Keeping Children Safe Annual Review April 2014 - March 2015 Message from our Chairman It is an honour to celebrate the partners who have walked this journey with us. another year of Children At Risk Action Network’s With the hard work of a dedicated staff at the existence – another year of secretariat, there has been an increased visibility of progress and impact as we the network through uniquely tailored programmes make our homes and city a including: better place for children. I Children Belong in Families: under the would like to rejoice with Alternative Care Framework, ensuring that those among us who have children reintegrate with their families or at least hit milestones in the year ending: a child born; a find foster families; marriage or marriage anniversary; a project Maternal and Child Health: Working towards accomplished or funding secured. Our prayers are the elimination of maternal and child mortality in with those who have or are dealing with any high risk communities; difficult situation: loss of a loved one; sickness or Keeping Children Safe: Empowering children loss of funding. May God grow us through it all! and families create safe communities through education and economic security; Creating a safe environment for our children to Girls’ Education Challenge: Increasing the life exploit their gifts, talents and opportunities chances of marginalised girls; requires our deliberate action. CRANE, through Children With Disabilities: Collaboratively Viva’s flagship QIS program, is promoting advocacy uncovering the often hidden and forgotten and providing tools for individuals and children organisations to ensure that the rights of children Sports are protected. There are no passive observers in Church Mobilisation the pursuit of outcomes for children, including their safety, health, education and emotional I would like to invite the members to become more wellbeing. involved and engaged in the network. Visit each other and the secretariat often. Fulfil your financial Over the last twelve months, CRANE, together obligations. Keep updated on the ongoing with all our partners, has registered some programmes. Be plugged into working groups. remarkable progress in the effort to see children Exploit opportunities for collaborative work. This is achieve their God-given potential. Towards the what networking is about: together maximising our end of the last calendar year, we celebrated 10 potential . years of biblically-based collaborative work for and Mitchell Lutaaya Mukasa with children in Kampala city. Thank you for all Chairman 2 Keeping Children Safe Message from our Network Development Manager Dear CRANE are vulnerable and be used by God to alleviate members, partners, those abuses where someone’s actions or and stakeholders, decisions have put the child in the way of abuse or at risk of abuse. I want to start by saying that the We turn that into the vision that guides us to secretariat prevent and respond to those issues that put appreciates your children at risk of being separated from their partnership and families, of being trafficked or exploited and being collaboration denied their rights. through the year April 2014 – March 2015. Each of you as members We implement with our HANDS. Are they hands of the CRANE network is valuable because of your that imprint children with a slap, or with an work for the sake of the child who is at risk, which encouraging pat on the shoulder; a guiding hand is 94% of Ugandan children. to discipline not to punish, or is it a hand that steals from the children, or enriches the children’s We would like to urge you to continue investing lives? Let us use our hands to implement our time, good governance, good internal systems and prevention and response strategies for the relevant implementation on the ground, as you children’s development. have been doing, which we all aim to continue to improve. The secretariat is there to help you As we work together, we need our ‘Head’ to find become compliant with government policies and the best way to work together, share information to help children to be safe, well and fulfilling their and learning and advocate for best practice in all God-given potential. areas of our work; our ‘Heart’ to forgive when things do not go right or as expected and hope We work with our ‘Head, Heart and Hands’ for the that another day, another trial makes it better; sake of the child. and our ‘Hands’ to join together in the work of ‘Keeping Children Safe’. We use our HEAD to govern and plan in the best interest of the child, to strategise not for our Until our work is done! May God help us! pocket, or fame, but for the child. Faith Kembabazi We use our HEART to feel with and for those who Network Development Manager CRANE Annual Review 2014 - 2015 3 CRANE Celebrates 10 years! Over 200 children, network members, Mr. Kabogoza from the Ministry of Gender government representatives, pastors and and Sara Mirembe Okello, an external secretariat staff attended the 10-year evaluator for CRANE. In between the celebration of CRANE, on Saturday 29th speeches, we watched performances from November 2014. children who are helped by the network. Thankfully, after a very wet start to the day, Awards were given to our members who the skies began to clear by 2pm when the became members in 2004 and are still festivities began at Namirembe Cathedral members to this day. The celebrations ended Gardens in Kampala. with the cutting of cake, soda, food and sweets. After prayer and worship, Ritah Nkemba, one of CRANE’s longest serving members talked CRANE is now looking forward to what the about the network’s ten-year history before future holds for transforming the lives of we spent time looking forward to what it children at risk in Kampala over the course hopes to achieve by its 25th anniversary in of the next 15 years. 2029. Speeches were made by guests including 4 Keeping Children Safe Educated Children CRANE and Viva are working together on the parents and helped them realise how Girls’ Education Challenge Project which important it was for Maurine to attend seeks to benefit 9,715 marginalised girls school. aged 10-18, by running 20 Creative Learning Centres (CLCs) in 20 communities. 1,990 girls Now Maurine’s father is happy and he will graduate from the CLCs after six months encourages other parents to give their and return to appropriate education. daughters a second chance in education. Maurine dreams of becoming a nurse one Maurine* was attending school, but one day, day. Without the hard work of the teachers she became pregnant and was forced to and mentors, Maurine may have lost all hope. leave. Her parents were unhappy. Maurine was a very bright girl. The mentors at the CLC In this past year 1,081 girls have been heard of Maurine and decided to go to her engaged in learning in the 20 CLCs. home and speak to her parents, who agreed 663 girls so far have graduated to other forms that their daughter could attend the CLC. of learning (mainstream or vocational Maurine really enjoyed her time at the CLC education). and learnt many new things. 16 girls were able to register and complete end of year Primary Leaving Examinations, of The mentors continued to work with the which 14 passed in second grade and 1 in third grade. We are very proud of all the girls. *Name changed to protect identity of the child, in line with our child protection policy CRANE Annual Review 2014 - 2015 5 Educated Children Teacher training 20 groups of parents have been formed. 15 savings groups have been established and 8 54 CLC and 44 mainstream teachers have have registered their VSLAs at the sub-county been engaged in CLC training. In addition, 38 level. CLC and 336 mainstream teachers from 18 government schools and 19 non-government The parents are becoming more and more schools have been trained in child protection. encouraged as they see their profits increase and their savings grow. These trainings equip school teachers with new tools and strategies to make learning Mobile resource library more exciting, as well as equipping them to create a conducive environment for the Children in the communities are encouraged children to grow in and become better people in their literacy by the regular visits from the in society. mobile resource library. Our library van travels all over Kampala visiting the different CLCs and The teachers have learnt to teach in a associated schools, delivering books and re- creative way, engaging the children. And sources for the girls, children and teachers to they will be the first to promote creative borrow. learning. We have made available 4,195 books, 865 in Family mentors the mobile resource library and 3,330 in the CLCs, of which 1,420 are textbooks in CLCs. We have trained and supported 40 family mentors who help families take responsibil- Our records show that 1,776 children have ity for the education of their girls and pro- used the library in the past one year. mote positive attitude change towards girls’ education. All materials are available all of the time and are borrowed by the girls and the community, The parents of the girls have also been including boys, girls, adults and teachers of the playing their part and taken on the associated mainstream schools. responsibility to get their children back into school. They are working hard making, marketing and selling products they grow or 6 Keeping Children Safe Educated Children The competitive league brings the girls and A transformed society is everyone’s children from all over Kampala to compete in dream and education is a sure vehicle to different activities, such as sports, debates that destination.