Child Protection

ChildFund Uganda has committed to raise over $40m (sh150.6bn) to support vulnerable children and youth across the country to access early childhood education in the next five years. 

The support will be accelerated to vulnerable children in Northern, Eastern, and central Uganda. 

“Our fundraising target is to raise $40m to support children of this country. It is our aspiration that we target four million children in the next ve years. We will ensure that all our programmes are aligned to Uganda’s 2040 vision of the transformed Ugandan society from peasantry to modern society,” disclosed the country director of ChildFund Uganda, Moses Otai. 

While addressing journalists during the launch of the five-year strategic plan at Soroti hotel in Soroti district, Otai highlighted that the 2022-2026 strategic plan aims to increase the number of children they reach in their programmes. 

Otai noted: “We will ensure children aged between 0 to 5 years not only access nurturing care at home through responsive parenting, but also access early childhood education. In addition, the programme will also support households where the children come from to be economically resilient.” 

Left Otai, cutting cake with the Resident City Commissioner of Soroti Peter Pax Paak (in bow tie) before he launched the strategy.

Otai said, children are the heart of what we do, and our world revolves around them.  To ensure children live in violent-free communities and homes, he says, the programme will focus on strengthening community child protection systems to ensure children are protected from harm. 

According to the strategic plan, in the ve years, all forms of violence, neglect, and abuse against children will not be only condemned but also acted upon right from the household level to the community, formal and justice level, so that children get the protection they deserve.

Otai noted: “Our commitment is to ensure that children can access inclusive quality basic education and can complete the basic education cycle. We will continue skilling the youth and adolescents based on their interests so that they can earn income in a non exploitative way and be active contributors to our communities and societies at large.” 

Representing the Vice President, Jessica Alupo, the Resident City Commissioner, (RCC) for Soroti city, Peter Pex Paak, said that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government has come up with several interventions to ensure families are stable and respect the rights of children, although some parents don’t take their responsibilities seriously. 

“We have several street children in Soroti city. I have personally interacted with them on many occasions, and they say they are on the streets because their parents are not living together. One parent is in Kaberamaido district, and the other is in Serere district. 

Others say they are on the streets because their parents cannot afford to feed them.” To curb the escalating numbers of street children in cities, Paak requested ChildFund to also extend the programme to one of the districts in Karamoja region so that children receive hands-on skills. 

Story first published in New Vision ChildFund to raise sh150b to support vulnerable children in.pdf