The Collective Action Story
CAU is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian and non-denominational in nature organization. We respect the ideals of equal opportunities for the entire target groups regardless of color, race, sex, gender, disability, ethnicity, cultural and religious background.
PROFILES
As CAU, We are committed to helping the vulnerable elderly living in very poor conditions in our communities. We promote sustainable livelihood of the elderly in our communities by providing them social psychological support and offering them basic necessities of life including but not limited to food, shelter, toiletries, healthy services, physical exercises and medical care.
As life expectancy continues to rise, many of us can look forward to living well into our 70s and beyond, but that can also lead to new stresses, especially for those who don't have loved ones around to help when everyday tasks become difficult. For example, what happens to the senior citizens who don't have children to take care of them? Or perhaps their spouse who carried out most of the day-to-day chores suddenly passes away? That's why it's important for community members not to forget the senior citizens who might need a little help, kindness, compassion and emotional support.
You may have already thought about wanting to lend a hand to the aging population, but perhaps you don't know where to start. You might also be familiar with the hard work caregivers do, and feel like you're not exactly cut out for something like that.
Here's some good news though: despite what you might think, you do have what it takes to help. And you don't have to be a full-time caregiver in order to make a real change in a senior's life.
- Volunteer with CAU
- Spend time with elders in homes or visit them in hospitals and prisons
- Support elders with basic needs of life like food, clothing, beddings and medical care
Advocacy
In Africa, the elderly play a big role in family formation which is the basic unit of society. Indeed millions of families would not survive without the contribution of older people. They care for orphaned grandchildren and provide much-needed household income. However, older people are often discriminated against within families and services, and this discrimination is often underpinned by the legal systems and government policies of individual countries. Older people’s rights are set out in a range of international agreements, but are often ignored.
CAU has noted with concern challenges facing the elderly such as land grabbing, forced homelessness, lack of medical care, ill attitude disrespect of death wills and many more. We advocate for the rights of the elderly through;
- supporting and enabling the older people express their views and concerns
- Access information and services.
- Protection from Violence and abuse
- Identity and access to entitlements Health, Social security, Property and inheritance
We also support Orphaned Children in our communities (especially those living with the elderly) by providing them with basic needs they need for a good life. We find joy in comforting the orphans and we do our best to ensure that they are supported like any other child.
We also deal with the youth and our intervention is basically in job creation and sustenance. We establish, promote, encourage and also support youth initiatives in finding jobs and employment through promoting skills and talents. We want to encourage the youth to make use of their potentials to start up employment here in Uganda without opting to migrate to Europe, Asia or other western countries to look for employment.
Youth empowerment can help reduce the rate of poverty to a significant level. One of the keys to empowering the youth is with skill development.
When a youth is empowered, he/she understands the importance of education and helps uplift the sector, integral for a developing nation such as Uganda
The Youth are the backbone of any nation. Youth can play an important role in the development of the society. Majority of the youth are unemployed, they are unable to participate in the country's development because there is no access to descent livelihood. We help the youth through;
- Creation of employment opportunities
- Starting up small scale business ventures
- Connection to market for products and services offered by the youth
- Vocational and entrepreneurship skills
- Access to credit through SACCOS
We have managed to advocate for better infrastructure and sanitation facilities in some of our community schools.
Sanitation is important for all, helping to maintain health and increase life-spans. It is especially important for children. According to the latest information from UNICEF Millions of children go to schools with no drinking water, no toilets and no soap for hand-washing, making learning difficult and with devastating consequences for their future.
Nearly half of all schools do not have basic hygiene services, with1 in 3 lacking basic sanitation and water. Children who cannot wash their hands face a greater risk of infection and diarrhea disease than those who can, putting them at risk of missing more school days
Around the world, over 800 children under age five die every day from preventable diarrhea-related diseases caused by lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene. The situation is not different in Africa, for instance in Uganda, poor sanitation and hygiene, as well as unequal access to safe drinking water, make thousands of children very sick and at risk of death. Diarrhoea alone, one of three major childhood killers in Uganda, kills an estimated 33 children every day.
In many of our schools, it is a common case to find pupils, teachers and nearby community members sharing one traditional long drop toilet, no safe drinking water, no hand washing facilities, no garbage collection cans and pits. According to World Bank, poor sanitation and Hygiene contribute to Uganda’s high levels of stunting, which in turn affects children’s cognitive development and performance at school. It in turn leads to high absenteeism and dropouts, especially for girls.
We help;
- Construct toilets in schools
- Washrooms especially for girls
- Provide water and soap
- Provide waste cans and construct garbage pits
- Hand washing facilities especially during this Covid 19 pandemic