【Educational Environment】 Monthly Report Sep 2022 " Procured sewing machines, purchased MHM T-Shirts"

 

Team after cnducting the radio talk show at radio Butende

<Activities conducted>                                                        

1.     Procured sewing machines for Mubende and Wakiso

2.     Purchased MHM T-Shirts for Mubende and Wakiso

3.     Radio talk show in Butambala

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

5.     Happy pad centre in Wakiso

6.     Updates on renovation of schools (Christ the King and Kiyita Primary Schools) in Mubende

 

1.     Procured Sewing machines for Mubende and Wakiso

There are 20 Sewing machines that were purchased to be supplied in the 20 respective schools in Mubende and Wakiso.

Pictorial

 

2.     Purchased MHM T-Shirts for Mubende and Wakiso

T-Shirts were procured for the MHM Club members in the respective schools. 25 dozen were purchased having 300 T-shirts for the 20 schools. 

Pictorial

3.   Radio Talk Show in Butanbala

One hour talk show conducted at Voice of Butende on 25^th September 2022. The community was reminded about the need to support adolescent girls especially those that cannot afford sanitary material so that they can comfortably stay at school.

The major talking point was about the reusable pads that the team was yet to introduce in the target schools, how to make them, how to use the pads and how to keep them clean.

 

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 2 times a day.

·      Butambala Spot messages aired 11 times at Voice of Butende and 10 times at Voice of Kikambwe

 

5.   Happy pad promotion centre in Wakiso

A total of 45 pads were produced this month. 23 students were trained and 9 outsiders from the community visited the promotion centre. Bags for packaging pads were made and took for branding. These will be ready next month and pads will be packaged for marketing. The main target market are secondary schools and retail shops within the community. Selling of pads will start as soon as the branding process is completed. We intend to sell a package containing a pair of pads at 8000 Ugx. A professional tailor for the pad centre was identified for pad making, cutting and aligning.

Pictorial

 

6.     Updates on renovation of schools (Christ the King and Kiyita Primary Schools) in Mubende.

Christ the King Primary School constructed a toilet and a wash room facility at the school.  The facility is still under construction not yet completed.

The status is still the same as Head teacher of Kiyita Primary School promised to finish renovation after parents’ finish harvesting their crops and pay school fees.

We also have to note that Christ the King is a community school with no government funding. They have made every effort to reach this far with SORAK mobilization. It is hoped that this will be completed during the December long holiday in preparation for the new academic year 2023.

Pictorial

 

Positive influence

·       Menstrual hygiene management has greatly improved among pupils since they know how to handle themselves during their menstruation for example, girls no longer miss classes because of menstruation as they see it as a normal situation, boys no longer laugh at girls when they are in periods, they can manage their periods well using pads, clean pants among others

·       The quality of pads improved since a professional tailor was hired to work at the promotion Centre (Promotion Center, Wakiso)

·       Learners at the pad Centre have gained pad making skills (Promotion Center, Wakiso)

·       Newly enrolled trainees are helped by some of their colleagues who joined before them at the promotion Centre (Promotion Center, Wakiso)

·       Members of the community and young children are now familiar with the message especially in areas near the stations (Butambala)

 

Challenges

·       Some schools had incomplete facilities for example Kiyita Primary School due to inadequate funds but they promised to complete the facilities as soon as parents harvest their crops and pay school fees (Mubende)

·       Some of the trainees are slow learners who require extra time to pick but they are helped by some of their colleagues who pick quickly and those that joined before (Promotion Center, Wakiso)

·       Absenteeism of some MHM club students due to economic hardships faced by parents to raise school fees making some to miss out some trainings. This is mitigated by engaging them when they return to school (taking them through what they missed) (Wakiso)

 

Lessons learnt

·       It is important to start encouraging beneficiaries to come up with creative solutions to solve some of the prevailing challenges like inadequate funds to finish up renovation which they can address by making use of the locally available resources

 

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

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【Educational Environment】GBN Uganda School Monitoring Visit (2022 July-Aug)

Uganda Monitoring Report 2022

School monitoring in Mubende, Wakiso and Butambala Districts

（July-August 2022）

 GBN team finally made it in monitoring our project site in Uganda in Aug 2022 for the first time after COVID-19 started. The project is '' Improving school's educational environment for adolescent girls by addressing menstrual hygiene challenges in Uganda" 

We verified and confirmed that all target schools have established washing & changing room for girls where they can change their pads, wash their school uniforms and their bodies. Although not all schools can set up a basin, soap, water, emergency disposal pads, or extra uniforms in the washing room, schools are making effort in offering a girl-friendly environment. 

There was a significant change observed in the community after conducting activities such as raising awareness in the community (the importance of the girl-child education, understanding and support regarding MHM), teacher trainings (MHM, sex education and gender awareness), and establishment of MHM clubs that also included engaging boys and men in all activities to have a better understanding of girl's MHM situations.

• In Mubende, two past (funded by Lush Japan) and six new project schools were visited on 01/08 and 02/08.
• In Wakiso, four project schools were visited on 05/08.
• In Butambala, ten project schools were visited on 08/08 to 09/08.

In Mubende, we were welcomed by enthusiastic children who had never physically seen foreigners with white/bright or Asian skin like us. Therefore, they had an opportunity to touch our skin, straight hair, and spend time with us and also be able to take photos together. 

We had meetings with members of MHM clubs including boys and girls when we visited our target schools. We then asked the same question to each club members. "Do you realize any changes before and after the project?"  and the answers we received were all positive like some of these below.

 "The regular cleaning of toilets and washrooms has improved the general hygiene"

"We can now talk about menstruation with less hesitation to teachers."

 Although the situation differed at each school, it was clear that the awareness rising that we conducted and promoted made an impact to the students.  

 

We visited 4 target schools in Wakiso district. We could not meet students at one of the schools since it was at the end of the term and students had already left for holidays but we managed to inquire from the teachers who were present at that time about the activity progress.

Schools in Butambala also had enthusiastic students who told us about the roles and the activities of the MHM club. 

This was on the way back to Kampala after the monitoring visit to schools in Butambala.

We had originally planned to visit 4 selected target schools in Butambala but we ended up visiting all the 10 target schools since the other unchosen schools also eventually sent us requests to visit them when they heard that the GBN team was in Uganda for monitoring.

Happy to mention that positive results have been archived in every school and we had various feedbacks from students such as, boys stopped teasing girls due to menstruation issues, both male and female teachers are more involved in the MHM issues as they recognized it to be part of the school roles, and that students can now easily talk/consult about menstruation issues more openly at home to their parents.

During this monitoring visit, we recognized the great teamwork and strong bond built between our local partners and their respective schools especially towards the Butambala team.

◆ Common positive impacts

• Girls’ absentees/ dropout rate reduced. Girls are comfortable to use a washroom/ changing room and do not miss school anymore.
• Girls have no fear attending school because boys know about MHM issue (menstruation is natural/ normal) and being supportive.
• Boys do not tease girls after the training. Boys help girls who have blood on skirt by calling senior female teacher/ covering with their sweater, bring the girl to the washroom etc.
• It was new approaches for the teachers to train both girls and boys together on MHM issues and they realized that it is effective. Inclusive approaches involving men and boys for MHM trainings are accepted by teachers/community members.
• Teachers became confident to talk about MHM issues to their students after the teacher’s training.
• Teachers shared MHM knowledge and training experiences after their participation with other teachers.
• Teachers understood that MHM issues need to be tackled both at home and schools.
• Conducting MHM training regularly on both club members and general students.
• Community awareness meeting was an eye-opening experience for community members/ PTAs.

◆ Common challenges

1. Water shortage especially during a dry season is a serious challenge.
2. Materials are not sufficient such as emergency disposable sanitary pads/ soap/ basin/ spare uniforms etc.
3. Some of washrooms are not covered by a roof/ the height of the walls is low.
4. Students are shy and do not talk much. Students afraid of teachers/ leaders/ parents. Building trust between teachers/ adults and students are important. Also, it is important to find teachers to whom students are able to talk friendly/openly. Creating an environment conducive to talking, e.g. small groups discussion is also important.

Please watch these video clips of our monitoring visits.

●Mubende District

●Wakiso District

●Butambala District

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

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【Environmental Protection】Activity Report2022 Jul-Aug Promoting clean environment through environmental education and garbage collection

The monitoring committee together with SORAK team during the meeting

<Progress of each activity>

Activity 1.1 A community-based radio communication system established with ability to relay information and messages via megaphones/loudspeakers to the entire training Centre

GBN team visited Luna FM studios on 3/08/2022 in Kibalinga sub county as monitoring.

 

 

Activity 1.2 Thirty (30) minutes’ environmental education talks conducted for 10 months

In respect to the above activity, 3 megaphone talk shows were conducted by the monitoring team and the Director from 13/07/2022 to 15/07/2022 which would run for 30 minutes at Voice of Lusalira megaphone and one small megaphone which would be used for massive sensitization too. These were intended to create awareness about the use of the garbage containers and their availability. Also, to inform the community about the launching of the garbage containers which took place on the 16/07/ 2022.

          

Activity 1.3 An environmental education and awareness raising jingle/spot message aired 5 times a day

Airing of spot messages on Luna Fm radio in Kibalinga to create awareness about proper garbage management in the community thus improving sanitation and hygiene. These messages are aired 5 times a day to ensure that people acquire basic information about garbage.

 

<Spot Messages>   Fellow Ugandans, did you know that poor garbage disposal negatively affects both an individual and the entire community in households and in the community. Poor garbage disposal can cause dangerous diseases like Cholera and Diarrhea that are harmful to our lives. Burning of garbage anyhow can lead to environmental degradation.  Therefore, SORAK has come out to provide support by engaging in sensitization of community members about proper garbage management, through providing containers where garbage will be disposed, a vehicle that will collect garbage to the collection points, sorting and recycling of garbage aimed to keep the environment clean  Therefore, it is advised that we work together in this call to improve sanitation and hygiene in Lusalira community.  This message is brought to you by SORAK together with Global Bridge Network-Japan

 

Activity 2.1 Ten (10) garbage containers/skips procured and stationed at 5 different places to encourage and support garbage sorting and safe disposal.

The garbage containers (10) were launched and stationed at 5 different places on 16/07/2022. Local leaders, the monitoring committee together with SORAK team stationed the garbage containers as they sensitized the community about their use. 2 containers including one for garbage that decomposes and another for garbage that doesn’t decompose were placed at each station for garbage disposal. Monitoring to ensure garbage sorting is still ongoing, but after its success SORAK together with volunteers will proceed to Garbage processing into manure.

GBN Monitoring Visit of the 10 garbage containers stationed at the different 5 places.

On 3/08/2022, GBN team visited the different points where the garbage containers are stationed. This was to confirm if the containers had been stationed in the respective points. There after they had a movie editor’s interview regarding what they had found out during the monitoring exercise.

 

 

Activity 3.1 A community based environmental protection monitoring group established and it is active in monitoring safe garbage disposal in Lusalira trading Centre

On 12/07/2022, a meeting for the launch of the garbage containers was held at SORAK Offices with the monitoring group. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss on matters concerning proper garbage disposal, making necessary preparations for the launch including massive sensitization of community members on safe garbage disposal.

 

Reactions from the meeting;

·       The Chairman LC 1 advised the committee to work hand in hand with the community leaders for the betterment of the project.

·       Members requested for more containers claiming that 10 cannot accommodate the entire community.

·       The Environmental Officer advised fellow members to utilize the available containers.

·       Members suggested that they should engage in the 3 days sensitization of the community about proper use of garbage containers.

·       Suggested putting holes in the garbage containers to prevent them from being stolen.

 

Activity 3.2 Safe garbage disposal by-laws passed and enforced.

Visited Subcounty leadership and hear about trash project by laws and impact of the project

GBN team visited Kibalinga Sub-County Hall on 3/08/2022 in order to assess the impact of the project activities from the local leaders. They held a meeting with the sub-county leadership which involved generating feedback from the leaders regarding the project and come up with a way forward on how the project activities shall be sustained.

 

 

<Positive influences>

·         All the called upon monitoring committee members turned up for the meeting of the preparation for the launch of the garbage containers and appreciated the idea of cleaning the community, they also promised to work hand in hand with SORAK.

·         Leaders were willing to share the impact of the project. This was observed during the monitoring visit at Kibalinga subcounty hall by the GBN team to hear about the impact of the project from the leaders and the monitoring committee members.

·         Mayor appreciated the efforts made by SORAK and GBN to improve the sanitation and hygiene in Lusalira trading center and shared his experience about sanitation during the meeting for the launch of the garbage containers.

·         The community members and the leaders appreciated the GBN visit to Mubende and thanked them for the wonderful support towards their community.

 

<Challenges faced during conducting of activities>

·       Mismanagement of garbage containers whereby community members were advised to sort garbage and put the ones that decompose like food peelings in one container and the ones that don’t decompose like plastic bottles in a different container. They have failed in a way they mix garbage which makes it for people who picks it to be taken to the collection points but more sensitizations are ongoing to create awareness on the importance of garbage sorting.

·       Too much expectations from the community and the local leaders as they were requested for more trash containers claiming that the ones provided are too small and few to accommodate the community but the GBN Director advised them to make use of the ones available which they are doing.

·       Limited time during GBN visit to the radio studio in Kibalinga. The team visited Luna FM studios but did not make a speech regarding proper garbage management.

 

<Lessons Learnt>

·      It was learnt that the monitoring committee, community members and most local leaders appreciated GBN through SORAK to keep up the spirit of bringing such wonderful projects that improve the wellbeing of the community.

 

↓↓↓Click on the following link to view related reports

The List of Reports 

*This project is is supported by the fund form TAISEI CORPORATION

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