When we started our work with the vulnerable children in Kisoro, most of them were not in school. We quickly put them in school, because we knew school was one of the core avenues for rehabilitation. We made sure every child we put in school was able to obtain lunch at school. This aided their school retention and provided a meal a day.
Children received uniform, shoes and books. All our children started in primary or kindergarten. Soon after we saw some joining secondary and vocational schools. Then we realized that our budget considered primary level only.
Our prayer is that God can enable these children complete education, graduate and obtain jobs and their own families. This is not possible without adequate integrated career guidance and sensitization.
The Integrated Career Guidance and Sensitization (ICGS) element ensures children are aware of the impact of decisions they make and outcomes of their effort. This activity enables them to work with their caregivers to map their career path – is it all the way through university, or the industrial path? This is critical when our goal is to ensure every child obtains an education, with understanding that not all children may be able to follow the same path for various reasons.
Having the privilege of directly working with people at the grassroots, we observe pertinent issues that either promote or undermine our efforts. The research integration element helps amplify these elements through a clear and safe data management process, with an effective collaborative communication strategy.
The Collaborative Communication Strategy (CCS) leads to strategic goals that are further monitored to evaluate the impact of our research-driven advocacy and how it directly improves the situation of the children and families we support.