LOCATION: In Arua District. (8 Sub Counties: Logiri, Aii-vu, Omugo, Rhino-Camp,

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1 Page1 CONCEPT NOTE: IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: World Action Fund TITLE: End Teenage Pregnancy and Earlier Marriage (ETPEM) LOCATION: In Arua District. (8 Sub Counties: Logiri, Aii-vu, Omugo, Rhino-Camp, Odupi, Ayivuni, Uriama and Ullepi) Period: 20 Months. Estimated total Cost : UGX.165, 495,000 (USD 56,100) Contact Person: Mr. Peter Odama World Action Fund Chief Executive Director P.O.BOX 1251 Arua, Uganda WAF.uganda@gmail.com Cell phone / Technical Support Organisation: Rural Initiative for Community Empowerment West Nile

2 Page2 Introduction: World Action Fund (WAF) is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) that is committed to finding sustainable solutions to eradicate poverty, promote good Health, better Education, sustainable Agriculture and peaceful co-existence. Founded in January 2011 and registered in May 2014 under Non-Governmental Organisation Registration ACT, CAP.113 Reg No WAF is more active in Arua district with some niche of activities in Zombo District (West Nile sub-region) with core thematic areas of; Health, Education, Peace building, Advocacy, Civic empowerment and Human rights, Research and communication and Innovative action oriented Sustainable Agriculture. World Action Fund (WAF) has become a strong national level organization united by purpose, mission, vision, values and principles. WAF has its Board of Directors who initiates, consider and adopt policies and program. The Board is the policymaking organ of the organization responsible for policy design. The Secretariat is the planning, implementation and monitoring organ of the organization. It is headed by the Chief Executive Director. The Chief Executive Director provides effective leadership and gives guidance to the management for the smooth running of the organization affair. Most importantly, each program thematic areas being managed by members of staff who have expertise in them. Back Ground: In sub-saharan African, 24% of teenage pregnancies occur at an age of 19. Sadly, the statistics get worse in Uganda, the Population Secretariat indicates that of the 1.2 million pregnancies recorded in Uganda annually, 25 per cent of these are teenage pregnancies and more than 300,000 teenagers who get pregnant also account for the bulk of unwanted pregnancies, which end up in unintended births or abortion, high rate of drop outs in both primary secondary schools, the effects spill over on to their health, economic and social status. According to the Uganda Demographic Health survey 2011, about 14 per cent of young women and 16 per cent of young men had their first sexual encounter before the age of 15 while 57 per cent of young women had their first encounter before the age of 18. Early marriage, early initiation of sex and lack of information, are said to be the leading drivers of adolescent pregnancy. According to Dr Wilfred Ochan, the Assistant Country Representative United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) noted that lack of access to reproductive health information supported with services, has led teenagers into early sex, while poverty and cultural practices continue to force girls into early marriages. UBOS 2011 statistics indicate that the number of teenage mothers in the West Nile sub region shot from 3.7% in 2006 to 6.6% in 2011 despite several efforts by civil society to reverse the trend. The situation is not any better in the other parts of the country. Recent media reports - Daily Monitor further reported on June 24, 2013 that over 40,000 primary school children are defiled by their teachers a year. This trend of events is worrying given that defilement is an offence in Uganda. The Ministry of health has announced that HIV prevalence rates have more than doubled over the last two years in the West Nile region standing at 4.9 percent up from 2.4 percent, the prevalence is high amongst women and continues to advance between young people between the ages of years

3 Page3 In most rural areas of Arua District (ANPPCAN 2013 Survey) indicated that sex education has not been given the required attention in schools while parents fear to talk to their children about sex and reproductive health. There also seems to be a distinctive link between poverty and early pregnancies as data from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics shows that adolescents from poor families are more likely to get pregnant. The pregnancy rate for adolescents from these families stands at 41 per cent while that for adolescents from wealthier families is 17 per cent. Problem Statement: Arua District records a high number of teenage mothers with nearly one in every three households recording a teen that has got pregnant or has had a child (APPCAN report 2013), this was further noted during a visit to Arua Regional referral Hospital maternity ward with over 45% of the deliveries being teenager who were below 18 years and mostly school drop outs due to pregnancy. Teenage mothers and their families continue to face financial stress as they struggle to cater for the health care of the mother and baby and also find themselves at more risk in becoming victims in the country s high infant and maternal mortality. This makes teenage pregnancy enormously expensive and it is a phenomenon which has caught many families within the vicious circle of poverty. The teenage pregnancies is associated with many social issues, including early forced marriage, lower educational levels, higher rates of poverty, inadequate basic education in the fundamentals of sexual and reproductive health, limited access to affordable contraceptive options and other poorer life outcomes in children of teenage mothers. This has caused social stigma in many communities,increased HIV/Aids among these teenagers who get Pregnant,increased nutritional deficiencies among the pregnant teenagers, high dropout rates in school, Poor academic performance in children of teenage mothers, many of them being more likely than average to fail to graduate from primary and secondary school. This unbecoming trend of increased teenage pregnancies, high school dropout rate of girl children, increased HIV/Aids cases among the teenagers are caused by inadequate sex education by parents, relaxed awareness about the dangers of premarital sex, unprotected sex has caused very high teenage pregnancy and increased HIV/Aids prevalence rate in Arua District. World Action Fund, therefore intend to revert this scenario through End Teenage Pregnancy and Earlier Marriage (ETPEM) project in Arua District. Goal: The goal of Strengthening End Teenage Pregnancy and Earlier Marriage (ETPEM) project is to increase access, retention and completion rates among teenagers in Arua District by 2019 Objectives 1. To create awareness among the Teenage in school and out of school for improved access, retention and performance of girl child in school in 5 rural sub counties targeting 1000 teenagers in Arua District by To advocate for HIV/AIDS health talk programs in schools through refresher trainings for teachers on HI/AIDS integration in children s learning in schools and establishing talking compound on teenage pregnancies, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS in 5 rural schools of Arua District by To strengthen sustainable citizens platforms that facilitates debate on increased community awareness about teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS through love life campaign among the youth in Arua District by 2019.

4 Page4 Activities: 1. Under take awareness campaign for teenagers both in school and out of school (Formation of teenage Peer learning clubs, Out of school teenage league for sex education, Radio sports, Radio talk shows, Peer debates on sex in schools, Establishment of talking compound on sex, and HIV/AIDS, Formation of children poem clubs, Sex education. 2. Under take HIV/AIDS education in selected schools ( Health Talks/Educating young people about HIV and AIDS, Awareness on sex and drug use among the teenagers, Advocacy to include HIV/AIDS in morning Assembles in Schools and Orientation of senior women teachers on HIV/AIDS and Teenage management in schools) 3. Conduct Teacher and Teenage training: Teenage and HIV/AIDS education requires detailed discussions of subjects such as sex, death, illness and drug use. Teachers are not likely to have experience dealing with these issues in class, and require specialized training so that they are comfortable discussing them without letting personal values conflict with the health needs of the students. Teacher training is fundamental to the successful delivery of sex and AIDS education in schools. In addition teenagers need specialized trainings on management of periods, good childhood and good parenting skills for those at pregnant. 4. Media Campaigns: HIV/ AIDS education advertisements, films, or announcements( Love Life campaign using a variety of media to educate young people about HIV and AIDS, Teenage pregnancy.the love Life campaign will display posters, billboards and used TVs and music Dance and drama that are popular with young people, as an educational platforms will be used. Methodology: Participatory methods will be employed and all project interventions will promote people centered Advocacy by empowering teenagers, community leaders and teachers to engage with duty bearers in ensuring access to quality services in Health Education at community level, good parenting and access, retention and performance of children in schools. Feed back and advocacy forum will be made available where teenagers out of school can dialogue with their leaders on matters that hinder their right to education, peace and livelihood. The advocacy strategies to be employed shall include; open air sensitization, radio programming, community dialogue and research and publications. The citizens shall be mobilized to give feedback on service delivery and nominate exemplary schools in their community. Expected outcomes. Coverage: Participating Sub county counties with improved access, retention and performance of their teenage children in school. Knowledgeable teachers with skills to prevent sexual violence and reduced stigma among positively living school in schools. Active and informed citizenry engaging with duty bearers in realizing quality education for all children at household and community level. The project will be implemented in Arua district. Eight sub-counties of Logiri, Aii-vu, Omugo, Rihno-Camp, Odupi, Ayivuni, Uriama and Ullepi will be targeted for the project

5 Page5 implementation. The eight sub-counties are among those that have recorded high teenage cases, high dropout rate, and poor performance in the 2014 primary leaving examination result and have a number of government aided primary schools not covered by a number of interventions. In each of the sub-county, three schools will be selected. The project is expected to take 24 months effective date of funding. Management Capacity: World Action Fund will work in collaboration with Arua district departments of Education, Health and Community Based Services. Together with WAF staff, a technical team will be constituted out of staff from the different departments as the project s technical team. The rationale is to help in building local capacity and further sustainability of the program. This will be ensured by signing a memorandum of understanding for the assignment The project will be spearheaded by technical Team of WAF; however, aware of the benefits of synergies with local governments, both stakeholders will work in collaboration and partnership. They will among others discuss technical standards proposed by WAF, hold termly coordination meetings to review performance. Competent personnel from the local governments especially Community Development Officers, Health Assistants, Education Officers will be involved in facilitating trainings. However, WAF will remain responsible and accountable for the project. WAF has competent and professional staff in the following fields; Finance and Administration, Capacity Building, Education, Health Peace Building, Development and Quality Assurance. They have wealth of experience to enable them effectively and efficiently manage the projec t. Key assumptions School programs will not be interrupted Government will be committed to provide basic education There will be political and technical will from both elected and appointed leaders There will be Political stability in the country. Risk Situation Bad Cultural practices and religious beliefs Holidays Other school programs Negative community attitude / Apathy of communities Community participation if time consuming Mitigation Plan Targeted activities will be developed targeting elders, religious leaders and some organized clans with clear leadership Plan integrated activities for both in school and out of school teenagers. Having short training/work sessions (about 1 hour), once per week Synchronizing HIV/AIDS activities with science /PE periods Mobilization and Sensitization i.e. advocacy Involvement of all stake holders in the project activities (theatre forums) The project will show case and demonstrate benefits from participation.