CHILDREN CLUBS LEADERS TRAINED AS PLATFORMS OF LEARNING AND PEER SUPPORT.

 The training started with prayer, introduction of staff members, the teachers and the students and pupils from the schools of St. John's P/S, St. Kizito P/S, St. Adolf P/S, Elizabeth, ST John's H/S and Light SSS each mentioning the post they hold in the club and school. Explanation on the understanding of the organization and the donor and the project as a whole was made to the pupils and the students. The main objective of the training was to orient and mentor club leaders to spearhead activities in their respective schools and strengthen school-based clubs as platforms for children learning and peer support in violence prevention.

students of Elizabeth, St Johnn's and Light ss 

A brief discussion on corporal punishment was made as any punishment that causes pain and discomfort to someone. Three questions were asked and the learners were put in three groups to discuss them and later present in plenary. The three questions were what a good school is, what is a bad school, Qualities of a good teacher. Learners presented about a good school as a school that has teachers who are professional, council and guide pupils, good security, and good learning environment with good structures, where students are involved in leadership and disciplinary actions, good historical background, violence free, school that has a spiritual background and participates in co-circular activities.

during discussion groups

Presentation about a bad school was made where learners discussed that it’s a school where teachers give corporal punishment to students, has absenteeism of teachers, has poor sanitation, and has bad and shabby teachers, insecurity, poor feeding of students, unfavorable rules and regulations and use of violence to solve issues. Qualities of a good teacher were discussed as a kind, exemplary, teaches children good morals, honest to pupils, self driven offer guidance and counseling to students, role model to students, provides positive discipline to learners and being a good time manager among others. More understanding on some of the points that were presented were clarified on by the facilitator.

Ways of ending violence were discussed and these included setting strict rules and regulations with representation of students, use and formulation of educative clubs, provision of guidance and counseling to students, training of teachers on ending violence in schools through use of positive discipline

RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL LEADERS SHARE EXPERIENCES FROM THE DISCUSSIONS ON PARENTING IN THEIR DIFFERENT CHURCHES AND COMMUNITIES

 

cultual and religious leaders during training.

A three days work shop was carried out at travelers nest in Kibiito town council Bunyangabu District  where the Religious and  cultural leaders within Kibiito town council were invited by RICNET to share their experiences on parenting from the last training that they attended.

The Imam shared that in every Friday sermons and on radio he made sure he talked about taking care of children, showing them love, prevention of drug abuse and alcoholism among children and parents being free with them so that children are free to share their problems with them.  “Some parents are HIV positive and find it hard telling their children who are infected at birth and take their children to schools to remove the children from themselves.”  He added. Mrs Annet Nyakoijo the parish chief who also acts as the leader for women in Kibiito B cell talked to the women to take care of their children. There was a case where the boy children were beating their mother to give them land , she intervened by talking to these boys and they started attending the parenting sessions since they are parents too and they have stopped beating their mother. The men have also changed in their families because of attending parenting sessions and they no longer beating their women. 

It was discussed that Men are also facing violence but have nowhere to report to, they are also given drugs by women hence becoming weak and hence the women become more powerful and authorative in the home. A case in point is where a specific policeman in Kibiito always supports women in case a case is brought up, the men end up being jailed and this police man later takes on these women as his girlfriends. Discussions about who a child is and the responsibilities for mothers and fathers were discussed and experiences were shared where a pastor shared of how his son married a wife, gave birth to only boys and this has been a cause of conflict because they cannot take care of their children and his two grand children have been brought to the grandfather to help them in parenting. It was discussed that parents should ensure that 75% of the time children should spend it at home so that they adopt good behaviors and learn their responsibilities as children unlike when they spend most of their time in town and adopt 50% instead of 25%.

Some of the challenges faced by these leaders while passing on this knowledge in the communities included different people turning up for the services, most people in the villages do not listen to radio, less time is given to the religious leaders during burials and most people turning up in community meetings are old hence the young parents are missing the knowledge

 In conclusion, it was agreed that during the preparatory marriage lessons at church, more emphasis should be on child upbringing as most of the time children are left out in these sessions. Lack of care and provision of needs by fathers in the homes has led to the children being more attached to their mothers than their fathers and some mothers have used this to kill the image of the fathers in homes. The importance of having family meetings in homes was discussed where family meetings lead to direction in the family,  creation of resources from combined effort, understanding of children better by assigning them responsibilities, and children are taught how to work well with people, teaching the children the importance of their goals and dreams.

RICNET REACHES OUT TO COMMUNITY MEMBERS THROUGH RADIO TALKSHOWS.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

during talk show

 As one of the thematic areas for RICNET is knowledge sharing and advocacy where communities are built by facilitating access to reliable , timely and relevant information, knowledge and skills in different fields, radio talk shows have been held on KRC Fm in fort portal City to share information on child safeguarding to the community. This was done to help the community to reinforce their community measures on child safeguarding through parenting and identifying hot spots to act as safe spaces for the out of school adolescents.

These talk shows have been attended by different stakeholders that is the cultural and religious

leaders, the community based facilitators and the peer educators. About parenting, the discussion was about the needs of children in different developmental stages where at physical development a child needs proper nutrition, shelter, play, protection from violence; Cognitive development involves simulation, colorful pictures, education, interactive play ,good nutrition, time for rest ;Emotional development  where a child needs supportive family, love, feelings secure, protection from neglect and emotional abuse ; Social development which involves good behavior  and positive role models. The four kinds of parenting were discussed that is firm, strict, permissive and non involved parenting.

The peer educators shared on the knowledge received from the sessions about life skills, building self esteem and confidence through their safe spaces, skills in business management, solving conflicts with their peers and being resilient from practices that lead them to be violent to themselves and to others in their communities.

WE HAVE NOT ONLY GAINED PARENTING SKILLS BUT ALSO AN INCREASE IN PRODUCTION AT HOUSEHOLD LEVEL.

 

discussing with the group members

RICNET and RIDE-AFRICA carried out a monitoring visit to their project area to check on the progress of the project work especially the parenting and VSLA groups formed in the one and a half years in Kibiito town council, Bunyangabu District.

Information from all the groups visited showed that all the sessions in the modules were held and there is a positive response about parenting in Kibiito town council. From the responses of the members about what they learnt it was found out that positive discipline, Gender and spousal relationship were the most understood modules by the people. Money borrowed from the VSLA groups has been used to create and boost businesses and from this money has been got to provide necessities and school fees to children.

‘‘We have not only gained parenting and saving skills but there has been an increase in production of food at household level, we as a group we have decided to always visit each member and spend a day in his or her garden digging or planting crops and with this idea last season I and my wife harvested 5 sacks of maize and we sold them and got money to pay fees for children and provide other necessities.” Said Mr. Kamuhanda David.

It has been learnt that the Community Based Facilitators have been involved in the village meetings by the LC1 to solve the cases of violence in homes against the children and domestic violence as they have been seen to have the knowledge and the skills. There has been a reduction in the violence cases being reported at the LC1 due to the people changing after attending the parenting sessions. The Local Council chairpersons have also been trained in child protection by the cluster and they have helped in teaching other people through the village meetings, burials and other ceremonies hence helping in preventing violence against children.

David giving his testimony

SCHOOL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES TRAINED ON ANTI- CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AND ANTI- BULLYING POLICIES

 

Training on anti- corporal punishment and anti- bullying policies of the school management committees of the 12 schools in Kibiito town council was held at Kibiito Primary School organized by RIC-NET and RIDE AFRICA. The members in attendance were the chairpersons and members of SMC and PTA from Kibiito primary school, Kibiito SSS, St Francis Rwengwara, Bubwiika P/S, Moset P/S, St Adolf P/S, St John’s P/S, St. John’s H/S, St Elizabeth P/S and Light SSS.

 Training started with the over view of the project and VAC explained to the participants how it is faced by children in homes, at school and in the environment and the purpose of the meeting was clarified as how to end violence in schools through the policies in schools. Discussions on the different causes of violence in schools were held where unfriendly rules and regulations, sexual harassment, corporal punishments and insecurity were suggested among others.

Presentations on the anti corporal punishment and anti bullying policy were made and discussions were made where by the children’s body should be involved while making the rules and they should be agreed upon by the pupils and then sent to the administration to choose what can be adopted. Awareness of why the rules in the school so that the children are made aware of them and this can be done through the spot checks so that the children cannot see the rules as punishment in the school and explaining the consequences of the behaviors being fought to the pupils and students. It was agreed from the training, that the policies should be revised and awareness should be made to the students and pupils.

 

PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS TRAINED ON GENDER AND SPOUSAL RELATIONSHIPS.

 

Parents and caregivers in Kibiito town council enrolled in the parenting groups of Maligo , Kyakahinda  A, B and Kagoma A and B have been trained on gender and spousal relationships two of the modules   of the parenting for respectability Program. (PFR)

oburungi bwa maligo group during the sessions

The community based facilitator introduced Gender sessions to the parents and caregivers on a weekly basis for one hour and 30 minutes every day. This module was trained to improve the parents understanding on gender and how society expectations hinder or facilitate children to reach their full potential. It is also intended to draw a clear distinction between gender, sex, gender roles and sex roles.

The overall goal of the gender module is to help men and women examine the relationship between being a man/boy and being woman/girl and how these can be used to promote non violent relationship within a family. At the end of this training the parents and caregivers had improved their understanding of how gendered power impacts on the lives of boys, girls, women and men; improved relationship between men , women, boys and girls within a family; involvement of men , women , boys and girls in making family decisions; reduced negative cultural , social norms and practices.

During experience sharing

The spousal relationship module was trained too and its main goal is to improve marital relationships in order to promote god parenting. It also aims at building marital relationships in order to promote good parenting and addresses issues regarding communication, spousal violence and resolving conflict.  At the end of the training parents and caregivers had improved knowledge about communication between spouses, reduced incidences of violence between spouses, reduced excessive use of drugs/ alcohol , improved constructive ways of resolving disputes among spouses and improved hygiene among spouses. “I thank RIC-NET for this program because I have learnt before attending this program we would have misunderstandings with my spouse and we quarrel in front of our children not knowing they were being affected but after these sessions we have changed and now we finish everything from our bedroom without our children knowing since we are both in the parenting groups.” Said a member of oburungi bwa maligo group.

PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS TRAINED ON BONDING AND ATTACHMENT AND DISCPLINE OF CHILDREN

 

   Children are born very dependent on their parents and need a loving and secure environment for their growth. Family is seen as a safe place where parents are expected to provide care, attention and guidance for children.  As RIC-NET continues to train parents and care givers on Parenting for Respectability (PFR), the members of Kyakahinda united group, kyakahinda farmers, Oburubgi bwa maligo , Bright group, Kam kam group, Tugoborre group, Tukwatanize group, Tunywane group, Twimukye group and Twekambe group  were trained on Bonding and attachment and discipline of children  two of the modules of PFR  in Kibiito town council.

The main goal of bonding and attachment module is to strengthen family bonds and improve relationships. This module has five sessions and was trained for five weeks. The activities in this module supported parents and caregivers to go through a process of becoming more sensitive and aware of child’s needs, provide loving care for positive child development outcomes. At the end of training this module, the parents had gained skills on bonding and attachment with their children through parent child interaction, parent child communication and parental provision of children’s needs. 

During the bonding and attachment 

Later on the parents were taken through the Discipline module which has three sessions and this was trained in three weeks. This module addressed the harsh disciplining practices and it aimed at supporting parents and caregivers appreciate that the process of encouraging good behavior and practices among children is not a straight line. It requires a lot of consistence, modeling and discipline. The parents /caregiver’s ability and commitment to adapt the non harsh disciplining methods through creating awareness on the positive disciplining techniques was built. At the end of the training, the parents had appreciated and adopted the use of positive disciplining practices of their children.

During the roleplay in resolving conflict with children

RIC-NET CARRIES OUT ADVOCACY MEETINGS ABOUT CITIZENS AND PROTECTED ANIMALS PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE IN KASESE DISTRICT

 

During L.Katwe and Kisinga consultative meeting

Rwenzori Information Centers Network (RIC-NET) in partnership with Safer world and TPO is implementing a five years project on Addressing the drivers of conflict in Uganda; implemented in 14 districts in Uganda including Kasese. Baseline research was carried out and identified the issues of problem animals and the relationship between the citizens and the national park as one of the key conflicts in the Rwenzori region, especially Kasese.

consultative meeting with Central and Karusandara

As part of the approach to learning and building partnership for peaceful coexistence, RIC-NET conducted three consultative meetings for seven sub-counties of karusandara, Central division, Lake Katwe, Kisinga, Nyakatonzi, Mukunyu, and Nyakiyumbu  neighbouring queen Elizabeth national park  in Kasese district was organized targeting local leaders and selected members of the communities whose crops were destroyed by wildlife during the last four years. The overall purpose of the consultative meetings was to generate key issues and receive evidence from affected communities by problem animals that will be shared with key stakeholders from both district and central government to come up with lasting solutions to problem animals and a harmonized strategy on revenue sharing and compensation.

consultative meeting with nyakiyumbu, mukunyu and Nyakatonzi 

From these meetings, key advocacy issues and recommendations for resolving conflict with problem animals and building a harmonious peaceful existence with grass-root citizens bordering the national park were developed. Each sub-county chose one person to represent them at the district leader’s reflection meeting that was to be held at Verina gardens in kasese Municipality.