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Viva - Uganda & Worldwide


Causes: Children, Trafficking, Emergencies, Education, Families, Violence


Patrick McDonald, Founder


Scroll to bottom of page to see an urgent COVID-19 message

We first met Patrick, the Founder of Viva, twelve years ago during a mission trip we took to Peru. We were especially attracted to their strategy of connecting ministries with similar focuses that serve in comparable areas to help them to work together for a greater Kingdom impact. We have seen their ministry as an excellent example of the power of working together to accomplish even greater works for the Kingdom.
We have worked a great deal with CRANE, Viva’s main partner in Kampala, Uganda. Their focus is serving babies' homes and orphanages, educating them on the greater value of placing children back into homes instead of keeping them in institutions. Their strategy aligned perfectly with the work we are doing at Loving Hearts, our babies home in Uganda.


Mission

Viva is an international children’s charity passionate about releasing children from poverty and abuse. We grow locally-led networks who are committed to working together so that children are safe, well and able to fulfill their God-given potential.

We help people achieve more together than they can alone – allowing us to dream big dreams for whole cities!

All of Viva’s programs unlock local resources and inspire churches to serve children and families, in partnership with others. We are lean, creative and efficient, making our work highly cost-effective. We prioritize quality improvement through training in areas such as child protection.

LAST YEAR WE REACHED 2.2 MILLION CHILDREN IN 27 COUNTRIES THROUGH OUR 38 PARTNER NETWORKS, WHICH COMPRISE A TOTAL OF OVER 4,000 CHURCHES AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS.

Our work is focused around seven main solution strategies:

Transforming children through education We help children to catch up on their schooling and equip them for the future. In Uganda we re-educate marginalized girls, train teachers and engage community mentors to develop parenting skills.

Keeping children safe We protect children in Central America from violent, abusive situations in their homes and on the streets and advocate for change.

Making child trafficking history We provide homework clubs, assist women’s businesses and spread the anti-exploitation message – all to make children and parents in Asia less vulnerable to trafficking recruiters.

Resettling children into families We resettle abandoned children in Uganda into loving families, and provide these families with counseling, income-generating advice and practical support.

Unlocking the potential of girls We train and support churches in India to challenge gender discrimination, report abuse and raise girls’ self-esteem.

Protecting children in emergencies We give practical relief and psychosocial support for families following disaster and conflict, train community leaders and set up child-friendly spaces.

Helping young people thrive We catalyze a collaborative response from local churches and other providers in Oxford, UK to the complex needs of young people in order to increase their self-esteem and resilience. Read more.

City-Wide Influence

The network model is inherently outward looking, and we are constantly looking for ways to engage with community beyond the network’s current reach. Through mobilizing members across a city, networks are able to play a leading role in changing the situation for children. Campaigns and advocacy initiatives targeting adults and children in wider society to change attitudes and norms. These campaigns also provide good opportunities for the network to work with churches, organizations and authorities that are outside the network membership. We have developed a number of programs to support this and encourage networks to implement them annually.

The networks must begin to collaborate with local and government authorities as well as larger city churches to achieve more sustainable change across the cities. A good track-record of positive impact made by collective action programs and the strong capacity of the network builds credibility and opens doors to the possibility of engaging with other city actors including corporates, larger NGOs and government officials. This generates greater potential for networks to push for change in policies that may be negatively impacting children.

Viva’s Added Value

Children around the world who are living in vulnerable situations are becoming even more vulnerable, especially those where isolation will increase their risk of domestic abuse. We are deeply concerned and we are finding effective ways to support churches, children and families during this time of fear and uncertainty.

Viva brings the church together to respond effectively and efficiently for vulnerable children. We work with 38 partner networks across 27 countries with more than 4,000 local churches and organizations serving over 2 million vulnerable children.

To enable networks to have a wider influence, changing attitudes, mindsets and policies, we have developed tried and tested advocacy and campaign programs mentioned above along with associated resources for networks to use.

Viva Network Development Team advises networks on how to engage and build relationships with key city actors that have the potential to effect wider change across the city. Once relationships have been formed, Viva supports the development of written MOUs and agreements leading to higher level relationships with greater influence and potential for partnership. to work on the solution strategy at a city level.

Viva’s Action Plan:

We are focusing on child protection issues and meeting children’s immediate physical needs, as well as encouraging networks to look ahead and plan for the longer-term impact of this crisis.


Our responses will include:

  1. Sharing accurate information

  2. Support for already-at-risk children (e.g. children on the street) who are now at double risk

  3. Providing psychosocial support for children who are struggling

  4. Continuing existing support to children through adapting current programs wherever possible

  5. Adapting to online solutions where relevant

  6. Looking at including elements of child protection or psychosocial support within other assistance activities

  7. Support education programs to continue with distance learning solutions

  8. Online safety

  9. Preventing burnout for workers

  10. Coordinating with local or national government to support and advocate for service provision for children

  11. Considering the post-COVID world and looking ahead to build support for children and families

Viva has 20+ years of experience in creating networks of local churches and other grass-roots organizations to co-ordinate their response and achieve much greater impact than they can on their own. Our local partner networks include an average of more than 100 local churches and organizations and they are used to working together to address challenging situations on many levels. They naturally include peer support, prayer, extended capacity and reduced risk of burnout, essential in a protracted emergency situation. They are experts on the situation of vulnerable children in their cities. They know the situation and the issues and what will be exacerbated during this crisis.

 

An urgent COVID-19 message from Viva

All of our partner networks are responding to COVID-19 distributing food, disseminating health information, helping projects support children online safely, counseling children and in many other ways. It has been brilliant to see networks responding already, adapting to the new situations they face. Networks have been issuing good information, increasing connectedness with members and identifying the needs and the necessary responses to the most vulnerable. We are acutely aware of increases in domestic violence and mental health challenges as well as reduced learning opportunities for children in lock down. As part of the response, we have launched a global phone mentoring program, with 6 key topics to support children and families during lockdown and the transition out of lockdown, so that families will be strengthened and more resilient with greater connections to support from their local churches.

As Viva works by leveraging the resources and expertise of local churches and organizations, our model results in a high return on investment. We can do this through your support and prayers, enabling Viva to change more children’s lives, more effectively.

Recent news from Uganda:

Uganda’s schools closed on 20th March 2020 alongside strict nation-wide lockdown measures. Since then, CRANE and Viva staff stay in touch with girls by phone to understand their learning needs and ease the impacts of COVID-19 on their lives, including by providing emergency food parcels to families in need and delivering urgently needed medical supplies. Alongside this, CRANE and Viva reached out to Uganda’s National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) to ask if they could support the Government of Uganda in its efforts to adapt lessons for radio and TV.

With over 10 years’ experience in producing radio and TV shows for children in their own recording studio in Kampala, CRANE and Viva’s offer was swiftly accepted. To date, CRANE and Viva have recorded 27 lessons for the radio and 24 for TV, including sign language.

Drawing on a strong understanding of how to design child-friendly materials, CRANE and Viva staff adapted the lesson scripts provided by NCDC to create relevant, inspirational lessons and reinforce these through daily SMS messages. The lessons were highly commended by the Assistant Commissioner/Inclusive and Non-Formal Education (INFE) at the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES).

To learn more about this ministry or to provide financial support, please visit their website by clicking the link or image below



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