Uganda

We’re supporting youth and people with disabilities to access sexual and reproductive health services (SRHR) and advocate for their voice to be heard by care providers. 

While Uganda has made some significant progress around SRHR, the country still experiences some challenges around accessing services. 

Factors like education, wealth, location, and region in the country play a significant role in determining access to health.  The 2016 Uganda Demographic Health Survey report highlighted women from rural areas, women with no education, and women with low income are less likely to seek critical health care than their urban-dwelling, educated, and wealthier counterparts.  

In total, we’ve directly impacted over 60,000 people through our health work, with a specific focus on supporting the most excluded populations – including people with disabilities and/or living in hard-to-reach communities.

Make Way

Make Way seeks to promote the adoption of an intersectional feminist approach to sexual and reproductive health that enables people who are historically marginalised — like women, girls, LGBTQI+ people, youth, people from low-income communities and people living with disabilities —  to have their needs accounted for in planning, budgeting and health service delivery.

The Make Way programme seeks to do this by building marginalised communities' lobbying and advocacy capacity, and ensuring they have representatives in decision-making processes.  

The project also strengthens the capacity of Civil Society Organizations to demand that duty bearers implement policies and plans with an intersectional lens — looking at how individuals may experience multiple forms of inequality and face unique challenges at the intersections of those factors.

The Make Way youth panel engages youth to ensure intersectional practices are part of Uganda’s present and future. 

Learn more about Make Way

Our inclusive education programmes works to ensure that all children – especially girls and those with special educational needs – have equitable access to high-quality and inclusive education, by addressing some of the system-level barriers that can hold young learners back.

Our expert volunteers provide ongoing training and mentoring for teachers and education leaders, supporting them to improve their teaching effectiveness, and strengthening school governance and management.

By equipping teachers with the skills and knowledge they need to adopt child-centred practices, we’re building their capacity to deliver quality teaching – and in turn, improving the learning outcomes of marginalised children across the region.

Early Childhood Care and Education

Bidibidi Refugee Settlement  

Bidibidi Refugee Settlement is a refugee camp in the Yumbe district of northwestern Uganda. With over 270,000 South Sudanese refugees fleeing the ongoing civil war. As of early 2017 it was the second largest refugee settlement in the world.

According to the United Nations refugee agency, Uganda hosts the largest number of unaccompanied child refugees in the world – some 41,200 in 2018 – with the majority less than 15 years old and nearly 3,000 younger than five.

With the funding from FCDO, VSO has been supporting Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) centers in zone three of Bidibidi Refugee Settlement since 2019. The project aims to improve access to inclusive and Quality Early Childhood Learning for children under 6 years in the settlement. T

his is a key period of brain development for children and ECCE is essential to ensure that children can prosper in the future. We’re aiming to reach 4,700 refugees and host community children aged 3 to 6, and 6,000 parents, with at least 10% of these being children with disabilities.

The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment

The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) is a five-year programme, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by a consortium of partners: VSO, Palladium and Randstad. 

By supporting youth employment initiatives, within West Africa/Sahel, Horn of Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, the programme will create a more prosperous future for 200,000 young people. The CYFE supports employment opportunities that are not only productive, but also provide a stable income and a safe working environment with respect for the rights and social protection of young people. 

The first CFYE programmes started in late 2020 in Uganda, followed by Egypt and Nigeria (March 2021), Jordan, Sudan and Kenya (later in 2021). In 2022, CFYE programmes started in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Mali, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Learn more about Challenge Fund 

Previous projects

Futuremakers

December 2021 to 2023

Futuremakers worked with 500 vulnerable youth in Uganda aiming to improve employability skills for 200 young men and women, including people with disabilities, enhance entrepreneurship skills for 300 young people and create inclusive youth platforms and networks for 500 young people to enhance skills sharing and facilitate access to business development services.

Learn more