The United Nations Populations Fund, together with the Kyabazinga of Busoga have partnered to use cricket as tool to address Gender Based Violence in homes in Busoga.
The project, which is to be implemented by East Enders Cricket Foundation, a sports charity operating in Busoga, will seek to prepare boys as respectful and responsible people and to reduce gender-based violence in the region billed as leading in the country.
Dubbed Hitting teenage Pregnancy out of Busoga: Cricket for Sex and Reproductive Health, the program started in Kamuli and Mayuge district and will spread to other districts of Busoga over time.
“The boy child had somehow been neglected because all programs were focusing on the girl child. We are happy that at least there is a project to help the boys,” said Isaac Imaka, the Executive Director of Gabula Royal Foundation and team leader at East Enders Cricket Foundation.
He added, “With cricket, we shall see the number of boys increasing in classrooms and reducing in sugarcane plantations.”
In a communication from UNDP to Gabula Royal Foundation, the project shall prepare young people at an early age to appreciate the gender roles and responsibilities, create awareness on gender equality through the game of cricket.
“To teach the boys respect of females (including sisters, classmates, mothers and all other females with the aim of reducing teenage pregnancy and keeping girls and boys in schools in Busoga,” the document reads.
It added, “The initiative will aim at identifying talent for development and linkage to clubs but most important to harness the full potential of young boys in Busoga.”
Mr Eric Kaluya, the Gabula Royal Foundation project coordinator says, “two weeks into the project we have discovered that boys in rural Busoga had abandoned school.”
“They are either in sugarcane plantains or just in village centres doing odd jobs,” he said. “It is the reason we are also having cricket played in communities to mobilize the boys from wherver they are back to school.”
To implement the program, coordinators are identifying teams composed of boys from lower Primary to Secondary schools) and community (school dropouts willing to go back to school or reintegrated in vocational centres) aged 10-18 years as part of the male and boys’ engagement as champions of improved sexual and reproductive health.
East Enders Sporting Director, Charles Waiswa, welcomed the partnership, calling it an opportunity to return Busoga to the glory days of being a cricket powerhouse in Uganda.
“There is a lot of untapped talent in rural Busoga,” this is a chance for us to give Uganda Cricket Association the best talents as we are known for. In the end, households will win, boys will be transformed, and the game of cricket will win.”
Mr Habib Mugarura is leading the cricket training, and the trainings so far have started at Budhambuli and Mbulamuti primary Schools in Kamuli. More schools in Kamuli and Mayuge district will be added on
