Project Leader: Dr Siu Godfrey (gsiu@chdc.mak.ac.ug)
Rationale and aims of the project
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015-2030 have defined several goals pertaining to Violence against Children (VAC). It is critical that this objective becomes a clear priority and a prominent issue in national and sector plans in Uganda. In 2015, Child Health & Development Centre (CHDC) Makerere University College of Health Sciences, in collaboration with its partners and with support from Oak Foundation conducted a conference that brought together some thought leaders from key sectors (health, gender, and child protection actors/NGOs), practitioners and scholars to discuss prevention of violence against children in Uganda, with particular reference to the health sector. This initiative explored how the public health sector in Uganda perceives their role in VAC and whether there is a shared understanding with other sectors. The conference identified the need to foster leadership and national commitment among sectors to prioritize VAC prevention work.
This current project builds on these efforts to foster a process of building visible commitment towards prevention of VAC through consensus building and leadership development within the health sector. The project addresses four main objectives:
i. Foster the commitment of the health sector to integrate prevention of violence against children
ii. Strengthen the capacity of health sector actors to advocate for greater prioritization of VAC targets in the health sector plans and advocate for systematic and sustainable implementation of the targets within the sector
iii. Contribute to the wider efforts to identify and engage willing and committed national leadership to champion VAC prevention and response in Uganda.
iv. Contribute to informing the formulation and implementation of national policies on preventing and responding to violence against children in Uganda.
The project is funded by Oak Foundation, though Global Health Uganda Limited.
Collaborators
1. Child Health and Development Centre Makerere University
2. Ministry of Health.
