[Ugnet] NGOs to Rescue North

The notion that some International Non Governemntal Organisation will somehow decend on Northern Uganda , and out of good heart, dish out help to to the tens of thousands of Uganda Children from Acholiland suufering as a result of NRM created wars, is plain stupid and nonsensical.. The the zenth time get it through your thick skulls.. we do not need handouts from anybody ...least of which agents of Imperalist and Neo-colonislist who have contributed to the suffering of Ugandans from close to 20 years. What we need is peace..and with peace, and Museveni ( as the leader of the "government" must bring peace to our people. With peace we can most definately help ourselves!!! As long as the war continues in northern Uganda no handout from anybody is going to help us.

To the disillusioned school-going children in the war-torn north, the Emergency Education Programme for the region, rekindles lost hope.

Save the Children in Uganda (SCiU), a consortium of three international Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), has come up with a multi-million dollar programme that seeks to mitigate the pangs of missed educational opportunities caused by the 19-year-old Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in northern Uganda.

In partnership with ministry of education, SCiU hopes to provide quality education to war affected children, who are part of the 1.4 million people living in internally displaced peoples camps.

The LRA insurgency, which has left thousands dead and hundreds maimed also did a blow to infrastructure including schools. Many children stopped the risky trek to schools, lest they are abducted or murdered. The phenomenon soared the drop out rates in 2002 and 2003 to nearly 100,000 in Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, Lira and Apach districts.

"The children of northern Uganda cannot wait for the situation to return to normal so that they can acquire some education. They will have grown old. Something must be done. Both the local and international community must do something for the education of children in war-torn areas," Tove Wang, the Chief Operational Officer Save the Children Norway, said as she launched the programme at Hotel Equatoria.

SCiU is a consolidation of programmes of Save the Children Norway (Lead Agency), Save the Children UK and Save the Children Denmark, which is part of the international Save the Children alliance members' initiative to achieve greater programme impact.

The Emergency Education programme for northern Uganda, initially targeting 10,000 children, will be piloted for a period of five years in Gulu, Lira or Apac, Pader and finally Kitgum. Between $2m and $3m will be invested annually, according to SCiU director David Wright.

"We realise the right to education of those marginalised groups of children, who are excluded from the formal education system whether due to conflict in the north, their lifestyle in Karamoja or because they are refugees," Wright said at the launch.

Charles Wabwire, the SCiU programme manager for Basic Education believes the programme will breathe a new lease of life in the children and awaken their lost academic aspirations.

"In addition to renovating the dilapidated structures, we intend to construct up to 280 classrooms in the first year," Wabwire says. The location of the new classrooms will be decided by the district authorities and SCiU.

"Once the schools are accessible, near and safe, the students should be able to get back to school," he says. The implementation of the programme will hinge on four important components; access, quality, protection and financing.

In an area where a whole generation of children has lost out on education, access will focus on accelerated learning programmes for re-entry and imparting vocational skills to those who cannot go back to school so they can earn a living. Under the project, schools will be supplied with textbooks, furniture and instruction materials. Working with teacher training colleges, SCiU, will support teacher-training institutions in imparting special skills in teachers so that they can handle children, who have gone through the ordeal of war, he says.

Relevant education departments will be supported to strengthen school management and monitoring systems. The programme will endeavour to strengthen the role of schools in providing safety for children including protection from the impact of HIV/AIDS.

[Ugnet] NGOs to Rescue North

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