Uganda Elections: the results are in, but what does this mean for children?

After much campaigning, debate and speculation, Yoweri Museveni has won the Ugandan Presidential Elections for the fourth time in a row. But what does this mean for 57% of Uganda’s population – its children...?

NOW in Kampala, Uganda: child-friendly voting!

This news is coming straight from Kampala where, as you read this, projects and churches from our partner network have taken to the streets to encourage voters to consider the rights and needs of Uganda's children.

In the light of the upcoming elections for a new President and government (Friday 18th February) the network are conducting an advocacy campaign encouraging citizens to think about children when they vote. They have been asking questions such as: Do you recognise the importance of today’s children? Will the person you vote for be the best person to lead the next generation into the future?

You voted for it: Caring for Workers

In last week's poll we asked you what child care workers need most.  Of course the people who care for vulnerable children need many more things than what we listed, but if we started including things like 'malaria pills' you'd never be able to choose.

6% of our readers thought child care workers need more money,

68% thought they need better training,

and 25% of you thought they need a vacation.

You're all right.  Although it sounds materialistic to say child care workers need more money, they certainly do!  Not only for themselves, but simply to run the projects properly.  Many of the projects Viva works with are just generous people who open their homes to orphans, or give their time to care for disabled children.  They try to stretch their income to cover the costs and elicit donations from others in their community, but funds are usually hard to come by.

The Best Way to Prevent Child Abuse

Last week we had a little poll: What's the best way to prevent child abuse? And we sneakily only let you vote for one answer.

77% of respondents thought the best way is to teach adults about children's rights.

22% thought that it's best to empower children to advocate for themselves.

And nobody voted for creating laws that ban child abuse!

Of course, all the answers were somewhat right, but you need all three to be really effective. Laws and policies that ban child abuse are helpful.  But child abuse will always continue if it's culturally acceptable, as it is in countries like Bolivia where 40% of teachers admit to thinking physical punishment is an acceptable way to discipline a student.  We've used this figure before -- 80,000 Latin American children die every year in their own homes because of domestic abuse.