Tumaini Awards could be the answer to children’s issues
Mar 30, 2011
CLICHÉD as it might sound, children are still the future of any growing society. It is just that not many of our children know this fact really. For all they care, they are only kids, without an idea that they matter. The few who know they are the future do not know it for a fact.
By Nigel Nassar
CLICHÉD as it might sound, children are still the future of any growing society. It is just that not many of our children know this fact really. For all they care, they are only kids, without an idea that they matter. The few who know they are the future do not know it for a fact.
Rather, they know it for a cliché – those statements about them that they always hear being overused: children are tomorrow’s presidents, children are tomorrow’s journalists, doctors, engineers, name it. But do they believe it?
And if they are to believe it, whose role is it to impart in them such big visions of purpose and confidence to grow up to achieve and take on the world? Whose role is it to let these children know that they are entitled to certain things in life, and that the laws that govern us provide for such entitlements? Who should make sure that these entitlements are adhered to? Whose role is it to let these children know that it is illegal to deprive them of these entitlements?
In a nutshell, on whose shoulders does the wellbeing of a child lie? Not just the parent of that child, if you asked me. Like Chinua Achebe reaffirms in Things Fall Apart, it takes a whole village to raise a child.
And what have we in our Ugandan ‘village’ done to oversee the development of this child? Parents have played their role. The media too have gone out of their way to expose evils against children, ultimately influencing policy on children’s wellbeing. Several NGOs and individuals have also played their role, ditto corporate companies.
But even with such interventions, there are still a number of challenges when it comes to realising the four core children’s rights: the right to survival, the right to development, the right to participation and the right to protection.
That is why in a bid to enhance the realisation of these rights, a coalition of six child-development NGOs, in partnership with New Vision, last week launched the first annual Tumaini Awards. The organisations are ANPPCAN Uganda Chapter, Child Fund Uganda, Compassion International, Save the Children in Uganda, Uganda Child Rights NGO Network (UCRNN) and World Vision Uganda. These and their employees are not eligible for the awards, but spouses, friends and family members of people working with founding organisations may be eligible.
Tumaini, which is Swahili for “hopeâ€, signifies the optimism the organisers have in this development. Their hope is that the awards ultimately improve children’s lives.
The awards’ slogan, Recognise and Inspire, jells in with the intentions of the whole ensemble – to recognise and inspire individuals, NGOs, community-based organisations (CBOs), corporate companies, children and journalists who have put in noteworthy efforts to improve the lives of children in Uganda.
And along with the accolades comes cash and other prizes, basically to say ‘thank you’, get that winner to do more for children, as well as inspire more people to become conscious of children’s issues, address them and stand a chance of being recognised.
Much as children take up 56% of Uganda’s total population, the deplorable living conditions of most Ugandans, coupled with other forces like greed and the pursuit of the costly survival, make children vulnerable.
Currently, we have an infant mortality rate of 135 deaths in every 1,000 children born.
Children lack school fees, they are subjected to child labour, they are sacrificed in rituals, while a number are dying of hunger. Others are living with HIV and heading families as well as taking care of their HIV-positive siblings, several are neglected and end up on the streets.
The education ministry currently estimates our primary school dropout rate at a high of 67.6%. Where do those children end up? And who is looking out for them, ensuring they stay in school?
The 2009 police records indicate that 12,760 cases of child abuse were reported. Yet, several cases are not reported, for those who would have reported (both the abused children and third parties) are threatened by the perpetrators. Some simply have a phobia for being involved in the whole law-and-order process. So who is out there encouraging us to report all cases of child abuse to the Police?
These issues, as known by the average informed Ugandan, are the ones that have come out in the media. But a lot of evils are happening to children out there.
For instance, there are unconfirmed reports of quack NGOs ferrying to Kampala streets children from Karamoja just so those NGOs could continue getting foreign aid ‘to help street kids’. Apparently, funding will come only if there are children on the streets, so the lack of them closes the tap abroad.
To the same effect, some individuals are said to personally travel to Karamoja and bring to Kampala streets these children, purposely to beg and remit the money to them, while paying the kid a paltry sum to afford him/her a doughnut and unhygienic water to wash it down. This is one of the reasons the street children problem will be here for a while.
In fact, Stella Ayo-Odongo, director of UCRNN and chairperson of Tumaini Awards, said during the launch of the awards that the organising NGOs are aware that such quack organisations and individuals exist, making it part of the vices Tumaini Award winners should be fighting.
And although the organisers are working with the Uganda National NGO Forum to release a directory of legitimate child-development NGOs, it will work miracles only if the directory is on every wall allover the world as a prerequisite to funding children’s projects. And who will be on the alert to bring to book those who individually traffic them?
This means more remains to be done, and hopefully, these awards will inspire people to do more of what is being done and what has not been tackled.
The award winners will be announced at a ceremony held every June in the week preceding the Day of the African Child, which falls every June 16.
This year’s event will be held on June 10 at the Kampala Serena Hotel, with more than sh50m issued in cash and other prizes.
The awards will be given out based on the intervention’s ability to enhance child welfare in health, child protection, education, livelihood and media.
The categories are Best Individual Intervention, Best Child Intervention, Best CBO Intervention, Best NGO Intervention and Best Corporate Company Intervention.
In media, categories are Best Child-focused Radio Story/Reporter, Best Television Story/Reporter, and Best Child-focused Newspaper Article/Reporter, with awarded work having been published/broadcast between 2009 and March 2011.
Others are Lifetime Achievement Award and Day of African Child Award, whose theme will be Street Children.
Nomination forms can be picked from the district offices of any of the member organisations, where they will be returned after filling them out.
They will also be printed in New Vision every Monday starting next week. The forms can also be accessed online at www.tumainiawards.com. The nominations can be e-mailed to awards@tumainiawards.com or tumaini@newvision.co.ug. You can also nominate by sms: Type Tumaini (leave space) nominee name and telephone contact and send to 8338. Nominations close on May 2, 2011.
CLICHÉD as it might sound, children are still the future of any growing society. It is just that not many of our children know this fact really. For all they care, they are only kids, without an idea that they matter. The few who know they are the future do not know it for a fact.
Rather, they know it for a cliché – those statements about them that they always hear being overused: children are tomorrow’s presidents, children are tomorrow’s journalists, doctors, engineers, name it. But do they believe it?
And if they are to believe it, whose role is it to impart in them such big visions of purpose and confidence to grow up to achieve and take on the world? Whose role is it to let these children know that they are entitled to certain things in life, and that the laws that govern us provide for such entitlements? Who should make sure that these entitlements are adhered to? Whose role is it to let these children know that it is illegal to deprive them of these entitlements?
In a nutshell, on whose shoulders does the wellbeing of a child lie? Not just the parent of that child, if you asked me. Like Chinua Achebe reaffirms in Things Fall Apart, it takes a whole village to raise a child.
And what have we in our Ugandan ‘village’ done to oversee the development of this child? Parents have played their role. The media too have gone out of their way to expose evils against children, ultimately influencing policy on children’s wellbeing. Several NGOs and individuals have also played their role, ditto corporate companies.
But even with such interventions, there are still a number of challenges when it comes to realising the four core children’s rights: the right to survival, the right to development, the right to participation and the right to protection.
That is why in a bid to enhance the realisation of these rights, a coalition of six child-development NGOs, in partnership with New Vision, last week launched the first annual Tumaini Awards. The organisations are ANPPCAN Uganda Chapter, Child Fund Uganda, Compassion International, Save the Children in Uganda, Uganda Child Rights NGO Network (UCRNN) and World Vision Uganda. These and their employees are not eligible for the awards, but spouses, friends and family members of people working with founding organisations may be eligible.
Tumaini, which is Swahili for “hopeâ€, signifies the optimism the organisers have in this development. Their hope is that the awards ultimately improve children’s lives.
The awards’ slogan, Recognise and Inspire, jells in with the intentions of the whole ensemble – to recognise and inspire individuals, NGOs, community-based organisations (CBOs), corporate companies, children and journalists who have put in noteworthy efforts to improve the lives of children in Uganda.
And along with the accolades comes cash and other prizes, basically to say ‘thank you’, get that winner to do more for children, as well as inspire more people to become conscious of children’s issues, address them and stand a chance of being recognised.
Much as children take up 56% of Uganda’s total population, the deplorable living conditions of most Ugandans, coupled with other forces like greed and the pursuit of the costly survival, make children vulnerable.
Currently, we have an infant mortality rate of 135 deaths in every 1,000 children born.
Children lack school fees, they are subjected to child labour, they are sacrificed in rituals, while a number are dying of hunger. Others are living with HIV and heading families as well as taking care of their HIV-positive siblings, several are neglected and end up on the streets.
The education ministry currently estimates our primary school dropout rate at a high of 67.6%. Where do those children end up? And who is looking out for them, ensuring they stay in school?
The 2009 police records indicate that 12,760 cases of child abuse were reported. Yet, several cases are not reported, for those who would have reported (both the abused children and third parties) are threatened by the perpetrators. Some simply have a phobia for being involved in the whole law-and-order process. So who is out there encouraging us to report all cases of child abuse to the Police?
These issues, as known by the average informed Ugandan, are the ones that have come out in the media. But a lot of evils are happening to children out there.
For instance, there are unconfirmed reports of quack NGOs ferrying to Kampala streets children from Karamoja just so those NGOs could continue getting foreign aid ‘to help street kids’. Apparently, funding will come only if there are children on the streets, so the lack of them closes the tap abroad.
To the same effect, some individuals are said to personally travel to Karamoja and bring to Kampala streets these children, purposely to beg and remit the money to them, while paying the kid a paltry sum to afford him/her a doughnut and unhygienic water to wash it down. This is one of the reasons the street children problem will be here for a while.
In fact, Stella Ayo-Odongo, director of UCRNN and chairperson of Tumaini Awards, said during the launch of the awards that the organising NGOs are aware that such quack organisations and individuals exist, making it part of the vices Tumaini Award winners should be fighting.
And although the organisers are working with the Uganda National NGO Forum to release a directory of legitimate child-development NGOs, it will work miracles only if the directory is on every wall allover the world as a prerequisite to funding children’s projects. And who will be on the alert to bring to book those who individually traffic them?
This means more remains to be done, and hopefully, these awards will inspire people to do more of what is being done and what has not been tackled.
The award winners will be announced at a ceremony held every June in the week preceding the Day of the African Child, which falls every June 16.
This year’s event will be held on June 10 at the Kampala Serena Hotel, with more than sh50m issued in cash and other prizes.
The awards will be given out based on the intervention’s ability to enhance child welfare in health, child protection, education, livelihood and media.
The categories are Best Individual Intervention, Best Child Intervention, Best CBO Intervention, Best NGO Intervention and Best Corporate Company Intervention.
In media, categories are Best Child-focused Radio Story/Reporter, Best Television Story/Reporter, and Best Child-focused Newspaper Article/Reporter, with awarded work having been published/broadcast between 2009 and March 2011.
Others are Lifetime Achievement Award and Day of African Child Award, whose theme will be Street Children.
Nomination forms can be picked from the district offices of any of the member organisations, where they will be returned after filling them out.
They will also be printed in New Vision every Monday starting next week. The forms can also be accessed online at www.tumainiawards.com. The nominations can be e-mailed to awards@tumainiawards.com or tumaini@newvision.co.ug. You can also nominate by sms: Type Tumaini (leave space) nominee name and telephone contact and send to 8338. Nominations close on May 2, 2011.