Literacy Empowers

UPLIFT West Nile is dedicated to empowering rural villagers in the West Nile region of Uganda. 4.000 women and some men are trained each year through innovative literacy training with special focus on sexual and reproductive health rights , enabling them to seek knowledge and learn new skills. Learning to read and write stimulates curiosity, builds self-confidence and improves the quality of life. It is the foundation for further development, as well as increased self-esteem, self-determination and empowerment

Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

We care about the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women in West Nile. Working closely with the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union, we provide training and counselling services to our coordinators and mentors, who then inform and train rural women – so they can make informed personal health choices and be better equipped to support and strengthen family and community.

Adolescents

UPLIFT West Nile supports the education of young girls and adolescents about sexual and reproductive and health rights, providing tools for informed decisions about health and well-being. Our targeted outreach, in partnership with Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union, offers training and counselling to at least 1.200 girls annually. Boys are also included in some of the sessions.

Vision & Mission

Empowerment of rural villagers in the target areas of West Nile region, through a combined program of literacy training and other activities including: sexual and reproductive health rights, business skills, organizational skills, village health awareness, and environmental concern.

Norwegian and Ugandan friends supporting UPLIFT West Nile

Women of West Nile learning new skills

Attentive learners

Time to celebrate learning and new skills

About Uplift West Nile

UPLIFT has years long experience with literacy training in West Nile. Over 30.000 rural villagers have to date been trained to read and write their own tribal language since the inception of UPLIFT. Literacy is seen as a necessary foundation for empowerment of rural villagers. Without the ability to read and write, empowerment activities will be severely constrained. The main focus has been on the training of women, seeing as they are over-represented among illiterates.

UPLIFT sees the need for capacity-building on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union where one midwife in each of UPLIFTs four target districts can do capacity-building on SRHR for UPLIFT board members, coordinators and mentors. In addition, they will carry out SRHR information for younger girls and offer HPV vaccination. UPLIFT will arrange for individual SRHR counseling services for younger girls and can use the midwives to facilitate treatment or referral to health care facilities as required.

Major strategic issues

Based on work during the past 20+ years, and contact and collaboration with local and district government authorities, UPLIFT has formulated the following three strategic issues:

Strategic Issue 1: Broader activity portfolio
Strategic Issue 2: Key stakeholder
Strategic Issue 3: Formal recognition

Friends of UPLIFT (FUP), Norway

Friends of UPLIFT (FUP), Norway has been a close partner of UPLIFT West Nile for over 20 years. FUP is a humanitarian, non-profit entity providing organizational, technical, and financial support to UPLIFT West Nile. FUP has over 100 members and supporters in Norway and abroad.

Members of the Board of Directors and Women’s Committee have extensive international development experience with Fokus- and Norad-funded projects from India, Uganda and other African countries. Several members have resided and worked in Africa.

FUP has extensive organizational and technical expertise – project design and implementation, monitoring & evaluation, financial control, cultural sensitivity, with focus on literacy training and gender-based empowerment in remote, vulnerable populations. FUP provides added value as a trusted advisor.

FUP facilitated the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between UPLIFT West Nile and the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union (UNMU), where UNMU provides local midwives to assist with capacity-building about sexual and reproductive health rights for women.