Help us support children in Uganda and Kenya return to school in the New Year, ensuring they are safe and giving them the opportunity for a brighter future.
The awful impact of this pandemic around the world has not been distributed equally. Lockdown poverty has forced desperate families to marry off under-age daughters to ease expenses. Increasing numbers of girls are undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as communities return to traditional customs.
Please donate now to protect those most at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The economic fallout of the pandemic is placing additional stress on families, so girls are at a greater risk of exploitation and gender-based violence. We are seriously concerned that all of the progress made to date regarding the rights of children, particularly girls, will be lost.
Adolescent girls experience the worst effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
In Kenya and Uganda where we work
- Restrictions on movement and work mean that millions of families have been unable to buy food, with many eating only one meal a day.
- School closures have intensified this problem as the school lunch programme has been suspended.
- There has been a 40% increase in teenage pregnancies in Kenya, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Between 39% – 47% of Kenyan women and 35% of 18-24 year old Ugandan women experience gender-based violence (GBV) in their lifetime restrictions on movement is causing rates to increase on a daily basis.
The most pressing matter is ensuring girls return to school, education is one of the most effective ways to combat the secondary effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. This must be firmly integrated into the recovery.
Looking to 2021, our primary focus is to protect the most vulnerable, and to support communities to reinforce or rebuild their livelihoods in the post pandemic period. Immediate plans include supporting our partners and school leadership to ensure communities can reopen schools safely.
Immediate plans include the provision of water and sanitation in schools, and ‘care packages’ that will include school feeding. Nutrition is especially important for young mothers and pregnant girls, but we must ensure that all children get the opportunity to return to school and reach their full potential.
Aidlink believes in building back better – much of our programmes are dedicated to enabling the youth of today to ensure a better tomorrow – but we have not forgotten the wider community. We are committed to bettering livelihoods; providing the skills and tools necessary for sustainable work. Children’s lives have been turned upside down. Their education has been disrupted with many at risk of never returning.
Help us support children return to school in the New Year, ensuring they are protected and have the opportunity to transform their own future.
Thank you.
