Country profile

Uganda      New Zealand Capital Kampala Wellington Population 29 million 4.1 million Official language/s English English and Maori Per capita income US$280 US$27,250 NZ$1=US$0.70 NZ$382 NZ$38,928 Life expectancy 49 years 80 years Under 5 mortality rate 136/1000 5/1000 Adult literacy 67% 99% (Source: UNICEF The State of the World's Children 2008)

People
Uganda has three main ethnic groups and more than 30 different languages. Half of the population is under the age of 15 years. About 85 per cent of Ugandans are Christian, 12 per cent are Muslim and 3 per cent follow traditional religions.

History
Before Uganda came under British control in 1894, it consisted of several separate kingdoms. The name Uganda was derived from one of these, Buganda, which means the state of the Ganda people.

Since independence in 1962, the country has had a troubled political history, including Idi Amin’s cruel regime of the 1970s, which shattered the economy and perpetrated shocking human rights violations.

Conflict with rebel groups continues. The most notorious is the extremely violent LRA whose campaign of murdering people and kidnapping children has displaced 1.6 million northern Ugandans. In 2006, negotiations between the LRA and the Government brought some peace.

Geography
Lying astride the equator, Uganda is on a fertile plateau with mountains on three sides. Although the climate is mostly tropical, temperatures can be quite cool in places owing to the country’s high altitude – the average altitude is 1,000m. Rainy seasons are March to May and October to November. About one-sixth of the country is swamps, lakes, such as the famous Lake Victoria, and rivers, including the Nile.

Economy
Uganda’s economy was devastated during the Idi Amin regime and the subsequent conflicts. Economic recovery began in the mid-1980s; however Uganda still relies heavily on international aid, and it has received significant debt relief.

Coffee is the main export, others include fish, gold, tea, cotton, tobacco and high value export crops such as cut flowers and asparagus. With a more stable political environment and improved facilities, tourism is increasing.

Agriculture
Small-scale agriculture employs over 80 per cent of Uganda’s work force. Cassava, maize, beans, bananas, millet, sorghum, peanuts and sweet potatoes are grown for domestic consumption, and individual farmers also provide large amounts of the nation’s exports. Most families raise a few livestock – poultry, cattle, goats and sheep.

Education
Ugandan children begin school at 6 years. In 1997, the Government began providing free primary education for up to four children from each family. The move has increased primary school attendance to 87 per cent of children. However, drop-out rates are high and the country’s few secondary schools only cater for one-third of students. Many schools lack sufficient staff, classrooms, furniture and books.

HIV and AIDS
The Government has committed significant effort to face the challenge of HIV and AIDS. The prevalence rate has dropped from a high of 30 per cent in the early 1990s to 6.7 per cent. Although this is encouraging, AIDS has orphaned 1 million children and made many more vulnerable.

Health
Less than half of the population has access to healthcare and people often travel for long distances to reach it. Doctors, nurses, equipment and medicines are in short supply. Safe water is available to 56 per cent of people and sanitary latrines to only 41 per cent. Major health issues include diarrhoea, malnutrition, malaria, cholera, tuberculosis and respiratory infections.

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Uganda COUNTRY UPDATE

PROTECTING CHILDREN

“Childhood implies a distinct period of life in which children can grow in health and safety… Childhood refers not only to an irreplaceable time of individual human growth, but to the quality of those years. And yet childhood in Uganda today is under threat.” Martin Mugwanja, UNICEF Representative in Uganda

Nearly 60 per cent of Uganda’s population is under the age of 18. Each of these children, more than 16.5 million in all, carries significant potential for the future of their nation.

But the children of Uganda face an uncertain future with many challenges. Their nation is ranked 145 out of 177 countries in human development. Although education is a priority in the Ugandan government’s budget, there aren’t enough schools for all children. Discrimination against girls and women leaves children vulnerable. HIV and AIDS has robbed them of their parents, teachers and even their siblings. Of every 1,000 Ugandan children, 136will die before they reach the age of 5. For more than 20 years, conflict in northern Uganda has terrorised children – more than 20,000 children have been recruited as child soldiers and sex slaves and many more travel to towns for safety each night. Child labour, trafficking and even child sacrifice also threaten Uganda’s children.

There is hope
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides hope for Uganda’s children. It sets out standards for the treatment of children that are universal to all cultures and legal systems, providing children the right to survival, to develop to their fullest, to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation, and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. It is signed by more nations than any other human rights instrument and provides a framework for communities, governments and organisations like World Vision to address the difficulties children face.

Within this framework, World Vision educates Ugandan communities about the importance of children, and teaches them to support basic child rights. Inspired by the potential of the future generation, friends and neighbours become strong advocates for children, working hard to protect and provide for those in their community.

World Vision’s work is not just about what is being done for children – the children themselves have an important role to play. In World Vision’s projects, children join the decision-making bodies to take their place in determining the direction of their communities.

In September 2007, World Vision sponsored a conference of 150 children from all over Uganda to raise issues of concern before the Commonwealth Heads of Government in their November 2007 meeting in Uganda. The children came up with four critical areas:

• HIV and AIDS and children: access to care, support and treatment
• Child trafficking: legal protection of children against trafficking
• Children with disabilities: rehabilitation and access to services by disabled children
• Conflict: the plight of children in armed conflict