Learning to use website in St. Francis
St. Francis Family Helper Programme
3 Departments
1. Child Sponsorship Department
Begun during the regime of IDI Amin in 1984 the child sponsorship department assists in the 17-year long education of the most vulnerable children in the area. On average the number of children sponsored is 240-300 and costs over 70,000 EURO per annum. Funds come from individual sponsors from Ireland, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Poland. The sponsor is required to pay 500 EURO per annum. The first few years of primary education cost very little in Uganda but secondary education has become very expensive, and too much for many donors. For this reason we request a basic sum for the 17 years and no further demands are made on the sponsor as we save the balance of the primary years.
2. Tailoring School
St. Francis runs a 2 year tailoring school for boys and girls, men and women, married or single, young or old who want to learn the skill of clothing construction and household furnishing.
3. Counsellor and Psychosocial Training Institute.
The students of this Institute are young men and women who wish to work in the mental health, social services and development sectors. They are mature students. Trainings vary depending on the needs of the students, the sending organisations, or the communities being served. Training modules are designed to suit the particular need. The Institute is accredited by Uganda Martyrs University which approves the syllabus, staff, examinations and student entry and which awards Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees to successful graduates.
As well as having men and women come for training to the Institute, St. Francis psychosocial training team has travelled to institutes and organisations in other parts of Uganda as well as to DR Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
In addition the Institute has a memorandum of understanding with the university campus of Mbarara Archdiocese to allow the use of rooms for students of other disciplines.
The counsellor and psychosocial training institute serves not only its own trainees but offers services to the sponsored children and their families, to the youth from the tailoring school and to the population around which requires services.
The training team has been called out to schools in the district, to organisations serving vulnerable populations and to refugee camps to carry out psychosocial interventions relevant to the specific needs. Training in prevention of child abuse has been a recent focus of our work. Presently we are designing a 3 year project to work in primary schools to prevent violence against children and to give training in appropriate ways of integral child development.