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Girl Up Initiative Uganda held a second annual fundraiser on Sunday afternoon at the Goleta home of co-founder and deputy director Kim Wolf’s parents, Harvey and Janet Wolf, a Santa Barbara County supervisor, to draw needed attention toward making a difference in the lives of young girls living in the slums of Kampala, the largest city and the capital of Uganda.
Many of the young girls in the area are in desperate need of the leadership, empowerment and health education that is provided by Wolf and friend Monica Nyiraguhabwa.
“Girl Up Initiative is a unique organization. We’re a small, grassroots organization run by young women for young women,” Wolf said. “It is run by local people because they know the best solutions to their problems.”
Uganda has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa, and without proper health education many young girls face the risk of early and high childbirth with a mean total fertility rate of 6.2 births per woman.
Wolf emphasized that it is not uncommon for young women in the community to have relations with older men for economic reasons, and that “it is rare for girls to complete primary school and move into secondary school and eventually university.”
A lack of reproductive health education in the home or schools often greatly diminishes opportunities for the adolescent girls, creating a reliance to be economically dependent on men, “or in some cases, women and girls resort to sex work for money, which exposes them to HIV/AIDS and STIs,” Wolf said.
GUIU promotes and organizes training and services to young girls in an effort to help make them self-sufficient and provide a healthy transition into adulthood.
Leadership and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Training is GUIU’s flagship program for girls ages 7 to 16 in primary school. It provides education on their rights and emphasizes the importance of staying in school and preventing early pregnancy.
“Our experience of working with young girls to empower them through our in-school training program has shown the positive effect it can have on reducing gender violence, improving women’s health, ensuring girls complete school and overcoming poverty,” Wolf said.
At the beginning of 2014, GUIU established the Young Mothers Economic Empowerment Program for young mothers ages 16 to 25 to provide practical business skills and startup capital of $40 for income-generating projects. Also part of the program is a weekly Revolving Savings Group to assist with school fees for their children and cover basic needs.
A 23-year-old member of GUIU, named Immaculate, who is a mother of two, shared with the organization that the program has been instrumental in her family’s growth.
“I have learned to be able to think as a woman and look for solutions since I cannot rely on my partner to provide for my family,” Immaculate said. “The saving scheme helped us learn how to save while giving us a platform to help each other.”
Nyiraguhabwa is the executive director of GUIU and a native of the community who works closely with Wolf to help coordinate programs and services through the organization, overseeing the day-to-day operations in the Luzira community office that was opened in 2014.
“Girl Up Initiative’s programs are run by my two friends, Monica and Sayid, who have been working with women’s rights in Uganda for over five years,” Wolf said. “And our other friend, Clare, joined us in August as a trainer.
“They are all from Kampala and know the problems and challenges of the area.”
The organization provided leadership and sexual health training to 70 girls over the last year with a goal to expand to another school and reach another 70 girls.
As with most startup organizations in their early phase, the need for financial assistance remains a vital component of the future success and expansion of GUIU.
Costs for GUIU total $24,300 with $13,640 for program costs, a one-time cost of $5,300 for a complete girls’ space, $3,360 for rent and utilities, and $2,000 for U.S. registration.
A girls entire program can benefit from a donation of $50, while $100 pays for a local women to lead a training session and $500 provides for an entire program for 10 girls.
“Anything helps and your contributions make a huge difference in Uganda,” Wolf said. “This is especially true in Uganda, where most people subsist on less than $1 a day.”
GUIU is a nonprofit 501(c)3, and 100 percent of donations go directly to program costs. For more information, contact Kim by emailing girlupinitiative@gmail.com or clicking here.
For additional information about the Girl Up Initiative Uganda, click here, or watch a promotional by clicking here.
— Noozhawk iSociety columnist Melissa Walker can be reached at mwalker@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.
