Holt’s services in Uganda are provided in partnership with and through the local Ugandan NGO – Action For Children (AFC). AFC program staff identifies and train local leaders and volunteers in their communities to address children’s specific needs with shelter repair, sanitation projects, pairing child-headed households with adult mentors, support for grandparent-headed households, medical care, skill building such as gardening, animal husbandry or other income generating activities as well as financial support for education.

Children receive psycho-social support through adult and peer counselors and through participation in Children’s Brigade (community youth groups) activities. These services strengthen the traditional safety net for orphaned children to give them permanency in their own community and a chance to eventually succeed as healthy and productive adults in Ugandan society.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has left Uganda with a population in which more than half of the people are below age 18 and only 2% are over 65. Much of the response to the plight of orphans and vulnerable children has been at the material level with food, clothing, education and health care and is largely influenced by institutional/governmental donor demands for tangible, statistical results.

“The partnership of Holt, Action For Children, and the community exists to care for the child.” That was how Jolly Nyeko, Founder and Chairperson for Action For Children (AFC), describes our partnership to the attendees of Looking Forward: A Global Response For Homeless Children, an international conference celebrating Holt’s 50 years of service to children, which was held in Eugene, Oregon, mid-October of 2006.

Together we are making a difference in the lives of Uganda’s most vulnerable children – one child, one family and one community at a time.