Uganda

ChildFund Uganda focuses on keeping children healthy through community-level programs supported by our local partners. The Responsive & Protective Parenting program connects children aged 0-5 to critical health services and supports families to provide for their children’s health needs, while the Nutritional Assessment Counseling and Support (NACS) program screens for malnutrition and teaches parents how to grow and prepare nutritious food. Children aged 6-14 receive similar health services, along with Vitamin A supplementation, deworming and access to clean water. Finally, adolescents ages 15 and up participate in age-appropriate health programs such as menstrual hygiene education.

ChildFund Uganda enhances children's education by helping create child-friendly learning environments, promoting literacy and numeracy skills, and strengthening school infrastructure. For children aged 0-5 years, we encourage caregivers to get involved in early childhood development (ECD), inspiring nearly 4,000 parents each year to support ECD centers across six local partners. Infrastructure improvements, such as renovations and the provision of furniture and learning materials, help ensure a conducive learning environment for our enrolled students. For children aged 6-14 years, the education program focuses on school attendance, academic performance and child protection through the Education for Protection and Well-being (EPW) Project, which involves counseling and collaboration among parents, teachers and community members to reduce dropout rates and prevent school-based violence.

Young people in Uganda face significant challenges in their transition to adulthood, such as high dropout and unemployment rates. ChildFund works to support youth by providing access to valuable vocational and entrepreneurial skills. Collaborating with eight implementing partners across various regions, we offer career guidance and counseling to more than 3,000 out-of-school youth annually, with more than 700 receiving vocational training in diverse fields like carpentry, hairdressing and motor vehicle mechanics. Our programs also train peer educators and encourage community civic engagement and leadership. For example, our Resilient Livelihoods project trains young farmers in climate-resilient agricultural methods and equips youth with vocational and entrepreneurial skills while also strengthening the local government’s ability to respond to disaster risks.

We ensure the safety of children through our child protection and advocacy programs, which use evidence-based approaches to reduce rates of violence and abuse. Community-led child protection programming strengthens existing local structures to help prevent, address and report violence, and our advocacy efforts focus on promoting policies and increasing budget allocations for child protection at various levels of government.