WORK UG

Founding WORK UG

The office with certificates from District of Kabale and Southern Division approving our activities

We have established a second association under the name ‘WORK Uganda’. She has similar statutes as PROUD UG, but PROUD UG is concerned with 'appropriate education' for children and young people with intellectual disabilities and WORK UG will be working on the ‘employment’ of adolescents and adults with intellectual disabilities. WORK UG also wants to organize training courses for third parties on the coaching of people with intellectual disabilities.

WORK UG has received a certificate of registration from Kabale District Local Government as a Community Based Organization (CBO) on 11/3/2019 under number 14006. The CBO is recognized to undertake the following activities:

-to create job opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities;

-establish social enterprises where people with intellectual disabilities can work;

-organize vocational training and job coaching for people with intellectual disabilities;

-organize exchanges and training courses on work for people with an intellectual disability (WORK UG Training center).

It is assumed that the basis is laid for future activities of a productive and commercial nature that will lead to employment for our young adults.

The PROUD project and the Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) are an initiative of the United Nations to streamline the development efforts of numerous countries and organizations. This is not unknown territory for CBO’s such as PROUD UG and WORK in Kabale. In this article, we look at the actions of these CBO’s through the SDG lens.

PROUD UG focuses on education for children with an intellectual disability, a group that often is forgotten in education (SDG4). And WORK UG prepares adolescents for participation in full fledged jobs in a full fledged work environment (SDG8).

This will reduce inequality: people with intellectual disabilities in developing countries usually do not have the opportunity to receive good education and decent work (SDG10). The majority of our students are girls and almost all staff are women. The gender balance is therefore also positive (SDG5).

We ensure that children have access to the best available healthcare (SDG3). During the recent "lock down", we supported families who were in food shortage in a society disrupted by Covid-19 (SDG2). When they are at the project, the children enjoy a varied meal prepared with vegetables from the project garden (SDG12).

In the meantime, we have also continued to build on the sanitary infrastructure in the corona year 2020. We want good toilets, good intimate hygiene facilities and access to clean water (SDG6). Training on personal hygiene and healthy lifestyle habits are part of the curriculum.

The project gets a good part of its energy from solar panels. We also collect rainwater and sort waste (SDG7). Project children and staff as well as temporary workers like construction personnel are not free to throw their empty plastic bottles or bags, radio batteries, nails, etc. on project grounds. Uganda is too beautiful to pollute it with all kind of garbage.

Since 2013 PROUD UG and WORK UG CBO have a long-term partnership with a Flemish association called The village (SDG17). PROUD UG/WORK UG have a reputation of "change makers". We value children and young people with intellectual disabilities as other children. We want to give them full opportunities to develop and do not see them as minus variants of children without disabilities.

Of course the corona-crisis disturbed also our activities. But as you have seen activities kept partially ongoing, always respecting government rules. Once it became possible the staff visited the children and their parents at home and this has made the bond between the different parties in the PROUD project even closer. We noted extreme difficulties but we also found encouraging examples of solidarity!

Contact: kiconcomarcey2018@gmail.com Manager PROUD project