Ugandan Leadership & Decisions
Local Leadership
Our presence on the ground in Uganda is African (we do not export Western "expertise" along with aid donations). Director of Operations, Margaret Wanyama is a trusted community leader who understands how things work in a way that a foreign national wouldn't.
This has a bearing on the issue of religion: Uganda is a very religious country - around 90% of Ugandans are Christian, and there is a large Muslim minority. Not all of the members of Helping Hands are religious, but the organization is sensitive to the role that religion plays in social relations. Christianity is inevitably a context for some aspects of the operations - otherwise it would mean to perpetuate another kind of exclusion. However:
- Religion is not a factor in selecting who receives aid.
- Distribution of aid is not in a religious context.
- As we expand, one of our goals is to identify children for sponsorship who are Muslim
Local Represention
Our goal of helping people to help each other is reflected in our governing structure. Each group of families elects a representative from among themselves to act as the spokesperson for the group. The spokesperson listens to the needs of the families and communicates them to the charity`s Director in Uganda. This person is also responsible for duties such as signing school or medical forms, and ensuring that children receive proper medical attention. The families thus take an active role in deciding what the charity's priorities should be. For example: our latest vocational training project was proposed by a beneficiary of the project.
