Description

When parents send their children to school, it is most likely that they view school as a safe environment for their offspring to learn, play, and grow. However, for the students of Itojo Primary School, that was not quite the case.

The school is located in Bundibugyo, in the extreme west coast of Uganda. In that community, children of the primary school were struggling with getting their education. There were four major problems: absence of teachers from classes one and two, lack of toilets, grazing animals in the school compound, and evidently, a weak school management committee.

In order to address these issues, the Citizen Voice and Action (CVA) approach was introduced in the community. As a World Vision partner, the organization Evangelisation Strategy for Africa (EFSA) played a key role in implementing the methodology in the area. EFSA conducted sensitization and awareness meetings for parents and for the school management committee. In addition, the community came together to identify other challenges that were hindering activities at the school.

Following the CVA methodology, the community was then able to design an action plan and demand action from the local government. CVA enabled citizens in Bundibugyo to analyze their local government’s commitments to their village and hold it accountable for delivering the promised services. The process was done in a systematic way and yielded positive results.

In response to the specific requests from the community, the local government immediately built a toilet, hired 13 teachers, and employed a parish chief to oversee the planting of a live fence around the school. Parents went beyond that and assigned a night watchman for two terms to provide security at the school.

In Bundibugyo, the CVA approach not only brought tangible results that benefited the school children, but it also promoted citizenship. Instead of waiting on the local government to identify pitfalls, community members realized that they also have an important role to play. The CVA initiative showed villagers that it is up to them to be actively involved with the well-being of their community and to hold their local government accountable. Another successful story; another lesson on citizenship.