Fighting HIV/AIDS among women

Beluna women makes outreaches and programs, such as sensitisation, counselling and guidance, physical and psychological support, reducing mother to child transmissions, ABC approach, ARV drugs access, partnering with public and private health centres, LUCOF village health team, LUCOF health volunteers, and transport for patients for treatment. We also carry out voluntary testing of women during community meetings and seminars, at health centres and at important days. We offer free condoms to women to give to their men. We ensure good nutrition for the affected, water, hygiene and sanitation for affected people, as well as breast feeding programmes.

Malaria treatment and prevention, as well as testing for hepatitis B is at our forefront.

Maternal/Reproductive health

Prenatal vitamins: Our maternal and neonatal health programs promote and market a “one-a-day” multivitamin containing iron, folic acid and other essential vitamins needed by women of reproductive age.

Malaria prevention during pregnancy: Our programs distribute insecticide-treated bed nets to pregnant women and provide community education about malaria prevention in pregnancy in homes, communities and at health centres.

Clean delivery kits: To make delivery safer by preventing infection, we offer clean delivery kits in multiple communities.

Postpartum hemorrhage prevention and treatment: We promote, distribute and train providers in the safe use of misoprostol, a drug effective in reducing postpartum bleeding.

Maternity care vouchers: Our programs protect maternal health by educating women, families and communities to have a plan in place for a safe delivery. Community education & birth preparedness: Our community education programs focus on educating women, families and communities about how to prepare for childbirth and have a plan in place for a safe delivery.

Encouraging and providing family planning methods to appropriately space births or avoid unwanted or dangerous pregnancies

Preventing obstetric fistula through village education on the cause of fistula

LUCOF makes pregnancy safer for HIV positive adolescents: 13 percent of female HIV positive adolescents have experienced a pregnancy (our study did not investigate their pregnancy outcomes). This notwithstanding, effective PMTCT services are critical for this group. In particular, HIV/AIDS treatment centers should be able to identify pregnant adolescents early and ensure that they receive a full range of PMTCT and other antenatal care services to avoid transmitting HIV to their babies. This group should be enabled to receive skilled attended birth at delivery and postpartum family planning and HIV services.

Adult Literacy

The program is designed to help adults to gain basic literacy skills in arithmetic, reading, writing, and conversational English. In addition, the students also receive basic computer training and instructions in business management, savings, and personal finance. These skills are so crucial in functioning effectively in today’s society.

Currently we have many adult participants in the program in Wakiso, Luweero and Nakaseke districts.

“I believe that it is as much a right and duty for women to do something with their lives as for men and we are not going to be satisfied with such frivolous parts as you give us.” — Louisa May Alcott

Sustainable Agriculture

LUCOF UGANDA works with communities towards enabling sustainable agriculture production and ensuring that everyone receives sufficient nutritious food – for the long-term. We provide training in nutrition and in sustainable, organic methods of farming, develop community mentors and provide seeds, tools and technical support at the outset.

We provide education in the production of high-value nutritious crops, protein supplementation, water saving and improved agriculture techniques. We develop knowledge in cereal banking with the aim of helping groups maximise the production and storage of nutritional supplements to safeguard against drought seasons and exploitation by middlemen. We train and develop individuals and community groups in animal husbandry (including piggery, poultry; goats; rabbits), to ensure adequate protein supplementation for community households. Our start-up packages provide seeds, tools and livestock for small farms – poultry and goats, etc.

By training people in the effective use of stove liners to reduce firewood collection, optimised fuel consumption and improved hygiene and safety in kitchens, we are making a significant contribution to the enhanced health and well-being of all community members. Market research seed loan support farmers’ workshops on improved farming practices. We sensitise farmers in sustainable environmental management practices, as well as environmental friendly agriculture; such as agro-forestry, organic fertilizers, proper waste management, wetland protection, soil protection, mulching, cover-cropping, inter-cropping, growing of legumes, bush fallowing, crop rotation, and resting the land.

KKM Catering Services

LUCOF Uganda also has a food catering service that prepares food for different functions. This has helped provide employment to many poor women and youth, as well as training many women, youth and other people in catering skills to create their own employment.

Family outreach and empowerment programmes

LUCOF identifies families that are struggling and finds help for them. Most of these are for the elderly and widows caring for orphans. In some cases, these elderlies are taking care of grandchildren who orphans. LUCOF has tried to build houses for some families. Economic empowerment is a key cornerstone of our approach to providing sustainable long-term solutions, which will truly endure. By helping people gain the skills and experience they need to secure economic independence, we are permanently breaking the cycle of dependency that has for so long robbed individuals and communities of the chance to live fulfilling and rewarding lives.

We work with communities, groups and individuals to provide training, education and on-going support across a variety of areas within the remit of Economic Empowerment. We help to facilitate the development of micro-enterprises (e.g. agriculture, agribusiness) through the provision of start-up finance, materials (e.g. goats, piggery, poultry, mills) and business training. We provide training on proposal writing, fundraising and marketing, connecting groups with suitable markets for their produce and skills. We expand and extend project management skills and entrepreneurship through the provision of training in financial resource management and the establishment of revolving community funds.

Savings and Micro-finance schemes

We organised groups of women into self-help groups. These have initiated group entrepreneurial projects, such as poultry, piggery, goats, some few cows, crop farming, brick making among other projects. These also save money, and they lend it to a member(s) who needs it for investment or fight poverty, and then returns it with a small discount. They also organise cash rounds, where each pools money, and the money is given to a member every after two weeks, until all members of a group get the money. This is a way that has encouraged savings, capital accumulation and investments.

Women and Environmental management

We involve women in environmental sustainability, especially in making nursery beds, planting trees, environmental friendly agriculture, waste management, wetland protection, making paper bags, building firewood saving stoves, making briquettes, organic gardening etc.

Women leadership training

The main goal of this program is promoting excellence in leadership and unveiling the entrepreneurship potential empowering women to take charge of their own destiny and excel in today’s modern world regardless of educational background. We aim to raise awareness of the Uganda women on their personal and professional capabilities and potentials.

We aim to enhance the capacities and competitive advantage of rural youth to enable them to enter the job market as qualified employees and business owners. It’s LUCOF’s belief is that a strong leadership and entrepreneurial approach practically implemented at the grass roots gives an effective path to creation of sustainable development opportunities in effort to meet the essential human needs. We offer workshops on leadership in villages and schools targeting village leaders, students, young professionals, school administrators, NGO staff, business leaders, students, and the general population.