Media Platforms Enhance Visibility of Best Practices That Can Be Used As Models Contributing To Better Life Outcomes: Case Study in Kyotera District - SOCY Project

 Face book, Twitter, You Tube, Tik tok, Television, music dance and drama can be used to amplify examples of best practices show casing social- cultural-economic transformation.

 I have several examples I can share from all the above platforms, but let me give you an example from a newspaper. One day during my home visit and field supervision at the time of enrolment of programme participants in an activity I was conducting. In 2017, I came across a house hold that had members with multiple vulnerabilities, e.g., poverty, neglect, child labour, malnutrition and ill health. Surprisingly, our budget we did not have funds to carry out the intervention to respond to the needs on the ground.

 I had to think outside the box. The household head was a fully visually impaired (blind) single mother called Nakalema looking after four children, and of the children only one had vision. Three who included a set of twins and the follower were totally visually impaired.

 This kind of phenomena made me think about escalating the need through Monitor News. I contacted reporters who came and took the story from Nakalema and her children. They then published it in their paper and streamed it on NTV.

 Whoever read and heard the news responded immediately with support. Nakalema managed to get support from 10 organizations and several individuals.

 Kitovu Mobile offered to build the family a house worth 25 million, a Church in Kampala, decided to pay school fees for the four children. A Pastor from the USA by the names of Amos paid all medical bills of the mother and the three children which was worth 15 million Uganda shillings. An amount totaling to UGX 50 million was mobilized in a period of two months.

 Nakasero Hospital carried out surgery on the three children and their sight was restored. I am so happy that my intervention led to rehabilitation.

 However, for the mother, her condition was declared beyond repair. Instead she received counselling to cope with the situation.

This intervention shows the need to be flexible and forward looking. Sometimes we go to communities to conduct interventions tied to conditioned funding. However, we need to be innovative enough not to leave programme participants who are eligible for care behind. There is joy in this home and community as a whole to see children attending school, the family lives in a modern house and to this day some individuals who pledged support still offer it.

Communities are spaces where development initiatives contributing to better life out comes are implemented, these examples can be implemented in many other areas if resource mobilization, formulation of support groups and commitment to development are initiated and sustained.  

I call upon all organizations to engage pro-actively in activities to support initiatives promoting social - cultural- economic transformation, because this sets the processes contributing to social security, protection and livelihood enhancement.

 

An article published on the 11^th March 2017 : Blind mother struggles to raise visually impaired children