Sexuality Education Right & Economic empowerment

SRHR services for refugee and host communities in the West Nile region start at the village health team (VHT) level (Health Centre I), and extend through Health Centre II (parish level), Health Centre III (sub-county level), Health Centre IV (sub-district level providing comprehensive Obstetrical Care), and then to District, Regional and National Referral Hospitals.

Ugandan healthcare policy denotes a minimum recommended radius of 5km to access a Health Centre, many refugee communities and settlements are outside of this radius, leading to a requirement for integrated community health outreach services.

Access to Sexual Reproductive Health Right services (SRHR) for women and  girls in our community has remained a significant challenge due to limited Access and utilization of sexuality education and information like family planning which has been affected by social and gender norms, especially where men control women’s reproductive health decisions.

Access and quality of Sexual Reproductive Health Right (SRHR) services for  women and girls in the humanitarian context remains a significant challenge, one which has been exacerbated by COVID-19. Gaps exist in health service responses, directly impacting the quality of SRHR services and contributing to increasing maternal mortality across the settlements and the communities.  Inadequate health service provision is attributed to inadequate skills and capacities of health workers to provide emergency care, inadequate referral services, and limited access to SRHR services for women and girls. 

Adolescent girls in particular are suffering as a result of COVID-19, with increased rates of adolescent pregnancy, early marriage and unintended pregnancy according to UNFPA report 2020,  8,678 teenage girls got pregnant in West Nile region. COVID-19 has compounded pre-existing barriers to accessing SRHR, including stigmas and social norms, as well as male decision-making over aspects of Family Planning. As a result, there is a significant need to continue community sensitization and support to encourage women, men, girls and boys to attend antenatal and postnatal care, use family planning, and deliver in the health facility. 

Poor Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) contributes to school drop-out, lack of engagement in community structures, and girls engaging in negative coping mechanisms such as transactional sex to afford disposable menstrual materials. therefore there is need to train the women and girls on Menstrual Hygiene management through provision of reusable pads for easy and accessible and affordable pads to keep girls at school. In addition, women and girls will be supported to obtain sustainable income-generation activities to meet basic needs and prevent negative coping strategies.

Refugee and host women and girls will be supported to access SRHR information and services, including through regular integrated community health outreaches aiming to extend SRHR services to hard-to-reach areas. WN-CARD will select and train community health structures like Village Health Teams and SRHR Volunteers to conduct sensitization on SRHR and conduct follow-up visits. 

WN-CARD will also roll out the Community Score Card (CSC) methodology, a locally driven approach that brings service users, Women’s Groups, health providers, government, duty bearers, and other power holders together to address barriers to healthcare access, quality and equity.

WN-CARD will also support adolescent girls to access tailored ASRH services through Youth Groups, Peer Educators and youth-led activities, and empower women to achieve good Menstrual Hygiene Management through menstrual reusable pads in order for them to stay at school. In addition, women and girls will be supported to obtain sustainable income-generation activities to meet basic needs and prevent negative coping strategies.

Women are inadequately represented in most decision-making spaces in the settlements, and they face many barriers to engaging in leadership structures in the community, and to participating in decision-making in the home.

WN-CARD will provide training on SRHR topics such as safe motherhood, Family Planning, basic hygiene and sanitation, emerging infectious diseases/public health risks (including COVID-19 and Ebola), adolescent pregnancy prevention and support, SRHR referral pathways for lifesaving care. 

The project will target women and girls aged between 15 years to 20 years  who are school dropouts and school ongoing girls both the refugees and the host communities in Yumbe District to address the SRHR service delivery and Economic gaps in the communities. 

The organization have 5 senior management staff members comprising of:

• Andruga John Daniel , Executive Director, Age 33 years, sex male, 8 years working with the organization
• Angutoko Manuel, Finance Manager, Age 33 years, Sex male, 9 Years working with the organization.
• Scovia Amadiyo,  Programe Manager, age 31 years, sex, Female, 2 years working with the organization.
• Apio freda Project Officer, Age, 34 years, sex, Female, 5 years working with the organization.
• Candiru Doreen, Project Officer, Age, 34 years, sex, Female, 5 years working with the organization. 
• Ezaru Mercy, Human Resource officer, Age, 29 years, sex, Female, 5 years working with organization.
• Amagu Philliam, M&E officer, Age, 30 years, sex, male, 5 years working with organization.

  The number of Female is 03 out of 03 in the senior management positions.

WN-CARD through its Awareness and sensitization campaign was abled to reach 1000 individuals both women, girls , men and boys with access to SRHR services in the community and 300 young women and teenage mothers have been trained with the hands on skills in Bar soap making and Body jelly and making of Re-usable sanitary pads. 

Community participation Approach, WN-CARD through this approach will support access SRHR information and services through regular integrated community health outreaches aiming to extend SRHR services to hard-to-reach areas partnering with the Health experts and Health centers in the community.

Formation and support of two Adolescent Friendly space Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)-related activities through provision of SRH information including HIV and other STIs, Counselling, Male and Female condom demonstration and distribution, Referral to other services with the Health experts bringing it near to the community. 

Conduct training for 100 Vulnerable teenage girls on Reusable pads through  Provision of materials, Training sessions, Distribution and sales marketing.

Selection of adolescent special days for SRHR services through Community Health outreach programs on SRH services to hard reach areas, Testing and Counselling services, Referral services

Conduct 30 Awareness raising sessions on SRHR services targeting 1000 women and girl and boys to reach them with Information determination on SRHR services and other Health related issues. 

Train 20 school champions WN-CARD will Train peer educators to be role model, mentors and advocates for SRHR at school level, To ensure access to safe, affordable and High quality SRH services and information for the girls and women are accessible. 

1. Increased priority on adolescents sexual Reproductive Health, especially on very young adolescent girls and programmes particularly to increase availability of comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services.

2. Advanced gender equality, women’s and girls’ empowerment, and reproductive rights, including for the most vulnerable and marginalized women, adolescents and youth.

WN-ARD integrated programmes targets marginalized adolescents paying close attention to protecting the SRHR rights of young people, especially those of adolescent girls at risk of child marriage, harmful practices and other forms of gender-based violence by ensuring  young people develop the esteem to make informed decisions about their sexuality, relationships, marriage and childbearing for sustainable inclusive development contributing to gender equality, poverty alleviation, increased productivity and equity hence Increasing availability and use of integrated sexual and reproductive health services (including family planning, maternal health and HIV) that are gender-responsive and meet human rights standards for quality of care and equity in access.

WN-CARD comprises of 7 full time staffs (4 female and 3 male), 2 part time (1 female and 1 male) staffs and 8 Community based volunteers (4 female and 4 male) both the refugees and the Nationals.

WN-CARD also have functional board structures which comprised of 7 members ( 4 female board members and 3 male board members)

WN-CARD as organization has been working and implementing SRHR programs for the last 4 years in the Refugee settlements and the host communities in West Nile Sub Region through provision of SRHR services and Economic empowerment skills prtograms. 

Gender in the project: The project design is gender transformative and is designed with a strong and specific focus on the needs of women and girls, The project will builds on previous and ongoing WN-CARD interventions, including those funded by other partners  which have built WN-CARD’s experience in addressing underlying social norms and on women’s empowerment and protection in this context. This enables women to ensure their protection, SRHR, and other vital needs are understood by humanitarian structures. 

Refugees and Host population have skills, opportunities and positive coping strategies required to live in safety and dignity

WN-CARD will reach 100 individuals (50 Women, and 50 Girls) with support to overcome the economic impacts of COVID-19 and promote positive coping mechanisms for women, girls and youth. WN-CARD will identify, train and support 100 skilled women, girls and youth to access skills training and start-up support to enact small-scale ‘cottage businesses’ such bar soap manufacture ng, Body Jelly making and other businesses required in the community. WN-CARD will link new trainees with women and Girls who have already established income generation activities for apprenticeships and mentorship. Subsequently, WN-CARD will conduct VSLA and Business Skills training for 100 refugees and host community members, supporting groups to form VSLAs and providing training on VSLA methodologies and best practices. CARE will also provide VSLA start-up kits (saving boxes, visibility materials, stationary) and link VSLA groups with local financial institutions to access banking services such as loans, savings, and district government services (such as business registration). VSLAs will build resilience against shocks and allow women and girls to reduce negative coping mechanisms by being able to meet basic needs such as food, NFIs (including soap and sanitary items), medical bills and school fees.

WN-CARD through the formation of the women and girls VSLA groups will have more sustainable impact on the project where they own the project where the trained women and girls will produce more projects of bar soap and body jelly to be sold in the ready available market in the community at Lower prices and WN-CRAD will also provide market linkage services outside the settlement. through the saving model the groups will be able to save the little money and multiple it through group loans at lower interest cost for the members and WN-CARD will also link them to other financial institutions like Banks for more financial help. This will help run and sustain the business for a longer period of time.

WN-CARD will also continue to look for funding opportunities from other donors and Funding Agencies to continue to support the women and girls in SRHR services.