Four Areas of Development
Our projects cover four major areas of need:
Education
Education is where HSOA first started its work, and is at the heart of our projects in the Mbale area.
Although primary level education is mandatory in Uganda, many government schools struggle with lack of funds and poorly maintained buildings, and some have been overwhelmed by the rapid population increase as people have fled conflict in Northern and Western Uganda and South Sudan. Harpenden Spotlight on Africa aims to fill the gaps by funding construction projects, and supporting new schools until they are self-sufficient - always our final goal. Our management model combines representatives from SOA Uganda and local government with senior teaching staff and elected community members to ensure a sense of shared ownership.
Getting the basics right can transform educational experience for the schoolchildren of these slums. Often children will have never had windows in their classrooms or desks to sit at; never had access to books; no access to lavatories or clean water at school. We aim to create an environment where kids can actually learn.
Health
Our starting point for improving health is through hygiene and basic healthcare education.
The areas in which we work suffer from high morbidity and mortality rates, with no meaningful primary healthcare provision, exacerbated by poor hygiene and the absence of clean water. Since 2009 we have trained 250 Community Health Promotors who teach the community good hygiene practice and promote healthcare. In November 2017 we opened The Bukasakya Level 3 Health Centre, and in its first year this Clinic had over 50,000 patient contacts. This facility provides a comprehensive service to include general outpatients, ante-natal care, post-natal care and more recently births. In partnership with another UK charity, EMR4DW, the Health Centre has computerised medical records. Spotlight on Africa established a 24hr ambulance service in October 2019. The Health Centre is now ready to progress to a Level 4 service with a separate Maternity Centre on the land that we have already purchased. The aim is to provide a much-needed health facility for a community where home births are common and maternal and neo-natal death rates (MMR and NMR) are tragically amongst the highest in the world.
Water
A clean water supply drastically improves the quality of life in a village.
Typically, the communities we work in have had shallow, polluted wells as their only source of water. The water is dirty and dangerous, contaminated by animal and human faeces, and a breeding ground for insect and microbial pests.
HSOA oversees the drilling of boreholes in strategic locations, maximising the supply of clean water in a community. Deep down into the water table, and secured by a concrete lid, these hand pumps provide access to clean, uncontaminated water. Once opened, the community takes responsibility for the upkeep of the site through a committee of locals, ensuring that the borehole is fenced to prevent damage and pollution from livestock, and maintaining adequate run-off.
We hope to continue expanding this high-impact, relatively low-cost programme in future years.
Economic development
Providing a source of income helps the disadvantaged help themselves.
The local economy has been badly hit by the loss of many young adults to conflict or AIDS, leaving households headed by widows, grandparents, or children themselves. It is now composed mainly of subsistence agriculture or the dangerous distilling of Waragi, a local moonshine that can be made from millet, corn, bananas or pineapple. Distillation takes place in oil drums over open fires, creating toxic fumes and residue and carrying a constant risk of explosion. We aim to provide alternative, sustainable sources of income. We have trained 60 tailors and 60 carpenters and opened a Design and Tailoring Centre as a place of work for the tailors in December 2019 with the support of P&G Alumni Foundation. We plan to build a centre for carpentry.
Our newly-constructed Design & Tailoring Centre, built with the support of P&G Alumni Foundation.
Our Projects
We are working to change people's lives: immediately, by giving them access to a reliable source of clean water, health education and healthcare, and permanently, through educational and economic development projects. The complementary inter-dependence between the four project areas inspires innovation and creates an inherent energy of community ownership.
Click on the pictures to find out more
A decade of support
In 2016 we celebrated our tenth anniversary. This decade of support for the communities around Mbale is an enormous milestone for Spotlight on Africa and we are overwhelmed and encouraged by what has been achieved in this time.
- We have helped drill 25 boreholes to provide local communities with clean water. Coverage in the county is now at 80% compared to only 25% ten years ago.
- Musoto Christian School, built by Spotlight, has enabled pupil attendance numbers to rise from just 60 children to over 900. And the provision of a cooked meal at lunchtime for every student is something we particularly value, as often this is their only meal of the day.
- We have made significant progress empowering the local community to improve basic health by training over 250 local Ugandan volunteers to deliver practical advice to their communities - ranging from hand washing, to malaria and HIV/AIDS control.
- And our focus on economic development has helped individuals to become self-sufficient through schemes such as giving goats to widows and orphans, providing them with food and income, Fish Farms that generate jobs and Push-Pull faming that increases crop yields.
Please watch our slide show and see photos showing the changes that have been made. Thank you for your support.
