Global Bridge Network’s blog: 【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

Water shortage especially during a dry season is a serious challenge.
Materials are not sufficient such as emergency disposable sanitary pads/ soap/ basin/ spare uniforms etc.
Some of washrooms are not covered by a roof/ the height of the walls is low.
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