Arua district chairperson Alfred Okuonzi in black  coat, and members of the consortium partners in group photo. Photo by Albert Onzoma.

By Onzoma Albert

Arua

The activities of the consortium partners through their funder Global Affairs Canada are creating positive impacts among the schools and community members in Arua district.

This was revealed by the District Chairman, Alfred Okuonzi, during a follow up meeting with the consortium partners at the district headquarters in Odumi. “I thank you so much the consortium partners for supporting us the district you are addressing our needs, national priority and African priority of 2063 where we all aiming at promoting peace and sustainable development”, he said.

The programs manager of FEMME FORT, Jacqueline Nampijja, outlines some of the activities they are under taking in the district. “What we do there is mainly peer education in schools where we train the young people to make sure that they keep in schools and we build their capacities on different issues about teenage pregnancies, HIV, form peer clubs in schools and others we also encourage them not to retain the knowledge to themselves only but to share we their peers, we are also working in the communities” he noted.
  
CEHURD projects coordinator, Ogwang Christopher, explains the activities of CEHURD in the district. “We are mainly having mindset change programing’s in the district through dialogues and sensitization meetings and also supporting the district on local framework policies and we are currently education ordinance formation we are progressing on well and the district has supported us heavily between two or three months we shall be done” he explained.
  
Jawoko Denis Okwai the deputy resident district commissioner of Arua district says that the projects should focus more on changing the mindset of the community. “We have been doing our best as government even the civil society organizations have really done a lot but because the mindset of the community is still lacking you find out that when this donor activities come to an end the continuation of these programs are always dead immediately," Jawoko revealed.

The major aim of the consortium partners is to reduce early marriage and teenage pregnancies in Arua district and West Nile region at large.