devinitorg/iati-policy-markers huggingface dataset:
Increasing access for disabled girls and boys to primary education in Sierra Leo After years of brutal civil war, the children of Sierra Leone desperately need a structured education - however as schools are rebuilt and restart, children with disabilities almost always miss out due to discrimination and the lack of will, ability or resources to support them. This is because of the attitude of their families, communities, teachers and the education system which do not always think it worth investing time, money and energy into supporting them.  This can also lead to disabled children lacking confidence and belief in their own ability to achieve and do well in school.  Schools lack any special help and resources they may need - teachers lack support and specific training, and the government has not fully considered how including children with disabilities into mainstream schools is an essential way forward. The education system focuses largely on the provision of ‘special needs' education to a very small minority which can contribute to stigma and discrimination and fails to support true inclusion of all children with disabilities. In Sierra Leone the government is reviewing its educational policy and, as schools reopen to all children, there is a unique moment where change is really possible. This project aims to understand and address the challenges and opportunities in accessing education in this post-conflict country through supporting children with disabilities into and through school.  It will work directly with schools to improve accessibility of the school environment and train teachers in appropriate teaching methodologies to ensure children with disabilities are fully included in school. The project will work with three district level education authorities and up to two teacher training institutes in Sierra Leone to ensure that an inclusive education curriculum is integrated into the pre-service teacher training modules. At the same time, the project will undertake rigorous research on exactly what the barriers are at all levels – including in families and communities, and in the schools and the education system. As a result this programme will improve disabled children's ability to enrol and perform well in school as well as improving teacher's skills and ability to include disabled children in their teaching.  Approximately 17,745 children (both with and without disabilities) will directly benefit from the project as a result of improved teaching methodologies, resources and facilities in their schools, with a further 1,780 teachers directly benefitting from teacher training courses. In addition, the programme will help to shape government policy on the inclusion of disabled children in basic education and in doing so, create practical ways to enable much larger numbers of children with disabilities to go to school.
Juicing Justice for Farmers After long civil war, farmers in the Casamance, Senegal, are developing the economy and have several unusual wild fruits to sell which qualify as so-called ‘superfoods’. This project helps 2,200 farmers to organise a marketing association, set up collection centres and care better for their land and wild forests. Around 880 women farmers will be directly supported to meet, learn new skills and to ensure their active representation in the new organisations. Two Senegalese social enterprises are contributing to the project and provide the link to growing European markets. A UK Fair Trade juice pioneer will build a Fair Trade brand and means of distribution for these unique products.
Securing healthier lives for the rural women and children of Mifumi village catc Women in Mifumi in east Uganda suffer very poor health. Many risk childbirth at home with an untrained traditional birth attendant; very few attend antenatal, delivery or postnatal care at health centres. Even if they do attend, they find health services of very poor quality: health workers are rude, referrals are slow, patient records are not up to date, and follow-up is poor. Building on its significant past success tackling domestic violence, Mifumi will now focus on getting Mifumi health centre services up to District Health standards, motivate over 4,000 women and newborns to use them, engage community leaders to monitor service quality, and pilot schemes to fund future health services.
Sintha Chisitu Eight out of ten people in Malawi are involved in agriculture and yet half of rural households face food shortages for up to 5 months a year. Poor farmers are unable to afford expensive imported fertilizers and spend up to 1.5 hours per day sourcing energy supplies for cooking, lighting, heating and phone charging due to lack of electrification in rural areas. This proposal aims to develop a locally produced system to collect liquid and solid human waste and convert this into affordable fertilizer and safe energy (such as briquettes and biogas), and establish its commercial viability. The roll out of this system would provide opportunities for employment and community based businesses.
Lasting Change IKAPA Through VPUU. For years South Africa has struggled with a legacy of totally inadequate housing for the majority of the population.  In 2012 the City of Cape Town built 7,000 new houses, but has an official waiting list of 400,000 families.  Many of these people live in informal settlements where hundreds queue for water and toilets, there is little work or education, the majority of people may have HIV/AIDS and violence is endemic. Over the last six years an innovative urban planning project has been developed, placing people at the heart of upgrading their own communities and reducing crime at the same time.  The approach encourages the people to make decisions on how community space is used and what services are needed, while also providing stimulus through education, sport and employment.  The people themselves retain control of the improvements.  Working with City officials, this project will now be rolled out into three new informal settlements with especially challenging histories of violence and deprivation.  By integrating basic services like water and toilets with early childhood education, legal aid services (particularly for women), business start-up training and much more, the project will lead to long term gains and a model which can be replicated elsewhere.  A particular feature of the project is to catalyse further investment from the municipality in the long term.
The Tororo Youth One-Stop Shop The project aims to carry out a consultation and planning exercise with slum dwellers in order to determine the most effective means of working with 14-25 year olds in Kasoli slum in Tororo. Working in collaboration with local government officials the information collected will be used to create a development plan for a Youth Hub that can offer local support services, including interventions to improve sexual health, personal development and livelihood options.
Capacitating GHARWEG Gharweg is a long established charity primarily focused on providing training and advice to help people in the UK access employment, funded by a range of institutional and charitable donors. They also support two projects in northern Ghana funded by DFID and Comic Relief. Gharweg have prudently managed their growth and activities over many years and recently recovered from a funding crisis. But they remain dependant on restricted donations and service contracts, and the bulk of their funding is renewed on an annual basis so they can never be certain about future income. Their board appreciate that difficult times lie ahead for small charities; they face a tougher and more competitive funding environment. They want to develop a stronger funding base and expand their work in Africa. This grant will provide technical support to help them develop effective business and fundraising plans.
The Evidence: Sexual and Gender-based Violence at South African Schools The project will work across four provinces Limpopo, Gauteng, Eastern and Western Cape to develop and research and test a range of approaches addressing the issue of gender based violence in schools. The wok will be carried out in conjunction with the Gender Health and Justice Research Unit (GHJRU) at the University of Cape Town.
Ifakara Health Institute - Connect Tanzania has made impressive gains in the reduction of child mortality in recent years, but there has been insufficient progress in reducing newborn and maternal mortality. Newborn deaths (within the first 28 days) account for 30% of all deaths of children under five. Many of these could be prevented by simple practices at home; by making sure that pregnant women, mothers and newborns seek and get the care they need when they are in danger or ill; and using the full range of recommended antenatal, post-natal and reproductive health services. This project aims to reduce the numbers of preventable deaths of mothers in childbirth, newborns and children under five by strengthening the links between households, communities and health facilities. The project will introduce paid Community Health Agents (CHAs) to provide a range of health services in rural villages in three districts. In addition, the project will strengthen referrals from communities to health facilities for health emergencies. The project will demonstrate the impact that CHAs have on the health of mothers, newborn, children and women of reproductive age and will provide evidence on practical, sustainable ways to support CHAs and to improve emergency referral systems. As a result of the project the lives of mothers, newborns and children will be improved, and the numbers of child deaths will decline.
LEAP from the Street - Learning, Educating and Protecting Detailed research done by Chance for Childhood (CfC) shows that significant proportion of the children with street connections have challenges in expressing themselves.  This impediment is likely to have developed due to trauma, disability or lack of schooling.  As a result, all too often these children spiral into conflict with authorities and the law.  This may also have been at the root of their leaving home or what stops them from returning home.  This project in Kenya will work with schools, juvenile justice authorities and street children organisations and build their expertise enabling them to identify and overcome the problem in working with street connected children. Through this project these children will be helped to avoid being abused or getting into trouble and helped back into their communities. In the process teachers will also be supported to ensure all the children they teach can learn in less disruptive classrooms.
Evidence based approaches empowering youth with mental health problems to tackle Young people in Nairobi face challenges to their mental health. Urban life, changes in the traditional family structure, and poverty can lead to alcohol and drug misuse or other problems. The media portrays people with mental health disorders as violent, mad, or spiritually possessed. Stigma associated with mental health problems is both a cause and an effect of limited access to treatment. This project will replicate Time To Change, a programme that has helped reduce mental health-related stigma in England. It will support young people with experience of mental health problems to talk to members of the public, alongside a campaign to challenge stigma and discrimination in Nairobi.
Shift the Power Malawi Programme: Strengthening Local CSOs in Malawi The proposal is for Shift the Power Programme which is aimed at strengthening civil society in Malawi to be more independent, resilient and effective in delivering priorities of local people aroung the key thematic areas of Early Childhood Development, Gender Justice, Mental Health and Safe and Secure Shelter.
Capacity building for protection of young women's rights to education MEMPROW will work to 'encourage and enhance the meaningful enhancement of girls' whilst they are at school and into adulthood. They recognise the need for a holistic approach which includes transforming the local community. MEMPROW will work with selected community leaders - teachers, parents, religious, cultural leaders which is important in realising longer term change. Organised dialogue between young men and women and opportunities for training together bring a further dimension to young women's empowerment and vital male participation through mindset change. Lifeskills training and mentoring of girls in school and support to staff to protect girls from violence in school are essential.
Organisational Development Planning for African Initiatives AI exists to tackle injustice and poverty. AI support the rights of people to take part in the social, economic, political and environmental decision-making that affects them at a community, national and international level. AI’s work focuses on girls' education, women’s rights, sustainable livelihoods, land rights and economic empowerment. They work in long-term partnership, strengthening the capacity of grassroots organisations in Tanzania and Ghana through the provision of information, resources, training, advice, mentoring for staff, monitoring and evaluation and support our partners to measure impact. As a growing organisation, it is necessary for AI to plan more effectively for the future in order to support the identified needs of our partners and implement effective programmes. This grant would allow AI to undertake a full organisational assessment and develop a capacity plan that would strengthen AI to more effectively achieve its goals and implement effective programmes both overseas and in the UK. The inclusive approach would help AI to identify and prioritise key organisational needs and plan and apply appropriate internal capacity building activities. Through undertaking stimulating reflection, learning, and dialogue, new and old problems and opportunities will be examined, and ideas for addressing them will be generated.
Up-scaling smallholder-led innovation and enterprise Many smallholder tea and coffee farmers in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda earn less than US$2 a day, some as little as 11p a day. To improve their incomes and reduce their vulnerability to climate change they need to learn how to improve degraded soils, raise productivity, and find other crops to grow and sell. However most farmers cannot get help from conventional extension services, and the ratio of field technicians to farmers in the coops is low (1:300). Through this project the Cafedirect Producers' Foundation and its partners will make it possible for farmers in 13 coops in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda to tackle the problems they face on their farms themselves, using low cost solutions that other farmers in this network have already tried and tested.  This approach recognises that many individual farmers are innovators and experts themselves. They can be the solution not the problem, if only they can systematise and access each others' ideas and ways of working.   The project will support 3 producer organisations to become Centres of Excellence, equipped and able to support each other, and a wider group of 10 coops to address their members' environmental and climate problems, productivity, and the many challenges associated with small-scale farming and product quality. The goal is to capture what farmers in the network already know about problem solving and set up and use a wide range of channels for farmers to ask and get their personal problems and questions answered: mobile phone, radio, face-to-face meetings, a phone-and-web based Q&A platform called WeFarm, farmer and technician workshops, outreach by technicians and trained ‘farmer promoters'. The project will then offer revolving credits, where needed, to support investments that farmers decide to make. As women and younger farmers face particular exclusion from coop structures and services, the project will ensure access to the support system through non-coop structures also e.g. local women's groups and targeted selection of female farmer promoters.
Ensuring Street Children shape the new international law on children in street s Street children and youth are amongst the most vulnerable and abused children in the world today. For years groups led by the Consortium for Street Children have been pressing for better international recognition and action against their plight. As a result, the United Nations has agreed to publish guidelines for their better protection.  Through a series of structured group discussions, this project will ensure that the opinions and views of street children and youth in Ghana and Zimbabwe are heard and included in these guidelines, which will influence the direction of efforts to better protect street children in Africa and elsewhere for years to come.
Discovering Sexual and Reproductive Health challenges and designing an appropria Maternal and new-born deaths remain very high in Malawi. There is inadequate access to sexual and reproductive health services, low involvement of men in decision making, and low capacity of staff to deliver quality services.  This Generating Ideas project will focus on one district and will result in a thorough consultation of the main needs.  The learning from the consultation will identify the key health priorities and how they can be most effectively tackled through engaging with Community Action Groups and other key community players and organisations in the district.
African Sorybook Project (ASP) (South Africa, Kenya, Uganda) In sub-Saharan Africa, a child with five years of education has a 40% chance of being illiterate. There are a number of factors that contribute to this ranging poor teaching methods and the limited home or local language literacy before children transition to English (French or Portuguese). There is an assumption that the process of reading begins in school and so parents and communities are often not supported to contribute to their children's learning. Moreover, the poor provision of reading material, particularly in local languages, makes it impossible to embed literacy. So, the ‘African Storybook Project' (ASP) will develop a platform that provides a wealth of early-years reading stories which will be open and free access for use and adaptation by teachers, communities and parents. The initiative will change the economics of providing early readers in local languages in African countries. A vibrant and growing community of practice comprising story contributors and literacy teachers, parents, and other key people involved in developing early literacy has the potential to be self-sustaining in the long-term. Simple online tools that enable people to adapt and translate existing stories will help to ensure that material is contextually and culturally appropriate for young children. The ability to deliver stories in multiple digital formats – both for e-reading or printing – will ensure the full spectrum of possible use.
Effective reintegration into education and family life (South Africa) Both Uitsig, on the outskirts of Cape Town, and Beaufort West have high levels of poverty, unemployment, violence, drug and alcohol abuse and high levels of HIV/AIDS infections. Poverty, violence and their own experiences of abuse and the resulting lack of self-esteem leads to parents to alcohol or drug addiction, crime and/or prostitution and the inability and confidence to care for or protect their children. Faced with neglect and abuse from family members, children opt for a survival strategy that appears to address their need for belonging. This usually involves dropping out of school, gang and street involvement, alcohol and drug abuse or high-risk sexual behaviour, continuing the negative cycle into the next generation. A lack of an understanding of the complex needs of children and their families, insufficient allocation of resources and limited staff capacity leads to poor implementation of these policies in many impoverished communities. This project will help children integrate into mainstream education, and work with teachers and parents to prevent future drop-out by siblings. Community members will lead the interventions, which include building trusted relationships with street-involved children and their families, addressing children's literacy and numeracy needs and assisting reinsertion into mainstream school through. For families where the needs are most acute, interventions will include emergency shelter and/or intensive, therapeutic support aimed at ensuring long-term change and support for vulnerable children. An action research component will enable project staff, including community staff, document and improve strategies for improving child-parent relationships. Ten local community organisations working with children that live in similar circumstances will be trained, based on project findings so that a wider group of children can benefit from this project.
Apach HIV /AIDS Project This project aims at tackling the spread of HIV/AIDS in Apach distirct of Lango subregion, northern Uganda, addressing stigmatisation and segregation of people affected by HIV/AIDS and providing income generating activities for those affected by the virus. This will be achieved by providing home-based care services to those bed-ridden and house-bound, increasing HIV/AIDS awareness, sexual health education, advocacy around issues of access rights, basic human rights, stigma and discrimination, gender equity; provision of practical assistance to orphans and widows; and strengthening the capacity of local groups and the two partner organisations with running costs, management skills training, planning and monitoring/evaluation. This will result in people living with HIV/AIDS and those affected by it as well as disabled to live dignified and hopeful lives and participating in their communities as equals and productive members. Apach district is in a very remote part of Lango and there has not been enoug HIV/AIDS intervention work in the district. The district has only one HIV testing centre at Apach town which many villagers can not access due to transportation problems. This project will aim to work with the health authorities to provide mobile HIV testing centres to the villages.
Speak Up! Young people in rural areas of South Sudan who have missed out on school have no opportunities to learn to read or write or find out about issues important to their health and well-being. Education where it exists is usually only provided to primary level and infact there are only 50 trained secondary school teachers in the whole area. This means that many people have missed out on education. This project will offer around 15,000 people across 100 villages the chance to learn to read and write by attending classes, by listening to special radio broadcasts which accompany the teaching, and by being given books and materials to that they can practice on their own. The result will be that thousands of people will be able to read and write, this will increase their chances of finding work or going on to other education. At the very least, it will build their confidence and give them the skills they need in their day to day lives.
Integrated Maths Programme A firm foundation in Maths in the Primary years should be non-negotiable. The quality of teaching and learning in Primary Maths in South Africa urgently needs improving.  This project uses existing ICT equipment, innovative maths software, and training, support and mentorship for teachers, principals and district education officials, to improve early grades maths teaching in Western and Northern Cape provinces of South Africa. The project will generate evidence that supports and informs the wider uptake of the model nationally.