“A miracle solution does not exist, but small steps can and will change things a lot” (Stephen, Namwendwa, 2011)

Okwagaanana focuses on three local projects in Namwendwa, Uganda: Kidiki school, Kyebajja Tobona Women’s Group, Vocational Training Centre. They cooperate with the local community to gather information, search solutions and acquire financial resources for the three projects. The current proposal focuses on Kidiki Secondary School. Realizing their dream to get qualified for A-level: professionalisation and becoming financially self-sustainable.

For more info, check their website: http://www.okwagaanana.be/

“If you must look ahead one year then sow a seed. If you must look ahead ten years, then plant a tree. But if you must look ahead one hundred years, then educate the people.”. This African proverb is the driving force behind Kidiki school.

The Kidiki school is a primary and secondary school in Namwendwa. Their goal is to offer all children of the village and its border area a dignified future by providing quality education. Currently, the secondary school does not have accreditation at the so-called A-level, which would allow it to organize education up until the sixth year. Due to the current level of accreditation, attrition is high. Pupils often quit school after the fourth year, and this is especially the case for girls. This problem is identified as the number one obstacle for further growth and development of the region by pupils, teachers and community members.

The primary matter that obstructs the Kidiki school to make further steps to qualify for A-level accreditation is the lack of sufficient and continuous financial capacity. In the last two years, students worked on an irrigation system providing the school sustainable earnings. However, besides being financially independent, the teacher corps should be further professionalized and the working and living conditions, both physically and mentally, should be improved. 

The preparatory work consists of:

Following up and fine-tuning of the AFD proposed irrigation project and supporting the adoption of the dynamic budget table and co-creating possibilities for ensuing social entrepreneurship

-Planning and implementing a sustainable water use policy and program, including both possible infrastructure works (in terms of showers, toilets, dormitories, and water access points for hand washing) but also sensibilization of staff and pupils towards personal hygiene, sustainable resource use and entrepreneurship

-The development and implementation of workshops and training to set up, in the school, an impetus for thinking about issues related to human and women’s rights, mental health

-In collaboration with local actors, organizations and entrepreneurs, setting up workshops/courses about healthy and sustainable water policy in the homes

The on-site work contains:

-Evaluation of the irrigation project

-Helping to implement a sustainable water usage plan for showers, toilets, dormitories, and a significant improvement in hygiene in these. In relation to this, organizing a joint workshop on how the water activities can be used from an educational point of view, in terms of teaching concrete skills to how such initiatives may offer a way to individual development and entrepreneurship

-Aiding with the organization of workshops related to personal hygiene, entrepreneurship, and examining how these elements can be permanently incorporated into the teaching in the school. This can also take the form of setting up debates in emotional health and human rights.

-Evaluate entrepreneurial initiatives made possible by the profits of the agricultural development