|
ECONOMIC
EMPOWERMENT
caregivers|
the infected | the affected | women | widows
| elderly
Financial independence for all
“A
poor person only owns the lice on his body,”
while the word used to describe poor people
in the Madi language is taako - “those
without a thing, and who cannot afford anything”.
(Local saying in Kabarole and Madi. UPPAP)
Overview
The Economic Empowerment
programme was created to address the finanical
needs of the underprivileged classes of
people living with HIV/AIDS and opportunisitic
infections. In the bid to make the infected
and the affected more finanically independent
of relief and handouts. Our approach encourages
self evaluation and monitoring for the beneficiaries
of financial projects to ensure sustainability
and accountability.
As in the first Participatory
Poverty Assessment report(PPA1) by UPPAP
(Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment
Project), there’s a general agreement
that poverty is a lack of basic needs and
services such as food, clothing, bedding,
shelter, basic health and education. As
a man in Kagoma Gate Jinja explained: “It
is only the chairman whose voice can be
heard. In meetings I cannot speak because
I don’t have enough money. I am thinking
about money. I can’t concentrate or
talk…The voices of women are down.
Women cannot talk in front of men. When
I am poor, I cannot speak among the middle
class, they shut you down.” (Deepening
the Understanding of Poverty: Research findings
from the 2nd Participatory Poverty Assessment,
PPA2. http://www.finance.go.ug/uppap/docs/NationalRpt.php).
Other factors implicated in the causation
of poverty in the urban setting include:
overpopulation arising from rural-urban
migration, corruption, bribery and embezzlement
and lack of agro-processing facilities.
In many Northern sites, insecurity ranked
as a key cause of poverty.
“Developing countries
are losing control of their economies as
a result of profit-driven globalisation”
Dr. Ngila Mwase [the then Senior Economic
director, United National Development Programme(UNDP)]
said in a keynote address during seminar
on Globalisation, Trade Liberalisation and
its Impact on the Lives of the Poor. He
added that “While it[globalisation]
has innovative and dynamic attributes excessive
market and profit-driven globalization harbours
negative disruptive and marginalizing effects.”
He said that transnational corporations
take control of economies as they spearhead
“business without borders”,
which increase cross-border labour migration,
crime, drug trafficking and economic inequalities.
(Quoted by Frederick Mayiga, ‘Globalisation
Hurts Developing Countries. The Monitor.
Mar 26, 2003. p.12’)
HCU seeks to address the
issues arising from poor livelihoods and
family welfare that arise from the increased
dependency ratio per working adult. It encompasses
the whole spectrum of medical services required
by people living with HIV/AIDS and infected
with the opportunistic infections.
"There is no one 'thing' which is most
stressful. It is the accumulation of the
same intense problems & such poverty
day after day. The closer I get to HIV the
more I fear taking the test. I fear all
the worst I have seen of HIV for me"
(Quotes, in Peter
Sketchly, TASO Newsletter, Vol.9, No.1,
Jan - Mar '01. p.14)
“The most frequent cited cause of
poverty is ill-health and disease.”
Says the UPPAP’s (Uganda Participatory
Poverty Assessment Project under Ministry
of Finance and Economic Planning) research
findings on deepening the understanding
of poverty. “Time lost when sick and
for women especially, time spent taking
care of the sick, reduces productivity while
the cost of care uses up savings and leads
to sale of assets. HIV/AIDS continues to
feature highly among the causes of poor
health. According to an old women in Butema
Village in Bugiri, ‘The children and
we the parents fall sick and we have to
spend the few savings on treatment, only
to recover after the planting season, then
poverty increases in the household.’
”
(Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning,
2nd Participatory Poverty Assessment, PPA2)
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Problem
Statement
Adults who die of HIV/AIDS are mostly young.
Most of them are the providers, the carers,
the teachers, the leaders, the thinkers,
the decision-makers and are the parents.
Their loss in big numbers as is happening
in Uganda is weakening the economy of families,
communities, regions and nations.
“A poor community is easily recognised
by its appearance. It has no roads, the
houses are poor, has no cash crops, no cattle,
and the members of that community use poor
methods of farming.”(Community
members in Bushenyi, as Quoted in the Research
findings from the 1st Participatory Poverty
Assessment, PPA1. http://www.finance.go.ug/uppap/docs/National
Report New Edition.pdf, p.12)
The death of one parent is traumatic enough
but the loss of both parents is a tragedy
as it deprives children of their rights
to comfort, love, education, and the means
to emotional maturity which may threaten
their lives. The survivors, the orphans
are among the most disadvantaged and the
most impoverished in a society such as ours.
Children help around the house from the
very early age. They become self-reliant
and responsible. Being involved in the family
economy and in the subsistence existence
from early age can be a good way of growing
up, but in poor families children spend
most of their time working.
At best, this includes caring for young
siblings, fetching water and collecting
firewood. At worst, it may involve prostitution
or begging. When there is no time to play,
to rest or for education. Their emotion
or psycho-social development will be delayed
or only partially developed.
The early death of parents erodes those
rights to childhood and orphans may never
acquire the skills to provide parental support
for their much younger siblings and their
own children later in life. Therefore the
next generation may consist of adults who
are emotionally unstable and who are psycho-sociologically
imbalanced and inadequately tuned. The crime
rate will go up. The work output, school
enrollment and economic growth will all
drop to their lowest levels.
By the year 2010, 15 million children under
the age of 10 years may have lost their
parents from AIDS worldwide. In Uganda,
between 1.2 million and 1.7 million orphans
exist in the country today.
HIV/AIDS prevalence has overwhelmed the
coping resources of entire communities in
Uganda. The Welfare services for these orphans
are non-existent and the government health
services are poor. The social structure
has lost contact with children who run the
streets after their parents have died leaving
them destitute and vulnerable. The effect
of this broken family system is that now
individuals turn to peers and colleagues
for support. For young people, a new culture
is being created based on their experiences
and harsh environment around them. This
culture is rootless with no support that
will help them rediscover themselves and
eventually plan for and live productive
lives.
Through its mission, Humanitarian Care
Uganda will endeavour to fill the enormous
gap that very few have ventured to undertake.
Humanitarian Care Uganda interventions will
be innovative, cost-effective, will neither
duplicate nor create parallel structures
but at the same time respect the integrity
of the society in which it works and will
work in partnership with the affected people.
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Goal &
Development Objective
The purpose of this core
intervention area is beneficiaries managing
and maintaining financial independence through
business training, consultancy, technical
assistance and micro-credit entities.
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Expected
Outcomes
• Greater participation of community
in decision-making and expenditure of development
aid
• Stronger drive towards increased
local community contribution to community
development
• Grassroots approach to accountability
for development aid
• Openness and transparency in the
monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness
of aid programmes.
• Increased financial independence
among the beneficiaries of programmes
• Self-monitoring of beneficiary community
after project span for sustainability
• Increased participation of community
leaders in the HIV/AIDS fight.
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References
Quotes, in Peter Sketchly,
TASO Newsletter, Vol.9, No.1, Jan - Mar
'01) p.14
Ministry of Finance and Economic
Planning, Research findings from the 2nd
Participatory Poverty Assessment, PPA2.
http://www.finance.go.ug/uppap/docs/NationalRpt.php
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