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What We Do

COW F is active in providing the following activities to assist children impacted by war:

1. HIV/AIDS
   The 20 years of conflict in Northern Uganda greatly affected children in their vulnerability to the highest risk of HIV/AIDS.  The youth and children are forced to commute to night shelters to avoid abduction by rebels, which expose them to activities such as drugs, rape and crime.  Abducted girls have been given out to commanders as ‘wives’ increasing their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.  Every child today is growing up in a world where HIV/AIDS is a devastating reality, thus every child is affected by the epidemic, whether they are infected or not, whether orphan or non-orphan.
   
   HIV/AIDS can damage a child’s life in three ways: (a) directly on the child, (b) on the child’s family and (c) on the community that the child is growing up in.

   (a) The direct effects of HIV/AIDS on children

   • Many children are themselves infected with HIV.

   (b) The effects of HIV on a child’s family

   • Children live with family members who are infected with HIV.

   • Children act as caregivers for sick parents who have HIV/AIDS.

   • Many children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS.

   • An increasing number of households are headed by children, as HIV/AIDS erodes traditional community support systems.

   • Children end up being their family’s principal wage earners, as HIV/AIDS prevents adults from working and creates expensive medical bills.

   (c) The effects of HIV on a child’s community

   • As HIV/AIDS ravages a community, schools lose teachers and children are limited to access education.

   • Doctors and nurses die, and children find it difficult to gain care for childhood diseases.

   • Children may lose their friends to HIV/AIDS.

   • Children and their families who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS may be stigmatized and discriminated.

   Thus, key interventions includes: creating awareness on Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT), referrals, Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) and stigma and discrimination through production of education, information and communication (IEC) materials and behavior change communication (BCC), provision of social, emotional and psychological needs through home based care (HBC), and community involvement as Community  HIV/AIDS ambassadors (COHDORs). 

2. Child Legal & Protection
   Ongoing protection programs are currently being implemented in Kitgum District, Northern Uganda. Our protection staff operates in a variety of emergency, conflict and crisis settings, working with governments and NGO partners to create policy and programmatic changes to enhance the protection of vulnerable children. Our technical resources cover a range of sectors, including: conflict, post-conflict and reconstruction settings; transitional settings; children in chronic crisis and acute emergency settings; child exploitation and child labor.  More specifically, key target areas for protection programming includes: orphans and vulnerable children affected by war, HIV/AIDS and exploitation.
   
   Key interventions include: counseling on psychosocial wellbeing, developing community networks, creating educational programs, creating safe spaces programming, developing national protection policies and child welfare reform, mobilizing community and facilitating child-to-child interventions.

3. Income Generating Activities (IGAs)
   A big gap has been created at a family level to address the needs and concerns of OVC caregivers affected by war and HIV/AIDS. The organization conducts activity in socioeconomic and political empowerment for marginalized women and child-headed households.

   COW Foundation interventions included (1) piggery,(2) goat rearing, (3) training in soil fertility management, soil and water conservation, crop husbandry, poultry keeping, (4) distribution of seeds to needy families, (5) monitoring of extension services and (6) sensitization on the importance of vitamins and minerals.  Other interventions include advocacy on sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV), nutrition education, radio programmes, exposure visits, publications and distribution of pamphlets and posters and sensitization of primary school children.