The Hunger Project awarded UK Aid Grant to empower deaf girls in Uganda

The Hunger Project is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant from the Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF), the Department for International Development (DFID) fund supporting charities to achieve sustained poverty reduction.

The “Safe Choices for Deaf Girls” project aims to empower girls with hearing impediments in and around the Mbale district of Uganda, to make safe choices in their sexual and reproductive health, and have access to these health services which often underserve deaf girls.

We have been working in Uganda in partnership with local communities since 1999. Our approach is community-led and owned, empowering villages through the Epicentre Strategy so they themselves can end poverty and hunger for good. A key focus of our work is empowering women and girls to unleash their voice, vision and leadership to become agents of change in their communities.

Girls with disabilities have largely been overlooked when it comes to their sexual and reproductive rights. Because of their often isolated and marginalized position in families and communities, girls with disabilities are more likely to be exposed to risks of sexual violence, rape, early pregnancy, forced marriage and HIV infection than girls without disabilities. Additionally, school drop-out rates are also higher.

With this project, funded with UK aid from the UK government and British people, The Hunger Project-Uganda will train and empower deaf girls, and mobilise local community leaders to ensure girls have access to the services they need for a successful future, and to break the cycle of poverty and inequality, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

We are delighted with the funding from the Government’s Small Charities Challenge Fund for our work in Uganda. Over 18 months, “Safe Choices for Deaf Girls” will work to empower 200 deaf girls in the Mbale district, as well as creating youth leaders amongst these girls. 80 health workers will receive training so that health services are more accessible to those with hearing impediments, and training will be provided for 400 community leaders, including at least 40 parents, to ensure the rights of girls are protected.

“Too often, people living with disabilities in the world’s poorest countries have been locked out of accessing the vital services they need and often it is marginalised girls who suffer the most. I’m proud UK aid is supporting The Hunger Project to provide deaf girls in Uganda with the healthcare they need. Every girl deserves the right to make her own choices about her body and future,” said former International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

“Small charities do an extraordinary amount of good in the world. They do not allow their size to limit their ambitions and UK aid’s Small Charities Challenge Fund is there to make sure they get the support they need to help us end poverty once and for all.”

We look forward to sharing more news of this project with you! 

Recent Update: Meet Angela and Justine!

Justine is a teacher at our Safe Choices for Deaf Girls project in Uganda, and Angela is one of her students. When Angela was 5 years old, she lost her hearing and dropped out of school because she couldn’t understand her lessons. Now Angela is back in education in Mbale where the Safe Choices programme is supported by UK aid from the UK government and British people. Her favourite subjects are Geography, History and Entrepreneurship! Well done to Angela and to your teacher Justine!