 |
| Meeting with Dr. Ismael at the Ministry of Education and Sports |
<Activities conducted>
1-Monitoring visit to respective JICA
project schools
2-Visit
to Nansana municipality in Wakiso
3-Visit
to Butambala District Headquarters
4-Visit
to Ministry of Health and Education and Sports in Kampala
5-
Monitoring visit to Happy-pad Promotion Centre
6-
Air Spot Messages to raise awareness on support for
girls’ education and increase on reusable sanitary pad users
7- Selection
of tailors in Butambala
8- Visit to community radio in Butambala
1. Monitoring visit to respective JICA project schools
GBN
team arrived in Uganda on 30/07. On 01/08, the team first of all visited SORAK
offices for a meeting to plan the days’ activities.
l In
Mubende, six project schools and two past (funded by Lush Japan) project
schools were visited on 01/08 and 02/08.
l In Wakiso,
four project schools were visited on 05/08.
l In
Butambala, ten project schools were visited on 08/08 to 09/08.
Mubende
Wakiso
Butambala
2-Visit to Nansana municipality in Wakiso
GBN and SORAK team held a meeting with Mr. Lwanga the Municipal Education Officer (MEO) at his office at Nansana Municipal Council. The objective of the meeting was to get feedback from the MEO regarding the project and to inform him about the field monitoring visit to the four project schools.
3- Visit to
Butambala District Headquarters
On 08/08/2022, GBN and VOTU team visited the
district headquarters. They met the D.E.O (District Education Officer), C.A.O
(Chief Administration Officer), DISO (District Internal Security Officer) and
the RDC (Residential District Commissioner) to discuss about the impact of the
project.
4-Visit to Ministry of Health and Education and Sports
in Kampala
On 11/08/2022, SORAK, VOTU, GBN team members and JICA Project Formulation Advisor from JICA Uganda had a meeting at the Ministry of Health with Dr. Robert Mutumba, the Principal Medical Officer in the reproductive and child health department to introduce the project and implementing partners to the ministry as well as seeking guidance on the training/project materials (baseline survey, MHM Booklet and training guide).
On the
same date, the team had a meeting at the Ministry of Education and Sports with
Dr. Ismail Mulindwa, the director of basic and secondary education to introduce
the project and implementing partners to the ministry as well as seeking
guidance on the training/project materials (baseline survey, MHM Booklet and
training guide).
5- Happy-pad Promotion Centre
On the 10/08, GBN team along with two intern students, the Executive Director SORAK and the Project Officer Wakiso visited the Happy-Pad Promotion Center at Katalemwa Secondary School. They were welcomed by a team of trainees at the center, the Deputy Head Teacher of the school, trainer and the IT person.
The
objective of the visit was to get feedback from the trainer, trainees, IT
person and the school regarding the progress of the project and to discuss the
way forward regarding the project.
Action points made at the Promotion Centre;
·
Focus should be on pad making for sale and
not on training for school students.
·
A professional trainer should be hired to
lead the production process and ensure quality. products and this should be by
01/09/2022.
·
The center should have 3 sections:
production, marketing and training section.
·
All furniture should always be inside the
promotion center.
·
Keep track of the materials used at the
center especially the scissors as only 4 were still available of the 16 bought.
·
We should set clear targets on the number
of pads to make per month, those to be sold and how much money is expected.
·
Awareness raising/ advertisement of pads and
provision of training at the center is necessary.
In
response to the above action points; the following has been put into action as
of 15th September.
1-We have
recruited a better tailor called Nakato Mulongo.
2-The promotion
centre will be directly administered by Meble Nakalembe.
3-We have
redirected our effort and emphasis to making pads for sale. To this effect we
have set a target of making 140 pads per months.
4- The newly recruited tailor is making our centre more known for she has make contacts due to her long experience in the field of tailoring.
200 pads
were produced and are ready for supply after the packing bags are completed by September
2022.
The
total Number of outside learners who had training: 10
- Number of Female outside learners: 6
- Number of Male outside learners: 4
A total of 51 persons visited the centre and
expressed interest to start training. These were recorded during the month of
August 2022.
6- 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 2 times a day.
·
Butambala via Voice of Butende and Voice
of Kimambwe where 10 spot messages are played on a daily basis respectively.
7- Selection of
tailors in Butambala
By
12th August 2022, four of ten project schools had submitted names of
community members and teachers with an idea about tailoring. These accepted to
participate in a training of trainees for pad making. Six of the remaining
schools shall submit names in the second week of September when school
activities resume. Training on pad making will commence in the second week of
September as well.
8-Visit to
community radio
One
community radio (Voice of Butende) was visited. Both Maiko Ohnishi of GBN and
the team leader of VOTU had a 5minute broadcast about the project activities.
Positive influence
· There
was participation from the teachers and parents in appreciation of the project.
· Five
out of ten schools had MHM trainings on time table. (Butambala)
· All
intended target project 10 schools were visited with GBN. (Butambala)
· Washroom
hygiene has improved in the schools.
· School
boys started to support girls.
· The respective Head Teachers were eager to
receive GBN and SORAK team and were ready to give them updates regarding the
impact of the project. (Mubende and Wakiso)
Challenges
· Several
washrooms inspected were found without a roof yet the wall heights were not
tall enough to ensure privacy of the girls. (Butambala)
· Although
impact of the project was evident, MHM clubs and teachers needed more
awareness.
· Some
schools had incomplete facilities for example Kiyita Primary School due to
inadequate funds but they promised to complete the facility as soon as schools
resume. (Mubende)
Lessons learnt
· It is
important to start encouraging beneficiaries to come up with creative solutions
to solve some of the prevailing challenges.
· At
implementation we have to reference national guidelines as advised by the
health and education officials.
· To keep
learners fully engaged, there is need for a motivation strategy.
