Latest news from Uganda
Uganda, alongside Burundi, is actively involved in peace keeping missions in Somalia as part of the African Union (AU) force, trying to restore peace in the Horn of Africa (the peninsula in north east Africa that juts into the sea.) The country sadly paid heavily when two bombs exploded in Kampala killing over 80 people. After this attack there is pressure on Uganda to pull out of Somalia but the leadership is adamant that the troops should stay.
The ongoing oil exploration in the Albertine Basin, which stretches the full length of our Bunyoro project, is one area to keep an eye on in terms of environmental effects as drilling activities have intensified and large parts of the region continue to be fenced off.
Highlights from our projects
- Advocacy is going to play a major part in the plan to control and eventually eliminate trachoma from the Busoga Region, where we are partners with all six district administrations.
- However advocating with the Ministry of Health (centrally and at local level) to allocate and release resources is still a major challenge faced by our Uganda programme. This follows several decades of Sightsavers ‘bailing out’ the government from their unfulfilled obligations, which is now so ingrained it’s not going to be easy to change. For example detailed plans and budgets at local government level are in place to provide educational services to visually impaired pupils. But there is all too frequently a failure by the district authorities to allocate financial resources for activities contained in these plans, or to actually release funds where an allocation has been made.
- Sightsavers is now an active member of the Special Needs Education Working Group formed under the Ministry of Education & Sports. The group has been tasked with putting together a national strategy for special needs education, as well as developing a national policy. Both have been produced at draft stage, and a consultation with various stakeholders is underway.
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