LET GIRLS BE GIRLS NOT BRIDES

In Bugweri district in Eastern Uganda, Children (6-17 years) out of school are 2,968. 16,172 involved in child labour and 1,625 are married. Let us join hands together to save the generation of tomorrow.

STATEMENT FROM THE VICTIMS

The man bought me a bottle of soda, a cake, gave me 2000 UGX and promised to buy me a dress. I had sex with him, I conceived and now thinking of abortion but life is hard (Primary Five, 13 year old Josephine narrated).

During menstruation, the man got me pads (Sanitary towels), after he asked me to reward him, we had sex and I got pregnant. (Josephine’s friend of the same school narrated)

He used to come to our house and did whatever he wanted with me and when I got pregnant, he is nowhere to be seen. (Josephine’s friend of the same school narrated)

WHO WE ARE

Casey Foundation is a not for profit Organization that helps vulnerable Girls and their families avoid incidences of Child Marriages and Teenage Pregnancy through Advocacy, Education and Skilling, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, Community Mobilization and Sensitization, Provision of Entrepreneurial Capacity and Opportunities especially to those from the poor rural areas and disadvantaged group settings. Casey Foundation was formed in March 2020 to respond to the effects made worse by COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation is now registered under section 18(3) of the Uganda companies Act 2012.

OUR APPEAL

We appeal for your support to address this challenge among young girls who have greatly been victims of this problem due to factors such as poverty, limited access to education, poor enforcement of laws against child abuse among others.

This has been made worse by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic which has made survival completely difficult. Young girls thus end up engaging in sexual behaviors so as to access basic needs of life like sanitary towels during menstruation, food, clothing among others.

4 in10 girls have fallen victims of this problem during this period of the virus and the numbers are increasing so fast. Idle and redundant mature men have continued to defile, abuse and make these young girls pregnant in exchange for life needs and the laws to prosecute these criminals are poorly enforced.

It is on this note that we seek funds to help eliminate this challenge through advocacy, empowerment, education among other measures. The worry of ever increasing rates have established this undesirable condition as an emergency and therefore seek for urgent action to obtain funds needed to effect this project by January 2021.

This project is human centered therefore we closely cooperate with the beneficiaries and stake holders when making decisions. We present to you the measures and strategies to address this problem which include; education and sensitization of community members about the dangers and effects of child marriage and teenage pregnancy through organizing public lectures, television and radio shows, public meetings. Empowering young girls with information ,skills and support networks for example formation of school health clubs and strengthening the already existing ones to help them solve challenges that could lead them to risks of being victims of child marriage and teenage pregnancy, encouraging enforcement of supportive laws and policies against child abuse particularly on child marriage and teenage pregnancy, enhancing girls access to high quality education through providing skills like bakery, catering, tailoring, engineering etc. Partnering with community stake holders like priests, local council leaders and other organisation to inspire and influence these young girls and boys.

We hope to raise funds for this project through carrying out campaigns on social media that solicit for group or individual funding, running campaigns on various crowdfunding platforms like gogetfunding.com and globalgiving.com, local donations and contributions from our staff, community groups and other various stake holders, partnering with other NGOs, writing proposals that seek for government grants and grants from various international funders like world bank, European Union, Mama Cash and seeking individual donations both locally and internationally.

Thanks a lot for giving!

For an offline donation, kindly get in touch at [email protected] or call +256200900535.