It is our great pride to announce that the RELI family is expanding! The following are our newest members from DR Congo and Uganda.
War Child has been active in DR Congo since 2003. They primarily work in the South Kivu province in eastern DRC – in the territories of Fizi and Kalehe. War Child programmes combines education, community child protection, psychosocial support and vocational training to empower children and adolescents.
Together with international and local partners they work to address the education needs of children from refugee and displaced populations, as well as those from host communities. Their work to open up livelihoods sees young people supported in their search for employment and self-employment opportunities. They also increase the capacity of parents, caregivers and the wider community to take up their responsibilities towards children. This community-based approach helps to ensure their work is relevant and effective.
Girls to Lead Africa is a leadership incubator in Uganda whose goal is to increase the number of girl leaders in students’ councils. GTLA believes that nurturing leaders who understand the challenges facing communities and have the skills necessary to engage in policy discussions and political process will help achieve gender equality. This is because young women are vastly underrepresented in policy making positions at all levels and this disparity leads to policies which perpetuate gender inequities and make it difficult for women to contribute to the development of their communities. GTLA’s mission is to disrupt this status quo by training and mentoring girls to get positions in students’ councils. Once the girls join students’ councils, they are able to advocate for girl – friendly policies, stand up for themselves and for their peers.
Teach For Uganda is a movement of Ugandan leaders committed to expanding educational opportunities to all children in Uganda. Teach For Uganda (TFU) believes that every child in Uganda, regardless of their socio-economic background, deserves an opportunity of an excellent education. Our innovative approach is designed to help improve the quality of education for all children in Uganda.
TFU are developing a movement of leaders to address education inequity inside and outside of the education sector, with a common vision of providing every child with an opportunity to attain an excellent education. They recruit, train and place top university graduates and young professionals in high-need UPE schools across Uganda to serve as full-time teachers committed to transforming the education outcomes of less-privileged children. Through this 2-year fellowship program, participants (fellows) significantly improve the achievements and aspirations of their students, thereby interrupting the cycle of poverty that affects many Ugandans.
Street Child is helping 5,100 refugee children access an improved quality education in the newest settlement for South Sudanese refugees, in Palabek, Northern Uganda, where seven settlement elementary schools, two government schools, and one high school currently cater for over 15,000 children – and this number is growing daily.
- Street Child has opened the first of its elementary schools – The Progressive Primary School in Palabek – and is soon to begin construction of our second in the area.
- We will also be supporting a further three schools with teacher training, teaching materials and WASH facilities, supported in large part by Education Cannot Wait, a major new global fund created to transform delivery of education in emergencies.
- We are also planning to assist 3,000 children aged 8-14 in Congolese refugee settlements in Western Uganda, where 27% of all refugees in Uganda are hosted.
- These settlements are under extreme pressure following the large influx of refugees in response to renewed violence in DRC. It is estimated that 19% of refugee children who are enrolled in elementary school are over-age for their grade, due to having missed school and language barriers.
- Street Child wants to implement an elementary school ‘bridging’ program in five schools, constructing temporary learning centers where we provide children with a six-month compressed curriculum and language support, so they are then able to integrate into mainstream schooling at the correct level.
Thank you so much for becoming members of RELI! We’re thrilled to have you on board and can’t wait to get to know you.
(Featured image from the Teach For Uganda website: www.teachforuganda.org.)
