Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda

Joseph is passionate about children’s rights, a leader and social entrepreneur. He is an enthusiastic team leader with over 4 years of experience in providing care and support to children, young people and women who are socially excluded or who are experiencing problems in their lives. Having a consistent track record of working successfully with children, young people, and families all within underserved communities.

By founding BaNgaAfayo Initiative Uganda, Joseph has created a movement that has supported and empowered over 1500 orphans, children, young people from poverty stricken families gain access to quality education and vocational training.

Ba Nga Afayo literary means Show You Care! Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda stands up to systematic discrimination of rural schools, which denies children the preparation, tools and support they need in order to succeed in primary school.

By establishing multipurpose community centers in some of the most remote parts of the country to run remedial catch up and literacy programs, training local women to lead localized, early childhood development programs and train existing teachers in modern child pedagogy such as play-based methodologies, BaNgaAfayo taps into enormous wells of potential that exist in these communities, giving underprivileged children the chance to improve educational outcomes and help them thrive in primary school and kick-starting their success for the future.

In many marginalized communities in Uganda, children living in poverty are more likely to repeat a grade, decreasing their chances of finishing school and reaching a better future. Ugandan children are leaving primary school without the crucial ability to read or perform basic math.

A study by Uwezo Uganda found that 61% of Ugandan students in 3-7th grade couldn’t read a simple story and 48% couldn’t perform basic math operations.

When students are attending school, but aren’t learning basic skills, both students and their parents form negative views of the value of schooling. In fact, only 35% of learners complete primary school, dropping out of school before they can master essential foundations of learning.

These results are due to lack of early childhood development (ECD) centers and overcrowded classrooms, where teachers must manage a wide range of ages and abilities. Struggling students are consistently left behind as teachers struggle to address the variety of learning levels within their cramped classrooms. As a result, learning is left to chance and few children meet minimum standards of education, including basic literacy and numeracy.

Our first community center that is established in one of these marginalized communities is transforming early childhood development (ECD) and after-school learning to help every child improve their academic performance, and help those lagging behind in school to develop their full potential through personalized, age-appropriate teaching methodologies aiming at contributing to the reduction of educational gaps by promoting the development of life skills such as literacy, logical-mathematical reasoning, English, as well as critical and creative thinking. Therefore our center acts as both high-quality free remediation and enrichment for in-school and out-of-school children.

Through the ECD program at our center, local women are trained the best practices for childcare and early learning to enable them run localized home-based ECD programs in their communities which creates a network of high-quality, affordable ECD centers in marginalized communities so that ultimately, every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

To create a ripple effect, we also train teachers in free public schools in marginalized communities on how to deliver the government primary curriculum using modern pedagogy, participatory teaching and play-based methodologies that increase student participation in class and improve learning out comes for the children that are far from our community center.

Our project targets pre-school children, primary-school-age out-of-school children and other children in poverty who are lagging behind in school in the most underserved communities of Uganda where families struggling in poverty can barely educate their children so they opt for the free, poorly equipped and established rural government schools.

By providing skilled tutors and enabling them to deliver quality learning, students obtain opportunities to learn. We have proven this over the last two years, as hundreds of students have shown significant improvements in their mindset and behaviors as well as their skills and knowledge. Below are a few statics of our impact in the community where we currently work.

252 out of school children have been re-enrolled into formal educational system. Through the program, community schools have registered a 50% increase in student retention. 80 community teachers have been trained in modern pedagogy and play based teaching methodologies that help students learn better and stay engaged in class. 95% of the students in our program have had a significant improvement in their academics and have advanced to the next grade level.

5 local women have been trained and equipped to start home based ECD centers in their communities.

Our program aims to bring real and lasting change to children and youth living in poverty (who would otherwise be left behind) through holistic multidimensional programs in education and give them a chance to improve educational outcomes and help them thrive in primary school and kick-start their success for the future. Without our project these children have little chances to continue to secondary school which completely reduces their chances of becoming useful citizens in their communities.

Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda began as a child sponsorship organization to help out-of-school children return or start school and families struggling in poverty educate their children. After two years we decided to make an assessment to see whether our children were actually learning anything from school. We soon discovered that one of our Grade 5 students could not read a short paragraph in English yet she had been promoted to grade 6.

We soon came up with a remedial holiday program to help our students catch in math and literacy but later discovered that all the children from the three community schools which our sponsored students were attending needed the service. Being a small team of only volunteers we decided to train some of the teachers from these schools to change from their traditional ways of teaching to modern methods that actually improve student academic out comes.

Since all schools lack the needed resources me and my team decided to fund-raise and build our first multipurpose community center that would have fully equipped public library, computer lab, early childhood development center, enrichment hall and other facilities to assist in student learning and teacher training. Hence the project was born.

My mother was born in this community where we work, among 11 siblings she was the only one who managed to continue to secondary school and later became a midwife. Being the only successful person in the entire family everyone depended on her even when she had her own family to take care of. This is true for so many other families in the community so my idea was to solve this problem from the root cause which is illiteracy that is caused by lack of education opportunities.

So I personally have a strong desire to bring real and lasting change to children and youth in this community who are living in poverty through holistic multidimensional programs in education and skills development because i believe it is what will completely transform my community and break the circle of poverty.

I have always been a person who dreams big, if you visited the community where we work you would understand exactly what I mean. Such a project requires more than just education background but the ability to persevere.

I am a team leader with over 4 years of experience in providing care and support to children, young people and women who are socially excluded or who are experiencing problems in their lives. Having a consistent track record of working successfully with children, young people, and families all within underserved communities. 

I have a degree in Computer Science from NKumba University of Uganda and since I needed to learn more about how to run a nonprofit organisation I have done some short certificates at Philanthropy University, an online university that offers short courses in nonprofit management.

Since such grassroots projects are undermined and overlooked by Donor Organisations I have been using my computer skills to network through social media through which we have been able to secure a community of individual donors from around the world who have been able to support our activities.

I believe with such skills and the level of which I know the community where we work, I am the best person to lead and deliver this project.

When we decided to start construction of the community center, we had no defined source where we were going to get the money needed but one thing I knew as a leader was that I had to start the construction project.

After braking the ground and buying a few materials, we got stuck with no funds and the rain was slowly destroying even the few material we bought. Individual donors were going back on their pledges and this was when i discovered that this was going to be harder than I expected. So as a leader I decided to involve the community since this would be a project that would benefit us all. Different community members volunteered their expertise and me as a leader I had to find funds that would cater for other materials that the community would not offer so using my computer skills, I put up an advert to design websites for organizations at a very small fee which attracted so many clients. I trained three of my team members who were able to help with the amount of work. Through this we managed to raise funds that helped us to build and roof the facility.

I was able to mobilize the entire community to take part in the construction project of the community center when we were unable to raise funds to pay for a construction company. I held mobilization meetings at community level and also asked for speaking opportunities from religious leaders to talk to their congregations to let them know how they could be helpful to the project that would lead to the entire community breaking out of poverty.

This created awareness in the community and everyone was able to volunteer or donate anything that would help the project. It created a sense of ownership in the community and gave everyone a chance to be part of something bigger than themselves.

Unlike other projects that focus only on children, our approach is unique in a way that we involve the entire community! To achieve maximum impact, our approach doesn’t only involve empowering children alone, we believe that children need a support network to be able to achieve academic success so we involve both parents and teachers.

We implement parent workshops that focus on nutritional, health and educational strategies to ensure children’s continuous learning and development at home. We are convinced that parent engagement is the way to achieve the creation of nurturing environments that allow children living in poverty to truly thrive.

Our teacher training helps teachers to become the best version of themselves and improve the quality of education offered at public schools which the children in our program attend. We train teachers in play-based educational methodologies that changed their students’ role in the classroom, from merely receptors of information to protagonists of their own learning. We believe teachers have the power to help students living in poverty develop skills that can transform their own future, as well as the future of their communities.

Resources

• Non-formal education center with computer lab and public library
• Trained tutors

Activities

• Catch up education for out-of-school children
• Early childhood development to enable school readiness and retention
• After school primary education enrichment program
• Food security & nutrition workshops for parents
• Parents and teacher training
• Girl child empowerment
• Sports and recreation

Outputs

• Children are able to get numeracy and literacy remedial classes after school.
• Children and teachers are able to use the library and computer lab
• Out of school children have a place to learn and catch up to age appropriate grade levels in numeracy and literacy.
• Pre-school children have a place where they get attention, stimulation, and nutrition they need to succeed at the primary level and beyond.
• Out-of-school children and youth have a safe space to escape negative influences such as gang recruitment, violence and drugs.
• Children have a safe space to meet after school to play educational games.
• Girls understand their rights in relation to child marriage, education, abuse, violence and exploitation
• Teachers are trained in modern pedagogy and play based teaching methodologies
• Parent training on early stimulation, as well as health and nutrition education.

Outcomes

• Children have increased level of reasoning, critical thinking skills, numeracy and literacy.
• Children have increased interest in school.
• Children and adolescents have increased literacy in ICT
• Pre-school children are more ready to start primary school and keep learning.
• Increased teachers’ capacity in using ICT to teach
• Increased parental involvement in pre-school and early grade children’s learning
• Increased teaching skills and support for teachers in the use of modern teaching methodologies to improve literacy and numeracy

Impact

• Increased school enrollment
• Increased primary school completion
• Increased secondary school enrollment
• Increased use of ICT for development
• Increased achievement of academic and learning outcomes
• Strengthened life and employability skills
• Increased social responsibility
• Increased number of children wanting to pursue higher education
• Children have developed the confidence, knowledge and soft skills they need to succeed in their education and careers
• Children realize their full potential, succeed and become next-generation leaders

We currently directly serve 623 children but within the next 1 year, we expect our beneficiaries to tipple to about 2000 as the community and community schools continue to buy-in and recognize that traditional methods of teaching is not enough, and that providing teachers with modern pedagogy and participatory teaching, play based teaching methodologies are essential to academic outcomes. Since our current community center cannot accommodate many children, training teachers in community schools creates a ripple effect where by teachers use the skills we train them to teach children attending community schools who may never get a chance to come to the community center.

With the women who we train and equip to run home-based ECD centers in their communities we are creating network of high-quality, affordable childcare centers in marginalized communities so that ultimately, every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential and in five years we intend to scale our programs and expand to other marginalized communities so as to reach more children and train more teachers which will bring the number of our beneficiaries to over 50,000.

In one year 80% of the kids from marginalized communities who attend our programs will be able to read and write at the right age-appropriate level, have increased level of numeracy and also have the skills they need to improve their academic outcomes. Teachers in the community schools will have knowledge in modern pedagogy and play based teaching methodologies and parents will know the importance of education and how important it is for them to get involved in their children's academics.

In five years, public schools will have register an increase in learning outcomes of students which will lead to more children completing the primary school level and more children enrolling into secondary school. Kids will have the skills, knowledge and social responsibility that helps them become agents of change with the confidence and ability to voice their own opinions and become leaders and volunteers in their communities. Through the fully equipped library, Illiterate parents will be able to read and write because they would know the value of getting involved in their children's academics.

To achieve this, we shall use our holistic approach to education that involves working with the entire community. Together, with help from teachers, parents, and other partners to transform the futures of children and youth in the community where we work.

The biggest barrier in the next one year is limited funds, we currently depend on individual donors who are sometimes unreliable and yet we don't have enough funds to facilitate all our activities and we are also unable to hire experienced staff.

In the next five years, the barriers would be lack of enough infrastructure to support expansion of the program as well as building capacity of new and existing staff to support the scaling of the program.

For the financial barrier we intend to enhance our fundraising and grant writing efforts to source funds from current donors and for securing additional funding commitments from new donors. We shall also actively work to form partnerships with other partners and foundation that share our vision as well as involve the local government to come in and support our programs. We are also setting up a vocational training section that will offer different short courses at a subsidized fee in a way of raising funds to be able to run the literacy and mentorship program that is delivered for free to the children in poverty.

For the issue of the limited infrastructure for expansion, in case we have not raised the funds needed to buy land and construct our own buildings, we shall utilize the partnerships we have with the community schools so that we are able to use their classrooms after school hours and during the weekends so that we can be able to accommodate the growing number of the children interested in attending our programs in other parts of the community where we work.

We currently don't have any confirmed partnerships

Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda is a nonprofit organisation with a special focus on marginalized villages in Kayunga District of Uganda. The organization was created with the aim of providing critical assistance to out of school children and other children struggling in terrible poverty through child protection programs, girl child empowerment programs, education sponsorship, vocational skills for self-reliance and literacy skills. We provide these services free of charge and we have been funded through individual donations and community volunteerism. Our key beneficiaries are pre-school children, out of school children, in-school school children, their parents and teachers we train. We measure our impact by looking at these results.

• Number of children enrolling in school
• Number of pre-school children ready to start primary school
• Number of children promoted to the next level and completing primary school
• Number of children with increased achievement of identified academic outcomes
• Number of children with strengthened life skills
• Number of children and youth involved social responsibility
• Number of children and youth with marketable skills
• Number of children and youth able to have access to the local job market

We shall work hard to enhance our fundraising and grant writing efforts to
source funds from current donors and for securing additional funding commitments from new donors.

To complement donations and grants from different partners and supporters Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda intends to offer vocational training to people from other communities at a subsidized fee to sustain activities and finance expenses at the community center so that we can continue to provide a free service to the children in the community.

In the past 12 months, we have managed to raise $27,000 from individual donors and crowdfunding platforms.

We hope to raise $100,000 in donations and grants in the next 12 months.

Our estimated expenses for 2020 are $48,900

Well, most of our staff and tutors are community members with little experience in all things related to nonprofit organization management and operations. By applying for The Elevate Prize we would love to take advantage of the services offered in professional management and development, mentorship and coaching, educational training, capacity building, and to connect with influencers, industry leaders, and experts through Elevate Prize Foundation’s two-year program.

Further more, Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda needs financial support to make our programs more effective by equipping our community center with all the necessary equipment to enable children to thrive in a safe environment. 

Well, most of our staff and tutors are community members with little experience in all things related to nonprofit organization management and operations. By applying for The Elevate Prize we would love to take advantage of the services offered in professional management and development, mentorship and coaching, educational training, capacity building, and to connect with influencers, industry leaders, and experts through Elevate Prize Foundation’s two-year program.

Further more, Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda needs financial support to make ourprograms more effective by equipping our community center with all the necessary equipment to enable children to thrive in a safe environment. 

Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda would love to partner with UNESCO since our intervention contributes to their mission of eradicating of poverty and sustainable development through education. UNESCO's partnership would help us scale up our intervention so that we can be able reach more children in different communities in the shorter time than we would take on our own.