HARD TO REACH! HARD TO LIVE! HARD TO COME BACK!

KALI is implementing the CEP program supported by SNV and UNICEF in the 15 primary schools of Bukumbia, Mahango, Nyamisule, Bishop Egdio, St. peters Kibalya in Mahango sub county, Kitabu, Kitabona, Kyarumba, Kihungu and Kihungamiyagha in Kyarumba sub county, Buhathiro and Kibirigha in Ihandiro sub county, Mpondwe primary and Nyabugando P/S in Mpondwe Lhubiriha town council, and Kisolholho primary school in karambi sub county. Among them, others are located in places where KALI especially staff (implementers) face a problem with hard to reach, hard to live and hard to come back areas like the Mahango, Kyarumba and Ihandiro schools where by no staff would are willing to ride a motorcycle or vehicle in such areas due to the fact that it is very risky and hence we hire boda boda men who are experts in riding in such areas. The highest fee of hire being 50,000= per day in Mahango. But to Kihungamiyagha primary school, no vehicle and motorcycle can reach there (no roads) as you can see in the picture above.

It was hard for me to climb to the school (the furthest area in Kyarumba sub county) to train girls and mothers in making re-usable menstrual pads (RUMPs) under WASH program where I spent three and a half hours before reaching there, and sloping down was the most complicated thing to make without a stick but I had to move entirely to achieve my target. This affected the time set for the training. Nevertheless, the participants were very much interested in the program despite the fact of late arrival; they waited and attended fully up to the end.

This therefore is to appeal to government to consider constructing a road network so that people in such areas can access services to improve on their way of life.

IHANDIRO SUB COUNTY GETS PERFORMANCE BONUS

Back ground

KALI has been working with Ihandiro Sub County on issues of Gender budgeting and governance, emphasizing planning and budgeting.

Ihandiro Sub County is found in Kasese district, Bukonzo west constituency. Being a mountainous area, its road network and communication is poor and therefore a hard to reach and hard to live area.

For many years, Ihandiro Sub County was one of the least performing sub counties in Kasese district in planning and budgeting for the community members. This was due to inadequate skills in planning and budgeting by the technical staff, committees and the elected leaders; planning process was basically desk work without involving the communities.

Through KALI monitoring findings, the above were revealed and interventions were designed in agreement with the sub county leadership, to improve the planning process.

KALI organized a meeting with the sub county leadership where action plans were drawn and a sub county gender budget advocacy group was established which helped in ensuring gender sensitive plans and budgets.

KALI then organized training workshops aimed at developing the capacities of the sub county leaders and technical staff in planning and budgeting processes which included their roles and responsibilities and thereafter, facilitated the planning meetings right from the village level to sub county level. This included supporting the budget conferences.

Because of the above interventions, I handiro sub county is now one of the best performing sub counties in the district. There has been a great improvement in the planning and budgeting processes and increased community participation at the grassroots level to the sub county level. This is portrayed by effective participation of councilors, the community and other stakeholders in the process especially the budget conferences to ensure their priorities are incorporated in the sub county development plan. This forms the basis for assessing any sub county’s performance, and hence a ground for bonus. For the financial years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011, Ihandiro sub county has been in position of getting these performance bonuses and this has increased on the sub county income.

Some members of the community taking part in the planning process in Ihandiro sub county

In view of the above, most communities are willing and ready to participate in any development intervention as long as they are informed /invited and therefore, for effective planning and budgeting of any sub county, there is need for participation of all stakeholders.

By Betty K - KALI

THE PRIDE OF A WOMAN IS FINALLY RECOVERED IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

It has been long since the girl child has suffered silently with menstrual problems in primary schools. Most girls have no information about how their bodies change from childhood to adulthood and those who know from science do not take it serious because they study to pass! Mothers fear to talk about it because they are shy! Then who will speak out for the young generation?
KALI has taken this seriously because it found out that most girls drop out of school because of menstrual hygiene. They do not get enough information about menstruation that when they finally face it, they stain their clothes in class and boys laugh at them which embarrass them and they finally leave school or isolate themselves from other people because they think that they are abnormal.
You may wonder now what these children have been using as pads. I happened to ask that question to girls from Buhathiro, Kihungamiyagha , Kihungu primary schools and they told me that they use old clothes stolen from their little siblings nappies, some pick these old clothes from garbage pits, and others just stay in bed to spoil their beddings. Worse still, these girls do not have knickers to hold these clothes, yet they have to involve in school co-curricular activities at school. This causes to their pads to drop in public and there is no more embarrassment than this. It clearly explains why the enrolments of girls reduce as they grow to be promoted to higher classes.
KALI therefore came up with the idea of making re-usable pads (RUMPS). We first sensitize the children about menstrual hygiene then demonstrate on how to make these pads. We use a clean cotton or poplin cloth, a scissor, an exercise book for measurements, a needle, a thread, a button, chalk or pencil to measure, and any cotton or thick clean cloth, a Kittenge or even a towel to make a re-usable pad which is made to imitate the disposable pads sold in the shops. This has been done in 15 schools of Bukumbia, Mahango, Nyamisule, Bishop Egdio, St. peters Kibalya in Mahango sub county, Kitabu, Kitabona, Kyarumba, Kihungu and Kihungamiyagha in Kyarumba sub county, Buhathiro and Kibirigha in Ihandiro sub county, Mpondwe primary and Nyabugando P/S in Mpondwe Lhubiriha town council, and Kisolholho primary school in karambi sub county.
The girls! Ooh they are very happy that someone can live happily as one girl from Kibirigha   primary school said “at last! The embarrassment of stamping is over”. And even the mothers who attended appreciated the idea that they promised to sensitize other parents towards the same but still need to be sensitized.
This program needs to reach a wider area and this is to appeal to partners and donors to save the girl child, especially those in hard to reach schools to inspire their future. This will indeed make the world a better place to leave.

By Masika Scovia
KALI

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