Supporting vulnerable children in Uganda's slums

It’s back to school, but not for everyone.

Students in Uganda have gone over 300 days without stepping foot in a classroom. For those living in Kampala’s slum communities, remote learning is not an option.

You are living in Kisenyi, Kampala’s biggest slum. You are staying with your grandmother, three siblings and four cousins in just one room. You have no internet access, no tv and no radio. Your school has been closed for over 300 days. Remote learning is not an option.

This is the reality for children living in Kampala’s slum communities where education is even more inaccessible. The UN has estimated that in East Africa and the Pacific 80 million children have no access to remote learning. 

How has lockdown impacted education in Uganda? 

In Uganda, moves to accommodate home learning have been through digital means; online lessons, school programmes on TV and radio. However, only 10% of households in Uganda have internet access and many live without a home tv or radio set. Only 20% of the 15 million children out of school in Uganda have received learning materials from the government. 

Without technology, it is down to parents and carers to educate their children. But, a long history of limited education access has left many adults in Kampala’s slum communities without appropriate formal education to teach their children from home.  

It is not just education being impacted by school closures, but also access to food. 2 in every 10 children are having less than 1 meal a day due to being unable to access meals provided by school feeding programmes. 

What does this mean for the future of students in Uganda?

Without access to educational support and nutritious food, children in Kampala’s slum communities will be left behind. 

The longer schools stay closed, the greater the number of student dropouts. The loss of household income during Uganda’s lockdown and the economic burden of repeating years and retaking exams will drive more students to pursue income opportunities rather than return to the classroom. 

It is not just students who have turned to more lucrative options. Teachers in Uganda have abandoned the profession, many turning to bricklaying and boda boda driving to support their families. 

For girls, the increase in teenage pregnancies is another obstacle forcing many out of education. Between March 2020 - June 2021 there was a 22.5% increase in pregnancy between 10 - 24 year olds. 

Uganda risks slipping behind on the Sustainable Development Goals, not just for education but for poverty, hunger and gender equality.   

What are Kids Club Kampala doing to keep education opportunities alive in Kampala’s slum communities?

Throughout Uganda’s most recent lockdown Kids Club Kampala have been providing educational support including home education packs to students and advice to parents and carers. Our volunteer teachers have also been making home visits to keep children on track.

11,590 children have been reached with Kids Club Kampala’s COVID-19 relief through our Serving Communities in Crisis emergency appeal. This includes both educational support and food packages.

We have resumed our Teens Project in line with lockdown easing to help educate girls and boys on sexual and reproductive health and to encourage them to stay in school, as well as providing teenage girls with essential period products. 

We are unsure how long schools will remain closed, but we will continue to be there for our communities. 

The team at Kids Club Kampala want to keep our supporters up to date on the changing and challenging situation in Kampala. We have learnt a lot from the initial lockdown in Uganda and hope to continue supporting slum communities through this increasingly difficult period.

As society begins to open up more in the UK, unfortunately Uganda is grappling with another wave of COVID-19. In mid June, the President of Uganda imposed a partial lockdown with schools, places of worship and markets ordered to close and suspension of inter-district travel for 42 days.

As of Monday 14th of June, the total number of confirmed cases in Uganda stood at 60,250 with 423 deaths according to WHO. Uganda has had more than 30% rise in cases in the space of a week. The country’s health system is under serious strain with many struggling to find medical care. The harrowing reality is that both vaccines and oxygen are running low, leaving many vulnerable to the effects COVID-19.

COVID-19 lockdown procedures are having a devastating effect on the slum dwelling communities we support in Kampala.  Kids Club Kampala have been pursuing sensible solutions to contain the outbreak and provide essential supplies to those most in need. Wherever possible, we are using creative solutions to enable children's learning to continue amidst widespread restrictions, and to ensure they are safe whilst they are cut off from regular protection services. 

In slums children are locked down in cramped conditions, with parents not furloughed or working from home, but totally cut off from the means to earn. Not only are children denied food and education, but they cannot access the child friendly spaces and social structures that are desperately needed to keep them safe. Unfortunately, there has been a steep escalation of violence and safeguarding issues with the Kids Club Kampala team identifying 42 safeguarding concerns in just the last 2 weeks. 

Our projects are initially focusing on immediate needs and providing food to vulnerable children and families. We are also ensuring children continue their education by providing home school packages as well as teacher home school visits. Our safeguarding volunteers are doing house to house visits and supporting families and communities when they can with counselling support and often mediation. Our sewing, knitting and carpentry training continues with very small groups all socially distanced. Our Ewafe transitional home is full to capacity as some of the children have returned as schools are now closed.

We have learnt a lot from our response to the first lockdown in Uganda and are doing all we can within the government guidelines to support vulnerable communities get through this difficult time.  The road to recovery is a long one, and the impact of COVID-19 on the communities we work with will last a long time.

We are ensuring that communities can maintain a protective environment for their children throughout this pandemic. Our work can continue as many of our volunteers and staff live and work in the communities. 

We are incredibly grateful for the generous support we have received over this time, which has made it possible for us to stay connected to the children and communities who are most on the edge. 

We’re in it for the long term- we need to build resilience and not reliance.  

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.