Supporting vulnerable children in Uganda's slums

I hope that the following update, reflecting on our key highlights from 2024, is able to inspire you and provide further encouragement that your kind support continues to make such a life changing difference.

Our Community Outreach Programme acts as an important first point of contact between vulnerable children and Kids Club Kampala. Through initiatives like our Saturday Kids Clubs, Football Project, and Girls Support Groups, we provide safe spaces for children to learn, play, and grow. The number of children we've reached this year has been remarkable, and we are deeply grateful for your incredible support in making this possible.

• 861 children attended our Saturday Kids Clubs.
• 64 children participated in our Football Project.
• 696 girls attended our Girls Support Groups. 
• 2,386 period products were distributed to teenage girls.

It has been an exciting year for the Educating Programme at Kids Club Kampala. You may remember that over the summer, we ran a Child Sponsor recruitment campaign with a special goal in mind. A generous supporter pledged to personally sponsor 10 additional children if we could increase the number of sponsored children by 10%. To achieve this, we set out to find sponsors for 17 more children—and thanks to our incredible sponsors, both existing and new, we met this target!

This incredible growth in 2024, along with the 10 new children already sponsored this year and some early sign-ups, has brought the total number of children on our Child Sponsorship Project to 190!

One child who has been studying on the Child Sponsorship Project is Aaron*. He started secondary school in 2024 after passing his Primary Leaving Exams the previous year. He did so well that he was featured in a national newspaper. He continues to perform brilliantly at secondary school. The Child Sponsorship Project has given Aaron the chance to unleash his potential and develop his outstanding academic talents! *Name Changed

It has also been a great year for the Encouraging Education Project—our early years education classes for out-of-school children aged 3-6. A total of 90 children attended regularly, receiving vital early education along with a free, nutritious meal.

However, 2024 was not without its challenges. Our old centre in Naguru was demolished after the land it was built on was sold. Thankfully, we secured a temporary space in Naguru to keep the project running while we worked on a long-term solution.

We're thrilled to share that we have now received permission to build a new Encouraging Education Centre in Naguru, and work is already underway! We'll keep you updated on our socials and in future updates as progress continues.

2024 has been another impactful year for our Skilling Programme, empowering individuals with vocational training to build stable livelihoods. Alongside our core courses in tailoring, knitting, and carpentry, we placed a stronger emphasis on business training and employability ensuring graduates have the skills to turn their qualifications into sustainable income.

• 132 individuals participated in our tailoring and knitting courses this year.
• 79 students have received business training and business support.
• 12 students are currently training in carpentry and are due to graduate soon

Protecting - Providing Safe Spaces for Kids in Kampala

In the past quarter we have continued our projects which serve the community on a regular basis, such as our Saturday Kids Clubs and our Football project. Through these projects we can also identify those most in need of our support through working with community leaders to establish projects to aid communities, increase social cohesion, offer safe spaces for children to meet and play, and provide for immediate needs.

• 858 children regularly attended our weekly Saturday Kids Clubs
• 59 boys are currently attending the football project, where 48 field training sessions were conducted
• 104 girls counselling sessions were conducted during which 1,392 period products were distributed

Educating - Opportunities for Out of School Kids

Our Educating Programme gives children the opportunity to learn through receiving a regular, high quality education. This includes our Encouraging Education project, which offers a free education to 3-6 year olds across 3 communities in Kampala. It also includes our Child Sponsorship Project, which matches children with Child Sponsors who pay their school fees.

• Our Encouraging Education project now supports 90 children, with every child receiving nutritious meals daily
• 5 new children were enrolled onto the Child Sponsorship project (these new sponsorships now mean we have reached our target for our 10 for 10, meaning a generous supporter will now sponsor a further 10 children!)

At our Encouraging Education project, an end of term assessment was held for all of the children. This assessed the subjects they had been studying throughout the term, but it also took into account things like social habits, cleanliness, attendance, responsibility and punctuality. The children have made great progress at all three centres! All three centres were restocked with learning materials, study resources, cleaning products, food and cooking fuel.

Skilling - Creating Sustainable Livelihoods

• 45 students graduated from the Tailoring and Knitting course, and 52 new students were enrolled - 15 as knitting students and 37 as tailoring students.
• 39 Tailoring and Knitting students attended business training.
• 12 students have been undergoing carpentry training.

The Business Training was held by three alumni of the project. All three of these alumni each run their own tailoring and knitting businesses which have allowed them to significantly increase their incomes.

Here is what one of the graduates from the 14th cohort had to say about her experience on the project:

“I am very glad that I am graduating today. How I joined the project four months ago is not how I am living today, I had never used a tailoring machine but right now I am able to make a shirt, skirt, short and dresses of different fashions. On top of that, I am extremely happy for empowering me with a machine. I was worried of forgetting the skill since I have no machine at home to keep practising. But now I have a machine, I will keep practising my skill as I also make money, save and buy a big industrial machine” *Primrose (*name changed)