FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The nursery school is situated in the village of Acoyo, Koro sub-county in Gulu district, northern Uganda. This village has 5000 inhabitants and more people are moving there as they return home from living in Internally Displaced People’s camps.

A nursery school is one of the most effective ways to provide for the most basic needs of this community during this time of post-conflict reconstruction. The community of Acoyo has been consulted and involved in our project design and execution. Acoyo village was identified as an area of need because they did not have a school.

The ultimate accomplishment of any development initiative in the developing world is to return the project back to the primary stakeholders, the community of Acoyo in this case. Through careful planning and management our long-term strategy is to facilitate self-reliance and sustainable development.

The community at large also plays a big part in the school. They have bought-in and have a sense of ownership of the place that they send their children to every day. They have planted grass on the school playground, giving the children a green space to play and continue to show their encouragement by building two roads to help make the school more accessible.

The school also has a Parent-Teacher Association and a Steering Committee – both made up of parents, guardians and community leaders.

A local, experienced program manager takes care of the school. His name is Patrick and he has many years of experience working for the Norwegian Refugee Council. His background is in managing complex projects and teams of people. He is also an entrepreneur and started his own restaurant and taxi company. With his professional background he is able to look at the school from a business perspective and find new ways of using the land and infrastructure to make it self-sustainable which is what the school needs to continue focusing on.

There is a team of 8 people on the ground, ranging from teachers to a security guard. They all play a pivotal role in the school on a day to day basis. They are Winnie Achiro, assistant to Programme Manager and assistant teacher, Jerolyn Akidi and Harriet Patricia Oyella who each teach one class. Collines Odoch is our day guard, Bena Akera is our cook, Lucy Abur is also a cook and cleaner and George Olobo is our Sunday guard.

The school can never be self-sustainable when the average adult earns £1.45 a day and school fees are only 25,000 Uganda Shillings per term, or £7.30. The community would are currently unable to afford anything higher. However we would like to instil an understanding that parents must put money aside for their children's education.

It costs £190 to educate and feed a child per year. That is just under £16 per month; a small price to pay to change a child’s life.

In order to continue expanding and meeting these challenges we need financial support from our donors. Only two of the four classrooms at the school are in use although we have the capacity to educate 160 children. There are over 80 children in the village waiting for this classroom space. This project is tangible and a relatively small donation can have a big impact. We are also researching ways to expand into various income generating activities

In the meantime, each donor, volunteer and anyone who has contributed their time or knowledge can feel assured that each child is being given the best education and the best chance to change their future.