SECURED: Our Village, Our children, Our Hopes!
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A story of SECURED: A stamp of Excellence in Care for Child Development in Asundi village
Atimango, a 23 year old second time mother living in Asundi—a slum area in an upscale Kampala
suburb was invited for her usual village meeting by the Secretary for Children’s affairs on a Friday
morning. Atimango recently lost her first born Okello, who was a lovely boy, to a strange disease that
turned his hair brown, peeled off his skin and left him with numerous swellings. She later learnt that
this disease that had killed her son was known as acute malnutrition and she was filled with remorse
because she realized that it could have been prevented. After this experience, she had withdrawn
from her village friends and now spent most of her time at home, with her new baby and husband.
Atimango wondered to herself what could have happened in their village because this village meeting
had been emphasized more than any other before. She asked her six neighbours if they had also
received the invitation to the meeting, to which they all answered affirmative. This brought her some
relief, and together, they all went to the mango tree where they usually held these meetings. To their
surprise, almost the entire village was present. From past experiences, these meeting had a very poor
turn up. At the back of their minds, Atimango and her friends silently concluded, that the day’s topic
of discussion that had brought the whole village together must be a very important one.
Seated at the high table was the Local Council Chairperson, Secretary to Children’s Affairs, VHTs, and
Priest from St. Balikudembe, Health Facility In-Charge, Community Development Officer and a Head
Teacher of one of the most popular primary schools in the village. The LC chairperson made the
opening remarks for the meeting in which he welcomed everyone and thanked them for taking great
care of their children. He then went ahead to explain the topic for discussion for that day’s meeting
which was—continued health, nutrition and social challenges faced by children zero to five in their
village and what the community could do together to address these challenges. He introduced the
members at the high table and gave reasons as to why each one of them was there.
The village members (especially mothers like Atimango) were pleasantly amazed and clapped
endlessly because it was unusual to see their entire community gather together to discuss some of
what they considered the most pressing and relevant issues, threatening the future of their village.
They were impressed that their leaders were showing interest in addressing such relevant matters
instead of the usual business of asking for money for development projects which they never saw
materializing. Lanyero-, an elderly member of the community stood up and thanked the LC
chairperson for having come up with this brilliant idea. She later confessed how all her three
grandchildren had taken longer than expected to start talking, crawling and walking. She testified that
she had tried finding possible reasons for this by asking her daughter-in-law how she cared for the
children, but this had only earned her a rebuke to leave the children alone.
Lanyero believed her family wasn’t the only one dealing with such issues and that she spoke on behalf
of the others that had chosen to remain silent. She therefore welcomed this movement as a golden
opportunity to address these issues. She assured the gathering how this move would reach great
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SECURED: Our Village, Our children, Our Hopes!
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heights in allowing their children reach their fullest growth potential within the stipulated time. Some
mothers testified how this discussion had come up once in their Village Savings & Loans Association
(VSLAs) meeting. However, no one had taken ownership of it, therefore it had slowly died out. Just
like Lanyero, they were happy that this time the idea was being raised at village level and all key
stakeholders—religious leaders, local government, local council, teachers, village health teams, health
workers and community members were engaged.
“In twos, in fours, in fives, today we declare as Asundi village to uphold, to provide care,
responsiveness and stimulation—love, play and communication to our children, our hope in order for
them to grow and develop to their full potential” they all declared in unison while holding hands. With
this, the priest stood up and prayed for Asundi. That God would bless their commitment and Asundi
would become one of the greatest villages in Uganda especially in child care development.
While everyone thought the meeting had ended, Atimango fell face down at the center of the
gathering holding her baby tightly and crying out loudly: “If only this had happened earlier, I would
not have lost my dear Okello, to that strange disease. Being a new mother, I thought I was doing the
right thing by leaving Okello in the house each day and going off to fend for the family. I worked so
hard and even started feeding him with porridge and matooke at 3 months as he did not like my breast
milk”.
In an unexpected turn of events, Ongom- Atimango’s husband joined her and together they wept
bitterly. “Fathers of Asundi, do not be like me who left the care of Okello to my wife alone. I also
thought I was doing the right thing in the interest of Okello by working hard and leaving the house at
6am when he and the mother were still asleep and only returning at 11.30pm when they were asleep
again”. “Today I commit to spend most of my time with this son of mine [picks the child from
Atimango]. I will teach him to sing, dance, make toys and I will mentor him as a young man. I will also
provide a safe shelter where he and other children from the neighborhood can freely play and enjoy
their right to childhood”. Ongom was picked from the center of the gathering by other fathers who
came carrying their own babies as a solidarity statement that they too would spend more time with
their children and not leave it all to their mothers.
Likewise, the mothers picked up Atimango and held her close. The meeting ended in a celebration of
solidarity with tears of joy. It was fully adjourned and the members agreed to return after two weeks
to identify leaders of this new project that would support them to better understand how to take care
of their children using the locally available resources. Families left hand in hand, singing and dancing
to their beloved Ochailop’s new song- “Baillando”, a popular hit in the village.
After the two weeks had elapsed, the community converged at the same venue. This time the agenda
for the meeting was to identify members and leaders of the (Child Care Team) CCT. The secretary for
children’s affairs provided information on the number of households with pregnant women and
children under 5 years in Asundi. The LCI chairperson was elected to chair the CCT and he would be
assisted by Mr. Otto, the head of VHTs in the village.
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SECURED: Our Village, Our children, Our Hopes!
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Children older than 5 years were also present at the meeting and declared their interest in helping
their younger siblings grow healthier. These children said they would provide psycho-social support
to their siblings by organizing activities over the weekends in the open safe place, where they would
play with them and make for them toys from locally available materials. They would also bring their
art work from school and share with the younger children. This way through learning from the older
siblings, the younger children would gain more physical and motor developmental milestones.
During the meeting, the newly elected leaders together with the members of the CCT and VHTs came
up with an operational plan for the program. This included a training manual for the CCT and VHT
teams, meeting time, children’s play and stimulation activities, monitoring and evaluation of the
activities among others. The operational plan also included clear roles of all CCT members, VHTs,
elders, older children, parents, religious leaders and local government representatives. This was
reiterated to the members of the community to ensure that they held the leaders accountable.
After the leaders had been elected, the LC 1 chairperson introduced a team from a local NGO called
YEN. These were going to facilitate psycho-social and nutrition training for the VHT and CCT teams
that had just been elected. He mentioned that they would be using an adapted UNICEF and WHO
curriculum on Care for Child Development. Part of the criteria for being selected as part of these
teams, was that the individual had to be female, warm, nurturing and loving to young children,
friendly, kind, non-discriminatory, reliable and trustworthy. Individuals that showcased knowledge
and understandings of local beliefs and norms and issues of children’s rights, were also selected. Some
of the priorities areas to be covered in the training included; importance of play to children, children’s
rights, infant and young child feeding practices, and health and safety issues. Upon completion of the
training, those that participated would be given certificates. This would take place at a commissioning
ceremony in the presence of the entire community.
One month down the road, on a cool Sunday afternoon, the facilitators were commissioned at a
colorful ceremony and everyone rejoiced and welcomed them. The following day, armed with
enthusiasm from the support they had received the previous day at their commissioning, the VHTs
and CCTs set out to work. They conducted a mapping of children 0-5 years in the community, assessed
caring practices and health situation of different households. They also conducted a needs
assessments and designed a template for monitoring and evaluating their activities, all the while
adopting a more qualitative than quantitative approach.
They then set a schedule for rolling out the activities they had learnt during their training. This plan
included weekly discussions in designated places within the communities with mothers and fathers
for at most 90 minutes to understand the social, health and nutrition issues they were facing and how
these affected child care. Teaching parents how to make playing items for their children using local
materials. The facilitators used UNICEF and WHO “Counsel the family on Care for Child Development
Counselling Cards”, which basically are pictorial illustrations of milestones of child growth, from birth
up to five years; play and communication considerations for parents to engage with the child of
specific age category.
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SECURED: Our Village, Our children, Our Hopes!
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To sustain the program, the facilitators and CCTs trained and engaged parents and elder children in
designing the intervention. The facilitators organized small group activities where different families
got opportunities to learn from each other. The facilitators also supported parents and caregivers in
understanding the changes they saw in their children right from birth. The community cooperated
and generously contributed materials for the program to make the Early Childhood Development
(ECD) kit complete which further encouraged and motivated the VHTs and CCTs in their work.
The people of Asundi wholly embraced the new practices they were learning, in that, whenever they
gathered e.g. at the VSLA group meetings, they always spared a few minutes to share experiences on
child care. Besides meeting in the designated spaces within the community, the facilitators and CCTs
also conducted home visits to witness how families interacted with their children back at home. They
also observed the hygiene and sanitation, food preparation and feeding practices, shelter and play
areas and child health records among others. Such visits always encouraged the families to work hard
so that the VHTs and CCTs would leave behind a good report.
Once a family had satisfied the VHTs and CCT teams requirements and attained the specific ECD
milestones for their children, they earned a “SECURED” quality stamp. The “SECURED” stamp was
placed on the front door of the house and was recognizable to the entire village. Neighbors always
congratulated families that earned this stamp, because it represented a family that was caring and
loving towards their children.
The community continued to gather monthly and the CCTs together with the VHT psychosocial and
nutrition facilitators shared information on how children in different households were being taken
care of. They also highlighted number of households that had already obtained the first “SECURED”
stamp as result of fulfilling the minimum care indicators for their children within the stipulated time
frame. All the members of families who had obtained the “SECURED” stamp were always called to the
front of the gathering for recognition for their efforts and received a hand shake from the LC1
chairman. Members of Asundi were determined to see that every household received the “SECURED”
stamp. Health workers were often present at these meetings and provided complementary health
services for children and their mothers as needed. Children and mothers requiring more medical
attention were always referred to the nearby health facilities. The quality of the program, lessons
learnt and strategies for improvements following the PDSA cycle were also discussed.
Within the first six months of program implementation, Atimango and Ongom’s house was among
those that had obtained the first “SECURED” stamp and were working on the child care indicators for
the second “SECURED” stamp. By the end of the year, every child in Asundi was receiving maximum
care which was evidenced by the “SECURED” stamps on all their door frames and thus, families spent
most of their time and money on more productive activities other than treating children due to
sickness and malnutrition. Malnutrition soon became totally wiped out in Asundi and the later
generations would only learn about it from stories told by the elders.
The village converged for their last meeting that year, in which the LC1 chairman thanked CCTs and
VHTs for taking the lead in this social change and behavioral intervention for child care and
development. This ended in joyous merry making and feasting. Nearby villages learnt of Asundi’s
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SECURED: Our Village, Our children, Our Hopes!
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success and requested Asundi CCTs and VHTs to go and train their people too. Atimango, her husband,
Lanyero and a few other families of Asundi accompanied CCTs and VHTs to the nearby villages and
provided testimonials on how SECURED has helped their village SECURE health and nutrition of their
children and how it had become a norm for entire village to better care for children.
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