Barny's campaign for THE UGANDA SCHOOL PROJECT
Tax deductible
Hello friends of mine,
I have decided to run the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London on October 13th. I am running on behalf of ‘The Uganda School Project’, a small charity doing important work towards improving primary education in rural Uganda.
This is 13.1 miles through Green Park, St James Park and Hyde Park on 13th October, and the money raised will go towards building two shiny new classrooms at Bumakenya Primary School, Eastern Uganda!
This is a big undertaking (both the run and the school) but as a father myself the work is something I feel passionately about. Please feel free to read more about the charity’s activities here, and to make a donation please click here – it would be really appreciated and will really make a massive difference!
Background
The Uganda School Project (TUSP) is a charity founded in 2016 that sets out to support educational development in Uganda. So far it has worked at at Bumakenya Primary School in Namisindwa, Eastern Uganda, developing projects concerning building classrooms, pit latrines and tankwaters, setting up free lunch programmes and children safeguarding workshops, and micro-financing programmes for women in the local community. This has all been achieved through donations and volunteer work.
In 2016, Sean Richardson and Harry Bucknell, the two founding members of The Uganda School Project (TUSP) set out to do something about the comparatively poor levels of primary education in rural Uganda compared to urban areas. Although the Ugandan government has an initiative to provide public education for all (under the ‘Universal Primary Education’ programme), a severe lack of resources, accountability and support means the educational system is highly ineffective. UNESCO has estimated that 68% of children in Uganda who enrol in primary school are likely to drop out before finishing the prescribed seven years. The statistics are worse for girls and for children with any sort of disability.
TUSP’s aim is to support struggling government schools in remote, hard to access areas of Uganda by improving facilities and education standards at the schools in which it works, empowering through education.
The first project developed was at Bumakenya Primary School in Namisindwa, Eastern Uganda (approx. 5 kilometres from the border with Kenya), and consisted in the construction of four classrooms, five pit latrines, a rainwater-harvesting tank and a safe drinking water tank. This was funded by personal donations, as well as small donations from companies with a personal connection to the charity. The work was carried out by a fantastic team of volunteers, both in-country and in the UK.
These steps taken towards the improvement of facilities have done wonders for the school, but the Charity is aware that providing bricks and mortar is not enough. We have therefore developed a free lunch programme for the children, and have held child safeguarding workshops for parents and teachers to improve the emotional wellbeing of the learners. We have also put together a comprehensive Strategic Development Plan with the local Coordinating Centre Tutors (a government representative responsible for educational development in the district) to improve educational and extracurricular activities at the school.
Outside of school, we have also developed a Microfinance Program in order to empower the community, offering small business loans to local women who would otherwise be unable to access the capital. The loans are peer-guaranteed and have been used either to expand existing businesses or start new ones. In its first year, the programme has been a big success, with a 0% default rate. Furthermore, in addition to the profit generated from this extra capital, each of the 20 women have accumulated 70,000UGX (approx. £15) each in savings - for reference, a pupil at a government primary school can expect to pay between 15,000-25,000UGX per term in fees. The 10% interest that we charge goes towards operational costs, and the program will be self-sustaining by October 2019, ensuring long-term viability of the project.
The Future: Our Targets
Due to the increasing popularity of the school, the number of children regularly attending Bumakenya Primary School has doubled since 2016.
We have currently erected temporary dividers in the existing classrooms to maximise the space we have, but it is not an ideal learning environment for the children. In addition, one year group is still learning in a church on-site. We therefore want to build an additional two classrooms in 2019, and a final two in 2020. This will enable each year group to have a dedicated classroom to themselves, whilst also allowing for a staff room, school library and storage area.
https://www.theugandaschoolproject.com/
Our aims for 2019/2020 include:
1. Construction of four new classrooms and provision of new furniture;
2. Implementation of a Teacher Training program;
3. A School Library program;
4. ‘School Mothers’ program (female community leaders who mentor and educate female students to combat gender-based social issues such as child marriage and sexual violence);
5. Micro-loans to another 20 women;
6. Continuing the School Lunch Programme;
7. Continuing the Medical Aid Programme.
I have decided to run the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London on October 13th. I am running on behalf of ‘The Uganda School Project’, a small charity doing important work towards improving primary education in rural Uganda.
This is 13.1 miles through Green Park, St James Park and Hyde Park on 13th October, and the money raised will go towards building two shiny new classrooms at Bumakenya Primary School, Eastern Uganda!
This is a big undertaking (both the run and the school) but as a father myself the work is something I feel passionately about. Please feel free to read more about the charity’s activities here, and to make a donation please click here – it would be really appreciated and will really make a massive difference!
Background
The Uganda School Project (TUSP) is a charity founded in 2016 that sets out to support educational development in Uganda. So far it has worked at at Bumakenya Primary School in Namisindwa, Eastern Uganda, developing projects concerning building classrooms, pit latrines and tankwaters, setting up free lunch programmes and children safeguarding workshops, and micro-financing programmes for women in the local community. This has all been achieved through donations and volunteer work.
In 2016, Sean Richardson and Harry Bucknell, the two founding members of The Uganda School Project (TUSP) set out to do something about the comparatively poor levels of primary education in rural Uganda compared to urban areas. Although the Ugandan government has an initiative to provide public education for all (under the ‘Universal Primary Education’ programme), a severe lack of resources, accountability and support means the educational system is highly ineffective. UNESCO has estimated that 68% of children in Uganda who enrol in primary school are likely to drop out before finishing the prescribed seven years. The statistics are worse for girls and for children with any sort of disability.
TUSP’s aim is to support struggling government schools in remote, hard to access areas of Uganda by improving facilities and education standards at the schools in which it works, empowering through education.
The first project developed was at Bumakenya Primary School in Namisindwa, Eastern Uganda (approx. 5 kilometres from the border with Kenya), and consisted in the construction of four classrooms, five pit latrines, a rainwater-harvesting tank and a safe drinking water tank. This was funded by personal donations, as well as small donations from companies with a personal connection to the charity. The work was carried out by a fantastic team of volunteers, both in-country and in the UK.
These steps taken towards the improvement of facilities have done wonders for the school, but the Charity is aware that providing bricks and mortar is not enough. We have therefore developed a free lunch programme for the children, and have held child safeguarding workshops for parents and teachers to improve the emotional wellbeing of the learners. We have also put together a comprehensive Strategic Development Plan with the local Coordinating Centre Tutors (a government representative responsible for educational development in the district) to improve educational and extracurricular activities at the school.
Outside of school, we have also developed a Microfinance Program in order to empower the community, offering small business loans to local women who would otherwise be unable to access the capital. The loans are peer-guaranteed and have been used either to expand existing businesses or start new ones. In its first year, the programme has been a big success, with a 0% default rate. Furthermore, in addition to the profit generated from this extra capital, each of the 20 women have accumulated 70,000UGX (approx. £15) each in savings - for reference, a pupil at a government primary school can expect to pay between 15,000-25,000UGX per term in fees. The 10% interest that we charge goes towards operational costs, and the program will be self-sustaining by October 2019, ensuring long-term viability of the project.
The Future: Our Targets
Due to the increasing popularity of the school, the number of children regularly attending Bumakenya Primary School has doubled since 2016.
We have currently erected temporary dividers in the existing classrooms to maximise the space we have, but it is not an ideal learning environment for the children. In addition, one year group is still learning in a church on-site. We therefore want to build an additional two classrooms in 2019, and a final two in 2020. This will enable each year group to have a dedicated classroom to themselves, whilst also allowing for a staff room, school library and storage area.
https://www.theugandaschoolproject.com/
Our aims for 2019/2020 include:
1. Construction of four new classrooms and provision of new furniture;
2. Implementation of a Teacher Training program;
3. A School Library program;
4. ‘School Mothers’ program (female community leaders who mentor and educate female students to combat gender-based social issues such as child marriage and sexual violence);
5. Micro-loans to another 20 women;
6. Continuing the School Lunch Programme;
7. Continuing the Medical Aid Programme.
Organizer
Chris Barnard
Organizer
England
THE UGANDA SCHOOL PROJECT
Registered nonprofit
Donations eligible for Gift Aid.
