Legal Aid: Mityana Charity - dedicated to helping the people of Mityana

Human Rights and Prison Projects (HRPP)

Partners for Community Transformation (PaCT) aims to make a significant contribution to a harmonious society that respects human rights and the related law. Their approach is to create awareness, engage communities and encourage local leaders to uphold their roles and responsibilities in addressing challenges and violations related to human rights.

UK funding for the Human Rights and Prison Project is dependent on the impressive fundraising activities of the students of Orange House, Wellington College. Their long-term commitment to this important project is very much appreciated.

Promotion of Children's Rights

Some of the challenges are:

• Child labour in tea plantations, stone quarries, gold mining and construction.

• Child abuse of all kinds, including domestic violence, sexual abuse and trauma and failure of parents to send their children to school.

• Child Crime, with the number of offenders high but without probation and social welfare to reach every child, few remand and child placement homes to provide emergency care and protection. Young offenders are sometimes put in adult prisons. Criminal activity has increased among the young during Coronavirus lockdowns due to boredom and lack of structured activity with Schools closed.

What are we doing to improve Children's rights?

PaCT engage with schools with the aim of helping and empowering children to know their rights and become responsible citizens. Activities are aimed at skill and knowledge development to promote awareness, and encourage appropriate assertion through advocacy. PaCT monitor the development of annual plans, facilitate activities and provide guest speakers. There is also indirect communication with the schools' management in regards to safeguarding issues.

Establishment of Peace Clubs

There are currently 12 human rights and peace clubs launched in different schools in Mityana and Mubende. The clubs are instrumental in building a strong sense of child ownership to plan, support and share experiences and challenges.

Inter-school debate competitions

Human rights orientated discussions help to broaden children's understanding, awareness and by so doing enable and empower them to challenge and uphold their own and others' human rights.

Radio talk shows

Relevant officials and sponsored youth were involved in the discussion panel to raise awareness of topics that have an impact on children and young people and their wellbeing, such as domestic violence, safeguarding, profitable use of land and employment opportunities.

Children's Rights Conference

This is another way of creating awareness of children's rights. It is a useful forum for all the agencies, professionals and stakeholders involved to promote and share ideas and information and raise awareness of the effect of domestic violence and abuse on a child's development. To help to facilitate real change through targeted action, policy and strategic thinking.

Participation and celebration of the day of the African Child

This is a special day across the African Continent to promote the rights of children. PaCT have been involved in the organisation of the event for several years, as well as presenting the work they do in the promotion of the rights and welfare of Ugandan children.

Gender Based violation

Gender based violation has escalated considerably during lockdown.

To raise awareness, highlight the issue and encourage intervention, messages have been recorded and aired on local radio stations. Those involved have included a senior probation officer, an officer in charge of child and family protection unit at Mityana police station and two of our sponsored children.

Prison project

Provision of Legal Counselling

Legal Counselling is known locally as duty-bearers dialogue. This scheme finances legal personnel to visit the prisons and to provide legal advice to prisoners and answer questions about their individual cases that cannot be asked in court, as well as assisting them with family matters once they are imprisoned. Trained staff can also help explain their rights as well as offering support on self-representation. During the year 102 prisoners have benefited from this intervention.

Sometimes the local magistrate, police, or state attorney can be at hand to explain the legal system to prisoners.

Prisoner's rehabilitation

The project aims to promote the welfare of prisoners and to facilitate their rehabilitation through training and meaningful activity such as arts and crafts. There continues to be particular emphasis on women and on their skill acquisition by providing training for future employment, for example in the use of knitting machines and garment making. All the money raised through sales goes back to the maker.

Land Awareness Project

Since 2019 PaCT has been in partnership with GIZ (a German Development Agency, assisted with funding from the European Union). Building on experience of previous land projects, GIZ aims to create awareness and increasing land productivity by facilitating a harmonious relationship between tenants and landlords, with particular emphasis on engaging women and promoting their rights by various means:

• Appreciation of each other's rights outlined in the Land Act

• Village and parish based awareness campaigns

• Mediation meetings

• Landlord meetings

• Investing resources to ensure land conflicts in the project areas are resolved through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

• Independent land mapping and occupancy certification

• Training 36 Community Legal Volunteers to support the project's implementation and conflict resolution.

• Creating a Radio presence

The type of conflicts and issues addressed are inheritance/succession, boundaries, illegal tenants, fraudulent/wrongful sale, deprivation of land rights, deliberate land grabbing.

If you want to make a donation to any of the projects above, please do so through the Gift Scheme needs link