UGX 700 Million from 2026 Absa KH3 7 Hills Run to Assist Extra Ladies Keep at school

David GOMBE

Programmes supporting susceptible ladies to entry, stay in, and progress by way of training will increase throughout Uganda following the allocation of UGX 700 million raised by way of the 2026 Absa KH3 7 Hills Run.

The funds will help eight organisations already working with ladies and communities throughout the nation to handle obstacles that proceed to restrict instructional alternatives for probably the most susceptible.

Uganda has made vital progress in increasing entry to training, together with for ladies. Nonetheless, gaps stay for kids in poorer and extra susceptible communities. A 2024 examine by the Ministry of Schooling and Sports activities, European Union, and UNICEF highlights persistent inequalities in development to secondary training, with secondary-school enrolment at 43.1% amongst kids from the wealthiest households in contrast with 8.2% among the many poorest.

The examine identifies monetary constraints as a significant component affecting college attendance and retention. For women, these challenges are sometimes compounded by teenage being pregnant, lengthy distances to highschool, gender-based violence, incapacity, and insufficient water, sanitation, and hygiene amenities.

To handle these obstacles, proceeds from the 2026 Run will help a variety of interventions, together with college charges and scholastic supplies, bicycles for ladies travelling lengthy distances, college re-entry help for teenage moms, clear water and sanitation amenities, disability-inclusive training, counselling and mentorship, vocational and life expertise coaching, and strengthened college help methods.

Moderately than set up parallel interventions, Absa will proceed to help organisations with programmes already working in communities and specialist experience in addressing these completely different obstacles, enabling them to increase their attain to extra ladies.

Talking on the proceeds handover, David Wandera, Managing Director of Absa Financial institution Uganda, stated “A woman’s circumstances can nonetheless have a big bearing on whether or not she is ready to stay at school and full her training. For a woman in a susceptible family, the barrier could also be the price of fundamental scholastic supplies; elsewhere it could be distance to highschool, teenage motherhood, incapacity or insufficient water and sanitation. These organisations are already working in communities the place these challenges exist and perceive what help is required. Our duty now could be to observe that help by way of and measure what it allows; extra ladies returning to highschool, remaining there and progressing with their training.”

2026 Proceeds and Beneficiaries
The UGX 700 million raised within the 2026 version will help transformative initiatives by way of the next associate organizations:

UGX 100 million to the Uganda Pink Cross Society will increase the Hold a Woman in Faculty programme, offering menstrual well being kits to 10,000 susceptible ladies, delivering menstrual well being training to fifteen,000 adolescents, lecturers and caregivers throughout 100 colleges, and supporting 1,000 teenage moms to return to highschool.

UGX 90 million to Windle Worldwide Uganda will help ladies in refugee-hosting and hard-to-reach communities by way of the availability of scholastic supplies, bicycles, dignity kits, counselling, and college reintegration help, together with for ladies previously dwelling on the streets of Kampala who’ve been re-enrolled in colleges in Napak District.

UGX 100 million to World Imaginative and prescient Uganda will enhance menstrual well being and hygiene administration in Northern Uganda by rising entry to scrub water, sanitation amenities, and secure studying environments for ladies.

UGX 100 million to Amref Well being Africa will help the distribution of reusable sanitary pads and supply college reintegration help for teenage moms who’ve dropped out of faculty in Mbale, Kibuku, and the island communities of Namayingo.

UGX 100 million to Plan Worldwide Uganda will increase entry to menstrual well being kits, present vocational expertise coaching in sanitary pad manufacturing, stitching, and entrepreneurship, and provide susceptible ladies with scholastic supplies to help their training.

UGX 60 million to RIDE-AFRICA will strengthen college and group help methods in Kitgum District by way of investments in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) amenities, altering rooms, menstrual well being initiatives, trainer capability constructing, college golf equipment, and life expertise improvement.

UGX 60 million to Kyaninga Baby Improvement Centre will help 100 ladies with disabilities and strengthen the capability of 18 colleges to offer extra inclusive and accessible studying environments.

UGX 90 million to Baylor School of Drugs Kids’s Basis-Uganda will help 1,000 susceptible ladies throughout Hoima, Mubende, and Fort Portal by way of training help, counselling, mentorship, vocational coaching, and early identification mechanisms for ladies prone to dropping out of faculty.

Collectively, these interventions will deal with essential obstacles at completely different phases of a woman’s training journey, from enrolment and retention to highschool re-entry and development.

Greater than 8,000 members took half within the fourth version of the Absa KH3 7 Hills Run in Could 2026, persevering with the expansion of an initiative launched in 2023 to mobilise help for ladies’ training throughout Uganda.

Since its inception, the Absa KH3 7 Hills Run has raised a cumulative UGX 1.6 billion and supported 52,713 ladies to remain at school by way of investments in menstrual well being, training entry, college retention, and associated interventions.