Child Friendly Environment in Uganda - Amuru District 2010

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

AMURU DISTRICT

From the People of Japan

The Republic of Uganda

A Pictorial

Report

The Republic of Uganda

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

A Pictorial Report AMURU DISTRICT

From the People of Japan

Published for UNICEF Uganda P.O Box 7047, Kampala, Uganda COWI LTD Crusader House P.O Box 10591 Kampala, Uganda By: Advanced Communications Ltd, P.O Box 11670, Kampala, Uganda E-mail: info@advancedcommunications-ea.com www.advancedcommunications-ea.com ŠUNICEF Uganda. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of UNICEF and her partners.

Table of Contents Page

Page

Abalokodi Primary School

3

Lacaro P7 Primary School

10

Abbera Primary School

4

Lalar Primary School

11

Kinene Primary School

5

Lamoki Primary School

12

Coroom Primary School

6

Olinga Primary School

13

Laminatoo Primary School

7

Palukere Primary School

14

Koch - Lila Primary School

8

Alero Health Centre III

15

Labongogali Primary School

9

Koch Goma Health Center IV

16

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Introduction This report has been compiled by COWI Ltd to document the developmental contributions by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the reconstruction of schools and health centers in six districts in Northern Uganda that were affected by the insurgency in the past 20 years. It portrays the reconstruction efforts for works executed by UNICEF with funding from the government of Japan in the then districts of Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum, Pader, Lira and Oyam. It is important to note that other districts have since been curved out of the six districts and it shouldn’t be surprising to find that some of the institutions dwelt on in this report are now actually found under different districts.

The project was implemented by UNICEF with funding from the Government of Japan and was executed under the supervision of COWI Ltd. The project construction activities commenced in August 2009 and were substantially completed in June 2010.

Project background Two decades of armed conflict between the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) resulted in a complex humanitarian situation in northern Uganda, notably in Acholi and Lango sub-regions characterised by massive internal displacement of people.

More than 1.8 million people were forced to shift from their homes by the insurgency to the more secure Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps where the Uganda government forces offered them protection. This led to drastic deterioration or even outright collapse of infrastructure particularly schools and health centers due to abandonment and lack of main-

tenance. The existing facilities were abandoned while temporary facilities were set up at the IDP centers till the insurgency subsided.

With positive developments in 2006, the humanitarian situation in northern Uganda gradually improved and by the end of September 2007, more than half of the formerly displaced people had been repatriated with over half a million settling permanently in their original villages. The return has certainly not been smooth as almost all families had to return to destroyed, damaged or dilapidated facilities and infrastructure and in most cases, a stark lack of institutional, social and economic structures. Not only did the conflict disrupt the provision of critical social services such as primary health care and education, it also contributed to the breakdown of traditional community structures for support and assistance.

Through the Child Friendly Environment and Community Empowerment (CFE) project, UNICEF with support from the government of Japan embarked on a comprehensive rehabilitation process that saw the revitalization of two of the most critical services impacting the survival and development of children in these regions. These comprised services in primary schools and the health care facilities.

In October 2008 UNICEF with funding from the government of Japan contracted COWI, an engineering consulting firm to offer technical expertise in the aspects of design, planning, tendering and post contract supervision of rehabilitation and construction of new facilities in 72 schools and 24 health centre facilities in the 6 districts.

The project was aimed at improving education, hygiene, sanitation and

safe water access especially by the children in these areas.

The total project cost was approximately USD 5 million (12 billion Uganda shillings) and covered 4 districts in the Acholi sub region (i.e. Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader ) and 2 in Lango sub-region (i.e. Lira and Oyam). In all, 72 primary schools and 24 health centres were targeted to be improved.

This project was effectively completed in November 2010.

Project objectives and achievements The overall objective of the project was to ensure that after the conflict, children and women were placed at the centre of the recovery and development process in northern Uganda, and that the facility based structures of the formal sector are strengthened with the ownership and participation of communities:The project has so far achieved the following:1.

A remarkable improvement in access to primary education by the children in the region through provision of sound classroom structures, scholastic and recreational materials.

2.

A remarkable improvement in the provision of safe and clean water in schools and health centres with improved sanitation through provision of sanitation and hand-washing facilities 3. Improvement in teachers’ commitment and morale through provision of decent staff houses and sanitation facilities.

4.

A remarkable improvement of health care service delivery

1

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District through rehabilitation of health centres and related sanitation facilities.

The map below shows the location of Amuru district in relation to its neighbouring districts.

About Amuru district

CFE project coverage in Amuru The CFE project covered the following institutions in Amuru district Schools:1.

Abalokodi Primary School 2.

Abbera Primary School 3.

Kinene Primary School 4. Coroom Primary School 5. Laminatoo Primary School 6.

Koch-Lira Primary School 7. Labongogali Primary School 8. Lacaro Primary School 9. Lalar Primary School 10. Lamoki Primary School 11. Olinga Ptimary school 12. Palukere Primary School Health Centers:1.

Alero Health Center 2.

Koch Goma Health Center 3.

Palukere Health Center

2

Kitgum

Yumbe Maracha

Adjumani kotido

Arua

Nebbi

Pader

Gulu

Abim

AMURU Lira

Oyam

Moroto Amuria

L. L.

Kaberamaido Amolatar lotar Amo

L. Kyoga

ase

Kiboga

ke

Iband Kabale

Kamuli

Butaleja

cho

Busia

Mukono

Kalangala Rakai

Nakapiripirit

Kap

Sironko

Tororo

ono

Kampala

Kiruhura

Isingiro

Pallisa

Iganga

Muk Wakiso

rwa

Kumi

Kaliro

Jinja

Masaka

Ntungamo Kisoro

Mpigi

Sembalule

Mbar ara

Kanungu Rukungiri

Bushenyi

Mitya na

Mubende

ge

wen

Kam

a

Kasese

Luwe ro

Kibaale Kyenjojo

Katakwi

Soroti

Nakasongola

Nak

o

ugy

dib

Bun

Kabarole

Dokolo

Masindi

Mbale Ma naf wa

Apac

tt er er lb AAlb Hoima

uge May

It is mainly an agricultural district with 98% of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture. However during the insurgency only less than 1% of the land was being utilised for agriculture because of insecurity and displacement of people.

Kaabong Moyo

Koboko

a Kayung

At the time of executing the project, Amuru district was one of the four districts that made up the Acholi subregion the other districts being Kitgum, Pader and Gulu. It was curved out of Gulu in 2006. The district had a population of approximately 226,000 people accounting for about 15% of the population in the Acholi sub-region with a population growth rate of 3.5% (going by the 2002 national population census).

L. L. Victoria Victoria

Bugiri

Bukwo

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Abalokodi Primary School Abalokodi Primary School is located in Atiak sub-county in Amuru district.

During the insurgency the pupils of this school were accommodated by Juba Road School thereby stressing the latter school’s facilities and infrastructure due to overcrowding. Abalokodi Primary School resumed operations in late 2007 and at the time of intervention, it had a population of 250 pupils. The classroom structures were dilapidated and the sanitation facilities were insufficient. The teachers had to do with housing structures made from mud and wattle with grass thatch. There was a functioning borehole on the school site but the toilets were in deplorable condition.

Pupils attending classes under a tree before the intervention

Toilet facility before intervention

It was obvious that the school needed urgent intervention in all aspects of infrastructure for both pupils and teachers. The district administration built a new classroom block for the school comprising three classrooms with an office/store but this was not enough for all classes and with the likelihood of recruiting more teachers, there was a need for improved accommodation and sanitation facilities.

Through the CFE project, the school was supported through the following interventions:-

The new toilet facility constructed for the school under the CFE project

(i) Construction of 2 toilet blocks of five-stance toilets one for girls and the other for boys. (ii) 1 block of 2-stance toilets for the teachers.

3

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Abbera Primary School Abbera Primary School is located in Pabbo sub-county and at the time of intervention had a population of 650 children (379 boys and 271 girls) with 9 teachers, 2 of whom were women.

At that time, the school had 7 classrooms with an office and store and these were in sound condition save for the need for a facelift in some of the classrooms. The existing sanitation facilities were visibly insufficient for the population with the 5-stance latrine block for girls in appalling condition as shown in the pictures. There was a 6- stance latrine block that had just been completed by other funders but had not yet been commissioned and was thus not in use while the 5-stance block that was still under construction seemed to have been abandoned by the contractors. The teachers were using temporary mobile toilets.

Under the CFE programme, the following intervention was made:-

The toilet facility before intervention

(i) Construction of one block of 5-stance latrine.

The completed toilet facility after intervention

4

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Kinene Primary School Kinene Primary School is located in Bwobo Parish, Alero Sub county and at the time of intervention had a population of 701 children (384 boys and 317 girls) with eleven teachers. The school had three classroom blocks with a total of 10 classrooms. These comprised of permanent structures some of which only had pillars and roofs with no wall in-fills as shown in the pictures on the right. Others had leaking roofs that needed replacing. The only sanitation facility was a grass-thatched 4-stance latrine for girls and a similar one for the boys, both of which had no hand-washing facilities.

The old open classrooms

The old teachers’ toilet facility

The teachers were accommodated in grass thatched huts constructed by parents, shared toilet facilities with the children while at school and had grass thatched toilet facilities at their residences. There was a borehole within the school compound, in good working condition and a rainwater harvesting tank that was not functional because of a broken tap. The school community used jerrycans to store drinking water.

Under the CFE programme, the following interventions were made:-

The new 5-stance toilet facility

(i) Construction of one block of latrines with hand-washing facilities, one for boys and one for girls. (ii) Completion of the existing classrooms.

The completed classroom block

5

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Coorom Primary School Coorom Primary School is located in Koch Goma Sub-county and at the time of intervention had an enrolment of 357 pupils (156 boys and 201 girls) with 6 teachers, 2 of whom were women. The school had 7 classrooms, all in use though some were in poor structural condition. The school also had 3 blocks of 5-Stance latrines in good condition with a functional borehole.

The school teachers were accommodated in grass-thatched huts with similar toilet facilities.

Under the CFE programme, the following intervention was made:(i) Construction of new houses for teachers.

The newly completed staff house

6

The new staff facilities under construction with the old staff houses in the background

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Laminatoo Primary School Laminatoo Primary School is located in Koch-goma Sub county and at the time of intervention had an enrolment of 281 pupils (149 boys and 132 girls) under the stewardship of seven teachers. The school had seven classrooms with a headmaster’s office and a store, all in good condition and in use, with evidently enough furniture. The school however had only one block of 5-stance latrines in good condition that was shared by both boys and girls and the staff houses were not enough for all the teachers. There was thus need for a another block of toilets for pupils, exclusive toilet facilities for the teachers as well as additional staff housing. The school had a functional borehole.

Under the CFE programme, the following intervention was made:-

The existing classroom block

(i) Construction of one block of 5-stance latrines for girls.

The new toilet block constructed besides the only existing toilet facility at the time

7

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Koch Lila Primary School Koch Lila Primary School is located in Koch-goma Sub county and at the time of assessment was still located at its displaced location in the nearby Koch Goma trading center although the majority of the community had returned to their homes. Most of the pupils were therefore commuting from their original home villages to the displaced school site because of lack of infrastructure at the original site. The school had a population of 425 pupils (188 girls and 237 boys) with only four government-paid teachers and three volunteers.

The original site had only one block of two classrooms in good condition as it had been constructed shortly before the assessment for this project. Another two classroom blocks had been partially constructed with one built up to roof level and the other to the window level. The school had a block of 5-stance latrines and a borehole, both in good condition. Inspite of these, the school had no accommodation for staff who had to opt to rent houses in the nearby trading center. At the time of pre-project assessment, the community was planning to build grass thatched huts for the teachers.

The old toilet facility

The old classroom block

Under the CFE programme, the following interventions were made:(i) Construction of staff houses. (ii) Construction of a block of 5-stance latrines for girls all as shown in the pictures.

The new staff house

8

The new toilet facility

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Labongogali Primary School Labongogali Primary School is located in Amuru Sub county and at the time of intervention had a population of 922 pupils (498 boys and 424 girls) with 14 teachers, three of whom were women.

At the time of assessment, the school had seven classrooms in use of which only two, an office and a store were in good condition. Most of the other structures comprised only corrugated sheet roof on piers and gable walls without main infill walls or floors. There was thus a dire need to renovate the other classrooms. The school had two blocks of 4-stance latrines, one for girls and one for boys, both of which were in good condition. There was a borehole at the school but it was not functional and needed repair.

Pupils attending classes in one of the structures

Under the CFE programme, the following interventions were made:(i) Rehabilitation of two blocks of the classrooms. (ii) Repair of the school borehole.

One of the old open classroom structures

One of the classroom blocks after completion

9

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Lacaro P7 Primary School Lacaro Primary School is located in Amuru Sub county and at the time of intervention had a population of 757 pupils (420 boys and 337 girls), 10 government-paid and 4 parent paid teachers, only one of whom was a woman. At the time of assessment, there were six classrooms all in use and in good condition while one classroom was in use but in a bad condition. Three of the teachers were housed in grass thatched huts, constructed by the parents who were planning to build more. There was a functioning borehole but latrines were few and in very bad condition.

One of the old classrooms in bad condition

Under the CFE programme, the following interventions were made:(i) Construction of a block of 2 new classrooms. (ii) Construction of 2 blocks of 5-stance latrines one for boys and the other for girls.

The new classroom block

The new toilet block for girls

10

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Lalar Primary School Lalar Primary School is located in Alero Sub county and at the time of intervention had a population of 333 pupils (193 boys and 142 girls) with 11 teachers. At the time of assessment, the school had 2 blocks of classrooms with 7 rooms in use; each of which needed repair in various aspects. The roof of one of the rooms had been blown off by wind. There were no teachers’ houses thus all the teaching staff had to commute from Alero Displaced People’s camp, several kilometres away. There was one 5-stance and one 4-stance latrine block for the boys and girls respectively, all in fair condition but with no hand washing facilities. There were no exclusive sanitation facilities for the teachers.

There was a borehole with very poor yield that took almost 40 minutes to fill a 20-litre jerrycan.

The old classroom block with blown off roof

Under the CFE programme, the following interventions were done:(i) Rehabilitation of four classrooms. (ii) Repair of the borehole. (iii) Construction of one block of 5-stance latrine with a portable wash hand facility.

New toilet facility

The newly rehabilitated classroom block

11

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Lamoki Primary School Lamoki Primary School is located in Anaka Sub county and at the time of intervention had a population of 454 children (238 boys and 216 girls), 10 government-paid and 2 parent-paid teachers. The school had seven classrooms with an office and a store. Owing to lack of staff accommodation at the school, some of the teachers resided in grass thatched huts near the school, while others had to commute from Anaka trading center several kilometres away. There was one block of 4-stance latrines while an NGO, ACF was building a borehole for the school.

Under the CFE programme, the following intervention was made:(i) Construction of housing units for teachers’ accommodation.

The newly completed staff house

12

The old grass thatched houses for staff

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Olinga Primary School Olinga Primary School is located in Pabbo Sub county and at the time of intervention had a population of 427 pupils (246 boys and 181 girls), nine teachers; three of whom were women. There were seven classrooms in use four of which were new while the rest were dilapidated. One of the classrooms was being used as a staff room, office and store. The teachers who chose to reside near the school were housed in grass thatched huts in very poor condition while the others had to travel long distances for decent accommodation. There was one block of 5-stance latrines in good condition and a functioning borehole.

Under the CFE programme, the following interventions were made: (i) Renovation of a block of three classrooms. (ii) Construction of one block of 5-stance latrines for girls. (iii) Construction of one block of 2-stance latrines for teachers.

The old classroom block

The new 5-Stance VIP Latrine

The new 2-Stance VIP latrine

The renovated classroom block

13

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Palukere Primary School Palukere Primary School is located in Atiak Sub county and at the time of intervention had 425 students (231 boys and 194 girls), six governmentpaid and three parent-paid teachers, three of whom were women. The school had seven classrooms in use but only five were in good condition.

Some of the classrooms had leaking corrugated iron-sheet roofs on pillars and gable walls, without side infill walls. The only complete structure was used as an office and storeroom. One open and incomplete classroom was used as a staff room. There was no onsite accommodation for the teachers who had to commute from a distance away.

The old classroom structures

The schools had a 10-stance latrine for boys and 9-stance for girls, but none for teachers with a borehole 100 metres away from the furthest school building.

Under the CFE programme, the following interventions were made:-

One of the blocks with a leaking roof

(i) Rehabilitation of four classrooms (two blocks of two classrooms each). (ii) Construction of one 2-stance ecosan toilets for teachers.

The new 2 – Stance ecosan toilet block

14

The rehabilitated classroom block

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Alero Health Centre III Alero Health Center (HC) is located in Alero Sub-county. Under the Uganda Ministry of Health guidelines, every sub-county must have a Health Centre III which must have an out-patient department (OPD), examination facilities, a pharmacy (medical store) and maternity. It must thus be managed by a clinical officer, a nurse and midwife resident at the center. Following the insurgency, all that remained at Alero HC was dilapidated outpatient department and staff houses.

Under the CFE programme, the following interventions were made:i) Construction of a staff house. ii) Construction of a 4-Stance VIP latrine.

The existing OPD

The new 4- Stance VIP Latrine

The new staff house

15

Child Friendly Environment in Northern Uganda

Amuru District

Koch Goma Health Center IV Koch Goma Health Center is located in Koch Goma Sub-county with health center IV status. At the time of assessment it had a dilapidated dispensary and maternity block with four similarly dilapidated staff houses. The staff houses had caved-in ceilings infested with bats and the roofs were leaking.

The houses were thus un-inhabitable so the need for staff accommodation was critical for a health center of this status.

Under the CFE programme, the following intervention was made:i) Renovation of staff houses.

One of the staff houses before intervention

Another staff house before intervention

One of the renovated staff houses

16

UNICEF Uganda P.O Box 7047, Kampala, Uganda COWI Crusader House P.O Box 10591 Kampala, Uganda By: Advanced Communications Ltd, P.O Box 11670, Kampala, Uganda E-mail: info@advancedcommunications-ea.com www.advancedcommunications-ea.com

From the People of Japan