Education is every child’s right. The children of uneducated mothers are more likely to die in infancy than those whose mothers can read. An uneducated population has fewer opportunities to have a say in the decision making about their community’s development. In rural communities, most learning environments are not conducive (schools are accommodated in makeshift or dilapidated structures. However, Schools are also not built through construction or rehabilitation alone. Local teachers in most of the schools are not trained to national curricular standards, salary payment preferably by local government is often nonexistent, and the issue of school fees, is an ongoing obstacle to poor children.

Child protection is one of our strategic priorities for the coming years. We recognize that communities, families and children themselves are an integral part of any effective child protection system. This means that, effective child protection requires community members and leaders to be aware of and committed to children’s right to protection, while involving the children themselves in the process.

In rural communities, families are often destitute and unable to provide life’s basic needs for their children. A stable family income improves children’s prospects for healthy mental and physical development by providing them with easier access to food, shelter, health services and education. Young people especially young mothers are particularly vulnerable, because without a means of earning a living, the range of positive options narrows significantly. The Livelihoods priority is to help young people, their families and communities earn a living and become economically empowered and food secured.

Our Livelihood interventions have been most successful in previous projects where over 300 rural women, 50 young mothers and their families are now out of the absolute poverty bracket following our skills training and Group Savings and Credit Schemes program supported by Child Hope UK and Tools For Self-Reliance (TFSR)