Protective measures and education to combat violence and child neglect

Uganda: our project covers an area near Lake Victoria in Najja. Eighty-five percent of residents live from agriculture. Many families cannot meet their children’s most fundamental needs. Outdated farming methods and climate change have led to poor agricultural yields. As a consequence, the number of working children is high; children between the ages of five and twelve are primarily exploited in the sand pits around Lake Victoria and in local sugar plantations.

More than a third of children of primary school age (aged between six and twelve) receive no schooling. A further challenge is that 87 percent of 14-25 year-olds are unemployed. Najja and the adjoining sub-districts have no training centres that teach the skills that are relevant for the job market.

Help now by sponsoring a child! By paying just one euro per day, you can support a child living in poverty in Uganda by means of a sponsorship with correspondence and so give the child that you sponsor protection, education and a better future. 

High youth unemployment has particularly serious consequences for young women, including increased rates of adolescent-pregnancy and early marriage (as minors) or being forced to work as prostitutes.

In general, children and young people in Najja have a higher than average likelihood of experiencing violence, abuse and neglect. As a result of underfunding, state-established child protection structures are unsatisfactory.

The project is supported by Kindernothilfe through sponsorships that include personal correspondence.

The primary goal is to combat the enormous levels of violence and neglect experienced by children and improve children’s overall living conditions to ensure that they receive adequate care and can grow up in a protected, healthy environment.

Children are made aware of their rights and their talents are promoted. These sponsorships bring about long-term improvements not only in the living conditions of the children, but also of their families and communities.

Our work, here, follows the self-help group approach, which empowers the mothers of the children: socially, economically and politically. This approach has a positive impact on children’s living conditions, as reflected, for example, in higher school-enrolment rates and the improved health of the children of participating women.

At the same time, the approach improves the socio-economic situation of young people and women as a means of counteracting youth unemployment and the disadvantages confronting women in Najja. It enables young people to learn a range of practical manual skills, making it easier for them to access the local job market.