SERVE for HOPE - UGANDA: January 2015

SERVE FOR

H OP E

- UGANDA

website:www.serveforhopeuganda.org Email: serveforhope256@gmail.com

PO BOX 22948 K’la -Uganda Facebook: servefor hope Uganda Twitter:@serve4hopeug Tel:+256-779-339-976/777-515-286

QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE PROGESSIVE REPORT

SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2014

CONTENTS:

Executive summary ------------------------------------ page 2

Introduction ------------------------------------ page 3

Progress in details --------------------------- page 4,5,6,7

Challenges ----------------------------------- page 8

Conclusion ---------------------------------- page 8

A glimpse of the 2^nd quarter ---------------------------------- page 9

Gallery ---------------------------------- page 10

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A word from the Executive Director

-----------------------Mr. Matovu Leonard

Remarks from the Administrative officer

When we embarked on a series of tasks at the beginning of our first quarter, we had a lot of expectations. And as we worked together as a team, we were able to implement what had to be done, and we can now delight in some bits and moments of success and achievement.

Among other activities, we had a mapping exercise that was focused on child protection and we had 4 institutional structures mapped in this exercise. A lot of information about child protection was generated and some recommendations made. Our aim for this exercise was to establish a working relationship with these structures even as we continue to deal with children. We initiated an agricultural project for maize, and as of now we are preparing for the post harvest. We intend to use such projects to finance our other activities and in the long run foster financial sustainability and independence for SfHU. 5 families were visited and from which we identified 10 children who we are yet to consider for the serve for hope scholarship. And those that were already receiving sponsorship have successfully been integrated into serve for hope Uganda such that their interest will be handled and fostered at an organizational basis than it was before.

Conclusively, as Serve for Hope-Uganda we will not tire in contributing to a change we know that we can foster, and we can say the journey is so far good, but also that there is a lot that still needs to be done.

--------------------------------------- Mr. Kyomya Frank

INTRODUCTION

SfHU as an organization is dedicated to a holistic transformation of communities in society for self-sustainability by empowering the women, youth and the children to achieve their full potential in society.

This has been made possible through;

· Encouraging young people to participate in a wide range of activities that can empower them holistically,

· Empowering the family as unit towards achieving economic sustainability

· Assisting children and families in their social development so as to encourage growth in self-esteem and help them learn from their experiences and cope with positive and critical feed-back

· Helping children access education through organizational scholarship

· Promoting good health and concerted efforts against HIV/AIDS and other pandemics, through activities that encourage behavioral change and moral rehabilitation especially among the young people.

Since 2006 and over the course of our growth we have contributed towards change to families and to individuals whose lives have been and still continue to be transformed in their communities.

What we do

The core philosophy of our coordinated efforts towards this holistic transformation is based on the belief that “when an individual is empowered, the family as a unit becomes more functional and as result a complete community transformation”

Our emphasis

Concern for and focus on women and children: SfHU gives special attention to women and children through child protection and advocacy, income generating activities for women and works with community structures both formal and informal to address all forms of discrimination and abuse.

Developing self-sustaining solutions: Through our own projects, SfHU is working towards raising finance so as to be able to facilitate activities and programs aimed at supporting individuals and families socially and economically and also foster financial self sustainability and independence in the long run.

Health and education. Through our outreach programs, SfHU has carried out awareness and sensitization activities especially on HIV/AIDS and providing psycho-social support through family intervention and counseling. Education Sponsorship opportunities have been made available through our partners and well-wishers to benefit the under privileged children in the community so as to enable them access education.

THE PROGRESS IN DETAILS

Our first quarter of operation commenced in September and came to an end in November 2014.

The main objectives or aims for this quarter were;

· To carry out home visits in 10 families; to be able to identify individuals that can potentially be considered for the SfH scholarship, profile those already on sponsorship and intergrate them into SfHU.

· To initiate an income generating activity for the organization

· To carry out a mapping exercise on child protection; in at least 4 formal and or informal structures.

· To furnish the office by working towards availing and acquiring the basic requirements necessary for daily operations; furniture, printer, computer(s), stamp, camera, file cabinet among others.

· Initiate a pilot outreach program to foster sensitization, awareness and empowerment of youth in schools within our community.

Out of the 5 homes in which the team was able to do home visits, 10 applicants were identified for the SfH-scholarship. In every home visited, the parents/guardians of applicants had to sign a consent form with SfHU to formalize the arrangement. After which a profile of applicants was made and the team had to carry out a Vulnerability Assessment exercise in the homes which provides a criteria for determining who is to be considered for the scholarship. Files for the applicants have already been opened up and each applicant assigned a code. Follow-up is still done to keep in touch with the families as all efforts and possible alternatives are done to secure funds for the scholarship. We are working towards establishing a trust fund that will be specifically dedicated to the scholarship and the management is also working harnessing local support to foster this endeavor.

Those already benefiting from the scholarship have also been profiled and intergrated into SfHU and also given codes.

A mapping exercise was carried out; whose emphasis was CHILD PROTECTION.

The main purpose and objective of this exercise was to develop and build a close relationship with all the community support structures that deal with children, to facilitate referrals, joint coordination and collaboration.

Out of the 4 structures we had planned to map in this exercise, the team managed to map only 3, which included;

· African hearts home– reception and rehabilitation centre for street children – Kayunga.

· Probation and social welfare department- Lubaga Division Headquarters.

· Child and Family Protection Unit (CFPU)- Uganda police, Old Kampala Hqtrs.

A number of observations were made from the exercise.

It was noted that; the main child protection concerns in the community were

· Child desertion especially due to domestic violence,

· Abandonment of children ( especially babies) most because of unwanted pregnancies, and child neglect- failure to provide basic necessities

· Child torture ( extreme punishments ) and physical abuse especially by guardians and care-takers

· Child labor especially in most urban areas ( so many un-reported cases)

· Minimal cases of sexual abuse that is rape and defilement.

· Unlawful removal of children by spouses.

And the community usually responds to such by;

· Reporting cases to police especially by LCs and concerned citizen, although this is done when the cases are in the extreme limit.

· Sometimes the response is by mob justice leading to violation of individuals rights to prosecution.

The structures in the community respond to such child protection concerns by

· Apprehension of suspects and investigation - police

· Prosecution of convicted suspects – probation and social welfare

· Receiving and handling child welfare cases, rehabilitation

· Community sensitization and dissemination of information on the rights of children and good parentage.

· Referrals

· Child placement in foster care and reconciliation with custodial parents / guardians.

Challenges faced by the various structures in fulfilling their obligations towards child protection were noted as;

· Lack of collaboration from the community (negative attitude on issues concerning children, they assume that by upholding children rights, children become spoilt, and thus fail to attend community meetings on child protection related programs/workshops)

· Distorted and false information from children who report cases of child abuse.

· The community has little knowledge on children rights

· Lack of proper facilities and funding for the CFPU to facilitate field activities such as retrieval of abandoned children, tracing of the family, providing of basic necessities during temporary custody by CFPU and probation office

We made some recommendations

· There is need to develop a more comprehensive strategy towards increasing on the level of awareness and sensitization in the community.

· Joint coordination by structures dealing with children to create a proper network for referral

· More materials for Information Education and Communication (IEC) on children’s rights need to be produced and disseminated in schools, churches, hospitals, on the media to educate the masses.

In our endeavor to establish a long term financial sustenance strategy, we set out to start an agricultural project for maize cultivation.

10 acres were secured in Kiwoko-Nakaseke Dist on rental basis, although maize was cultivated on only 7 acres. The project commenced on 10^th AUGUST 2014, and 4 laborers were recruited to help with the farm work. The maize has matured and harvesting is expected to take place mid-January of 2015. Plans are under way for the marketing. The team lead by ED will be making an inspection visit to the farm come 2^nd January 2015

We hope that when this project succeeds in bringing in some income for the organization, we will be able to facilitate our outreach activities, furnish the office, give staff for the first time some allowances and boost our proposed trust fund. We hope to also channel some of the proceeds towards starting another IGA.

We have been able furnish the office with a few necessities.

We acquired an office table, a chair and a couch for the visitors, although we still need more furniture to cater for staff adequately. We had a computer which stopped working and with the so much paper work to, it has been difficult and expensive but we had to borrow a laptop which we have been using to do most typing work. When it comes to office, there is a lot that is still needed so as to maintain a professional environment. As we look forward to the 2^nd quarter, we are hoping that we will be able to obtain the basic necessities for the office, and which are really important for the work that is underway. These include but not limited to; camera, multi-purpose printer/scanner/photocopier, laptop(s), file cabinet, stamp, internet connection.

We also acquired a mailing number: PO BOX 22948 Kampala Uganda, we are on Facebook: servefh Uganda, one can also follow us on twitter; @serve4hopeug, and our web site is; www.serveforhopeuganda.org.

We had planned to do outreach to youth in schools and churches within the community. But we came to a realization that we were not ready to undertake such a program. We are yet to put in place training modules, acquire IEC materials and also formally get permission from the management of different schools which will require drafting letters of intent and also drawing up a work plan for that program. We agreed to push this to the 2^nd quarter.

CHALLENGES ALONG THE WAY

Just like all accomplishments happen not without their own challenges, we too encountered a few challenges along the way.

· The part-time nature of staff: our team consists of three members who are expected to make things happen but at the same time they have commitments to other places of work. This has made it difficult to coordinate most tasks, and this is because SfHU at the moment cannot afford to pay salaries that can enable the staff have full commitment to SfHU. And this has also made the office remain un-opened for operations most days of the week, and yet the kind of work done needs availability and presence of staff. But we hope this to change come 2015, by having someone attend to the office 5days a week. It is actually becoming inevitable to not be present and executing tasks remotely. We need to secure funds to facilitate staff. Nevertheless members still dedicate their time towards the work for SfHU and still hope for things to get better.

· The office still needs furnishing, and a lot is still needed which is important for the daily operations of SfHU. We still need laptops, camera, multipurpose printer/scanner/photocopier, file cabinet, to name but a few. This made work a bit challenging but somehow we had to be proactive to make things happen at all cost.

· The community has not yet got used to SfHU presence, which is still a challenge for us and something we are working towards changing especially for the 2^nd quarter. Because of a number of factors we have not been able to fully involve our community. And this is important if we are to progress.

· And with all the financial difficulties we are faced with a challenge of how to establish a transparent way of raising financial support both locally and internationally. We are still in consultation in regards to this matter. But we hope that when it finally is in place, it will be great boost to our operations at all levels.

CONCLUSION

Looking back to three months ago, we did not expect to have so much accomplishment but yet we have accomplished a lot. We were optimistic and still are especially about the future. But inspite of all we believe that the future is bright. Our first steps as an organization have taught us a lot and the challenges have only presented us an opportunity to grow in all aspects.

A GLIMPSE OF THE 2^ND QUARTER

As we enter the 2^nd quarter, we plan to take the notch even much higher, our performance to be more better than it was for the 1^st quarter, and increase community involvement.

· We will be doing outreach to schools: 10 schools have been already identified and formal communication yet to be made to seek authorization.

· We are planning a community capacity building activity, whose emphasis will be public health. We plan to partner with KCCA, LC1 and Uganda police, and this will followed by a community clean up drive.

· We will be planning for the post harvest stage of our agriculture project, carry out the marketing process and evaluate the project so as to determine what to embark on next.

· We will be screening the applicants for the SfHU scholarship

· We will be carrying out capacity building for staff , and hope to seek consultation from NGO forum

GALLERY

SERVE for HOPE - UGANDA

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