OUR PROJECTS IN UGANDA
P4T in Uganda has for many years run and supported several projects in Kyangwali. For us at P4T Norway, it is important to support and develop these projects further with your support. Below you can read more about the projects and how you can participate as a contributor.
EDUCATION
We provide quality education to build a sustainable young generation with knowledge and skills
Education is a human right that should be accessible to all, and no child should be denied the opportunity to be educated, even under conditions that make him or her a refugee. UNHCR estimates that four million refugees worldwide (ages 5-17) do not go to school.
Early Childhood Development (ECD) / Kindergarten
ECD is an investment for life. 90% of brain development takes place before the child reaches the age of 5, and children who are given the opportunity to develop early gain a head start in their emotional and cognitive abilities and are more likely to do well in school and become productive adults. But unfortunately, this is not available to more than 2/3 of the children in Uganda and this is especially true of them in refugee camps and in rural areas.
We aim to ensure that underprivileged girls and boys aged 2 - 6 years have access to comprehensive and inclusive ECD, and to prepare children for the transition to primary school. Early childhood development is a very important foundation for mental, social and spiritual development for children from an early stage. Without this, there is a risk of a late start in development and learning abilities as well as antisocial behavior.
P4T has provided ECD through our kindergarten for refugees and Ugandan children aged 2 to 6 years since 2015, and also ensures that all children have a hot meal in the morning and for lunch. We build classrooms, provide school materials as well as teaching materials. In addition, we have specialized refresher courses, and have a well-trained staff. For those who need it, we have psychosocial support as well as trauma treatment for parents and guardians.
Primary school
P4T provides quality primary education for refugees and Ugandan children in the age group 6 to 17 years. The primary school was started in 2016 with the first grade levels with only 30 children but today we have over 400 students. On 21 February 2018, P4T Primary School received the license from the Ministry of Education and Sport with number ME / P / 9478. We believe in the power of education to prepare refugees for a better future. "Refugee children are tomorrow's leaders," says Bienvenu Byamungu, co-founder of P4T.
We are concerned with preparing students so that they are ready to move on from the lower grades to secondary school. In addition, we arrange for students to be registered and take National Examinations (UNEB), so that more than 20 students take the step over to upper secondary school level each year.
Through P4T, teachers' salaries are covered, we provide school materials for both students and teachers, and are responsible for ensuring that the sanitary and hygienic conditions are satisfactory, by building and maintaining the school and the toilets.
Community-based school food program
School meals as a measure to increase the number of students starting or returning to school
Malnutrition is a real problem in our community, and we know that hungry children cannot concentrate in class. Our goal is to increase the number of students who start school, or who return by engaging their children, teachers and parents.
The project provides benefits to both the refugees' and the host community's children who are struggling in class due to a lack of a good and healthy lunch meal in both kindergarten and primary school. P4T supports the school in making a hot meal morning and afternoon. The purpose is to fight hunger in school and reduce absenteeism, students who drop out, stomach ulcers and malnutrition, while we increase the number of students who start.
The children also get better concentration in class and do considerably much better in their school work. Over the past 6 years, P4T has provided over 320,000 hot meals for both students and teachers.
LIVELIHOOD
We create selfreliant communities
Most refugees in Uganda live below the poverty line and with great uncertainty about whether their food needs can be met. They are completely dependent on humanitarian aid such as from the World Food Program (WFP). Refugees receive USD 8 (approx. NOK 70) per person in food allowance each month. The biggest problem for many refugees is a lack of knowledge and education, unemployment, start-up capital and land to start or expand economic opportunities to make a decent living.
P4T has a vision to build a self-reliant community. We do this through interventions to create opportunities for work and independence for the local community. We help refugees and the host community to get out of poverty through a number of measures, such as vocational training, entrepreneurship education and to provide them with the knowledge they need to achieve a good and lasting income. In addition, we support and encourage local community micro-savings and loan groups as an initiative to invest in the future and start and set up small businesses.
HEALTH
To create a healthy community free of disease
Health education in the local community
Prepared and knowledgeable! Clearing misunderstandings and providing accurate information and knowledge to a population with illiteracy is empowering and protective.
Lack of information about health crises is a crisis in itself. Torments of violence in war situations and living in a state of emergency with HIV / AIDS, GBV (gender-based violence), cholera, Ebola and now Covid-19 have been misunderstood and mishandled in multicultural refugee populations. P4T provides health information and knowledge to both refugees and the local community regarding cholera, Ebola, HIV / AIDS and Covid-19. To date, more than 5,000 people have received educational information. In addition, we have distributed sanitary and hygiene kits with soap and provided food assistance through lockdowns to the most vulnerable children and their families.
Women with Fistula
Empower women with Fistula in their economic and social re-introductions in the Kyangwali refugee Settlement and the local community.
Uganda has the second highest birth rate in the world and maternal mortality is very high. Limited access to quality maternal care continues to pose a major risk for pregnancy-related disorders. Obstetric fistulas, a vaginal injury that usually occurs during prolonged births with a lack of proper medical care, are very common and many women are unaware that this can be treated and often corrected through surgery.
Obstetric fistulas are a medical condition in which a hole develops in the birth canal as a result of a birth. This occurs especially between the vagina and bladder or rectum, and results in incontinence of urine and feces. Obstetric fistulas are by far the most common form of fistula in the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement.
In addition to the physical ailments this causes for women, psychological stigma and the accompanying bad smell that comes from the disorder lead to major social and economic consequences. Not least, many of the women experience major emotional and psychological problems, including feelings of shame, depression, lack of self-confidence, rejection and loss of marital and sexual rights.
Women with Obstetric Fistulas are often neglected by their husbands and families, cannot work and are stigmatized by the local community. They are very often among the poorest and most vulnerable.
P4T offers psychosocial support before and after surgery with support from Medical Teams International (MTI), which operates surgical units to repair Obstetric Fistulas for Women in the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement and the local community.
HIV / AIDS - Prevention, treatment and support
Living Positively (LP) HIV project
In Uganda, almost 1.6 million people live with HIV, of which almost 96,000 are children under the age of 14. Orphans due to AIDS are estimated to be 660,000 children, and annually die approx. 28,000 people with AIDS according to a study by UNAIDS.
Kyangwali Refugee Settlement is a multicultural place that needs a multicultural approach to address common issues such as HIV / AIDS and gender-based sexual violence (SGBV). P4T is run by people from many different cultures and countries; Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi and Uganda, and can properly understand and solve most of the problems of the local community.
Due to the difficulties of the refugees, many of them are vulnerable to HIV / AIDS due to family breakdown, repeated relocations, greater socio-economic vulnerability and sexual violence such as rape, oppression, sexual exploitation of women and children in particular. Most refugees are afraid to admit that they are infected, while others suffer from depression due to discrimination and stigma, cultural counter-perceptions, premature and forced marriages, substance abuse and alcoholism.
Prostitution has contributed to large networks that increase the chance of getting HIV and other infections. Women and children are the most vulnerable in this situation. Surveys conducted by ACCORD in December 2013 showed that over 60% of women in the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement do not go to maternity care. This makes them particularly vulnerable to mother-to-child transmission of HIV and maternal mortality. As previously mentioned, most refugees are afraid to admit that they carry the infection.
The 90 90 90 strategy has an ambitious goal of stopping the AIDS pandemic. P4T focuses on the first 90 by assuring us that 90% of the population has been tested and knows about their own status. We regularly perform Voluntary Counseling and HIV Testing (VCT) as well as HIV awareness training and campaigns in the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement and the surrounding community.
Living Positively (LP) HIV project focuses on people who are infected and affected by HIV / AIDS (ie PHAs and OVCs) and ensures that people in the local community who are HIV-negative learn to protect themselves in a mixed society. P4T also works to enable PHAs to live good lives in harmony with other people without discrimination and stigmatisation as well as empowering orphans to become resourceful both socially and financially.
Together for HIV-free communities. Join the fight against HIV / AIDS.
CHILD PROTECTION
Prevent and respond to violence against children in Uganda
Uganda is home to almost 1.4 million refugees, 60% of whom are children. The vast majority have fled brutal conflicts, and many have witnessed terrible violence and lost family and friends.
Children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, such as forced labor, oppression, rape, being denied food as punishment, lack of education and health care, punishment and torture, etc.
Our protection programmes aim to ensure that children have a safe and secure place where they can learn and develop. This involves training Child Protection Committees (CPCs), teachers and others in the community to identify, report and respond to protection issues as well as strengthen existing reporting practices.
P4T runs a child protection program that aims to stop all child abuse in the local community, provide psychosocial support to those children who are struggling to go to school and learn as a result of trauma they have been exposed to.
P4T has 30 child protection agents equipped with bicycles funded by the United States at the Embassy in Uganda, which makes it easier to travel around the villages to detect and report child-related abuse to the appropriate authorities.
