Global Bridge Network’s blog: 【Educational Environment】 Monthly Report Jun 2022 "Teachers’ trainings, awareness meetings to communities and establishment of MHM clubs "

MHM club at Butalunga P/S

<Activities conducted>

1. Teachers’ trainings on MHM, sex education (sexual and reproductive health) and gender awareness in the three districts

2. Awareness meetings to communities including parents of students in order to introduce the project and the importance of girls’ education in a safe MHM environment

3. Establishment of MHM clubs which will be conducting child-to-child approach on sanitary pads making, MHM training, mentoring on issues of MHM and maintenance of school facilities with supervision by school teachers. (Butambala only)

4. Play Spot Messages on the radio to raise awareness on support for girls’ education and increase on reusable sanitary pad users

5. Conducted pad making trainings at the happy pad promotional centre in Wakiso

1. Teachers’ trainings on MHM, sex education (sexual and reproductive health) and gender awareness in the three districts

In an effort to build the capacity of teachers, workshops were organized in Mubende, Wakiso and Butambala districts. Originally a total 60 participants (1 senior woman teacher and 1 senior man teacher from 10 schools in each district) were targeted, but we included head teachers from each school and made it 90 as total. The activity was aimed at empowering teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to enable them conduct learner’s trainings from an informed point of view.

Teachers’ trainings were conducted as follows;

<Butambala> 7-06-2022

-22 teachers attended the training. All 10 schools were represented at the workshop

-8 teachers that missed the training from Kiwala, Lwamasaka and Kitagobwa were trained by their representatives before 13^th-06-2022

<Mubende> 10-06-2022

-15 teachers from 10 schools and others like the District Secretary for Education, the Education Centre Chairperson and the Sub County Chief for Kibalinga attended the workshop

- 8 schools were represented during the teachers’ training and were taken through the different sessions. 2 schools (Christ the King and Kasaana Primary Schools) failed to attend but strategies on how to engage them were discussed and those two remaining schools conducted trainings in June during community sensitizations.

<Wakiso> 15-06-2022

-17 participants from 10 schools attended workshop

-All the 10 schools were represented during the training though some sent in one participant due to their busy schedule at their respective schools.

Activity Photos for Teacher’s Trainings

<Butambala>

＜Mubende>

＜Wakiso>

2. Community Awareness Meetings including parents of students in order to introduce the project and the importance of girls’ education and a safe MHM environment.

This activity was conducted in Butambala and Mubende though only 2 schools were visited for community sensitization and 8 sensitizations to be conducted in July in Mubende. Wakiso community sensitizations to be conducted in July as well. The activity targeted 40 community members (men and women) per each community of the supported school. A total of 30 meetings were planned in the 3 districts to reach a total 1,200 community members.

The objective of the community awareness meetings was to raise awareness on issues related to MHM, Gender awareness, and Sexual and Reproductive Health. The awareness campaign aimed at reminding girls and boys, parents, teachers and community leaders about their individual roles in proper menstrual hygiene management. It also involved gender awareness as well as information sharing on sexual and reproductive health.

Below is the district specific implementation progress;

<Butambala>

13^th -06- 2022: Kayenje, Ntolomwe and Nawango

14^th -06- 2022: Butende, Kiwala, Lwamasaka and Butalunga

15^th -06- 2022: Nkokoma, Kitagobwa and Bule primary schools respectively

10 community awareness meetings were held reaching 180 out of the target 400 members of the PTA (Parents Teachers Associations) and SMC (School Management Committee) of each of the 10 beneficiary schools. More female (106) reached than the male (74)

To reach 220 more community members to meet the target, the project team scheduled meetings on;

14^th July 2022: Lwamasaka and Butende primary

16^th July 2022: Kitagobwa and Nawango Primary

21^st July 2022: Kiwala, Nawango and Butalunga primary schools

<Mubende>

16^th -06-2022: Katega Primary school

24^th -06-2022: Christ the King

Two school communities, a total 111 participants reached. 46 (34 female, 12 male) from Katega primary. 65 (34 female, 31 male) from Christ the King primary school)

8 school communities to be reached on the scheduled dates below;

6^th/07 2022: Kabowa P/S

7^th/07 2022: Kiyiita and Gwanika P/S’s

8^th/07 2022: Dyangoma P/S

9^th /07 2022: Kasaana Primary and CAWODISA P/S

10^th/07 2022: Ikula and Kasasa P/S’s

3. Establishment of MHM clubs and conduct child-to-child approach on sanitary pads making, MHM training, mentoring on issues of MHM and maintenance of school facilities with supervision by school teachers.

This has been conducted only in Butambala district where a total of 10 MHM clubs have been formed where each has a total of 150 members (100 girls and 50 boys). Mubende and Wakiso districts will conduct this activity in July 2022 during Community sensitizations.

Activity Photos – MHM Clubs in Butambala district

4. Air Spot Messages to raise awareness on support for girls’ education and increase on reusable sanitary pad users

Spot messages about Menstrual Hygiene management, girls’ education and reusable sanitary pad are aired as follows;

· Mubende via Luna FM 6 times a day

· Wakiso via Voice Kiryagonja two times a day

· Butambala via Voice of Butende and Voice of Kikambwe where 10 and 11 spot messages are plaid on a daily basis respectively.

Ø Impacts

· Out of the spot adverts, during community engagements at Katega P/S in Butanbala, one of the parents noted that they hear about the spot adverts and it has helped them to understand more about the relevance of MHM materials towards the education of the girl child.

· A community member of Kitagobwa community in Butambala district reported that continuous spot messages clearly remind the members about their responsibility.

· Two schools namely Little Flowers primary school from Butende village and Wamala Foundation approached Butambala team for support after listening to the spot messages on several occasions. They confessed to the need of creating a girl friendly environment at schools.

5. Conduct pad training at the happy pad promotional centre

This training is ongoing. So far, a total of 94 students from different classes who attend in different sessions of training at Katalemwa Secondary School have been trained and a total of 94 pads have been produced. These are conducted from weekly from Monday to Saturday. 10 people from different communities approached to get more information about the promotion center by phone calls during radio talk shows, and others directly visited the center.

Ø Impacts

· Students are adapting to the use of reusable sanitary pads as they learnt the benefits over the disposable ones.

· Boys are eager to learn how to make reusable sanitary pads and it has created room for access to information regarding MHM issues by boys hence being supportive in that regard.