Field Placement: Uganda
Youth Development Link (UYDEL)
Location: Kampala, Uganda, East Africa
Preceptor: Rogers Kasirye, MA, Human Rights; UYDEL Founder and Director
Student Name: Rebecca Morris
Year: 2002
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Street Smart Adaptation and CSEC Action Programme Evaluation
UYDEL is an indigenous NGO founded in 1993 by Rogers Kasirye. The agency works with street and slum children of Kampala, Uganda. UYDEL's initial focus was on alcohol and drug abuse among street and slum children. This focus spread into areas of reproductive health, prevention of HIV/AIDS and other STD/STIs, and withdrawal from or prevention of commercial sexual exploitation. UYDEL is a well-known and well-respected NGO in Kampala, and is particularly noted for its unprecedented work with children exposed to commercial sexual exploitation (CSEC).
Dr. Marguerita Lightfoot of UCLA's Center for Community Health is collaborating with UYDEL to conduct a pilot study in Kampala of Street Smart, an HIV/AIDS prevention program that was implemented with great success in New York City in the early 1990s by Dr. Rotheram. The program was named a CDC "Program That Works" and the Kampala pilot study is being funded by NIDA. Prior to Street Smart implementation, the program requires culture and resource sensitive adaptation. Successful adaptation also requires capacity building, particularly in the areas of research and evaluation, of the UYDEL staff. Fifty-percent of my field studies time was dedicated to the adaptation of the Street Smart program and training of the UYDEL staff in the areas of research and evaluation. Adaptation activities involved meetings with UYDEL staff members with extensive experience with street and slum children and a high degree of familiarity with their daily activities and environments. Feedback was consistently provided to Dr. Lightfoot who guided the adaptation process from Los Angeles.
UYDEL implemented an Action Programme to combat commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in Kampala District, Kawempe Division in October 1999. Funding was provided by the International Labour Organization-International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IIPEC). Initial funding was provided for 18 months, which ended in March 2002. The program is still in progress and further funding has been secured. The program has been hindered by unforeseen complications that UYDEL hopes to address prior to further implementation. Fifty-percent of my field studies time was spent conducting a primarily qualitative evaluation of UYDEL's CSEC Action Programme. This evaluation involved conducting background research on CSEC and on other agencies implementing related programs, and conducting multiple focus group discussions with program participants, as well as key informant interviews with stakeholders and community leaders.
These field studies activities were conducted in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa, from July 15, 2002 to September 20, 2002. The UYDEL office hosted the activities, which were carried out in the office as well as in the field.
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