ICOD Action Network

ICOD & MDGs 1,6

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ICOD Action Network working with communities to improve lives of People Living with HIV/AIDS & MDGs 1, 6
According to World Food Program, hunger is the world’s leading health risk, killing more people every year than AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria combined. Hunger continues to be a major problem in developing countries with poverty being one of its main causes. At the same time, HIV/AIDS has left a scourge. There is an availability of ARVs, however, the ARV drugs are strong and need proper nutrition. With the current levels of poverty, it deems the treatment ineffective and sometimes debilitating because without proper feeding, sufferers are weak and unable to care for themselves or for those in their care adequately.
Mrs. Lucia Namyalo of  Wabusana Parish, Kinuka Sub County, is an AIDS patient with 6 children under her care: 3 girls and 3 boys aged between 1 and 13 years. She lost her husband to the disease and is expected to meet her own needs as well as those of the children she lives with. Even though she is on ARV’s, the strong drugs weaken her to the point she cannot do much around her home. Coupled with the poverty, there is little she could do himself to improve the situation for herself and the little ones under her care.

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People like Lucia inspired ICOD Action Network to start a program of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Mitigation. The organization through this program has supported vulnerable households in Lyantonde Town Council, Lyantonde Rural and Kinuuka Sub Counties, Lyantonde District, Southwestern Uganda. The vulnerable comprise families with children and adults who are affected or infected by HIV/AIDS. These vulnerable are widows or widowers, AIDS orphans under the care of grandparents, children living on their own with no adult supervision or guidance (Child Headed Households), children living with terminally ill parents, and children in households where multiple families are looked after by someone over the age of 50.

The project provided direct food supplements (maize flour, beans, soya flour) to its beneficiaries. More than 500 persons have benefited and live meaningful lives. Of these 150 have been widows who lost their husbands due to HIV. Beneficiaries  can now take drugs and remain strong enough to undertake tasks at home

ICOD & MDG 6

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Promoting Education by providing scholastic material to orphaned children & MGD 6

The scourge of HIV/AIDS has left great numbers of orphans and increased household vulnerabilities within most communities in Uganda. It is estimated that Uganda has 2 million orphans and majority are living in the rural areas with no access to basic needs of life. The effect has been highly felt in Lyantonde which was previous part of Rakai where the first case of HIV was discovered in Uganda in 1982.

Diogenes Laertius noted that “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” Therefore to buffer the foundation of any country, its youth must be educated.

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Leaving orphans unattended, in obscurity and uneducated can only worsen the state of an entire country. This is why obstacles to educating these orphaned and vulnerable must be overcome.

ICOD Action Network provided  scholastic materials in form of books, pens, pencils, charts, crayons etc to reduce vulnerability and support orphans and children from poor households to be able to attend school. Since March 2008, over 300 pupils in both primary and secondary schools have received scholastic materials. The impact of this initiative has been great relieving the burden from the poor parents and guardians who cannot afford providing support to their children because of their ailing conditions.
Through provision of scholastic materials, children who could not attend school because of lack of these materials are now receiving education

ICOD & MDGs 1,6

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Supporting vulnerable households with better shelter and sanitation facilities & MDGs 1, 6

Access to basic housing still eludes most poverty stricken households within various communities in Uganda.  According to the 2002 Uganda Population and Housing Census, twenty percent (20%) of households in Uganda had only one set of clothing for each member; in addition, seventy percent (70%) of the households in Uganda lacked safe toilet facilities. More so, poor housing accommodates pests and makes diseases thrive. This challenge is worsened by HIV/AIDS scourge which has eroded the ability of these people to fend for themselves. Lyantonde just like other parts of Uganda is faced with an enormous challenge of having a large number of people without decent housing facilities especially in rural areas.

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ICOD Action Network through its interventions is supporting vulnerable households to be able to have decent and sustainable housing facilities. With support from the University Bible Fellowship, ICOD Action Network constructed 6 housing units and 6 pit latrines in Lyantonde Rural and Kinuuka Sub Counties. Local communities contributed locally available materials  and labor required for the project. Contributions from the communities have helped to make the intervention sustainable and also have enabled people within communities to take up initiatives that promote unity, and support to those that are needy.The majority of the beneficiaries have been persons living with HIV/AIDS and Child Headed Households. Selection of these people is done through participatory approach where the communities themselves identify the most needy households in their area.

ICOD & MDGs 1,2,6

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Giving hope to  youth, orphans and  vulnerable children  through psychosocial support & MDGs 1, 2, 6

In Lyantonde District most orphans and vulnerable children are a result of HIV/AIDS that has affected their parents and care givers. Majority of these children have not had a chance to live in stable households and therefore experience psychosocial problems arise from not having a stable family. The orphans and vulnerable children many times fail to interact well with others, learn slowly or tend to be depressed and very unproductive.

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ICOD & MDGs 3,7

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Promoting the use Information Technology to increase  Agriculture production & MDGs 3 &7

As most small towns in developed and developing countries got exposed to a “bigger world” through Information Technology, Lyantonde’s population of approximately 70,000 was left behind until June 2010 when a solar powered community Internet center was launched by  ICOD Action Network in collaboration with Project Focus USA. The center which  runs on solar energy is also being used by ICOD Action Network to implement an ICT project.  Farmer’s groups are taking part in a program that provides them with better access to information important in their daily lives; like information on health, education and farming. Selected group members are being trained in computer and Internet use and collect information that their communities have requested from the Internet. Leaders from 5 rural farmers  with total membership of over 120 have been trained

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and can now retrieve information from the Internet, translate it and share it with other farmers. Farmers are trained in using computers and Internet. After training, trained farmers (Information Agents) go back to their respective communities and engage communities in discussions about finding lasting solutions for communities most pressing problems. Information Agents then come the center and have access to online resources , they repackage the information in local languages and post the information in their communities where all members have access to it. Information about markets, sustainable agriculture, weather forecasts, HIV/AIDS updates an d health related information are most frequently requested by communities in Lyantonde.
Our goal is  to expand the  ICT project to other rural farmers in the district that live over 40 kilometers from the center and sustain the already established center.

ICOD & MDG 8

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Networking and Collaboration with other Organizations & MDG 8  

ICOD Action Network has engaged in a number of programs aimed at empowering the communities to challenge the socio-economic divides in their respective areas with the focus on research and learning, raising awareness, capacity building, advocacy and networking and collaboration.

By establishing partnerships with a number of development partners and other stakeholders at Sub-County, District and National level, ICOD Action Network has been able to make considerable gains in these areas. For example, the organization partners with Lyantonde Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS; an  association of people who have publically confessed being HIV positive. The association is comprised of over 60 members who come from all the 6 sub counties of Lyantonde District. They  implement a number of  activities among which include raising community awareness on HIV/AIDS spread and prevention, condom use, male circumcision, training members on positive living and savings and credit and also offers post-test counseling to members and their families.

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ICOD Action Network and Lyantonde Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS adopted a Joint HIV/AIDS Action Plan which has helped both organization's implement HIV/AIDS projects in a more sustainable and effective manner.

Mr. David Magala the Coordinator Lyantonde Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS said “Our partnership has led to effective, sustainable and accountable implementation of pro-poor projects  which have empowered communities, especially people living with HIV/AIDS to access health and development services as well as take responsibility for their development in a socially sustainable, just and peaceful environment.  We have increased their access to relevant information, skills, and resources”.

Human Rights Based Approach

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Human Rights Based Approach to Programming (HRBAP) & MDG 3 – Improving accountability for service delivery through building capacities of Rights Holders and Duty Bearers

As a community based organization, ICOD Action Network maintains the belief that all human beings are created in the image of God, underlining the equal value and the inherent dignity in all human life. ICOD Action Network has chose to work with in a human rights framework, as it believes that this framework has, among other benefits the potential for uniting religious discourse on human dignity and secular approaches to human rights, creating a common platform for action.
In its rights- based programming, ICOD Action Network works with six guiding principles that impact the organization’s, donors and partners programming process. They are as follows;
i) Accountability.
ICOD Action Network attaches great importance to this element and considers it an essential principle in it rights - based commitment for increased protection and realization of human rights. The organization believes that accountability is the basic and outstanding operational principle in all projects implemented by the organization.
ii) Universality
Human rights are considered inalienable in the sense that they cannot be selectively granted or withdrawn but represent inherent claims and entitlements for all human beings, regardless of class, ethnic background, gender, religion, caste e.t.c.

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iii) Equality/ non discrimination
This principle implies a focus in our programming on the marginalized men and women and the excluded in any given society in order to ensure and strengthen their claim for; An equal voice in the distribution of resources and rights, Real access to and control of these resources and rights and Equality in legislation, policy and administrative practices.

iv) Indivisibility / inter-relatedness.
ICOD Action Network recognizes the equal importance of economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights. By so doing, ICOD Action Network acknowledges the multidimensional aspects and causes to poverty and underlines that a holistic approach must be taken in analyzing human rights deficits at the core of poverty, exclusion and oppression.

v) Participation