerns can only be well addressed by young people and hence our slogan “Young People for Young People.”

Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU) is a youth led non-profit organization focused on youth empowerment programs with an emphasis on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. We also fundamentally focus on changing social norms and values that limit access to SRHR services and information through designing effective communication strategies and campaigns to create awareness and mitigate sexual health risks among the young people today.

• Youth driven; we work with young people for young people, and bring in the spirit of volunteerism of young people.

• Transparency and openness; we believe in a culture of honesty and therefore employ an open door policy where all staff and volunteers can freely communicate with each other.

We consist of a dynamic, passionate and committed young team, who believe in the power, potential and future of young people.

RAHU’s strength further lies in the elaborate network of partners that are inclusive of media houses, celebrities and key players in the field of SRHR as well as volunteers.

• Appreciation of diversity; we appreciate the difference in the social, cultural and political orientation, of our beneficiaries and endlessly work to promote understanding while recognizing the existent differences in its membership and beneficiaries. RAHU recognizes the universal nature and cross-cultural appreciation of human beings and their rights.

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VISION

MISSION

“For young people to make info choices in life”

ple in r young peo “To empowe rmation, complete info Uganda with le them live ls which enab skills and too uctive lives”. sed and prod healthy, focu

• Team work; we believe team effort achieves much more than an individual’s work and therefore promote team work, utilizing each person’s competences to achieve the overall organizational goals and objectives.

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HOW WE STARTED Raised by HIV positive guardians, Reach A Hand Uganda founder and team leader Humphrey Nabimanya struggled with discrimination and stigma at school as fellow students and school staff assumed he was HIV positive like his guardians.

Realising the need to address the information gap that was existing, passionate and self driven Humphrey was compelled to educate his fellow youth about HIV/AIDS. It was from these activities that Humphrey conceptualized the idea of Reach A Hand Uganda, an organization for young people to reach out to fellow young people about sexual reproductive health issues and HIV/AIDS. An alumnus of community psychology from Makerere University and a peer educator with “The World Starts with Me�, he believes in developing skills and positive attitudes towards the lives of young people.

Humphrey has worked on different projects in Uganda focusing on youth issues especially sexuality and growth. He is also a youth technical adviser on SRHR. Humphrey loves to talk about issues that affect young people and this has seen him presenting a youth centered show on NBS Television in Uganda with knowledge about their sexual and reproductive health in a bid to spread the message to fellow youth. We seek to extend this knowledge to various communities in Uganda by carrying out trainings and peer activities as platforms to pass on this message.

www. reac hahand.org

ORGANISATION PROFILE 2015

An organization for young people to reach out to fellow young people about sexual reproductive health issues and HIV/AIDS.

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Through implementing strategic and behavioral change communication interventions such as; working with volunteers/ peer educators at schools (peer to peer), mentorship programs making use of role models and inspirational speakers, establishing strategic collaborations with other actors working in the field of SRHR, use of television, radio and online media, entertainment, drama and creative art, we are making strides in the dissemination of SRHR information to the youth by communicating issues concerning youth sexuality and well-being. We build skills and reach out to other young people and encourage them to positively enjoy the aspects of their sexuality and sexual health.

HOW WE DO IT We use three major channels.

• Cultural Icons; A Cultural Icon is a well-known exemplary and leading player in his/her respective field of expertise. This person through RAHU activities must be able to guide the young people on life choices, career paths and talent development.

A cultural Icon acts as a goodwill ambassador for Reach A Hand, demonstrates a strong desire to help mobilize public interest in the purposes and principles of RAHU, and demonstrates the commitment and proven potential to reach out to significant audiences, including decision makers.

Our icons include musicians Nyanda Thourborne, GNL Zamba, Big Trill, Maurice Hasa, Ray Signature, Irene Ntale, Jazmine and Phibi Jody, Television personalities like Jane Kasumba, Joy Doreen Biira and Maurice Mugisha, Dr. Ian Clarke, a medical doctor and divisional mayor and Dr. Maggie Kigozi-A medical doctor and entrepreneur.

• Social Media; RAHU has developed a big following on social media accounts with currently over 45,000 people liking our social media pages, therefore over 120,000 people reached daily. To keep the youth engaged, we use Q&A sessions, significant impact stories from young people, YouTube videos, blogs, photo campaigns and catchy hashtag trends.

• Peer to Peer Learning Sessions; RAHU holds a Peer Educators Academy annually in January, since 2014. Young people are equipped with SRHR knowledge as well as life skills. Using the Young People for Young People model, we believe that young people relate better with peers. Two peer educators are sent to each school to have sessions with selected 25 students for 6 months. They listen to them, share experiences, have heated debates on some topics and also relate through games and creative art. These young people that the peers reach out to, become RAHU ambassadors in their schools, by passing on their knowledge to others.

www. reac hahand.org

ORGANISATION PROFILE 2015

Young people are equipped with SRHR knowledge as well as life skills. Using the Young People for Young People model, we believe that young people relate better with peers.

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OUR PROJECTS

The Peer Educators’ Academy This is one of the various projects, organized mainly to equip young people with information and skills on sexual reproductive health and rights as well as acquiring the necessary life skills to support themselves and their peers. The Academy aims to cultivate transferable work skills such as communication, counselling and presentation, leadership and teamwork development.

Annually, 50 candidates are selected. They go through training by qualified facilitators for information on youth SRHR and thereafter pass on this information to their peers in schools and different communities in an effort to create awareness on issues of youth sexual health, early pregnancies, making good life choices, gender and social roles amongst others.

The Peers Educators’ Academy (PEA) is an eight month long program that focuses on intensive training of the applicants for the first month using a module based on SRHR information and life skills, after which the trained Peer educators are posted to different schools attached to various organizations where they are mentored for the remaining seven months.

www. reac hahand.org

ORGANISATION PROFILE 2015

my body, my life, my ways

Get Your Mix Out (GYMO) Campaign

SAUTIPlus Campaign

This is a behavioral change campaign targeting Ugandan young people between the ages of 15 to 24.

The aim of the campaign is to empower young people with knowledge and skills to understand their sexuality so that they can make informed choices in life and understand the aspects of HIV/AIDS.

“Sauti� is a Swahili word that means sound-the sautiplus campaign is a unique approach that has been designed by RAHU under the ASK Alliance program to embrace the growing and innovative technologies in social media, radio/TV, mobile phones and print and digital media to address SRHR issues, effects of HIV/ AIDS and sexual abuse among young people in Uganda.

This concept focuses on helping young people to better understand and to better deal with their daily life challenges when they grow and are faced with HIV/AIDS and rising issues of sexuality in general. The campaign is aimed at creating a supportive environment for young people.

An online platform that has been used to widely distribute comprehensive sexuality education messages to not only among in-school young people but also by reaching to the out of school young people, SAUTIplus is engaging the prominent online youth on issues to do with SRHR.

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The Musical Project

The Musical Project

The Musical Project

Intergenerational dialogue

Music is a medium that speaks to very many youth and through this platform, we are passing on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights information to numerous youth across Uganda. This project is intended to inspire and encourage young people take care of their health by practicing safer sexual behavior, making informed choices and choosing to be responsible citizens who will make a change in their communities through music. By partnering with various artistes on different recordings, RAHU is disseminating information in a fun, thrilling and yet productive way. Different songs under the musical project include; Your Ways, If it’s not on - It’s not safe, Play It Safe, Keep The Promise, Tooto and the Kaleke Kasome remix.

As young people enter their reproductive years, new challenges emerge, including increasing adolescent HIV prevalence and sexual and gender based violence, unsafe abortion, or death during delivery. The sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people are under attack by conservative evangelical and civil society organizations.

The traditional societal mechanisms that are supposed to offer these young people the guidance and protection they require, such as constructive dialogue and guidance, are also not adequately functional.

Parents have abandoned their advisory role and with society considering sex talk a taboo young people are pushed to seek information from their peers and new media. The Intergenerational Dialogue bridges the communication gap and restores the role of parents and the elderly in providing guidance to the youth.

www. reac hahand.org

ORGANISATION PROFILE 2015

iKnow iKnow campaign

RAHU SRHR Youth Fund

After a while of focusing on 12-24 year olds, RAHU realised that the corporate youth, that is 25-35 year olds, are being affected by reproductive health challenges and HIV because of lack of information. We bridge that gap by partnering with SRHR service providers to take the information and services to them.

RAHU has grown over time and would like to pull up other youth led organisations focusing on SRHR. Through our transparency and efficiency, we have attracted generous donors and set up a system where we can select youth led organisations with high potential, and provide them with the funds they need. This in turn helps us to all reach out to as many young people as we can with the SRHR services and information.

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PARTNERED PROJECTS 1. Keep It Real YouthLed Advocacy Strategy in partnership with Restless Development.

We partnered with Restless Development Uganda to increase awareness among young people especially those in rural areas about the available adolescent and youthfriendly health services. To address the gap between the policy and the implementation.

The project’s main goal is to support and empower young people to be better informed about their Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, help them demand access to youth friendly health services in the nearest government health facility in their communities, take the initiative to know the existing health services in their communities and actively participate in health programmes in their schools and communities

which enable them to make healthy decisions about their sexuality.

The project also targets key policy and decision makers at National, District and Sub county levels. These will include The Parliamentary Committee on Health, Permanent secretary and commissioners Ministry of Health, District Health Officers and Community Health Centre In-charges. These have the authority to influence and affect policy and practice change. To influence decision-makers through sharing documented evidence on identified gaps on sexuality education and access to services, with recommendations to transform attitudes, services and resources allocation at both national and local levels.

2. Young People Today in partnership with UNESCO Reach A Hand partnered with UNESCO to promote the “Young People Today, Time to Act Now” campaign through implementing

www. reac hahand.org

activities to realize comprehensive sexuality education and youth friendly services for adolescents and young people. These activities include bridging the generation gap by encouraging dialogue between the young people, adults and policy makers to tackle traditional and cultural practices, beliefs and negative attitude limiting adolescents from utilizing reproductive health services and denying them from enjoying their rights.

The “Young People Today, Time to Act Now” campaign is the result of the Eastern and Southern Africa Ministerial Commitment.

Where countries agreed to scale up sexuality education for young people. This means public schools and other institutions must cover topics such as sexuality, gender equality, HIV/STI prevention, relationships and sexual reproductive rights in an ageappropriate and accurate way.

ORGANISATION PROFILE 2015

3. Generation Next (GeNext) Uganda: My Life, My Future! project in partnership with Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW).

In partnership with Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW) GeNext Uganda: “My Life, My Future!” project is to Support young people to champion the World Contraception Day in Uganda. To empower youth in Wakiso and Busia districts in Uganda to make informed choices about family planning and their sexual and reproductive health.

Our role as an associate partner was to complement DSW’s youth club infrastructure through our expertise in social media campaigning and in-school education. As a partner, we played a crucial role in spreading Sexual Reproductive Health and Family Planning messages widely through the use of our social media platforms but also by integrating Sexual Reproductive Health and Family Planning information and education activities into secondary schools and communities in Wakiso.

4. It Takes Two in partnership with Women Deliver The name It Takes Two means that it takes women and men to ensure access to sexual and reproductive health information and services for all young people.

While family planning efforts have traditionally focused on girls and women, involving boys and men in the discussion has shown an increase in partner communication, joint decision-making within relationships, and approval rates of family planning among men.

This fosters a relationship based on gender equality and challenges traditional gender norms in communities.

The campaign activities aimed at showing public support for family planning among young people, which included; Engaging youth in forums and processes on sexual reproductive health in order to garner high level commitments; Empowering young people through strengthening youth involvement, capacity building, and information sharing on sexual and reproductive

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health, with a focus on family planning; Engaging in an online social media dialogue to push young people’s sexual and reproductive health issues onto the public agenda.

5. If Its Not On, Its Not Safe in partnership with UNFPA Through our Music Project, we partnered with UNFPA, under the If Its Not On, Its Not Safe campaign to promote the correct and consistent use of condoms. This is because condom use is the only dual protection against unintended pregnancies, HIV and all kinds of sexual transimitted infections. Apart from using music, this campaign has seen us use our other creative eduentertainment platforms like the use of Flash mob activiatitions to reach peri-urban and out of school youth in the slums of Kampala and other communities with limited access to information 0n Sexual Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDs.

the UN Principles for Older Persons was issued followed by an adoption of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in 2002 (MIPAA) by the UN member countries including Thailand.

But these UN Principles and Plans are not legally binding so there is no legal obligation for the member countries to abide by.

OUR PARTNERS

In ASEAN countries, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) has a key role in promoting and protecting human rights at a regional level. There are also specic committees for promoting and protecting the rights of some vulnerable groups i.e. children, women and migrants, but not for older people either.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand Section 54 stipulates the rights of older people to receive assistance from the state and the 2003 Older Persons Act clearly states their rights and entitlements. There is also the National Declaration on Older Persons and the National Long-term Plan for Older Persons to guide the development of programmes and services for older people. There is a national law to promote wellbeing of older people and their rights, which is more advanced than the RutgersWPF- Since in many Segal Family Foundationinternational mechanisms andThey some ASEAN countries. There countries women, young people and partner with outstanding individuals are the National Commission on Human Rights which include marginalized groups lack freedom organizations the Commission on Ageing plans and on older people, that andimprove the National and/or information to make their well-being of line communities in Sub supported by the ministries, particularly the Ministry of Social own choices when it comes to their Development and Human Security, to guide and monitor the Saharan Africa. sexual and reproductive health and implementation of the policies We find grassroots solutions and to plans. rights (SRHR). RutgersWPF desires poverty that might otherwise be to meet these needs both in the overlooked.

Netherlands and other countries.

1 MTV Staying Alive FoundationThey fight HIV the smart way. They support innovative projects in the areas that need it most by funding the creative and ambitious young leaders that run them. And they produce ground-breaking global content that reinforces stopping HIV before it even starts.

Cordaid- Works closely with a network of 617 partner organizations in 38 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America as well as providing help to disadvantaged groups in the Netherlands itself. Cordaid has supported our activities including the IGD and RAHU’s Youth Fund initiative. www. reac hahand.org

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ORGANISATION PROFILE 2015

OUR MEMBERSHIP

SRHR Alliance- The Alliance aims at improving knowledge on

SRHR through awareness-raising and comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) as well as increasing the accessibility and quality of Youth Friendly Services, mainly focusing on the sexual and reproductive health rights of young people in marginalized areas and positions. These include young people living with HIV (including young mothers), adolescents and out of school youth.

RAHU strongly believes in this cause and has diligently worked to enhance it. Reach A Hand Uganda is a among the 11 Partners of The SRHR Alliance Uganda who are working together towards the goal of increasing access of information and knowledge on SRHR and Youth Friendly Services.

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Plot 7502, Block 244, Kitaranga Kansanga, Gabba Road P.O.Box 21288 Kampala, Uganda Tel: +256-414-697-037 | +256-774-256-109 Email: info@reachahand.org www.reachahand.org

www.facebook.com/reachahand @reachahand www.youtube.com/reachahanduganda