In Uganda, more than 8 million children are believed to be vulnerable to violence. In the country, 6 in 10 girls and 7 in 10 boys experience physical violence in childhood.
The risk of sexual and gender-based violence has increased. High stress levels due to movement restrictions and loss of incomes were behind increased risks of violence against children.
Early and forced marriages are increasing in number, facilitated by a lack of official oversight and economic pressures on families.
The ‘Joining Forces for Africa (JOFA) – Protecting Children from Violence during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond’ aims to reduce the levels of physical and emotional violence against children that have risen in Uganda.
The JOFA project in Uganda is implemented by Save the Children Uganda, Childfund Uganda, and Terre des Hommes Uganda, with their local partner Somero.
All 6 Joining Forces agencies in Uganda are involved in joint actions, such as a national behaviour change campaign and several advocacy activities. The total budget for the JOFA project in Uganda is over €2.1m over 3 years.
Between the 23rd of November and the 9th of December 2020, the JOFA project conducted an initial assessment of child protection needs during the pandemic in Uganda.
Existing child protection services were described by the
Uganda needs assessment as failing to keep children adequately safe, with communities lacking awareness about strategies on this. The pandemic has compounded weaknesses in the system and caused delays in responses.
Violence was a top priority for children. In Uganda, children named sexual violence, and physical violence at home and school, among their top three priorities.
In light of this alarming data, the JOFA project in Uganda is focused on:
- Strengthened national and local protection and response systems.
- Improved protection for children in resilient families, communities and institutions in the context of COVID-19 and during recovery phase.
- Increased capacity and agency of children to prevent and respond to violence against them during COVID-19 crisis and recovery phase.
- Increased learning and sharing of knowledge and best practices related to child protection approaches.
The JOFA project in Uganda is implemented in Kampala (capital), Busia, Bugiri, Gulu, Wakiso and Obongi districts, in sub-counties and towns within each.
To tackle violence against children, the JOFA project in Uganda is using a strategy based on positive parenting and combining different technical approaches and methodologies such as:
• Child Friendly Accountability.
• TeamUp.
Parenting Without Violence is one of the approaches used in Uganda. Developed by Save the Children to tackle the root cause of violence against children in homes by addressing violence. It is an amalgamation of various Parenting approaches such as the Real Fathers, Youth Resilience, and Positive Parenting among others.
Core to JOFA’s activities, caregivers, fathers, mothers and children, are involved in nurturing respectful, loving, and non-violent homes. JOFA in Uganda recognizes that each person in the family has a part to play in ending violence against children through extended research. It is a child centered framework that focuses on a child as an active citizen in the context of their family, community, and society.
In addition to JOFA’s activities in Uganda, the campaign, ‘Hands4Good’, led by the Uganda team and implemented in all JOFA countries, calls on parents and caregivers to nurture, support, and guide children instead of subjecting them to violence.
The campaign aims to change behaviours and create awareness about the risks that children are facing:
‘The statistics should worry us all and motivate us to join hands and end this form of violence’, Save the Children’s Country Director, Dragana Strinic, said. ‘They also reveal that there is an overwhelming need to provide practical support to parents and caregivers so that they can provide nurturing care and support to children.
‘This need inspired the creation of the Hands4Good campaign’. The campaign is expected to popularise parenting-without-violent methods to encourage increased understanding of child development and the use of positive discipline on children.
‘If you ask any adult in Uganda, almost all of them will say that they have experienced one or more forms of physical violence in their childhood’, Strinic said. ‘The sad reality is that many of them believe that it is the only and best way to discipline a child. We want to say that there is no justification for violence against children’.
Learn more about JOFA’s transnational campaign to advocate for positive parenting.
Our methodologies
Team Up
Parenting without violence
Child Friendly Accountability
LATEST UPDATES FROM UGANDA
- Teaming up to support children cope with stress
TeamUp is a psychosocial approach developed by War Child Holland together with Save the Children and UNICEF Netherlands to provide social and emotional support to children through sports and movement activities. The approach has been implemented by JOFA. […]Read More… from Teaming up to support children cope with stress
- Family matters
Ugandan children are often expected to be completely submissive to the demands of adults, a dynamic that can sometimes lead to harsh emotional abuse if children are deemed to have spoken out of turn. […] - Getting better on parenting skills
In the 2018 violence against children survey in Uganda, findings shown that parents were the most common perpetrators of violence to children. According to the study, indicators of physical violence included punching, kicking, whipping, beating with an object, strangling, suffocating, attempted drowning, and burning intentionally. […]
LATEST PUBLICATIONS FROM UGANDA
- Joining Forces for Africa: Mid-term review summary
- Joining Forces for Africa: Learning series on child participation
- Needs assessment report: Protecting children during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond
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Contact JOFA Uganda Project Manager.
Contact JOFA Uganda Advocacy, Campaigns, and Communications Coordinator.
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union.
Its contents are the sole responsibility of Joining Forces and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union