Eduacate A child International - Kasese, Uganda

EDUCATE A CHILD INTERNATIONAL (EACI) is an indigenous registered Non Governmental Organization registered as a Community Based Organization under registration number CE/CBS/207/2016/2017. The offices are located in the town centre, Rwenzori road, Central division, Kasese municipality.(process is on to have it registered as a full NGO).
Educate A child international focuses its program areas in all sub counties in Kasese district(Rwenzori region). The rationale for setting up Educate A Child International (EACI) is because of a felt need to have everyone utilize human potential that would translate into development of Uganda as a nation. The youth constitute the majority of the population that is unemployed worldwide. This challenge in Rwenzori is much attributed to low technological  

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entrepreneurship skills, high school dropout rates, early pregnancies and marriages, subsistence agriculture amidst the destructive impact of climate change, lack of social accountability and so on.
The above social problems require a holistic approach that should be implemented in sustainable manner to avoid future occurrence. But also, focusing on the youth as we secure the future, create an enabling environment of improving the current youth issues especially of youth unemployment.

VISION.
“A society where everyone realizes their potential and responsibility to develop in a sustainable manner”

MISSION
To contribute to the development process by promoting human rights and advocacy, innovation and local solutions for poverty reduction, better service delivery and sustainable development.


OBJECTIVES OF THE ORGANIZATION.
a) To organize youth for development
b) To empower young mothers in local innovations and entrepreneurship skills in Rwenzori region and beyond
c) To promote community empowerment on girl child education
d) To promote good governance and social accountability in Rwenzori region and beyond
e) To promote community resilience on disaster management, environmental protection and climate change adaptation
f) To reduce the HIV prevalence and incidence in Rwenzori sub-region and Uganda
g) Promote children’s rights and child care
h) To enhance community self innovations, reliance for sustainable economic development
i) To support the sustainable use of natural resources and environment in the Rwenzori region
j) To promote the capacity of youth to attain gainful employment through skills based training

VALUES OF THE ORGANISATION
Educate A child International has the following Core operating Values;

i. Transparency and Accountability: EACI at all times uphold openness to all stakeholders in delivering services to the people and is accountable to the highest level of ethical behavior while maintaining integrity.
ii. Participation: EACI ensures equal and meaningful involvement of all key stakeholders in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all activities and programs of the organization.
iii. Team work: EACI ensures that all members work as a team in extending services to the population they serve.
iv. Unity: EACI promotes unity amongst stakeholders while celebrating, respecting, recognizing, and preserving human diversity in the Rwenzori region.
v. Collective Responsibility: EACI at all times ensures joint action and cooperation among all the members.
vi. Gender Equality: EACI works towards promoting gender equality in Rwenzori region.

HISTORY OF THE AREA IN WHICH WE OPERATE
For decades, large communities in the Rwenzori region, and mainly in Bundibugyo, Kasese and Ntoroko districts have on many occasions faced gruesome murders of loved ones in war situations; and vulnerable war orphans and widows are a common phenomenon in the districts of the Rwenzori region especially Kasese, Bundibugyo and Ntoroko. Five main insurgent actors have participated in this region namely, The Rwenzururu rebellion 1962-1982, Rwenzururu Freedom Movement together with the Katebwa alliance 1982-1987, The National Resistance Army, (NRA)1984-1986, National army for the liberation of Uganda (NALU) 1988-1994, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), 1996-2002. These have left adverse effects in this area notably widows,orphans, underdevelopment,etc.

ACTIVITIES IN 2016:
Economic empowerment:
We have devised varied means of how to empower youths, women and young mothers to have their status improved. We were able to train them how to make liquid soap, handcrafted items and also established 33 new village saving and loan Associations.
These products are sold through our online shops in Jumia,via our website,alibaba, etc. We also try hard to supply local markets as tourist centers, schools, hospitals, factories, hotels. We have linked the VSLAs(Village savings and loan associations) to microfinance institutions for better support and results.

Education/Literacy promotion:
Using our meager resources, we have tried our best to support parents with some bursaries so that children keep in school. School dropouts due to fees, books, pens, uniforms, pencils, etc have been common in this area. We have tried to fight this vice with the help of community development officers, probation officers, RDCs and other stakeholders.
Empowering parents has also helped much because now they have some finances which we supplement.
Special thanks goes to our teams that monitor the Boy-Girl Education clubs(BGEM). These have helped us to monitor absenteeism and have improved on child retention. We need more support towards our cause to enhance retention, literacy and enrolment for OVCs in this area.

Health Focus:
We have been stead fast on health campaigns related to HIV/Aids,Malaria and hepatitis B. This we have done in conjunction with other stake holders and government institutions as health centers. We thank most hospitals, health centers, medecens sans frontiers,radio stations in Kasese for being so cooperative. However we still need funding to have concrete results. Most of our Health campaigns have been done through the BGEM clubs as these are the rightful passage for our message. We are thankful to Afripads Foundation for donating to us reusable sanitary pads that we were able to supply to primary schools in Kasese. Still much thanks go to little dresses for Africa(America) for helping us to dress the children. We intend to identify our focus in 2018 on working with communities to embrace organic farming and ensure naturality.

Environmental conservation: Knowing the importance of the environment, all efforts have been on to plant more trees through the BGEM clubs as well as passing information to the communities through the lower local government committees to enforce conservation measures. Our community outreach programs, BGEM clubs have done a lot to conserve the environment. In 2018, our campaigns will focus much on clean cooking and use of clean energy.