All Saints Church OVC Program (ASC)

In Kapchorwa, a town of 12,000 people in eastern Uganda, the Anglican church recognized a need to focus local outreach programs on the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in the community. The All Saints Church OVC Program began as a primary school for the younger children and later added a vocational component for older children and adolescents, who had either dropped out of school or never had the opportunity to attend.

In 2007, All Saints Church received its first grant from the Bantwana Initiative to develop the vocational training program. With Bantwana's assistance, ten boys and ten girls at a time are able to receive training in carpentry and tailoring. Additionally, the Bantwana-ASC partnership is working to establish a network of community volunteers to provide psychosocial support to OVC caregivers and families. Lastly, Bantwana is helping to strengthen the organizational capacity of the ASC program leadership through technical trainings in grant management and program evaluation.

Looking forward, the All Saints Church OVC Program leaders want to expand. There is a large number of OVC in the community; however the project is currently only able to cater to 20 children at a time. One route to expansion is investigating other trades that can be taught; by adding more concentrations, the program may be able to reach more OVC. Moreover, Bantwana is working with ASC to network with other local organizations to build new partnerships to address OVC health and legal issues. Ideally, the partnership with Bantwana will be a springboard for All Saints Church to strengthen their referral network and to provide more comprehensive support to the OVC in their community.