In 2007 Advantage Africa began The Masese Child-Headed Households project within and around slums near Jinja, Uganda. This is an area inhabited by the Karamojong tribe who have been displaced from their region in north-eastern Uganda by conflict, poverty, disease and hunger. We started in Masese by partnering with a small community-based organisation called Street Child Activists Uganda (SCAU). This group was made up of highly committed people whose vision was to reduce children’s vulnerability to sexual and economic exploitation and prevent them from becoming street children by meeting their needs for education, food and health as well as providing a secure adult mentor to whom they could relate.

As the project developed we began to collaborate further with the UK-based charity Street Child Africa who also provided support for the project. In 2011 a new and more sustainable partnership structure was then initiated with a new local partner, Adolescent Development Support Network (ADSN) who also incorporate the members of SCAU into their work. With confirmation of increased support and investment in the Masese Child-Headed Households Project by Street Child Africa, and with ADSN and SCAU outreach workers undertaking effective and timely activities to ensure the well-being of the vulnerable children and adults in the Masese slums, Advantage Africa is making a strategic withdrawal from this project over the course of 2013.

We are proud to say that as we gradually reduce our involvement in this project Advantage Africa’s work has ensured that the children and vulnerable adults living lives of extreme marginalisation and hardship in the Masese slums have been able to improve their prospects with better access to education, nutrition, healthcare and income-generating activities.