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The Butiiti Primary School in Southwestern Uganda was founded in 1926 but has fallen behind and is not currently capable of providing quality education to its 518 students, and 48 little ones in the nursery section. Yet this school is vital for the surrounding community of 1,000 households which are engaged mainly in subsistence agriculture. The local needs assessment concluded that to get the school functioning properly, many issues have to be tackled.
Situational Data
In Uganda, a nation of 43 million people with a population growth of 3%, the life outcome for many children is very grim, due to lack or incomplete education, high absenteeism among students and teachers, high unemployment, child labour, teenage pregnancies, and poverty. While the government has ambitious education goals, the resources are not there, especially in rural areas.
The nine Ugandan Rotary and Rotaract clubs initiating this project know that quality education is the single most effective way to improve the socioeconomic situation in the area. Success will require addressing all the problem areas, such as a safe and professional working environment, improved water and hygiene systems, ongoing income generation for sustainability, improved personal safety, access to clean water year-round, hands-on learning, proper administrative tools, improved teacher qualifications and retention, and much more.
Although the project is primarily focused on improving Basic Education and Literacy, there are significant WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) components that account for almost 30% of the total project cost.
The project budget of US$231,000 will be used over two years to accomplish the following:
1. School building renovations
2. Library building renovation and furnishing
3. Computers and Internet access
4. Toilet construction with wash stations and change area
5. Two 10M3 rainwater holding tanks
6. Water well with solar pump
7. Sewing machines for making sanitary products
8. Planting fruit and medicinal trees to repel mosquitoes, as well as cassava for consumption by students, teachers, and parents, with excess sold in the local market.
International Host and Supporters
The Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar (RCOT) is the International Host for this project. We now have a total of 38 Clubs contributing to this vital mission and five Districts. Currently, we have commitments of US$197k to this project from 3 countries: Uganda, Canada, and the U.S. Due to the new Rotary matching funds rule, we still need the support of other Rotary Clubs and donors to reach the target of US$231,000 to get this great project accomplished.
RCOT has worked previously with the Rotary Club of Kampala on another school project in Uganda, which was very successful. The project team feels strongly that this initiative has been carefully analyzed, and that the broad scope of activities will make a long-lasting and positive impact.
Note: On April 23, 2023 there are 11 Ugandan Rotary Clubs and 27 Canadian, Danish and US Clubs that
have made commitments towards this projects.
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