Background:

Breaking Barriers seeks to increase OVC access to education, psychosocial support and home-based care

for both children and their caregivers. Thus, access to education shall be increased both directly, by

eliminating common barriers keeping OVC from school, and indirectly, by addressing their psychosocial and

physical health needs and those of their families, and by addressing HIV/AIDS-related stigma. The Breaking

Barriers aims to reach over 150,000 OVC during the life of the project. . Through the Breaking Barriers

programme equitable, effective, high-quality OVC programs in education, psycho-social support and home-

based care for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS will be expanded using school networks and

religious institutions as a coordinated platform for rapid scale up, expansion and sustainability.

Overview of Activities in Uganda

The Uganda Program is a partnership among Plan /Uganda (country lead organization), Save the Children /

US / Uganda and the Inter-religious Council of Uganda (IRCU). Activities will be implemented in Luwero

District, where all three partners are well-established and Tororo District (where Plan and IRCU already

collaborate). In addition, Save / US will work in Nakasongola, Nakaseke and Wakiso Districts, while

Plan/Uganda will work in Kamuli and Kampala Districts. The emphasis of the Uganda program in the next

fiscal year is on building capacity of the local education system, expanding access to non-formal education

(Save/US and Plan/Uganda), and in building the capacity of religious leaders to provide home-based care,

psychosocial support and stigma reduction activities (IRCU). Over 4000 OVC will be reached through

CHANCE schools supported by Breaking Barriers. Plan / Uganda will focus on improving school

infrastructure and school environment for girls, and in building educators' capacity for health education,

psychosocial support and HIV-related advocacy. These collective activities are expected to benefit

approximately 35,000 children, of whom 20,000 are OVC. Overall, the Uganda program will serve over

32,149 OVC and train over 5,000 individuals in caring for OVC in the next fiscal year. Sixty-six school

management committees will receive technical assistance for institutional capacity building. Hundreds of

individuals will be trained in other HIV-related skills. This activity/program is a continuation from FY06/FY07

with out significant modification on strategy and programming.

Uganda still faces significant challenges in its response to HIV/AIDS, despite the nation's aggressive and

largely successful response to the epidemic. More than 1.5 million people are living with HIV, and

approximately 1.8 million children have lost their parents to AIDS-related causes. The loss of parents

renders families, communities and economies unable to function normally. The impact of HIV/AIDS is

further felt by other vulnerable children, including those living with a chronically ill parent or guardian, and

has exacerbated the difficulties experienced by the 44% of the population living below the poverty line. An

estimated number of 209,840 OVC have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS and 1,320,000 OVC orphaned by

other causes. The number of other vulnerable children due to HIV/AIDS is not readily available. It is

estimated that 524,600 OVC need assistance during this planning period. Currently the breaking barriers

program is reaching 36,206 OVC reached (6.9%) and plans to reach an additional 32,149 OVC through

direct services with PEPFER support.

The BB program has been implementing ECD activities in Nakasongola, Wakiso and Nakaseke. These

activities will however be extended to other districts of Luweero, Kamuli, Kampala and Tororo. The BB

program will leverage HIV/AIDS programs that support orphans and their families, PMTC program,

education and scholarships, health and livelihood programs implemented by Plan will lead to improved

food security and economic strengthening of OVC families. Other leveraged programs will include like Core

Initiatives program, HIV/AIDS and Child Labor program.

The BB program will be strengthened by the implementation of action points documented lessons learnt and

best practices. The program will also continue to work with the established education and religious

structures in the program area. The program will continue to strengthening the referral system within the

districts so as to ensure provision of OVC care. Partner organizations will continue to strengthen the

integration of BB program with other projects within their organizations. The program will continue to

implement ECD and primary education supporting activities both in formal and non-formal structures. The

program will take deliberate steps to reach the disabled children with formal school structures and other

institutions. With continued integration and leveraging, OVC will be supported through other health,

HIV/AIDS, education, economic strengthening, legal rights and protection programs. The school and

community based caregivers will continue to provide HIV/AIDS education and psychosocial support that will

contribute to HIV prevention and mitigation amongst the OVC and their families. OVC will continuously be

referred for HCT, palliative care, OI management and treatment, and ART

In order to build capacity, and knowledge for local and national structures in OVC programming, the

program will;

•Support the dissemination of the OVC policy and NSPPI in the implementing districts through and in

coordination with the Technical Support Organization in the regions of operation. Save the Children is the

TSO for central region and will use the Breaking Barrier networks at community level to increase program

impact specifically support MGLSD led activities like program evaluation, and assessment of national

standards and provision of sites for evidence base.

•Support MGLSD to strengthen OVC data management through the districts.

•Support the MOH and MOES to train school teachers, SMC and VHT in psychosocial support, community

based care and ECD

•Improve school infrastructure through the installation of water tanks, and construction of school latrines.

•Support the district probation departments by training the OVC program committees

•Support the training of primary school teachers in psychosocial, counselling and better teaching methods.

•Support the strengthening of OVC data bases in districts for improved planning and service delivery.

Activity Narrative: •Support the monitoring activities of different district departments with direct links to OVC programming.

To ensure sustainability, Breaking Barriers will continue to leverage existing national investment in

educational infrastructure, host government support of the majority of school operating costs, and the

private support of faith-based organizations. Further, Breaking Barriers activities are largely knowledge and

experience-based improvements to human resources so that individuals can continue program efforts

without outside resources. The capacities of community based organizations involved in this program are

targeted for enhancement through training, mentoring and supervision and provision of financial support for

service delivery. In Nakasongola where Save the Children (US) operates the program is linked to the Food

Monetization Programme supported by USAID.

Breaking Barriers partners will continue to work in close link with both central and local government

partners. Local council, political and opinion leaders are engaged to ensure community ownership of the

program. In addition, the IP draws technical and other support from the wider Breaking Barriers

partnership. Linkages are established with health centers that provide health support to OVC identified as

needing them. Through the Breaking Barriers Programme, partners are supported to participate in district

OVC fora. Breaking Barriers has taken great care to ensure that the targets for FY do not double count

OVC. This has been achieved by the establishment of school registers and establishment of monitoring

and reporting forms to facilitate effective record keeping.