Just Like My Child Foundation has partnered with a local Ugandan Girls' Leadership Counselor, Nyiraguhabwa Monica, to equip young women and girls with life skills and counseling that will empower them for the rest of their lives. Monica teaches each group of girls (usually 30-50 students each) a series of three weekend-long life skills workshops over the course of a year. This enables Monica to monitor the girls' progress and results, and address key issues in each of the girls lives.

We have also partnered with FIDA, a league of women's rights attorneys who are deploying out to the communities we are working with, delivering human rights training and workshops to communities, law makers, and health care workers. In fact, they are training key staff at Bishop Asili Hospital to become paralegals, thereby creating direct linkages from the hospital to the law enforcers, to the communities. Once the law enforcers become aware that the community understands and knows their rights, law enforcement increases greatly. 

We are monitoring this program for its impact on domestic violence and rape of the girl-child.

Empowering women and girls is vital.

Living deep in rural areas, girls are often placed in devastating situations and don't otherwise have any counseling or the support to have a voice in their community, stand up for their rights, or even make their own decisions.

Just Like My Child's empowerment program is providing legal rights training for women and girls, enabling them to learn their rights, avoid peer pressures, gain self-confidence, discover their passions, and speak for themselves through a series of group mentoring sessions with Nyiraguhabwa Monica.

These sessions are teaching young women and girls to be effective decision makers; avoiding exploitation and risky situations by identifying individuals who wish to take advantage of them. Girls are equipped the skills to display their confidence and demand respect to keep themselves safe. A comprehensive session on puberty and menstruation along with private counseling sessions ensure the girls have an opportunity to express any serious issues that might not be addressed at home or brought up in an open, group setting.

Just Like My Child and Nyiraguhabwa Monica are facilitating workshops throughout the year, deep in rural communities where vulnerable girls would not otherwise have the life-altering opportunity to become Empowered- For Life.

Mentoring session for girls at St Joseph Magogo School