OUTREACH PROGRAMS 

       To achieve our vision we have put in place four outreach  programs to implement between 2012/2016all of these programs are well designed to support children and their care takers both socially and economically, our long time experience of involvement in helping children has indicated that to help children in a best and sustainable way, it inevitably involves supporting their care takersfor what affects these families ultimately affects children under their care often in a profound ,this why you will find some of our program targeting families/caretakers , the idea behind is to empower them to ultimately help children under their care in the most effective and responsible way, the LVC programs being implemented at present are

1. Back to school campaign program (BSCP)
2. Health Action Program (HAP)
3. Family economic empowerment program (FEEP)
4. Family legal support program (FLSP)     

                   1     . Back to school campaign program (BSCP)

           This  program involves helping to integrate back into school children from disadvantaged background forced to drop out of school due to their vulnerability, our community based research shows that in every five vulnerable children three are forced to miss school twice a week due to either missing food previous night or lack of schooling materials, some of them will never return to school unless someone does something, the program also helps to find schooling opportunities for children of school age who have never have had a chance for school

Interventions

1. To help integrate back into school vulnerable children forced to drop out of school due to difficult conditions in their care takers families
2. Empower families of care takers/guardians of disadvantaged children to fully utilize government resources in their areas eg health centers, to benefit children under their care
3. Promote good and responsible parenting in families of care givers
4. To socially empower vulnerable children’s families to fully utilize government and community resources in their areas eg health centers etc for the benefit of the children under their care as well as themselves

Activities

1. Discovering and identifying children compelled to miss or drop out of school, we do this through our LVC village ambassadors based in villages across the Island
2. Identifying problems/causes which lead to children missing or dropping out
3. Sourcing and providing school materials for underprivileged children example school uniforms, ( Through LVC Tailoring shop) provide excise books without which children drop out of school in most cases
4. Working with families/Teachers to help return children back to school
5. Our village ambassadors routinely produce reports to LVC main office on how the children are doing
6. Training families/guardians home based income generating projects eg briquette making, husbandry, poultry etc to be able to support children under their care independently
7. Encouraging families/guardians to fully utilize local government resources eg health centre to improve their conditions and that of children under their care
8. Through local village leaders and   LVC village ambassadors call and host Community meetings on vulnerable children’s rights protection, encourage community responsibility
9. Visiting needy families in the villages and provide food and clothing to children, mosquito nets as part of our outreach programs
10. Visiting local public schools provide exercise books, uniforms to underprivileged children
11. Working with school teachers to identify problems and difficulties faced by individual children in learning possibly due to their vulnerability
12. Empowering and building economic capacity of care taker families/Guardians through family income generating activities farming, entrepreneurship etc
13. Mobilize support that is sensitive to the specific and particular needs of the family and children
14. Continue providing nursery education and feeding at our centre to disadvantaged children with access to LVC centre
15. Returning to school all vulnerable children dropped out of school due to hard life in their guardian homes by providing them with school needs, eg uniforms, etc
16. Encouraging village community of which the vulnerable children are part to take responsibility feeding, sheltering vulnerable children
17. Helping homeless children find care takers/ alternative guardians within the community

Key Outcomes;

• Vulnerable children accepted in the community
• Well fed ,happy and healthy children
• A good learning atmosphere for vulnerable children
• Economically empowered guardians, well able toi look after children
• Effective use of LVC centre
• Significant reduction in diseases common in children such as Polio, cholera , Bilharzias and other water born diseases
• Increased security of vulnerable children
• A community taking full responsibility in vulnerable children care and protection
• Increased access of vulnerable children to support from local and international organization
• Improved and efficient communication between, children, families, schools and LVC organization
• Increased in number of children getting direct help through sponsorship solicited and secured by LVC organization                                                                                                  2. Health Action Program (HAP)

Health will be one of our major focus in 2011/2016, our priority areas will be NUTRITION to help combat malnutrition in children and outbreak of DISEASES

NUTRITION

               The immediate causes of child malnutrition on Ukerewe are two-fold: inadequate dietary intake resulting from suboptimal maternal and infant feeding practices and the high disease burden resulting from malaria, diarrhea diseases, acute respiratory infections, and worm infestations.

             In Ukerewe there are three broad underlying causes of inadequate dietary intake and high disease burden

1. Household food insecurity

Mainly related to poor access to the range of foods needed for a diversified diet. An added element of this is that the foods that households frequently consume are relatively deficient in micronutrients. Seasonality in food production, variable food prices, and seasonal earning patterns exacerbate the instability and the poor quality of the diet the household consumes throughout the year

2.    Inadequate maternal and child care.

Care-related constraints lead to both inadequate dietary intake and a high disease burden in young children. These constraints include the heavy workload that women as primary caregivers in the household must shoulder every day. Women do both farm and household chores and might engage in small business

3. Poor access to health care and a healthy environment

In far too many cases, young children do not live in a healthy environment with good access to toilets and other sanitation services, a reliable safe water supply, and effective health facilities and services, including nutrition services, such as micronutrient supplementation and nutrition education 

Interventions

1. Promote and support health and nutrition education to increase the level of awareness of good nutrition.
2. Promote integration of nutrition services in all routine and outreach health services and programmes targeting children and mothers.
3. Manage nutrition for sick children, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and other women of reproductive age
4. Integrate management of severe and moderate acute malnutrition into routine health services.
5. Promote and support breastfeeding policies, programmes, and initiatives.
6. Promote and support appropriate complementary feeding practices.
7. Support and scale up community-based nutrition initiatives
8. Promote production and consumption of diversified nutritious foods at the household and community levels.
9. Advocate for and support integration of nutrition in agricultural programmes in Ukerewe District
10. Promote and support local food processing and value addition at the household and community level
11. Promote production and consumption of indigenous foods to enhance dietary diversification
12. Promote positive indigenous dietary practices.

ACTIVITIES

• Educating care givers about nutrition through seminars
• Using posters and displays in community places on the importance of nutrition to health
• Encouraging care givers to form nutrition production groups to enhance production of fortified food such as orange fleshed sweet potatoes, soya beans etc
• Working in partnership with village health workers/clinics to insist on consumption of nutritious food in children and pregnant moms
• Celebrating African food and Nutrition Security Day (October 30)
• Doing home visits to care for malnourished children and refer critical cases to Hospitals

Expected outcomes              

• We expect Increased level of awareness of good nutrition
• Increased production of diversified nutritious food,
• increased consumption of diversified nutritious food
• increased integration of nutrition issues in agricultural programs,
• Improved breastfeeding practices
• Increased access to healthcare and Nutrition of Pregnant moms, infants and young children

          DISEASES

         Poor sanitation practices and contamination of Lake Victoria waters lead people to use unsafe water, which cause an increase in diarrhea, Bilharzias and other waterborne diseases in Ukerewe communities

           Malaria risk is high in the fishing villages and other lakeside communities because of increased mosquito breeding sites and migrant populations, who are usually with low immunity..

           Understanding Ukerewe community perceptions and attitudes towards childhood illnesses has been an important key in helping LVC develop appropriate interventions. LVC works closely with families to help detect early symptoms of illnesses, most local care givers tend to associate illnesses with supernatural forces, witchcraft, bad weather or avenging spirits. Others Practice self-medication using modern medicine. Other care givers take their children to traditional healers

Interventions

• Promote proper food handling, hygiene, and sanitation through increased knowledge, use of safe water, and hand-washing practices at the household level.

• Promote use of treated mosquito nets in children and families
• Promote use of local medical facilities ,hospitals as opposed to traditional healers(Taking children to hospital as soon as symptoms of illnesses are detected
• Promote and support periodic health campaigns example immunization, deworming and vitamin distribution , etc  
• Promote   prevention, treatment and home based care for HIV/AIDS patients

     Actions

• Doing home visits to discover illness cases in children
• Providing health care through referral to government health facilities. Where   necessary LVC provides formal referral forms to vulnerable children in need to facilitate their access to free care at health facilities.
• By working with care takers help raise small funds to meet transportation and treatment costs , in other cases travel and treatment costs may be assisted through project funds provided by LVC or partner  
• Implementing projects to provide free treated mosquito nets to poor families
• Working with local village health centers in campaign and advocacy in the community regarding children health issues such as, importance of immunization, cholera and other water born diseases

Expected outcomes

• Vulnerable children increased access to health care services
• Reduction in reported number of ill vulnerable children
• Reduction in malaria cases and water born diseases in vulnerable children
• Increased community awareness over the importance of immunization

HIV AND AIDS

In our fight against HIV and AIDS which is at one of the highest rate across the Lake Victoria Regions particularly around fishing communities, we remain steadfast and use all available resources to reverse the trend of new infections especially in teenagers

Activities

• Conduct community outreach program , visiting fishing sites   to educate fishing community over HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention through LVC trained volunteers and partners as facilitators
• Organizing and speaking at community meetings around villages on HIV/AIDS innervations, addressing issues on women and girls vulnerability and susceptibility to HIV/AIDS   infection and women’s right to prevention. Care and treatment
• Visiting families and encouraging community on voluntary testing and insisting on early and effective use of Antiviral
• Conduct community based home care for persons with HIV and AIDS
• Organizing seminars and workshops around villages in the community to educate the community over the need for family planning and responsible parenting
• Working in partnership with schools, village youth groups etc on sex education to avoid teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS

Key Outcomes

• A reduction in the spread of HIV/AIDS infection in the fishing community
• A community aware of women and girls vulnerability to the HIV/AIDS infections
• Increased number of people going for voluntary testing
• Increased number of infected people in the community on Antiviral
• A reduction in number of child births per family
• A youth community aware of risks involved with early and unprotected sex

               3.Family economic empowerment program (FEEP)

This is a special   program targeting care takers and vulnerable children/teenagers

1. Care takers

To help care takers families run home or group based income generating activities to enable them support children under their care, the program is tailor made to suit specific interests, resources, ability and environment   of a particular family/group

The program offers a wide range of training from

•  Poultry
• Agriculture
• Briquette making
• Soap making
• Farming/ cow and goat keeping
• Family and community based Social entrepreneurship

All this is done in consideration with the specific interests, resources, ability and environment in which the family/group lives,

         Training is done through out trained LVC village ambassadors based in villages, they know the families resources around them, interests and ability well, so is easy for them to recommend a particular training to a particular family/group

         When training is done where necessary LVC helps to meet small costs in kick starting activities to help a trained family get started, a follow up is done routinely by our ambassador to check on participants how they get on,, help reinforce on areas they feel need further help and this is done for as long as it takes for the business/project to deliver.

1. Vulnerable children/teenagers

To creating economic opportunities for teenagers mostly from disadvantaged background on Ukerewe Island , by integrating teenagers in skills training centers according to their talents , the idea is to cut unemployment in youths from disadvantaged background , this is supposed to be an incredible job creation program to support them build meaningful careers, the program will help them realize their economic potential

                     The program is essentially a transition mechanism for vulnerable children into productive and responsible youth hood in the community as a long term vision for vulnerable children , we strongly believe that our current LVC children   program would not be effective enough if it does not lay a strong foundation for vulnerable children for a smooth transition   into productive and responsible youth hood, the program involves integrating vulnerable children into training centers to acquire life skills, these centre could be working places ,garages, workshops, tailoring` etc depending on children interests

             The program will be extended to all villages across the Island making it accessible to all teenagers mostly from disadvantaged background.

                     The program will be supported by   setting up Village based vocational skills training centers   or integrating children into the existing centers ( privately owned workshops, garages, local factories etc)   this will be a platform for various youths projects , this will serve as a source for practical training for acquired knowledge through doing activities,

                 We run a tailoring shop where girls from disadvantaged background learn tailoring skills, the girls did not get elected for Secondary schools, the project is an incredible opportunity for self employment,

   The program offers a wide range of training options such as

• Tailoring
• Carpentry
• Welding and metal fabrication
• Painting and sign writing
• Simple electrical Installation
• Simple electronics and Radio repair
• Brick works (Building)
• Motor vehicle mechanics

The Organization will work closely with existing skills training workshops owned by locals on the Island to see any possibility of outsourcing some training activities which can not be directly carried out at the Organization skills centres for examples getting youths into local garages for extra practical training etc,

                   The Organization has managed to find and discuss the potential of the project with individuals in the community qualified in specific training from recognized training institutes example VETA  

             Before leaving the program teenagers are put through another training for maximum utilization of the acquired skills through training in the workshop in areas of ;

• Social entrepreneurship
• Investment and planning for the future
• Developing business ideas
• Selling business ideas
• Financing business
• Business management
• Marketing business

           The Organization has a significant number of volunteers at hand who have attended training in Entrepreneurship , Business management , Social accountability etc to help with the training in this area,   

         Objectives and problems the program will solve

1. A smooth and perfect transition for vulnerable children into productive and responsible youth hood
   
2. Provide teens from disadvantaged background who missed secondary school opportunity with another chance to pursue their economic dreams ,
3. Provide teens on Ukerewe Island fishing community with other sources for income generation and not just fishing the only income source they have known
4. Build life skills competences among       vulnerable teens to help them function well in their economically changed environment
5. The program will be an income generating source for the Orphans and vulnerable children Feeding and Education program at our LVC Centre
6. The program will enable teens develop self reliance, think critically, identify and address problem and develop strategies to come up with solutions
7. A job creation for sustainable development in youths grown up as vulnerable children
8. Reduce the concentration of teenagers in       busy fishing sites as soon as they come out of primary school which increases the risks of HIV and AIDS in teenagers
9. By providing alternative sources of income, reduce the tendency in teenagers readily turning to fishing, subsequently help combating over fishing in Lake Victoria in the long term
10. Support the Government effort in tackling widespread unemployment in the youth community                    
    

                  Expected Outcomes

                  At the end of the program we expect

1.  Reduction in rate of unemployment in youths from disadvantaged background
2. Improved lives of vulnerable children
3. Improved lives of teenagers and that of families/care takers
4. Drop in rates of HIV/AIDS infections in teenagers on Ukerewe Island
5. A responsible and more productive youths in the community
6. Increased youth influence and participation in development initiatives

                   4. Family legal support program (FLSP)

             As part of our rights based approach to changing children’s lives   FLSP program was initiated primarily to provide free and basic legal advice to the disadvantaged families, children’s right in situations of domestic violence, inheritance ,sexual abuse and other forms of child abuse, Our organization recognizes the undisputable fact that to help children effectively, it is incredibly vital to help their families/caregivers as well, “ What affects these families ultimately affects the children in a profound way.”

           The FLSP legal advisors come from the communities that they serve and receive  training to provide a variety of basic  legal services.  For example, they help women/care takers assert inheritance rights, mediate small civil disputes, conduct non-legal advocacy, and work with communities to help them have their rights recognized and enforced.  They work closely with the formal and customary systems to help their clients find the most appropriate remedy.  In addition, community legal advisors provide widespread civic education to make the rule of law relevant and accessible to ordinary Liberians and to help foster active citizenship

         The program  covers a wide range of legal issues such as

• Domestic violence, violation of children’s right in family, Education and health.

• Extreme violence against children eg child sexual abuse etc
• Helping in settling land disputes and aiding poor families regain ownership of things taken from them by force , inheritance etc
• Human rights and HIV/AIDS - matrimonial rights in regard to HIV/AIDS, forced marriages, harmful cultural practices like wife inheritance, UTAKASO ( In the ukerewe community when a husband dies the widow must sleep with any chosen man in the clan to cleanse her)
• Children, gender, and HIV/AIDS – children’s and women's rights in cases of bigamy/polygamy, and willful transmission of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Rape etc
• Legal and ethical issues governing will - types of wills, validity of a will, and how to prepare a will.

             The introduction of FLSP program is a good example of how we respond to the needs of the community in which children live,   children often suffer because of lack of recognition of their basic human rights. It is common practice for the wives of deceased husbands to lose their homes, land, and other major possessions such as tools and cooking pots to their in-laws. They may even have to relinquish custody of their children to the husband’s clan. This is a cultural practice which is still existing , the project can help women and children stay together and keep their land and possessions after a father’s death.

             FLSP   is having a significant impact in the community we serve, our sincere hope is that we get enough resource to expand our services .

Activities

• Training care takers on basic legal education regarding inheritance rights, domestic violence, land rights etc
• Providing legal aid and protection to underprivileged children and families through LVC legal advisors
• Reporting to Government law enforcement agents such as police and court any incident in which we feel a child or women’s right has been violated
• Working together with partner Organizations to empower children recognize their rights in family school and community
• Conduct research to provide evidence related to child abuse and violence, denied access to social justice in the community
• Develop, support and advocate for Government and Non Governmental initiatives that enhances Children participation in decision making etc
• Discourage the fishing community from employing children in their fishing firms too young and supposed to be in schools

Key Outcomes

• A community well aware of family and children’s rights
• Rights of children and vulnerable families are realized and protected
• Reduction in violence against children and women
• A community and government that is responsible for protection of vulnerable children’s right
• Increased children participation in decision making and other issues affecting them in the society
• A decrease or total eradication of child labor in fishing sites

         PROJECTS  SUCCESS AND STORIES

  1.  HEALTH ACTION PRPGRAM

 Last Month November 2012 Lake Victoria Children was awarded a small fund by Save theChildren International in Partnership with PANITA (Partnership for Nutrition In Tanzanai) to celebrate African food and Nutrition Security Day, the point of the commemoration was to create awareness about Nutrition in Tanzania communities

INTRODUCTION (part of report)

                The commemoration of African food and Nutrition Security day   was implemented by Lake Victoria Children specifically to mobilize and create awareness across communities over the importance of   Food and good Nutrition  especially to children and expecting mothers

                                           DESCRIPTION OF EVENTS

                    The commemoration kicked off   at 2.30pm    in a spectacular fashion with a 30 minutes demonstration from a Health centre in Bulamba Village to football pitch where the commemoration was taking place, participants holding up banners carrying the message for the event, Dunga Ngoma Group the most popular one in Ukerewe played a vital role in attracting maximum crowd to the event , the crowd was building up and commemoration gaining momentum every minute ! the crowd unbelievably grew from about 100 to over 700 in just a space of three hours

                   The most crucial point of the commemoration came when among the delegates, four qualified individuals in Nutrition stood up one by one and professionally described widely the importance of good nutrition to life, among them were ,   a nutritionist from the Ukerewe District Hospital , District Education officer for Domestic Science, District Education officer for Agriculture , Bukindo ward health officer and Bulamba Medical officer,

                   The nutritionist explained in depth how lack of good nutrition at tender age can permanently affect growth, mental ability and   therefore ruin the  potential of achild  inlater life,           ‘ Without Proper nutrition at early years of child development is like a plant without fertilizer   it will never produce adequately ‘ She said

                     The Education officer for Agriculture Mr Sijo Maira addressed the need for production and consumption of diversified nutritious foods at the household and community level , Insisting on integration of nutrition in agricultural programmes in Ukerewe DistrictIn and consumption of indigenous foods to enhance dietary diversification. He urged residents on the Island to cultivate Orange fleshed sweet potatoes at family level saying the local Government is putting in place efforts to facilitate cultivation of Orange fleshed sweet potatoes at family level

                  The Bulamba Medical officer Mama Mpanduji   stressed the urgency for integration of nutrition services in all routine and outreach health services and programmes targeting children and most impotently  she urged people to manage nutrition for sick children, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and other women of reproductive age saying breastfeeding is critically important for a healthy child growth .

                     The Health officer underscored the need for families in Ukerewe to live in a healthy environment with good access to toilets and other sanitation services, Boiling drinking water saying the government at the local level needs to improve , and put in place effective health facilities and services, including nutrition services, such as micronutrient supplementation and nutrition education

               The Guest of honor   at the event , Mr Toto Mkama the Ward chancellor in the area said the time has come for people in Ukerewe to learn and understand about nutrition and its relevance to healthy life, saying many children on the Island die not from witchcraft which is what many parents believe but lack of adequate nutrition and this makes children vulnerable to diseases such as frequent malaria, diarrhea and malnutrition

                                     SUCCESS STORIES

              The moment came when our qualified guests in nutrition started taking questions on nutrition from the audience , Basic questions such as what food is nutritious ? how is nutritious food prepared

               James Makunja a father of two said if nutrition is so crucial to health in children why there is so little education about it at family level ? He said he and his wife have never bothered before about specific food nutritious food for their children saying it has never been such an issue, they have always fed their children with what is available, adding that now he could now see why his children are in and out of hospital with malaria, anemia, and other illness         “ Nurses at the Hospital would tell my wife Give your children nutritious porridge but they never really tell her how to prepare it or even say why it is important !”

                 Joyce Mwizarubi said she have learnt so much from the commemoration , Saying  while she herself didn’t know much about malnutrition before , her neighbor has three children with swollen bellies , she now thinks they have malnutrition and she has seen their mom taking them to witchdoctors believing they have been bewitched !!

                                  EVALUATION

               The commemoration went down very well , the turn up was overwhelming despite the fact that it was slightly raining participants seemed oblivious to it, we believe over 500 people came to the event and some of them were from neighboring villages, they, our sincere hope is that they went back and spread the word about nutrition, in which case well over 4000 across the Island will have received the message from the event,

                 The commemoration was aired on Radio Free Africa afternoon news October 4 , The commemoration news appeared in an article on ukerewe in Tanznia Daima m Monday Nov 5 page 6 ,It should appear in more news paper soon ,It is therefore hard to estimate exactly how many people the commemoration reached it could well be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, For us the event was 95 percent successful  

               Our organization has ambassadors in most villages , they each took back the commemoration messages in banners and posters to be put up in community places in their areas to maximize impact of the event ,we expect more positive results to come out of the commemoration in the next few weeks

              Over 25 people interviewed after the event said the lesson delivered from the event was life changing, for them it made a difference between education and ignorance in relation to food and its relevance to health

                   LESSON LEARNT AND RECCOMENDATIOS

             It very obviously came across in the commemoration that the majority did not take nutrition seriously , Education on nutrition must be provided targeting both father and mother at family levels , a wide and far reaching campaign needs to be done to mobilize communities around the issue, commemoration such as this should be done across many communities each year ,

PHOTOS FROM EVENT

                                     crowd at the commemoration

                                LVC volunteers from canada enjoying the occassion