Protecting children in Uganda
Editor’s note: Sam Kappler, Programmes Officer with World Vision Ireland, is just back from Uganda. Here he blogs about how child sponsorship is helping communities there to overcome challenges such as child labour, child abuse and early marriage.
I recently travelled to south-east Uganda for the first time to visit Busitema and Lunyo Area Development Programmes (ADPs).
I was there to support a baseline survey for a planned project to improve the health of pregnant women and infants in the area. However, it also gave me a chance to spend time speaking to local staff and members of the community about some of the great work taking place. Work that would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors.
Protecting children
For the past few years, World Vision has been working in the area on issues relating to child protection. Lunyo and Busitema are located close to the border with Kenya, and many children drop out of school early in search of casual, often exploitative employment opportunities in the nearby border town of Busia. 
Child labour, early marriage and child abuse are major challenges in the area. However, there is a great deal of determination among various sections of the community to play a role in addressing these issues.
World Vision has been working closely with the police, health workers, local leaders and community-based Child Protection Committees to improve the ways in which child abuse cases are reported, documented and investigated.
Regular dialogue between these groups is also facilitated so that information can be shared, weaknesses can be identified and strategies can be devised to further strengthen the local child protection network.
Children themselves also have a key role to play in ensuring their rights are upheld in their communities. World Vision is helping them to recognize their rights and responsibilities, understand the legal framework surrounding them and the courses of action available to them to report cases of abuse.
Partnership
One of World Vision’s roles is to recognise development work that is already taking place in a community, and to explore ways we can partner with and link together groups and individuals, sharing knowledge, resources and skills, to reach our common goals.
Local initiatives and capacities to overcome challenges must be built upon if our programmes are to have a lasting impact.
We must appreciate that World Vision’s presence in the community is temporary. The resourcefulness, initiative and capabilities of the community are not, and we must do all we can to support, develop and harness this potential.
Long-term impact
In the current economic climate, many people have less money available than before to donate to aid agencies such as World Vision. Therefore there is (quite correctly) a renewed focus on what difference their donation can make in the long term. We firmly believe that the impact of activities such as these will endure long after World Vision has phased out its presence in the area.
I would like to pass on the heartfelt thanks from my colleagues in Busitema and Lunyo for your continued support. We hope that through sponsorship, you will continue to enjoy walking alongside these communities with us as they work towards a more sustainable future.
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