Tagged as: Lango Cultural foundation

RHU signs Memorandum of Understanding with Lango Cultural Foundation

On October 18, 2022, cabinet leaders from the Lango Cultural Foundation (LCF) in northern Uganda signed a five-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU).

According to Robert James Ajal, LCF Prime Minister who led the cabinet delegation, integrating sexual reproductive health (SRH) into the LCF plan for 2022 to 2026 is critical in order to manage the LCF population and harness development in homes and as a foundation.

“Lango Cultural Foundation will educate and sensitize communities about sexual reproductive health and family planning, as well as strengthen the enforcement of existing laws against gender-based violence, defilement, child neglect, marriages, and land conflicts. Encourage and support the education of girls,” Ajal said.

The signing of the MoU was witnessed by the Lira district local government and the office of the Presidency, which vowed to protect the partnership and thus reached and birthed between RHU and LCF.

Dennis Otim Otto, Principal Assistant Secretary from the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, pledged to support the partnership which aims to achieve demographic dividends for Lira district local government and also the Lango sub-region of Northern Uganda.

“We will support the partnership between Reproductive Health Uganda and Lango Cultural Foundation because it aligns with the Government of Uganda’s development goals like the NDP III, vision 2040, and the Parish Development Model pillar number four (4),” Otim said.

In his remarks, Jackson Chekweko, RHU Executive Director, said that as we climax with what we started in 2020 with the Lango Cultural Foundation (LCF), a resolution to promote family planning was jointly signed. LCF is now ready to cruise on its own.

“We are now putting in place a framework that will help our relationship progress. Our partnership with the Lango Cultural Foundation is based on work that improves the lives and social welfare of Lango residents and the foundation,” Chekweko said.

RHU and LCF signed a group resolution before, to promote family planning in September 2020, with support from Advance Family Planning (AFP).

The resolution, which focuses on educating communities about family planning and incorporating family planning into the LCF’s budget and development plan, has had an impact on all eight districts in the Lango region.

Cultural leaders in the Lango Kingdom are stewards of local traditions and powerful influencers of community values and health-seeking behaviors.

Dr. Buchan Patrick Ocen Lira, district health officer, disclosed that the signing of the MoU will help achieve Family Planning commitments 2030 by reducing the unmet need for family planning in the Lango region, now at 27.4% among married women and girls [1]. Cultural preferences for large families and substantial dowries for young brides have traditionally hampered family planning. This all contributes to a teen pregnancy rate of 35.2% in the region, which is higher than the national average [2].

While closing the signing ceremony, Lawrence Egole, Resident City Commissioner for Lira City, stated that Lira and the Lango subregion have many street people because parents were not guided about how to many children’s birth and care in the community.

He encourages other cultural, religious, and educational institutions in Uganda to join efforts to capitalize on demographic dividends.

Advance Family Planning (AFP) local partner Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) has supported family planning advocacy in the Lira district of Lango since 2017. In 2019, during a meeting with the Lira district advocacy working group, a local district speaker identified the challenge of cultural leaders speaking negatively about family planning within the community. In August 2020, the National Population Council (NPC), a national governing body, held a meeting in Lira with representatives of the Lango Cultural Foundation, the kingdom’s governing body, on how to engage with cultural leaders to promote family planning. They identified the council of clan chiefs, overseen by the paramount Chief, His Highness the Won Nyaci me Lango Yossam Odur Ebii, as key to their advocacy efforts.

The writer of this article Aldon Walukamba is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator

References

Uganda Bureau of Statistics (2016). Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2016. Retrieved from https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-FR333-DHS-Final-Reports.cfm

Uganda Ministry of Health. Uganda District Health Information System (DHIS) 2. Accessed October 2022.

Lango Cultural Leader Signs 29 Resolutions to Achieve Demographic Dividends

His Highness the Won Nyaci me Lango Yossam Odur Ebii, has appended his signature to 29 resolutions made by the Lango Cultural foundation, and geared towards achieving the demographic dividends.

“I have been saddened by the situation in my Kingdom. Yesterday a man was brought to me, he had slept with the daughter”- His highness the Won Nyaci me Lango, Yossam Odur Ebii.

He says that from this day going forward! WORD should be spread, people should have manageable children. Children they can take care of in Lango sub region and Uganda.

Jackson Chekweko, Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) Executive Director has appreciated  the commitment from Lango Cultural foundation and applauded the its leadership for the work done towards promoting family planning. He howver called for immediate action to end teenage pregnancies that are higher than the national average of 25% in most parts of Lango sub region.

“1 out 3 young girls in Lango is either pregnant or has had a child. But how many of these pregnancies end up in safe delivery? Or even unsafe abortions and how many have led to death? WE NEED TO ACT NOW” says Chekweko.

In September 2020, cultural leaders from the Lango Kingdom in northern Uganda for the first time signed a joint/group resolution to promote family planning. The resolution, which impacts all eight districts in the Lango region, will focus on educating communities about family planning and integrating family planning into the kingdom’s budget and development plan. Lango Kingdom’s cultural leaders are custodians of local traditions and important influencers of community values and health seeking behaviors.

Unmet need for family planning in the Lango region is 27.4% among married women and girls. Cultural preferences for large families and substantial dowries for young brides have traditionally hampered family planning use. This has contributed to a teen pregnancy rate of 35.2% in the region.

Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU)  with support from Advance Family Planning has supported family planning advocacy in the Lira district of Lango since 2017.

In 2019, during a meeting with the Lira district advocacy working group, a local district speaker identified the challenge of cultural leaders speaking negatively about family planning within the community. In August 2020, the National Population Council (NPC), a national governing body, held a meeting in Lira with representatives of the Lango Cultural Foundation, the kingdom’s governing body, on how to engage with cultural leaders to promote family planning. They identified the council of clan chiefs, overseen by the paramount chief, as key to their advocacy efforts.

The district working group brought together clan leaders in September 2020 to build consensus on the need to prioritize and promote family planning. Speakers from RHU; UNFPA; the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development; NPC; and the Lira district health officer shared compelling narratives and statistics highlighting the importance of family planning to support economic development and harness the demographic divided.

His Highness the Won Nyaci me Lango Yossam Odur Ebii, appending his signature