Jannet: GEM is working in the different districts to identify children who are not in school with their friends. For example, in Masaka and Mbarara districts, there has been an increase in enrolment of girls in the past two years. But it's shocking that in a country like Uganda where we have universal primary education some of the children still do not go to school especially, the orphans. For example, when we, as national GEM members, recently visited a school called Chikaka primary school in Masaka District, we were able to bring back about 47 children (all girls) of the poor who were not going to school. We did this through a process known as school mapping. School mapping involves children who are members of GEM clubs going out and identifying homes where children are not attending school. This is followed up by compiling a list of all those children by name within the school catchment areas not able to go to school. These names [of out-of-school children] are submitted to the local council committees who take up the issue with the schools so that the teachers are able to accept the children back in school.

We also introduce commercial activities through GEM clubs to make children go back to school. These children work so hard, the children themselves, the girls themselves. They do things like growing vegetables, which they sell in the local market to raise money to buy books and other stationeries that the children may need to be able to stay in school. Also, through the GEM clubs, they organize activities -- they sing, dance and do all kinds of entertainment so that they can raise money to buy books and other things for the children who were identified. In addition, we consult the Parish Development Committees so that they include children in parish programs. This way, when money comes from the government they are able to take some of the money and make sure the children stay in school.

Q: Can you explain what you mean by school mapping?

Patrick: In mapping, we are not talking of the map of Uganda but a map of an area based on the knowledge of the local people and their indigenous area-the indigenous knowledge. For example, here is a bore hole, there is a stream, there is a bush -- and that is knowledge about your local area. That is how maps are drawn. Using these maps, children who are not in school -- either those who have never been enrolled, or those who have dropped out -- are identified at the household level.

Q: How do you manage to make sure that they don't drop-out?

Jannet: As I said earlier on, the children don't drop out because their parents make sure that they don't. GEM works through Parents' Committees. These committee members talk to parents and make sure the parents' commitment is sustained by introducing small projects such as growing vegetables. This way students are able to buy the basic supplies needed for school (things like books, stationeries and uniforms). Once these are provided for and school fees are paid, students and parents have no reason to dropout of school.

Q: What about the boys? What role do they play in GEM?

Jannet: Just like adults, the boys are special allies in this movement; GEM involves boys at every stage. We have a team of boys who work together with us [girls] in various activities at both national and community levels. Some of them like Patrick and Deus are even trainers. At the school level, boys have become strategic allies, for example, boys provide girls with security, especially in cases where nearby villagers and male classmates harass and disturb the girls to and from school.

Q: What are you doing as members in terms of implementing the GEM agenda?

Patrick: We started training the GEM facilitators in 2001 and since then we have added on quite a number to the pool of trainers. I am a national trainer. We have improved the capacity of the GEM members at the national and district levels. Our trainings have basically been for everyone -- we have girls and boys -- one to three, whereby for every three girls there is one boy and one "Wisdom" (that is an adult representative). We have established strong roots in all regions of Uganda -- Western, Central, Eastern and Northern regions -- and now our members run into thousands. For example, in one school alone, in Mbarara, we have 700 registered members!

Our training has been focusing on school mapping, micro-planning, gender in the curriculum, and creative facilitation. We also incorporated life skills in our training.

We have developed strategies and mechanisms to evaluate our programme. But we haven't done much in terms of actual evaluation since we are still young as GEM.

Q: The statistics show that the performance of girls is usually low, especially in mathematics and the sciences. Precisely what is GEM doing to change the situation?

Pearl: We are talking here of math, science and technology. In GEM, this is a whole thematic area and a critical area of concern. Students, and even teachers, have the mentality that girls cannot do math and sciences, that these subjects are too hard for girls. What GEM has done, is to introduce science and math coaching classes for girls. The older girls, who are good in science and math are more conversant and have mastered the subjects, take on girls who are much weaker and coach them. I know for a fact that some girls are saying that their grades have improved.

On September 5th we had a Science Camp in Gayaza High School. Sevety-five girls and 25 boys to have a one week exposure to science and math. This exposes girls to very well-equipped laboratories and hands-on experiences with computers as well as providing visits to industries. GEM decided to expose the girls to such technological facilities as means of encouragement.

Patrick: GEM came with the notion that, in most of the learning environments, boys are beneficiaries and girls are not. For example, the sitting arrangements in most of the classrooms are more favourable for the boys and not the girls. Similarly, in most of the schools, latrines are more frequently utilized by the male pupils than by the females because of various reasons. To start with, the location of the latrines may not give girls privacy, and they may not have any water.

Pearl: So in order to address this problem, another thing that we are currently doing is advocacy with teachers to encourage them not to show favouritism for boys over girls and also to do away with gender stereotypes in the curriculum. In books, boys are shown as being the pilots and girls are airhostesses, nurses and cooks or something in the arts-related subjects. Yes, we have the nurses but there are very few books that show girls as doctors. So we are also advocating for that [removal of such stereotyping]. We are working with the Curriculum Development Centre of Uganda to change the stereotype. We cannot work entirely on our own. We, as GEM, identify issues and work with our parents, UNICEF and FAWE because they are the ones who can actually intervene. They have the policies and the funds and can therefore help us, the GEM activists, make a positive difference.

Q: Earlier, one of you mentioned orphans as being more vulnerable. What, if anything, is GEM doing to help orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs)?

Patrick: There are so many orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). Maybe parents have died of AIDS, resulting in child-headed households. They can't afford so many things and basic needs become difficult to meet. GEM helps to identify projects like agricultural gardens from which products are sold. The money raised is used to help the increasing numbers of orphans and vulnerable children by either buying them the basic school items (in order to keep them, or help them go to school), or by teaching them the basic life skill of independence (by giving them the work experiences through various projects, like growing vegetables and selling them in order to raise money, which will enable them to meet their needs).

Jannet: To give another example, as GEM, I (along with some others present here today) have been able to consult with young people at both primary and secondary school levels on issues concerning OVCs in Mbarara, Masaka, Tororo, Lira and Kampala districts. We then forwarded the data that we collected through the consultations to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development for the formulation of a national policy to cater for OVCs.

Q: What are you doing in the Life Skills programme to ensure that both girls and boys participate equally and actively? What have you achieved?

Pearl: First of all, a Life Skills programme was started before GEM came into existence. People have knowledge about so many things like HIV/AIDS, so much knowledge -- but no corresponding behavioural change takes place. We discovered that many of these people were lacking in Life Skills. So that is how the Life Skills programme started. Linked to that was the Sara Communication Initiative. The cartoon that has been developed -- She is our natural ally, our sister. We say that boys are our strategic allies, but Sara is our natural ally. We cannot talk about Life Skills without talking about Sara.

What we have done is to ensure that both genders benefit from the training. We have discovered that people naturally have life skills but these have to be enhanced and deliberately developed. In August, we had training in AIDS care education, creative facilitation, material development and communication on Life Skills. After we were trained, we went back to train other young people in Masaka.

We have also dealt with material development in the area of Life Skills that is relevant to Uganda. For the facilitators, we have had very good experiences in rural areas where we have formed GEM or Life Skills clubs. We have raised awareness about Life Skills in a deliberate manner and now they are better equipped to deal with life.

Jannet: I have been privileged to train peer educators on Life Skills and HIV/AIDS at a national workshop. Peer educators from various districts of Uganda who were present at the training came up with recommendations on how to incorporate Life skills into youth programmes in their districts.

Q: GEM believes in the wisdom of age. How do you draw upon the knowledge and experiences of older people to achieve GEM's goals and objectives?

Carol: In Africa, age is equated with wisdom. IN GEM though young people take the lead, the importance of including older people is recognised. Thus, wisdom is considered to be one of the pillars of the Girls' Education Movement. In GEM, "wisdom" comprises UNICEF, Girls Education in the Ministry of Education that is, the Girls' Education Desk, and FAWE Uganda. FAWE started working with the Girls' Education Movement right from the beginning and has given us office space.

The "wisdom" aspect of it has been a very critical issue in our programme and in our activities. And I must say that without them we would have lost focus a long time ago. The fact is that they have always been in the planning meetings, in developing the strategies and programs, evaluating where we are going, what we need to leave out or what to include in our programme, the "wisdom" (adults) have always given us guidance. In fact when we are going upcountry we have had at least one person, one "wisdom" go with us. Basically this has been very important, because they have always identified the best alternatives when we are there and helped us to be on the right track, informed us of tools that have worked before in other programmes. For example, some tools have been given to us by UNICEF like reading materials. Although we have been putting together materials before going to the field, their (i.e. the "wisdom") inputs and training in that area have been very useful. We've realized that because we are young people, most of the communities will not receive us appropriately, because of the cultural attributes and many other factors, We need to have the "wisdom" to go and see the district personnel, in order to deal with all those issues. We have to have some organisational representatives because it's not easy to penetrate the rural district and also to communicate we have to produce reports, and usually the reports are given to the "wisdom" for their comments. They advise us on what to focus on and the main highlights. We therefore have to read the reports for the more critical issues that we need to bring out, the issues that we know will depict the good practices that they are bringing out in them.

Q: One of the things that GEM young people are doing is transferring knowledge to guardians and parents. Would you like to give us examples of this?

Carol: I think that right from the aspect of school mapping that we've been talking about we identify girls who are not going to school. But you can't just go and convince them to come to school. You have to go through the home, through relatives, parents and guardians. Sometimes it's not because of the lack of money, but because they are orphans. However, their attitudes and their cultural beliefs, as well as other factors that hinder them from coming to school. So in schools like Kikagate Primary School in Mbarara District, there is a GEM club that has been organizing community meetings to bring together parents and guardians to understand the conditions of girls' education. They identify the problems that hinder girls from coming to school and brainstorm solutions through a problem-solving process.

Q: What interventions has GEM made to overcome these obstacles?

Josephine: There are a number of obstacles that prevent girls from attending school. For example, the schools are too far away from home, (which brings up the issue of security). So the interventions by the Government of Uganda have been to build more schools. But you still find children, especially the OVC's, the orphans, not going to school. One solution that we have been advocating for is the construction of schools to be built closer to the homes.

Q: Teachers are essential to the teaching and learning process. What is the role of the teacher in GEM?

Josephine: The teachers act as patrons of the GEM clubs. They train alongside the children. When they go back to their schools after the training, they are the ones to seek permission from the Head teachers to form the GEM Clubs because many times Heads don't want any clubs as they see them as interferring with the school curriculum. So if a patron is there, a teacher who has been trained can intervene on behalf of the children. Then a teacher can also go ahead and see what activities are being carried out in the club; are they helping the children in carrying out their main theme of bringing the children back to school?

Q: How can the teachers benefit from the GEM experience and how can GEM support the work of teachers as protectors of children?

Pearl: Perhaps I may speak on behalf of the teachers. This is a story we got from one of the teachers. This girl from a school in Masaka lost her mother to AIDS. During her mother's illness, the girl had to look after the mother. She would wake up early in the morning, prepare food for her mother, wash and do all the housework at home. That would make her get to school late. The teacher would always be wondering: Why do you always have to come to school late? GEM was able to explain to her. So the teacher was able to give her extra attention so that she could make up what she had missed. And I think that if GEM was able to reach-out to all teachers, then it would be doing a good job in schools and in listening to the needs of the children. It would make the teachers' work easier.