The CEHURD team met in Gulu in July for the mid-year staff retreat, a valuable opportunity to refresh and plan for the second half of the year. The retreat featured a series of enriching sessions, including in-depth appraisals of our institution’s key approaches, policies, and core values. This ensured that every team member was aligned and equipped to drive our mission forward.
Additionally, we warmly welcomed and oriented new staff members, introducing them to our team’s dynamic and inclusive culture. The retreat provided a platform for meaningful connections, knowledge sharing, and collaborative planning, setting us up for a productive and successful second half of the year.
Gulu District, where we held our retreat, is one of the districts where we implement our projects. In fact, we have successfully implemented three significant projects in the northern and West Nile region, including DINU, Stand 4 SRHR, and TASO Global Fund Projects OVC phase 7. These projects have enabled us to make a positive impact in the lives of the people in Gulu and surrounding areas, and we look forward to continuing our work in this region.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฎ, ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ-๐ข๐ธ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ, ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ด๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฌ๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐, ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฅ๐’๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐.
Mr Alfred Okuonzi, LC 5 Chairperson, West Nile Districts and focal person for NGOs and CSOs ~ โCEHURD has been a valuable partner in improving healthcare in Uganda, particularly in the West Nile region thereby complimenting Government efforts. He observed that CEHURDโs relationship with West Nile is like padlock and key โ inseparable and made reference to CEHURDโs impactful TB contact tracing work within the last 3 years under TASO/Global Fund programme and Social Accountability and Legal Empowerment for social services under DINU project.
CEHURDโs work stands out and supports our goal of social accountability. Local Government values your role as a watchdog improving Ugandaโs healthcare system and sees you as partners, not opposition.โ
Mr Okuonzi further noted that the TB detection rate is still low in the region, teenage pregnancy is 27% above national average of 24%, early marriages continue to be high, gender based violence and girls dropping out of school. He called on CEHURD to continue with the collaboration in addressing these persistent challenges and specifically requested for support in the development of Ordinances to that focus on these issues.
Mr Anyama Williams, Chairperson, West Nile Local Government Association observed that West Nile bears the burden of providing healthcare services to the districts in the region as well as the inflow of patients from neighbouring DR Congo and South Sudan, yet with no additional budget to cater for this inflow and cannot turn away patients from these countries.ย ย
โWe appreciate the oversight responsibility of CEHURD. Please also consider paying attention to the challenge of the many young people who are already struggling with poverty and are using the little they have to buy โMairungiโ. Each week a young person spends the same amount they would spend on a bag of cement. Not many partners have picked interest in addressing this problem, yet i believe it is a social justice issue.โ
Compiled by CEHURD’s Communications team.