2022年3月27日日曜日

【Educational Environment】 Monthly Report Feb 2022 “Project inception meetings in target districts, Drafting a booklet and a brochure"

 

Head teachers and the senior woman teachers during the inception meeting in Mubende

<Activities conducted>

1.       Conduct radio talk shows about girls’ education and use of a reusable sanitary pad (happy pad).

2.       Draft a booklet and a brochure about MHM, sex education and gender issues

3.       Conduct project inception meetings in the three districts

4.       Finalize the baseline survey

5.       Work towards finalizing the happy pad promotion center’s renovation.

 

1.       Conducted radio talk shows about girls’ education and use of happy pad

In Mubende

The radio talk shows were conducted on 2/02/2022 respectively at Heart FM in Mubende town for one hour starting at 7:00pm to 8:00pm. The talk shows were attended by the Executive Director, Projects manager, projects officer, and projects volunteer. Issues talked about by each one of the above are outlined in the talking point/concept note.

In Wakiso

The talk shows were conducted at Tiger FM located in Nabweru division on the 4th/02/2021.

It was attended by the Executive Director, Projects Manager, Project officer- Wakiso, And Project Assistant information communication and technology (ICT.) The programme lasted for one hour between 7:00pm to 8:00pm.  

In Butambala

The shows were not conducted this month.

 

2.       Draft booklet and brochure about MHM, sex education and gender issues

SORAK obtained materials/information for creating a booklet and a brochure from Ministry of Health. This was used and guided the project team in the process of drafting the booklet and the brochure. These two items are still under discussion and development with GBN and will be finalized by the end of March 2022.

 

3.       Conducted project inception meetings in the three districts

The inception meetings were attended by the respective head teachers, their senior woman teachers/ a member of the school management committee, and the selected government officials. Much more emphasis was put on ensuring that schools report about this project in their routine reports to the district and government during the process of reporting back to government by the school head teachers and to ensure that they provide changing rooms and wash rooms at their respective schools.

 

In Mubende

The inception meeting was held on the 28/02/2022 from 10:00am -02:00pm at Kibalinga sub-county hall. The agenda to the meeting included: registration of participants, opening prayer, self-introductions from the participants, Opening remarks,presentation and purpose of the meeting, remarks from the DEO,remarks from the Education centre chairperson remarks from area  inspector of schools, open discussion , way forward  and closing remarks .The meeting was attended by the representatives of or respective head teachers of the ten selected schools and their senior woman teachers. The government officials included the Education center chair person, area inspector of schools, Senior Assistant Secretary /sub county chief and the LC3 chair person. Head teachers of the respective schools signed Memorandum of Understanding as a guiding tool to assist in renovating the identified schools’ facilities as par the task list within an allocated budget.

In Wakiso

The inception meeting was conducted on the 4/03/2022 from 10:00am-02:00pm at Jinja Karoli Primary School student’s hall. The agenda to the meeting was, Arrival and registration of participants, opening prayer, self-Introductions, purpose of the meeting, opening remarks, presentation about the project, open discussion and way forward, closing remarks by the Municipal Education Officer (MEO). The opening remarks were given by the Honorable Secretary for education for Nansana Division and the closing remarks were given by Municipal Education Officer. The respective head teachers and the senior woman teachers from the selected project schools. Head teachers of the respective schools signed Memorandum of Understanding to assist in renovating the identified schools’ facilities as par the task list within an allocated budget.

In Butambala

The meeting was held on the 3/03/2022 from 12:00-3:00pm at Budinse Memorial School in Ngando sub county.The agenda to the meeting was; arrival and registration of participants, opening prayer, self-Introductions, purpose of the meeting, opening remarks, remarks from the Senior Adminisrative Secretary,remarks from chairperson LC3, remarks from the DEO,remarks from the inspector of schools,,presentation about the project, open discussion and way forward,closing remarks by the deputy RDC. In attendance were the District Education Officer (DEO), Town clerk, Head of Teachers Union, School head teachers of the 10 selected schools and the Deputy Resident District commissioner of Butambala district. Head teachers of the respective schools who signed Memorandum of Understanding to assist in renovating the identified schools’ facilities as par the task list within an allocated budget.

 

Emerging issues from the inception meeting;

l  A request to provide more than one sawing machine, more toilet blocks and washrooms as some schools like Jinja Kaloori and Ssanga primary schools in Wakiso district have a big population which causes a lot of congestion in such facilities and a number of girls have their menarche at nine years hence a need for more menstrual materials especially provided at school. (This was Highlighted in Wakiso by the Headmisress of both Jinja Karoli and Ssanga.

l  A request for a box where to store both material for making sanitary pads and the finished products.( reusable pads)

l  Participants requested for providing certificates to the trainees at the end of the trainings in schools to act as a motivator to the trainees.

 

4.       Finalize the baseline survey

The baseline survey report was finalized. It was used to inform the inception meetings in the 3 project districts.

 

5.       Finalize with working on a happy pad promotion center in Wakiso

The centre is under renovation and will be ready for use in the shortest time possible. Equipment is going to be bought and installed as well. This centre has been now been connected to electricity and awaits being provided with a door and windows. This will commence by the end of March 2022.

 

<Positive influences/ Changes>

The inception meetings had the following influences;

Ø  School head teachers were glad to know more about the project as they promised to follow the terms and conditions in the MOU for effective project implementation

Ø  The respective district officials and the local leaders promised to always work hand in hand with SORAK and the respective schools in the three districts to ensure success of the project implementation

Ø  A WhatsApp group for head teachers and project staff was formed for proper monitoring of the project activities in the three districts.

Ø  The meeting created chance for the government officials to interact with the respective head teachers and learnt of the challenges faced in such schools which they took note of for further action.

 

<Challenges faced during the conduct of February activities in all the 3 districts >

Ø  The participants did not keep time during the inception meetings however the team was patient until a reasonable number of them turned up and started the meeting as the rest found them along the way. In Wakiso, the Municipal Education Officer got delayed but managed to come towards the end of the meeting and delivered his message to the representatives of the different schools.

Ø  Some Head teachers were not responsive for example in Wakiso one of the Head teachers did not turn up for the meeting despite the fact that he had been invited and reminded about the meeting.  The project team requested the Municipal Education officer to advice accordingly. He promised that he will physically reach out to the Head teacher and will update team accordingly. 

Ø  Some of the telephone contacts of the participants were not available but team identified their other numbers and for the ones with only one number. Team kept on calling until they went through.

Ø  There was need to ensure that the booklet has simplified language to suit the students, teachers and the community at large and this was resolved by ensuring to make use of more graphics.

Ø  Expectations of the beneficiary schools were higher than the actual budget allocated for the improvement of the selected school facilities however, they were encouraged to concentrate on working towards the success of the project implementation which shall lay ground for more funds.

Ø  Poor internet connectivity where it was not easy to effectively connect with the GBN team in Japan during the inception meetings. The project team kept on trying to connect for the members to join the call. 

 

<Lessons Learnt>

Ø  Some of the schools had more demanding different needs such as buildings and wholly constructed toilet, and some materials as compared to the ones in the task list and in the project.

Ø  Participants appreciated the idea of training learners and teachers on how to make sanitary pads.


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*This project is implemented under JICA's Kusanone Partnership Program.