TATCO UGANDA COMMUNITY, SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS/PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN, YOUTHS, WOMEN AND ELDERLY PERSONS

Background The Andtex Training and Care Organization (TATCO) Uganda is a fully registered community based organization carrying out its community development activities in areas of Mukono, Buikwe and Wakiso district in Uganda – East Africa respectively.  It was registered in 2013 with the aim of providing Vocational skills training to the youths, Children Education, Early Child Development programs, Livelihood support projects to the women, Care and support to the sick and elderly persons and Environment and Climate conservation.All the above areas of concern are aimed at changing the mindset of the local people hence community transformation socially, economically and physically.

1. CHILDREN EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

TATCO Uganda currently works with four schools which we adopted and some created by the organization. i.e. Creamland Nursery and Primary School, School- Kireka, Star Nursery and Primary School- Nyanja, Sunrise Nursery and Primary school – Nabiyaji and Apple Junior School – Bukerere with a population of over 1300 pupils respectively.

We are in schools to carry out children education and development programs mainly on education issues in the following.

1. Construct classrooms and other school structures in schools to provide a better and conducive learning and teaching environment.
2. Provide school management skills and systems to the school administrators in order to manage, grow and sustain the school as desired.
3. Provide refresher training to teachers in order to teach the learners in the most updated way using the recent teaching curriculum for better results from the learners.
4. Provide scholastic materials to some selected needy learners in the schools.
5. Provide some teaching aids (Teaching equipments and materials) to the teachers in schools that are needed in the teaching process.
6. Design Learning through Play Based Modules, training teachers how to teach through play on the given classroom topic following the syllabus  and provision of learning through play tools and equipments needed as the designed module entails.
7. Advocate for the children’s rights to Education through one on one talk with children found in child labour activities when it’s time for school, support them to go back to school and encourage their parents stop sending them as labourers instead of sending them to schools.
8. Periodically organize sports and games events in our schools or sometime combining the schools to compete in the organized games and sports aimed at talent search and development among the children where the best performers are given some gifts and certificates as a motivation.
9. Organize parents and children motivation meetings in schools aimed at reminding/educating the parents about their duties on children education and encouraging the children to be academically active as it is the way to success in life.
10. Provision of bursaries and scholarships to some of the bright but needier children in schools so that they can be at school at all times and study well.
11. Carry out outside school tutoring where our organization field officers visit some of the school children at their homes aimed at creating a conversation among the children even at home to know how they live and behave while at home.
12. Carry out teacher, children, parents and school administrators assessment and evaluation aimed at getting feedback on what they have achieved, failed to do and recommendations to betterment of the education sector in the community.

• EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

Every child goes through a remarkable series of physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. The Early Childhood Development (ECD) approach is based on the fact that little children respond best when caregivers use definite methods designed to promote and stimulate advancement to the subsequent level of growth and change. Some of the words used in this program include:

• Growth: the change in weight, height, and circumference of head
• Child Development: the process of change in which a child comes to master more and more complex levels of physical activity, thinking, feeling, communicating and interactions with people and objects. This is sometimes expressed as physical, cognitive, emotional and social development.
• Early childhood: the period between birth and eight years of age
• Responsiveness: parenting that is prompt and appropriate to the child’s immediate behaviour, needs and developmental state
• Care: attention to body, health, nutrition, emotional, social, language and intellectual development

1. Setting up Early Child Development Centers (ECD) in areas where there are a number of children below 6 years but from vulnerable families / young families to provide early child care and teaching which will build their body, mind and sense of understanding.
2. Selection, registration and orientation of targeted beneficiaries/children and their mothers for the ECD program. We target children from mainly vulnerable families and  of young mothers who really have no support and skills to take care of their infants for better growth
3. Provision of ECD learning and teaching equipments for example playing equipments, leveling the space where the children play from, outside and in class labeling with children art work,
4. Provision of healthy and nutritious meals to children to help them grow well when they are healthy and physically strong. We do this from our ECD centers and the beneficiaries are the children enrolled at the centers.
5. Carry out children health checkup and treatment. This is periodically done to children using a qualified children health specialist and with his/her recommendations if any, the organization tries to put it into action so that we have children at our center who are free from any sickness.
6. Prepare and provide attractive education programs to children. This is done at our centers by our organization professional Early child teachers who take the children through all the curriculum as it is provided by the government and using upto date techniques to teach for example learning through play, art, drama, Body-Mind Coordination Activities, Language Development Activities, etc.
7. Hold workshops related to sustainable issues for the ECD centers and children life. This is done periodically with all the stakeholders i.e Teachers, parents and local authorities aimed at creating paths for the development and sustainability of the ECD program in the community.
8. Continuous Advocacy and Lobbying for the creation of more ECD centers in various areas where we operate so that many targeted children will have a chance to be enrolled and given the care needed as infants and also requesting stakeholders to do their part in the child development.
9. Organize tours and end of year party for the children as a way of exposing them to other developmental activities and creation of a happy moment for them as it boosts their knowledge, participation and collaboration.
10. Community Assessment and Base line Survey: carrying out a quarterly children and parents assessment to evaluate the impact of the program

• VOCATIONAL SKILLS TRAINING TO THE YOUTHS AND WOMEN.

TATCO Uganda Vocational training skills is one of our organization development provide which looks at training the youths in practical skills areas which include Tailoring, Carpentry and Joinery, Computer (I.C.T), Bakery and Food processing, Music and Drama, Art and Craft work. These training areas were selected by both the organization and some of the youth representative as one of the most enterprising vocational areas and which the beneficiaries and willing and interested to take on to be active in the community and something which can help them earn a living for better leaving standards.

These are some of the activities and projects carried out in the Vocational Skilling program

1. Setting up and equipping of the vocation centers with tools and materials needed in the vocational training process in the areas of our operation where the selected learners are to take their training from.
2. Register the trainees on different vocational training courses that are provided by the organization vocation center where the beneficiaries are selected from the community after a series of meeting with the lead youth groups.
3. Finding and recruiting qualified, experienced and community development like mind tutors or trainers in the different vocational training areas in the centers who help on a voluntary basis but with just a little motivation support/allowances to provide training or learning to the students/youths registered on different vocation courses, give them assessment on both practical and theory and also work with them to manage and accomplish a given practical project.
4. Organize motivation, career guiding and entrepreneurial workshops to the learners in the vocation centers aimed at making them love the training and help make them think ahead after the training which is an annual basis.
5. Organize study tours for the students to various community vocational workshops where they also explore more about their areas of training and get motivated and on site observation.
6. Organize graduation event for the learners who complete their vocational skills training after a year and award them with completion certificates.
7. Find and give startup business projects to the graduated learners to start working and earning money aimed at making them sustainable and as they progress, they start up their own enterprises in the areas of occupation study obtained
8. Carry out monitoring and field supervision of the graduated learners while carrying out their duties aimed at keeping in touch with us and also carry out of school tutoring.

• LIVELIHOOD SUPPORT PROJECTS TO THE WOMEN

This is also one of the organization program tailored at empowering women both economically and socially in order for community development and transformation.

These are some of the activities and projects carried out in the areas of Livelihood Support Projects.

1. Register and orient the women as beneficiaries to take on the desired and planned project by the organization to the grouped women where the beneficiaries are selected from the community who some of them former trainees in our vocational centers in deferent courses and after a series of meeting with the lead women groups to implement, lead, manage and sustain the project that will be a source of income to them.
2. Provide startup capital which is used to setup a working space, equipments, materials and tools needed to carry out a profitable project.
3. Give the women project group periodic training on Leadership and Management, Book keeping and accountability, updated marketing and entrepreneurial skills for the growth of the business project.
4. Networking for building marketing linkages: The organization creates strategies for better marketing opportunities for the women group. The group society will network with various marketing agencies. It will also make efforts to explore other market avenues for selling the project’s related products to attract more clients and develop a brand name in the community of business. e.g social media business advertising pages and other project publishing avenues.
5. Organizing field tours to the identified project for the women group with support of some men to visit other already established project of a kind to learn and explore more in the development of their business and for networking.
6. Celebration of World Women’s Day: As part of awareness rising on women rights and livelihood entitlements, World Women’s Day will be celebrated through communities targeted. Women from all the selected and formed groups are mobilized for mass rally on the occasion organized by the organization
7. Awareness Workshop on government livelihood entitlements: To increase knowledge on the existing entitlements schemes and available for disadvantaged communities.
8. Community Assessment and Base line Survey: carrying out an annual community assessment among the women groups and their family to access the impact of the livelihood support projects implemented and supported by the organization to help us come up with a better or more realistic strategies aimed at empowering the women economically and socially.

• CARE AND SUPPORT FOR THE VULNERABLE SICK AND ELDERLY PERSONS.

This program is tailored to give support to the vulnerable sick and elderly persons in our community in order to create a ray of hope in their lives. We carry out support activities in our reach. The beneficiaries of this program are selected from the community by our field officers.

These are some of the activities and projects carried out in the areas of Livelihood Support Projects.

1. We provide basic home use items during festive seasons forexmple during Easter Period, Idi days, Christmas seasons so that they can also enjoy the festivity in style.
2. We provide medical support to the sick where our reach can and if not we work with the local health centers to reach to these needy sick persons for help.
3. We also organize community health camps all tailored at supporting the vulnerable.
4. We organize and provide spiritual support and prayers to the sick and elderly at their homes. This is done by taking to them a religious leader who prays form them and provide the needed counseling which helps them to live strong and religiously nourished.
5. We organize the elders and grandparents annual celebrations in commemoration of the international days of the elderly while giving them a ray of hope and recreation services.
6. We organize and provide Play Mind Games to the elderly Just as the body needs physical activity and stimulation to stay healthy, the brain needs stimulation to stay sharp and avoid cognitive decline as we age so this helps the elderly persons stay on truck and active in the society.
7. We also organize and provide physical and fitness exercises using professional and committed trainers to the old and sick periodically all tailored to make these persons feet to move on with life.
8. Also make home visits to the elderly persons to capture interesting and developmental stories from the which we document and pass onto the young generation which helps them to know their routes and our good culture and norms so that they are protected and also as their share their stories of the past, we also share our stories of the present which helps both generations to be at par.

All the above are done in order to have a community in which all citizens i.e the vulnerable elderly and sick people lead dignified, healthy, faithful and secure lives where our reach can.

6). CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT

Climate an environment change has been the greatest danger on Earth mankind is facing unknowingly. It should and must be the concern for each and every body since we are all inhabitants on the same planet.
Climate change has threatened to the large extent the biodiversity, food insecurity and hence the lives of people. It is observed that in many years to come the Earth will not be able to support life. It’s possible to reverse all this because its cause is simply Man’s influence on Earth, i.e Its man against life on the Earth. It may not be man as such but the mindset of man since is a rational animal.

Therefore as THE ANDTEX TRAINING AND CARE ORGANISATION (TATCO Uganda) is highly concerned on creating a positive mindset on environment conservation and climate change issues in the society. We do this in the following ways;

1. Organize community awareness workshops on environment conservation and climate changes. This is done in schools when parents are called for school meetings, meeting with focus set groups, with local leaders, etc. A professional environmentalist is given platform to talk and teach the parents (community) about the dangers of environment degradation and how to conserve it.
2. Training teachers to Integrate environment and climate topics in class while learning is taking place to children so that they get informed and grow when they are well versed with the causes, dangers of environment degradation and climate change and how to conserve and take care of the ecosystem and also encourage them to practice it at home and also teach their parents back home to do so.
3. We plant and also encourage the community members to plant more trees starting from our schools and in other areas where the community allows us to do so. This increases on the ecosystem and help to manage the climate change
4. We collaborate with the local leaders to organize community gathering to educate people on the changes of increasing carbon emissions in the environment, disposal of wastes in water sources and creating settlements in wetlands. The local authority is always advised and requested to use the powers given to stop the vise by not allowing settlers in wetlands and create safer and gazette waste disposal areas.
5. We design, print and distribute publications with information about environmental conservation and climate change mitigation measures to the community members which in a long run results to community awareness of their environment and care.
6. We create alternative source of income for the vulnerable community members as a way to prevent them from carrying out activities forexample sand mining, stone quarrying, burning of charcoal, making of bricks, etc which all degrades and destroys the ecosystem. By providing vocational skills training and starting up livelihood support projects to the youths and women which are friendly to the environment, we hope to change the vise.

All the above is possible with support from partners and like mind organizations. We call for collaborations, support and commitment to transform our/your community.