VOHARO UGANDA

VOHARO Uganda is incorporated with Uganda Registration services bureau (URSB) as a company limited by guarantee, Lira city NGO monitoring committee, National NGO Bureau as an indigenous non-profit organization to carry out non-profit activities and Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) as an accountable person.

The organization is engaged in empowering poor and vulnerable communities with livelihood skills, Provision of educational support to children and youth from poor economic background and advocating for and protecting the rights of children, youth and women against all forms of violence amongst other activities.

We contribute to community development through working with the communities to support children in schools, out-of-school youths and other stakeholders. Our activities are among others; Community sensitizations, Child sponsorship and provision of scholastic materials, rural entrepreneurship training and on the job trainings in different life skills for out-of-school youth and VSLA Supports to the vulnerable communities.

Our Mission

To empower children and women, providing protection, care and support, through advocacy, sensitization and skills training, promoting their active participation at all levels.

Our Vision

A violent free community where every children and women's rights are protected.

Core Values

• Active participation
• Non-discrimination
• Transparency
• Accountability.

Highlights of The Goals

• End poverty in its all forms.

• End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

• Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages.

• Ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities

• Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

• Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact by regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy.

• Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial eco system, sustainably manage forest, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halts biodiversity loss.

• Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justices for all and build effective and inclusive institution at all levels.

Overall Objectives

• To promote and protect the Rights of all Children through advocacy and community sensitization as enshrined in the UN Convention on the right of a child.
• To promote and enhance a sustainable livelihood and poverty reduction at household levels for socio-economic empowerment.
• To improve food security of households for improved economic wellbeing of children and their families
• To empower rural communities to protect and enhance the rights of children.
• To improve the health and nutrition status of children and other population groups
• To promote improvement of water and sanitation hygiene WASH) for children, communities and households.
• To empower children and youth as peace builders.
• To construct facilities for the purpose of housing, protecting, teaching, educating the children.
• To protect the women against all sorts of violence against them through sensitization and training to prevent and response to Gender Based Violence.
• To train community leaders with skills to rehabilitate the War affected children through equipping them with the life skills and providing psychosocial support
• To provide sponsorship to the disadvantaged youth at different levels of
• To promote peaceful means of conflict resolution through community sensitization and awareness campaign.
• To promote and enhance a sustainable livelihood and poverty focused approach to enable households less dependent and more self-reliant, supportive and sustaining through economic and social empowerment.
• To empower communities to demand and improve the quality of life and service delivery by ensuring; child protection, protection and promotion of human rights and democracy, to enhance good governance, holistic and sustainable development.
• To promote improvement of hygiene and sanitation, safe water, health and environment for children, communities and the household level.
• To offer savings and credit opportunities to women and other vulnerable group as a mean of livelihood improvement.
• To tackle reproductive health problems, Adolescent/youth reproductive health concerns and Sexual Gender based violence in the communities.
• To network, advocate, lobby, mobilize resources and facilities from stakeholders, Government and other development partners such as; NGOs, Donors, International community, to formulate and implement community desired policies and programs relevant and supportive to concerns, needs and interests of children.
• To promote and encourage child education, training, rehabiptation and general welfare.
• To engage in various charitable and educational activities for the purpose of protecting and promoting the welfare of children.
• Human rights based approach to programming.
• Integration and inclusion.
• Participation and empowerment.
• Gender Equity.
• Targeting most vulnerable children, youth and households.
• Partnerships.

Strategic Approaches

• Raise awareness for knowledge and alternative change.
• Lobbing for increased commitment and responsiveness by leaders and stakeholders.
• Strategic partnership development and management i.e. working in Partnership.
• Policy research and documentation for information sharing dissemination and engagement.
• Collective advocacy engagements through open platforms
• Providing /enhancing opportunities for dialogues and debates
• Mainstreaming crosscutting issues in development interventions
• Institutional capacity and system building /enhancement and development
• Strengthening /supporting local government, public service institution through sub national and national capacity development.
• Building /enhancing citizen's civic competence /local capacity.
• Information communication technology development, availability and accessibility
• Enhancing linkages and networking with states and non-state actors.
• Tackling core underlying /root causes of problems
• Resource mobilization, tracking and management.
• Citizens Organizing
• Stakeholders' engagement and management.
• Involvement and participation of citizen in matters of their wellbeing.

Thematic Areas Of Intervention

Livelihoods and Food Security

Thematic Goal: Improved household production capacity and income through agriculture and non-agricultural activities and access to credit saving and financial services through;

Economic opportunities of household /individuals diversified through provision of non-agricultural skills, training and access to credit savings and financial resources:

• Formation and revitalization of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) groups.
• Training on sustainable VSLA.
• Training on entrepreneurship skills and business management.
• Provision of VSLA kits.
• Formation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME's) and linking SME's to Micro Finance Institutions (MFI's).
• Mentorship of VSLAs and SMEs by MFIs and progressive/successful businessmen/women.
• Providing technical assistance and managerial skills to SME's and VSLA's.
• Animal and poultry technologies pilot.

Agricultural production and productivity of household and individuals increased through provision of agricultural inputs and training on improved agronomic practices and animal, agro business and provision of inputs:

• Improving contacts between famers and bodies with agricultural extension services providers.
• Providing technical backstopping to famers.
• Increased contact with agro input dealers.
• Training on post-harvest handling, packaging and marketing.

Increasing early learning and participation:

• Establish famers field learning plots.
• Establish child school learning garden.
• Child family household learning garden.
• Famers field days.
• Exposure training to famers with government research centers.

Increased marketable surplus of stable foods sold through famers Association:

• Establish and support self-help group for women and youth.
• Revamping farmers produce stores and cooperatives unions.
• linking cooperative unions to markets.
• Strengthening building of produce stores.
• Establish stores management communities build their capacity effective management.

Advocacy and Protection

Gender based violence (GBV)

• Strengthening capacity of GBV actors to provide psychosocial, security and social services.
• Protecting women and children from GBV.
• Supporting and reintegrating survivors of GBV.
• Advocacy for attitude change of perpetrators through engaging men, women, boys, girls and the communities etc.
• Providing legal service and support to survivors of GBV.
• Awareness raising and education on GBV.
• Engaging communities and stakeholders for gender activities.
• Engagement and partnership with judiciary, police and other stakeholders on GBV.
• Strengthening Policy engagements on GBV.
• Forums for Open talk about GBV.

Child protection

Thematic Goal: Enabling children and OVC get out of all forms of abuses and accelerate holistic child growth and development through;

• Protection of and promotion of the right of children.
• Child development and wellbeing advocacy.
• Community mobilization, sensitization and education on child protection and engagement.
• Community involvement and participation on child protection.
• Child life skills development; skills to protect themselves from HIV infection, abilities to accept appreciate and value one-self and positive relationships and interact with society.
• Disabling girl child early pregnancies and early marriages.
• Promoting girl child education.
• Training of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) caregivers and support.
• Routine counseling and guidance to OVC care givers.
• Training of girls and young women on Sanitary towels production.
• Procurement of sanitary towels and provision for girls changing facilities in schools.
• Awareness raising using radio on child protection.
• Capacity building of community structures on child protection (local council, beach management units).
• Training of Child Protection Committees(CPCs).
• Partnership, engagements and collaboration with Local Governments ,cultural and repgious leaders on child protection.
• Conducting review meetings.
• Conducting research and documentation for information dissemination.
• Electronic documentation of child abuse, protection and promotion.

Climate Change Adaptation and Bio - Diversity Conservation and Natural Resource management

Climate change resilience for communities.

• Climate smart agriculture.
• Capacity enhancement on climate change adaptation.
• Awareness raising and education on climate change.
• Wood lot establishment and management.
• Nursery bed establishment and tree planting.
• Greening communities and public institution.
• Sensitization on environmental management and eco system.
• Natural resource management and response mechanism for climate change.

Education

Thematic Goal: All children have learned, grown and developed with realization of full potential;

VOHARO Uganda believes that every Child out of school is a potential child laborer and most at a risk but completion of primary level (Primary Leaving Examination (PLE)) is a basic need to help a child grow and acquire life skills to deal with challenges of life at its full potential through:

• Establishment of ECCD centers for rural children living in difficult situations to access quality education.
• Establish community based education centers (primary school, secondary, Technical and Vocational) for children living in difficult conditions i.e. child headed households, OVC and victims of HIV to extinct children under going child labour to raise school fees through forced labour e.g. Working in hotel, fishing, brick sites, building and construction sites and charcoal burning. It will also economically empower them.
• Establish rural community based computer education and empowerment for children and youth.
• Networking with women viable groups (WVGs) and Youth groups to engage and improve enrolment of children and retention of girls/ boys children in government headed schools.
• Building a strong and vibrant partnership as well as building capacity of CSOs and NGOs working in education and protection of children.
• Local communities /parents/guardians education and mass sensitization on embracing girl child education.
• Develop partnership and coordination with local government, religious and cultural leaders on improving the quality of education.
• Establish school learning platforms (SLP) to share experiences, identify obstacles, gaps and mainstream new innovations.
• Support school governance structures, build capacities and provide technical backstopping to them.
• Child/pupils mentorship, leadership development and talent development, school debate, public speaking events and talent search/competition.
• Children with disabilities access quality education through disability information and education, management of children with disability, provision of assistive devices and learning aids.
• Engagement with political and technical leaders on inclusive education of Children with Disabilities (CWDs).
• Capacity building of school leaders and teachers on special needs education.
• Provision of scholastic materials to children from poor households.

Policies, By-laws, Procedures and Guidelines

VOHARO Uganda has developed, adopted and is currently developing and adoliting Policy documents to govern the organization's operation to ensure legal compliance and required standards:

• Human Resource Policy.
• Financial Management Policy Or Guide lines.
• Gender Policy.
• Child Protection Policy.
• Procurement Policy.
• Assets Management Policy.
• Anti-money Laundering Act.
• Communication and Information Strategy.
• Volunteer and Internship Management Policy.
• HIV/AIDS Policy.
• Fundraising Policy.
• Advocacy or Lobbing Policy.
• Employee Safety Policy.
• Stakeholders' Management Policy.
• Data Protection Policy.