Strengthening Education and Training in Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights in Uganda (SET- SRHR)
About the Project:
The Strengthening Education and Training in Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights in Uganda (SET- SRHR) is a four year project implemented under the umbrella of ‘Utafiti na Kuntenda’ – a Swahili phrase meaning ‘Research-Community of Practice (CoP)’. SET- SRHR is a project partly implemented by Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) in partnership with Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) and Nsamizi Training Institute of Social Development (NTISD), and also in collaboration with the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University and Rutgers International in the Netherlands. The component handled by Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) within this project is implemented at national level.
Project Goal & Objectives:
The goal of the project is use research and practice evidence to engage varied policy actors at the national level with the aim of informing and influencing policy uptake. Policy and practice engagement will focus on issues that are related to the two pillars of the SET-SRHR project: maternal & adolescent health
Specific Objectives
- By 2020, the Ministry of Health increases funding for UBTS to cover the unmet need for blood transfusion in the country
- The Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development calls for the review of the Uganda customary law on the age of consent to align it with the Uganda Constitution by March 2019
- National Council of Higher Education institutionalizes provision of SRHR information and services in their curriculum and health programme in tertiary institutions in Uganda by December 2020
SET- SRHR targets diverse SRHR stakeholders including policy makers, religious leaders, cultural leaders, parents.
SET- SRHR seeks to strengthen the SRHR education and training capacity and to contribute towards sustainable demographic and human capital development including addressing the challenges of economic inclusiveness in Uganda.
Due to the fact that there are significant gaps and weaknesses in the SRHR landscape in Uganda, this project is set to address these challenges through its multi- pronged approach involving research, strengthening of education and training, fostering collaborations between SRHR stakeholders. More specifically, the overarching objective of SET-SRHR is to address these gaps by supporting human resource development and professionalization of SRHR service delivery in Uganda and by conducting academic and policy relevant research hence creating the change stated above. SET-SRHR is a project partnership comprising of essential SRHR stakeholders including RHU. The project is therefore setting up Community of Practice (CoPs) networks for training, outreach and research at national and sub county level. These CoPs aim to facilitate collaboration between diverse SRHR stakeholders and strengthen links between research, policy and practice.
Based on the most recent annual report (2019), RHU has gone ahead to implement the activities set under each objective, and has been able to yield satisfactory results that have been able to ensure that we move a step closer to accomplishing our goal and some of these results include;
- The Customary Act of 1973 was reviewed, a report and policy brief generated and shared at a JLOS and stakeholder meeting. During this meeting, partners came up with recommendations to guide next steps for follow-up.
- A review of existing information was also done and a policy brief developed. This was shared in a high-level meeting with ministry of health and members of the health committee of parliament. During this meeting, recommendations and next steps were generated.
- Organised and held a successful annual SRHR forum held in Nsamizi training institute with over 150 participants including MPs, Representatives from MoH, academia and the media.
RHU continues to work collaboratively with the relevant stakeholders including parliament, Ministry of health and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development. As we continue to work towards achieving the goal of this project, we commit to earlier planning and coordinated mobilisation that we believe would enhance activity implementation and lead to achievement of set objectives.