Kamuli child mothers receive Shs3.5b funding

A bout 1,800 child mothers and school dropouts in Kamuli District have been empowered with skills to support themselves and their families.

This has been possible through a Shs3.5b Smart Up Factory established by Plan International, an independent development and humanitarian organisation, which strives to advance children’s rights and equality for girls.

Ms Irene Nangobi, a mother of two, recalls that when she was defiled in Primary Five, her parents sent her away.

Desperate, she attended counselling sessions and got introduced to the Smart Up factory to acquire basic skills that linked her to different opportunities through training mentorship. Today, she now fully supports her two children.

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Ms Nangobi is one of the graduates of Plan international Uganda Smart Up Factory innovation and intervention that develops innovations to address community and social challenges.

Ms Justine Nakiwala, the Plan International Uganda senior communications manager, at the weekend said they received  Euros 820,800 (about Shs3.5b) four-year funding from Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the project.

The funds are meant to build the capacity of youth, particularly those  out of school, youths from marginalised rural communities and urban slums to engage in decent work that supports building skills and improving incomes.

“Over the past five years, the project has supported more than 6,000 youths to acquire skills and linked them to different opportunities through training, mentorship and networking,” Ms Nakiwala said.

She said The Smart Up Factory model also aims at changing youths through innovation, entrepreneurship, transformational learning and allows them to realise their full potential.

Ms Viola Promise Aliyinza, a national youth advisory panel member working in Buyende District, said: “When young people are mentored and their perception of success worked upon to start small and grow their businesses, it lowers unemployment, increases their self-esteem and builds confidence.”

Ms Aliyinza hailed the innovation as a blessing and gateway to youth productivity and talent exploitation.

“The Smart Up Factory innovation and mentorship has addressed sexual health rights, gender equality and inclusion barriers affecting girls and women in particular,” she revealed.

Ms Joy Babirye, the lead mentor at Kamuli youth centre Smart Up Factory office, hailed the innovation and intervention, saying it has created positive social transformation both at personal, community and social levels. 

Under a special arrangement, Smart Up Factory members are given further trainings in vocational institutions while others get start-up kits upon completion.

Teenage pregancies in kamuli

According to the Kamuli District Annual Deliveries Report in 2019,  of 35,509 deliveries in 2018, 7,070 were deliveries by teenage mothers. The figures, which are generated from annual reports from the district health office, exclude unreported cases of abortion and deliveries outside the 47 health centres within the district.

 While the report concedes that a large proportion of pregnancies among adolescent girls are unintended, it also notes that early motherhood is often associated with the girls being out of school, and it is estimated that 90 per cent of the girls who give birth are married.

 Health officials attribute the trend to “lack of parental responsibilities and the tendency of parents to leave their daughters to do what they want”.