African Child Academy

Skills Training

- To arrange vocational and technical training courses to enhance skills and enable women to lead a subsistent life.

-  To develop processes to enable women to generate income, through micro-credit and allied programmes and by developing self help groups

- To help adolescent boys and girls from the streets of Kampala to receive a decent training, leading to a job with a reasonable salary.

- To help young people to develop an independent way of living - To help women and young people to attain a more meaningful lifestyle by facilitating their withdrawal from the streets and moving into a recognized skill/trade

- To develop self confidence and individual potential.

The protection homes ACIN in Uganda supports are : ACIN Home provides complete care to traumatized children who have faced acute loneliness and helplessness on the streets. The home is a shelter for children who have no parents, or who had lost valuable innocent years living on the streets. Counseling support is ongoing.

A protection home for abandoned boys, it was established to provides education, health care, counseling, recreation, and life skills training.

Education

Education changes lives. It is a human right. The ACIN believes that education is the passport out of poverty. It is the key to building an independent, successful life.

Education offers street and slum children a chance to escape poverty, to enjoy better health and to live longer. It means that more children live free from exploitation and childhood can be a time of fun and learning.

ACIN believes that education is critical for the development of society and for enabling those have been excluded to become included in mainstream society.

ACIN’s Holistic Education provides support to the poorest and most vulnerable children. The programme also works with community groups to raise awareness about the benefits of sending children to school.

ACIN and its partners run pre-schools for first generation learners, that is, the children of parents who have had little or no schooling.

We also have Coaching Centres where support is provided to children going to mainstream primary and secondary schools. These centers provide homework support, nutritious meals, counseling, extra tuition and recreational activities. This helps children to progress through school and cuts down on drop-out rates.

ACIN is hugely committed to education.

Drug Rehabilitation:

Helping children to lead drug free lives Solvent abuse is a major problem for many young people in Uganda and Stations ,streets is home to many homeless people. a Rehabilitation and Intervention programme was initiated as well as a Drop in Centre – ACIN DIC (Drop in Centre for Solvent Addicted Children).This was followed by the setting-up of a Rehabilitation Home .

The drug rehabilitation project’s aims are to: Rehabilitate children after detoxification to lead a drug free life Place these children in formal schools/ hostels Provide vocational training Provide jobs through referrals Support individuals towards independent living. ACIN Open Shelter

The Center provides love, psychological counseling, nutritional support and mainstreaming of boys into school, which has been salvation for most of them. Substance abuse has almost stopped. As well as attending school, these teenage boys now enjoy dancing, drama, sports, singing etc.

Nutrition:

The combination of malnutrition and infection is Nutrition the leading cause of death among young children in developing countries. Malnutrition alone is estimated to account for over half of children’s deaths annually.

Uganda alone is recognized as being home to 1/3 of the world’s malnourished children. The children living on the streets of Kampala and other towns can be regularly seen foraging for food among st the rubbish piles, amidst the squalor of dumping grounds and fighting with animals and birds for morsels of food to keep themselves alive.

ACIN recognizing the importance of positive nutrition as a daily element of our programmes ensures the provision of meals to all the children with whom we work and throughout our education programmes ensures that children come to understand the importance of a balanced, nutritious diet.

Capacity Building :

Development work used to be largely a matter of making decisions based on the technical appraisal of projects. But over the past few years, the ACIN have come to the conclusion that focusing purely on technical programmes while ignoring the organizations that manage them is short sighted and superficial.

The result is a consensus that building the capacities of individuals, organizations and institutions is vital for the strengthening of civil society and grassroots development. By increasing the capacity of organizations involved in development, interventions can be made more effective, and their results longer lasting.

Development work used to be largely a matter of making decisions based on the technical appraisal of projects. But over the past few years, the Hope Foundation have come to the conclusion that focusing purely on technical programmes while ignoring the organizations that manage them is short sighted and superficial. The result is a consensus that building the capacities of individuals, organizations and institutions is vital for the strengthening of civil society and grassroots development. By increasing the capacity of organizations involved in development, interventions can be made more effective, and their results longer lasting.

In response to this need, the ACIN regularly organizes capacity building programmes to provide services that empower institutions and individuals to assess their own information needs, set their own priorities and build their own information systems.

The training programmes have been organised in order to help individual staff members understand the importance of completing tasks within a given time frame. The programme also encourages staff members to learn to take initiative when responding to the emerging needs of the communities they serve. In addition, the staff members also need to understand their responsibilities better vis-à-vis their beneficiaries. The financial and management skills of local NGOs are also improved. This strengthens the accountability and credibility of local NGOs in the eyes of donors and the community. This in turn enhances confidence, leadership and skills to improve the NGOs’ structures, thereby innovating and sharing knowledge and expertise. Negotiation skills are also developed in order to work effectively with government departments and to build alliances, coalitions and networks with other NGOs.

This ongoing process will lead to improved efficiency, transparency and accountability in implementing development programmes, and ultimately create an even more enabling atmosphere for the children in ACIN’s care.

Story

Give Hopes Story

Give Hope, African Child in Need was founded by Milton Opoya. Milton’s love and passion for education is personal. He grew up in the village of Nangalama in poverty - walking 14 miles to school, barefoot on an empty stomach. His own schooling showed him how education is the ticket out of poverty. It was his desire for other children living in poverty to have access to education that lead to where we are today. Milton has started African Child in Need Academy in the village he grew up in, so that children like himself wouldn't have to walk to school.

Today the school is fully operational with over 300 students are in attendance receiving a free education and hope for a better future. The challenge has now shifted from access to education - to financial need to continue to run. The buildings are in place, but there is need for school supplies and meals for the children. Often the only meal children receive is at the school. It's very difficult to learn on an empty stomach, and so Give Hope provides a meal to the children so they can focus.

In 2019 Milton came to Canada to make connections and look for a Canadian Partner. His travels led him to Brownfield, Alberta. In this time, he was connected to Kurt and Lynn who became very interested in the ministry. In 2020 they went to Uganda to see Milton and the school. It didn’t take long to see the amazing work that was being done and to want to be part of it They now serve alongside with Milton and his staff as part of the Canadian ambassador team.

Watch our Well Project

How You Can Help

Right now there are two major things that you can do to help Give hope. The first is to pray. Pray for God's provision - pray for the children, for the staff. The second thing is to support the ministry financially. We are looking for monthly donors who will financially partner with us to give hope and change the lives of the children in this village. All donations are eligible for a Canadian tax receipt and you can set up auto donations.