EACO also campaigns for Poverty, HIV/AIDS and human awareness and provides direct support to Families of women & children who are a result of the Poverty, HIV/AIDS, Violence, Displacement War, or Conflict. In addition to providing Children with school supplies in addition to that EACO has established and created income-generating opportunities for women, children, youth and the elderly living in the Mukono district and Maracha district in west Nile.
Organizational Objectives
• To stimulate, promote, and support economic activities in rural communities that improve quality of life for disadvantaged and marginalized persons; and Human Rights
• To prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigate its effects;
• Increase access to potable water and sanitation facilities.
• To improve agricultural production by making necessary resources available;
• To build and strengthen the capacity of community groups in order to improve upon management and planning at the local level
• To build and strengthen strategic partnerships to maximize and effect change; and
• To mobilize resources and facilities from key stakeholders, government, and donors so as to implement community programs.
• To improve on the health and sanitation of the community by bringing safe clean water.
• To encourage everyone involved in sacrificing children or anybody that contributes towards making child sacrifice successful to stop this gruesome activity.
We have a belief that every human being is a unique individual and that we all have a right to good health and basic needs and should access means to a comfortable life in one way or another.
EACO is committed to a development process that promotes equality. EACO believes in and strives to uphold the rights and dignity of all people especially in the rural communities. EACO upholds principles of stewardship with its resources and is committed to support children and disadvantaged people fight poverty, ignorance and diseases such as Malaria and HIV/AIDS.
How can YOU help?
Donate to EACOs projects
As a community based organization developed by and for Ugandans, EACO has to work gain the funding required to run it's projects.
- Education and poverty go hand in hand, and many of the young people EACO work with don't have the fees or opportunity to go to school. By donating just £10 you can pay for a Ugandan child to attend a government school for 1 year.
-EACO has had a huge impact on the local community through income generating activities that alleviate families from poverty, and provide them with the skills, motivation and support to positively change their lives and communities. These projects are relatively inexpensive and are a lasting contribution in the lives of vulnerable families.
You can partner with our organization, volunteer, support or help on fundraising.
Volunteering: Make a difference in people's lives, develop a wide network, develop a range of skills and experience that can be used in everyday life, receive ongoing education and development; do your part in bringing about social change.
Each week, your gift of time will help nourish and sustain the quality of life for someone less fortunate than you.
The Partnership here would look at providing an all round education, the schools maintains a small but highly capable agricultural science department. This will ensure that the girls are able to learn environmentally sensitive and economically productive and sustainable techniques of farming essential to creating new jobs and improving food security for the wider benefit of society. These schools rightly want to extend their ability to make such an education available to a wider number of students and is enthusiastic about finding innovative new ways of doing this.
EACO: Sustainable approaches to tackling poverty
EACO's key principles on and approach to community development
· The vision and philosophy of EACO is based on the belief that every human being is a unique individual and that we all have a right to good health and basic needs and should access means to a comfortable life in one way or another.
· We believe that the first priority is that people should have a sustainable life. However, almost equally important is that an individual’s life should have meaning and that they should develop independence. This is being achieved through care then empowerment and support. It’s really only then we can bring education so that our people understand the overwhelming benefit to them. With improved health comes the ability to be employable to generate income and escape from poverty.
At the heart of EACO’s approach the focus is on achieving financial and operational sustainability.
Financial sustainability is incorporated into project design – as part of the education process students produce actual goods. The income generated from the sale of these products is used to cover teaching and production costs.
Operational sustainability is ensured by working within the framework of existing organisational structures. By partnering with well established agricultural schools we can be confident that long term impact does not depend on one or two key individuals but is a result of institutionalisation of successful practices.
EACO with an innovative approach to financing livelihood education in developing countries. Believes in education to be the single most powerful tool available for reducing poverty in developing countries, we work with well established local partners, principally vocational schools, to give young people an opportunity to learn the skills needed to earn a living. A focus on agricultural education recognises the central role of agriculture in the world’s least developed countries as a source of income generation, employment, and food security.
The innovation however that truly distinguishes EACO from other education charities is in our approach to financial sustainability. By linking vocational and entrepreneurial education, students not only receive practical instruction on how to produce, but also acquire the business skills needed to earn themselves a living. The production and sale of products that this entails generates income which schools are able to use to support their educational work. This focus on financial sustainability means that every pound invested in developing educational capacity at a school continues to have an impact year after year, for generation after generation of students.
Partnership Platform in Environment Conservation
There shall be a tripartite partnership agreement involving Conservation Agreement Private Partnership Platform, EACO and the Schools communities. The contribution of each partner will be as follows:
For Conservation Agreement Private Partnership Platform:
• Funding ;
• Publicity & awareness creation
• Use Global Giving’s wide branch network as focal points for facilitating regular interactions
For EACO UGANDA:
• Project design, planning & management
• Supply of high quality, fast growing fruit tree seedlings
• Technical support and oversight on tree planting and management
• Training of selected schools
• Monitor and evaluate
• Produce report and accountability to Global Giving
For Schools Communities
A major advantage of working with schools in terms of tree planting is that they are permanent institutions with adequate land, labor (especially children), and
management capacity from head teachers and teachers.
• Planting and maintaining of the trees
• Publicity and awareness creation
• Give reports to EACO
Planned Activities under this project:
Fruit & Shades Tree planting - This shall involve teachers, parents and the pupils. Fruit Tree species will range from Mangoes, Avocadoes, and Jackfruits, Pawpaw, Passion fruits, Oranges and Guavas. These will be sourced from various breeders and distributed to schools.
Children shall be taught how to raise trees and fruits and they shall be expected to do this at their respective homes, teach their parents and as a result there will be a multiplier effect.
Demonstrations on Nursery Tree Establishments - children will be taught how to raise tree nurseries, care for trees and also simple techniques of breeding such as grafting plants for better quality breeds.
Environment Awareness – This will help pupils learn about nutritional values from fruits, the value of planting trees and how to care for them in a sustainable manner. The need for environmental conservation shall be emphasized.
Monitoring and Evaluation – Success of this project partly relies on efficient monitoring. Fruit trees planted shall be monitored by EACO UGANDA to ensure that they are growing well and are managed as earlier agreed up on.
Partnership Platform in Water, Hygiene and Sanitation
Partnership would be in WASH Project into our Communities of Mukono involving schools and our reasons for interest in partnering with you into this Project, we want our communities to receive trainings on all aspects of the project including hygiene promotion, construction of latrines, repairing boreholes, WASH, besides that they will learn The links between water, sanitation and health, The nature of, and the threats posed by, environmental diseases, The importance and main elements of hygiene-promotion and The complexity in delivering safe water and sanitation in an emergency.
EACO wants to make clean water accessible within 1 kilometer for 100% of the people in rural Mukono. By constructing and Repairing fresh water wells throughout rural areas of Mukono, EACO will bring relief to thousands of residents, including those in surrounding communities.
Now you could also send in volunteers to do the trainings well as fundraising for the collapsed boreholes that need repair and in total they are 69 boreholes which need repair and construction, we want to construct latrines for the schools
Introducing new clean water wells in Mukono, will significantly improve the health and wellbeing of residents. The clean water initiative will directly impact the following four areas:
Poverty:
• Shorten distance to nearest clean water source by up to 9 kilo meters
• Free ~15 additional hours per week for those who hold the burden of fetching water
Education: Foster higher education and increase literacy by giving more children the time to attend school and study
Health: Reduce cases of water-borne diseases including typhoid fever, bilharzia, malaria and diarrhea
Safety: Prevent incidents of abuse and torture including r**e, kidnapping, child sacrifice and mutilation
Latrine construction and training
The goal of this project is to provide ecological latrines to rural schools in our communities in 100 schools. In our schools this approach will provide separate latrines for boys and girls.
The Need: People in rural areas in Mukono districts, lack access to proper sanitation.
📷There is limited awareness and education of proper sanitation and hygiene techniques in rural Uganda. Most households in rural areas defecate in the open or have access to latrines that pollute the soil and attract flies spreading avoidable diseases.
Children too are being affected with the lack of water and sanitation. It is affecting their schooling the most. Girls have to share toilet facilities with boys. Many of them have end up dropping out of school. Discrimination against women due to gender ends up violating their rights and undermining their health and well-being, along with crippling the development of individual woman’s status.
Communities in Rural Mukono, do not have latrines and toilets they are able to use themselves. Not only households but also schools we work with. This forces them to dig 1 foot holes to use as toilets, yet they have children in those homes. Most of these holes are dug up in the gardens where they grow their food which is risky. Some dig beside their houses.
The most pertinent fear we have is the damage this causes when it rains, for health and sanitation reasons. We have seen that this is the main cause of diarrhea. Flies are then attracted and are in contact with their food. Furthermore, these people do not have a habit of washing their hands after using the washrooms, most of them will go directly to eat after which unfortunately puts them further at risk. A lot of these individuals end up getting jiggers and ring worms in their feet and legs. This also affects the animals they keep in their homes which often need to be taken care of and seen by someone to remove all the worms.
All these residents are struggling financially. They do not have the money to solve the problem let alone seek treatment for it either.
Partnership Platform in vocational and life skills training
Partnership into this project would be in empowering rural vulnerable people with knowledge and skills in project for beekeeping as a way of addressing rural poverty and general health issues and to provide them with a set of basic tools and support to help them get off the poverty trap and at the same time to protect the environmental.
Beekeeping has a great environmental impact as well as income generating potential. The cross-fertilization effect promotes crop yielding and creates an ecological environment. Traditional bee hunters burn the tree nests of the bees, but modern beekeeping prevents bush burning and destruction of the bees. Beekeepers are more aware of keeping the environment green, since they benefit from the diversity of plants and preservation.
Furthermore beekeeping products generate income, with a high profit rate. At the same time it is not very time consuming. Since the women are already very busy with farming, taking care of the children, household and other duties, this is very relevant.
And at last bee products (honey, bee wax and pollen) are very healthy. Honey is a good replacement of sugar and when you have a cold it has a healing effect. for those with HIV/AIDS is a treatment.
Reducing extreme poverty by teaching the next generation how to make money out of agriculture
Uganda
Despite success in sectors such as tourism, Uganda remains among the least developed and poorest countries in the world. The majority its population live on less than $1 per day and the incidence of poverty is not decreasing. Agriculture remains vital to the economy - with 80% of the population deriving some part of their income from this source. Nonetheless agricultural education at school level is often minimal or non-existent. Reducing extreme poverty means teaching the next generation how to make money out of agriculture – the current project aims to play a small but important part in this.
The Rural Schools of Mukono
Less than 25% of Ugandans get to go to Secondary Schools, despite the important role that women play in agricultural production, often this isn’t recognized and girls get even less agricultural education than their male counterparts. Rural Schools of Mukono isn’t like that.
In addition to providing an all round education, the schools maintains a small but highly capable agricultural science department. This ensures the girls are able to learn environmentally sensitive and economically productive and sustainable techniques of farming essential to creating new jobs and improving food security for the wider benefit of society.
These schools rightly want to extend their ability to make such an education available to a wider number of students and is enthusiastic about finding innovative new ways of doing this.
EACO: Sustainable approaches to tackling poverty
EACO's key principles on and approach to community development
· The vision and philosophy of EACO is based on the belief that every human being is a unique individual and that we all have a right to good health and basic needs and should access means to a comfortable life in one way or another.
· We believe that the first priority is that people should have a sustainable life. However, almost equally important is that an individual’s life should have meaning and that they should develop independence. This is being achieved through care then empowerment and support. It’s really only then we can bring education so that our people understand the overwhelming benefit to them. With improved health comes the ability to be employable to generate income and escape from poverty.
At the heart of EACO’s approach the focus is on achieving financial and operational sustainability.
Financial sustainability is incorporated into project design – as part of the education process students produce actual goods. The income generated from the sale of these products is used to cover teaching and production costs.
Operational sustainability is ensured by working within the framework of existing organisational structures. By partnering with well established agricultural schools we can be confident that long term impact does not depend on one or two key individuals but is a result of institutionalisation of successful practices.
The project for which we are currently requesting funding seeks to establish bee-keeping training on a self-funding basis for the benefit of generation after generation of students in rural schools– long term poverty reduction through helping the young to help themselves.
Benefits of Bee-Keeping: Bee-keeping, with its low start-up costs, low maintenance requirements, and low use of land, combined with a high value product, offers an ideal means for students from families with few resources to supplement their household income.
These same characteristics that make bee-keeping so suitable for the individual also apply to schools. The high value of the honey and hive products is more than capable of generating sufficient funds to pay for the costs of providing a bee-keeping instructor and hive maintenance – allowing otherwise financially constrained schools to extend their educational programmes.
Project Description
The project outlined is based in rural Schools. School own analysis of their requirements and has the full support of the school’s director - ensuring the local ownership required for its successful implementation.
With expertise in agricultural and entrepreneur education EACO will provide the schools with technical, administrative and financial support to maximise the project’s impact.
The project will:
· Provide funds for the establishment of hives stocked with apis mellifera mellifera bees
· Provide thorough training for three teachers at each school in all aspects of bee-keeping from hive construction, maintenance & disease prevention, to harvesting, processing, and packaging of honey and other hive products.
· Assist the schools to access advisory services from local bee-keeping trainers
Outcomes
Our goal is that by the end of the project the Rural Schools of Mukono, bee-keeping activities should be generating income sufficient to cover the cost of a trained bee-keeping instructor and ongoing hive maintenance and replacement costs. Specifically:
· All students currently at those schools will have been trained to a standard where they are able to establish and maintain their own hives as a viable business activity.
· The hives will bring in additional income to the school which will be used to buy additional educational resources (books & equipment etc..), and to fund scholarships for the most needy pupils most especially Girls.
· Rural Schools of Mukono will be in a position to replicate the developed project at other schools in other communities in Uganda without the need for substantial fresh resources.
Monitoring and Evaluation
EACO will work with the schools to monitor and support the ongoing implementation of the project, assess its impact, identify and disseminate the lessons learned and their implications for rural and pro-poor agricultural education at the national and international levels.
Income
The project is expected to generate high income for the schools in the Year 1 – enough to sponsor 10 scholarships in each school. This income is expected also to rise in subsequent years as additional hives are added.
Partnership Platform in Community Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention
Introduction: It is unfortunate that the government of Uganda does not appreciate s*x education and little it is doing to streamline it in the education curriculum. Sexual health is a central determinant of a person’s quality of life. It is important for people to understand s*xual health issues and this is paramount to helping people make informed, responsible and healthy decisions. EACO wants to promote knowledge of s*xual and reproductive health services to vulnerable and marginalized groups including young people, in order to help prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of HIV and other STIs as well as empower youth to make informed decisions about family planning.
The organization also wants to carry out sensitization in communities and schools through formation of clubs to provide information on s*xual and reproductive health issues, family planning, control of STIs, information on safe abortions and post abortion care, condom distribution to youth among others. The organization will be using a peer educators’ network to make referrals for youth to service centers for further SRH information and services, care, counseling and treatment.
If Empower and Care Organization (EACO) partners with your team we can implement the above mentioned project with emphasis on Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) for young people in Mukono and part of Buikwe Districts.
The overall objective is to increase access to and utilization of friendly SRH information and services for improved quality of life and development among young people. Apart from the above activity, the overall objective will be achieved through other activities. It’s anticipated that, among other things, the project will result into reduced teenage pregnancies and s*xually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS.
Paying attention to the SRH needs of young people who form more than half of the country’s population, may not only bend the HIV/AIDS curve but will tremendously reduce on the population growth burden , alleviate the burden of infant and maternal morbidity and mortality rates, improve the status of women and girls, reduce school drop outs and reduce poverty.
Background to the project:
The importance of investing in health and young people’s SRH in particular has been under estimated at national and district levels in Uganda. Young people face various barriers in accessing information and services, SRH inclusive. For young people in rural, poor and urban slum communities face unique challenges such that access and utilization of even the few available services becomes difficult. The challenges range from the distance to the health facilities to the costly services and unfriendly service providers among other things.
As a result young people carry the biggest burden of disease and have the poorest SRH and HIV indicators. . Adolescent pregnancy is on the high side leading to unsafe abortion and maternal death. The World Health Organization reports indicate that Uganda’s maternal mortality rate stand at 435 per 100,000 live births and that teenage pregnancies contribute more than half of the mothers who die while giving life.
Despite the government’s numerous policies and programs geared towards improving SRH and rights of young people, much remains on paper. That’s why there are limited youth friendly services in government health care facilities. Mukono district has a sizeable amount of investment in the health sector (13%) but does not have specific reproductive health activities in the work plan. This implies that SRH issues for young people are either not addressed at all or are lost among other competing priorities.
The Project is to be undertaken against this background to advocate for increased prioritization and investment towards SRH of young men and women. The action will also contribute to the Health Action projects of increasing commitments at local government levels for SRH as well as accelerating achievement of MDGs 3, 5 and 6.
The need to build educational capacity and create new livelihoods is critical for the peaceful development of any developing country such as Uganda. I hope that our approach inspires your trust to share that vision, and to invest in the future of the young people of Uganda with a donation toward this project.
The challenge at this stage is to seize the opportunity, to take the risk, to realize a rewarding and productive future. With the strength which has made EACO, the choice is an easy one -- help our community meet the challenges critical to save lives, promote sustainable development, and achieve humanitarian goals.
Thank you for your support and assistance to EACO, and the community residents it serves. We look forward to your consideration of our request.
We will be pleased to submit additional information at your request.
There are also other vast opportunities for volunteers including:-Training in Agriculture, giving our clients new modern technology, food security, bee keeping and others - HIV care and counseling. - Delivering support, materials and writing reports on EACO project progress. -Teaching at schools and co-coordinating peer education projects. -Assisting with administration. -Delivering training to staff and volunteers on relevant issues. -Assisting with building projects. -Writing grant proposals, helping EACO in fundraisings, sensitizing the community about health and sanitation.
Opportunities for volunteers from this organization
Train community members in water and sanitation - Volunteers are needed to carry out training of the community on all aspects of the and covering the following activities. • Hygiene promotion • Construction of latrines Hand pump installation and maintenance • The links between water, sanitation and health • The importance and main elements of hygiene-promotion • The complexities in delivering safe water and sanitation • Reporting and monitoring • Disease surveillance • Coordination and partnerships • Water quality testing and monitoring • Environmental sanitation
Community Nutrition & Health for Rural Mukono - We are in need of volunteers for the economic development, community nutrition & health, gender equality and sustainability of rural populations of Mukono and based on the research reports we shall be able to compile a report and look for funds to support and solve the problem in the area of study.
Train rural schools in hygiene and Sanitation - Volunteer have to establish a monitoring and evaluation system to inform decision-makers. They need to know whether the enormous amount of hardware installed in the last ten years is kept in a functioning condition, and act accordingly; whether the hygiene awareness created in the schools is beginning to translate into changed behavior, starting with hand washing; whether it then starts increasingly to influence home-based behavior and that of pupils’ families. Decision-makers also need to be aware of the continuing need for funding, when the big donors leave.
Save Bees by Training the community in biodiversity and conservation in Uganda – The project needs support from volunteers for its activities in apiculture, agriculture, and organic farm work and for providing information to the bee farm's visitors. Volunteers assist farm visitors (with guidance, interpretation,), tree maintenance and reforestation, flower planting and reproduction. Volunteers also help with the small vegetable garden,
Help establish income-generating activities – provide assistance to our projects that create and implement income-generating opportunities for women, children, youth and the elderly.
Office and logistic activities – deliver office support, assist with administrative tasks such as budgeting, accounting, updating paperwork, and maintaining personnel files on children and other beneficiaries. Bring your organizational experience to bear in a different setting.
Project management – develop and write project proposals, write grant proposals, help in fundraising, sensitizing the community about health and sanitation. Write progress reports on EACO projects. Bring your project skills to enhance our skills.
Teach children – teach math, language, science, personal health, and other topics at schools. Organize day-care activities in the roles of teachers, camp counselors and day care workers. Good for people who love children. Bring your games, songs, musical instrument and enthusiasm to the village!
Peers education – deliver training to staff and volunteers on issues relevant to the activities where EACO is involved. Help enhance our knowledge base. Be a co-coordinator of one of our peer education projects or help develop a new peer education project. Be a teacher of teachers.
Train farmers – give our rural beneficiaries information and training on applicable technology for best-of-breed agricultural practices, land conservation, food security, bee keeping and others. Bring your knowledge and ability to teach and work the land.
Medical Volunteers – Volunteers in the field that field can help to Volunteers will help to strengthen Sexual and Reproductive Health for youth through: 1. Capacity Building and Training o To train service providers for Adolescent Friendly SRH Services provision o To train peer educators on communication and counseling skills 2. Institutional Framework o To set up adolescent Reproductive Health Clubs for mobilization both in and out of school adolescents for life skills and other positive reproductive health behaviours. 3. Information Education and Communication o To develop and distribute relevant IEC materials to all RH services delivery points 4. Adolescent SRH Service Delivery o To establish Adolescent Friendly SRH services at all delivery points o To initiate community based recreation activities for adolescents o To explore avenues of setting up income generating activities for adolescents
General Global Health Students/Volunteers
EACO's Project in Mukono and Buikwe is in need of Summer Internship for Global Health Volunteer, this Internship brings together undergraduate, graduates, international development, public health, and medical students from across the globe to work alongside rural communities as they are empowered to lead healthier lives. This program will include maternity, pediatrics, geriatrics, laboratory, pharmacy, cancer screening, family planning, immunizations, de-worming, general medicine, gynecology, dentistry, and HIV/AIDS. In addition, you will have the chance to participate in community outreach and other work at least once a week - a great way to learn more about the people you’ll support, and their culture and needs. While living side by side with community members, students will also learn about the social justice and healthy issues these communities face then we look for solution on how to solve these problems. This Program is geared towards issues such as water, sanitation, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and reproductive health. Students will grow in their understanding of global health as a multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary field, face the challenges of grassroots public health work, and think critically about where they fit as leaders the movement for global health equity.
As a volunteer, you will work with our dedicated clinic staff through assisting with patient intake, observing patient examinations, and assisting in the pharmacy. Volunteers also work extensively in the community by traveling with our Community Health Educators on home visits, assisting with mosquito net treatments, and leading health education sessions in local schools, providing health care and support for local residents. Over the course of your trip you'll receive an unfiltered experience in health care field work abroad, and learn about the tremendous impact that even one person can have!
Qualifications: EACO particularly welcomes skilled professionals that can help the organization to improve and develop, but EACO welcomes the enthusiasm and commitment of all willing volunteers. EACO is committed to ensuring all voluntary experiences are as mutually beneficial as possible, and can find accommodation with local families or in guest houses. Regardless of the duration of your time, EACO will welcome you as one of the family, and give you the chance to make life-long friends in the community, REALLY make a difference, and work with a truly inspirational community
When to start and end the program
Start Months: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec
Placement.Duration: Weeks Min:1 Max:52
Hours a Week: Min:12 Max:50
Age Limit (years): Min:18 Max:No max.
REQUIREMENTS
Program Fee
The program fee is negotiable, depending on the period of your stay at EACO.
£100 for a week, $160 for a week and Euro 125 for a week, This Amount covers the following:
Accommodation,
Food: 3 meals per day
In-country orientation/ training
In-country staff support
Language Instruction
Airport pick up and drop off at Entebbe Airport
Over thee weekends we organize and visit some of the tourist places, this will be at your own expense and can include: Source of the Nile in Jinja, Water falls, Game parks and others.
Please feel free to contact us on the bellow address.
Empower And Care Organization (EACO)
P.O Box 2784 Kampala Mukono Uganda East Africa
Telephone: +256 (0) 774310393
Email: [email protected]
Skype: eacouganda
