The First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Mrs Janet Museveni has welcomed UNICEF’s new Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Ms Etleva Kadili, who was in Uganda for a number of activities including field inspection of the UNICEF-supported programmes in the country.

During her meeting with the UNICEF team who included UNICEF Country Representative to Uganda  Dr. Munir Safieldin and other officials from the UNICEF Uganda Office, the First Lady lauded the great working relationship between Uganda and UNICEF over the years and especially appreciated UNICEF for the many programmes that it has supported in the Education sector.

“There is so much we have been doing together with UNICEF over the years and we really value it and we look forward to doing more. So, we welcome you on our team and we look forward to working with you and perhaps learning a little more about what happens where you are coming from that we could do in our own world”, said Mrs. Museveni said during the recent meeting she hosted at State House Nakasero on Friday 29 September.

The First Lady and the UNICEF team talked about a range of issues regarding the various interventions supported by UNICEF in the education sector.

A release from her office indicates that raising the issue of the national campaign to address the challenge of teenage pregnancy dubbed the ‘Protect the Girl, Save the Nation’ campaign, Mrs Museveni, who is also the national champion for adolescent girls, said the campaign which was supposed to be funded by UNICEF could do better if UNICEF fulfils that pledge. With adequate funding, she added the project will cover both adolescents in school and out of school.

UNICEF’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Ms Etleva Kadili, inspecting UNICEF projects in Karamoja sub region. (UNICEF Photo)

UNICEF’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Ms Etleva Kadili at Kawempe Hospital (UNICEF Photo)

She thanked UNICEF for supporting the training of early childhood caregivers and early childhood development as a whole.

During the meeting, the First Lady also expressed concern about the future of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) programme, which was put on halt after the World Bank announced financial withdrawal.

Describing the developments as unfortunate, Mrs Museveni revealed that the programme had undergone a lot of preparation and was ready to be launched.

“I thought World Bank would support us even more for the work we are doing to support the human family across board, and so I can’t understand why it would block this programme. But we are still waiting and hopefully, they will realize that really it is for the good of us all that this project should go on and that we should continue to work together and overcome the problems of the human family globally in cooperation and supporting each other instead of trying to make it difficult for us to do what we should be doing”, she said.

The new UNICEF Regional Director; Etleva Kadili,  thanked the First Lady and Minister of Education for her leadership and vision for the children in Uganda and for pushing the agenda on education and overall protection of children and girls.  She appreciated the universal education that has enabled the number of children attending school in primary education to be at 93%, plus Government of Uganda’s commitment to accelerate closing the gap and supporting the children who lost learning during the COVID-19 scourge.

During her field visits, Director Etleva Kadili   inspected UNICEF projects in the Karamoja sub-region