Uganda - Masaka region[8] Taking Rotary Assistance to Communities and Children (TRACC). Project value: 140625 USD
Funding sought: 0
Project status: Active
Status DatesDate project entered into database: 2007-07-02 14:13:52
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This is a project to provide assistance to Orphans and Child-headed households and to provide opportunities for micro-credit to people with AIDS who are taking anti-retroviral drugs, people who are HIV positive and people willing to be tested for HIV in southern Uganda near the Tanzanian border.
TRACC’s overall goal is to establish a model program for improving the lives of children mired in parentless homes and to develop a unique micro-credit program for those often forgotten, namely the victims of the HIV/AIDS disease. These two areas surfaced as major needs following a full investigation of all services and programs being offered in the Masaka Region of Uganda in January 2006. The program will be overseen by three local Rotary Clubs who will supervise the achievement of the objectives which will include the use of local NGOs for some elements. The projects within the program are to be carried out in an area in southern Uganda. The longer term plan is to evaluate carefully and take the processes developed in this program and implement them through Rotarians in Tanzania.
Three Rotary Clubs of Rotary District 9200 are well embedded in the communities in which the projects of the program will take place. The Rotary Clubs of Masaka, Kaliisizo and Kyotera will each take responsibility for an element of the initial (two year) project. Kaliisizo and Kyotera, working from the base of their smaller communities and using local NGOs to back them up, will work with a cohort of child-headed families from rural areas. The NGOs are Rural Development Services (RUDESER) in Kyotera and Community Welfare Services (COWESER) in Kaliisizo. The Rotary Club of Masaka already is experienced in carrying out micro-credit processes. It will oversee this aspect and it will be centred around the town of Masaka. The Club will directly assist in setting up the structure and, as necessary, retain administrative assistance. Providing micro-credit to people already infected is the experimental aspect of this element of the program. In January 2006, meetings were held with 15 agencies in and around the towns mentioned above. Much research has been done particularly in the Rakai District which was the epi-centre of the AIDS epidemic. The advice from research agencies, local government officials, hospitals, NGOs and clinics assisted us tremendously in identifying major gaps in services. Seeing conditions in homes and villages provided an important backdrop.
1.Create a model program for serving and saving children locked into child-headed homes. There are a larger number of homes led by girls, and special attention will be focused on the issues and opportunities of assisting girl led homes. 2. Reduce school dropouts, support children caring for sick or dying relatives, reduce early marriages, (thereby assisting girls who are often enticed into early marriages with much older men), reduce discrimination, reduce the number of children who become “street children”, and reduce the overall level of child poverty and ill health. Girls often find going to school more difficult because of the potential of being attacked and the need to look after younger children. Special attention will be paid to facilitating girls attending school. 3. Strengthen children with medicines, food, educational and vocational support, bedding, clothing, household supplies, bed nets, income-generating projects, skill training and psycho-social support. 4. Strengthen adults who are already infected (a) with supportive counseling, (b) opportunities for micro-credit, (c) an understanding of how micro-credit can help them, (d) set up the structures of an effective, model micro-credit program; (e) set up structures for succession of the micro-credit developed activity to other family members. Special attention will be given to attracting women into micro-credit as they have proven in other settings to be highly reliable as receivers of micro-credit and as coop members monitoring a group who have received micro-credit. 5. Document and evaluate fully the program elements and their value to the target people. Use techniques already known to track the progress of the people and children receiving help. In particular monitor the involvement of women in all elements of the program. 6. TRACC will be the acronym of the project as it will have a primary research element so that in the future more can be done with higher quality and with greater efficiency and these learnings can be passed on to the community of people working throughout the world with these issues. 7. An evaluation partner will be retained as part of this project to ensure proper program evaluation and retention of statistics on what actually takes place. An evaluation report on progress of all elements of the program will be prepared at the end of each program year following the official start of the program.
Primary Host Partner in the Project CountryClub: Kyotera District: 0 Zone: 0
Primary International Partner outside the Project CountryClub: Calgary
Project Coordinator:
Garth Toombs, Calgary, Email
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Champions:
Proposed FinancingOther InformationProject selection criteria:
After a visit by Garth and Ann Toombs to the Masaka area of Uganda
Description of the community where the project is to be located:
It will include 21 micro credit committees spread throughout the Masaka District and work with 40 child-headed families spread out in rural areas near Kyotera and Kaliisizo, Uganda
Beneficiary involvement:
A committe of Rotarians representing three Ugandan Clubs will carry out the project in Uganda. They represent the Rotary club of Masaka, Kaliisizo and Kyotera. They have been heavily involved in the planning stage setting out details of the exact nature of the program which is intended to be multi-year and eventually to extend to Tanzania.
Participation of women
Two women Rotarians sit on the planning committee for the program in Uganda, and two women are on the Calgary Committee overseeing the project
Record added: 2007-07-02 14:13:52 by Roger Hough, Calgary Centennial Record modified: 2007-07-02 17:14:19 by Roger Hough, Calgary Centennial |
