The U-Fund
Supporting better Scouting for more young Africans
The Universal Scout Fund, better known as the U Fund was established in 1963 as a way for Scouts all over the world to help Scouts in developing countries in their development projects. It was designed to help Scouts help other Scouts. The contributions were distributed at the discretion of the World Scout Bureau to support a wide range of Scout community projects including response to emergencies arising from natural disasters, and to encourage the growth of Scouting. Scout U-Fund grants were given for projects in areas such as:
* Health and sanitation
* Conservation of the environment
* Food production
* Literacy
* Job skills and employment
The Africa Regional Office identified the uFund as a possible vehicle for mobilising funds to support Scout projects in the Region. Consequently a proposal was forwarded to the U Fund Monitoring Group of the World Scout Committee to have the U Fund dedicated to supporting projects in the Africa Scout Region. The proposal was accepted and the U Fund was relaunched in January 2003 for Africa for a period of three years. It will be managed and promoted by the Africa Regional Office and will operate under the theme: helping Scouts make a difference in Africa.
The Africa Regional Office will therefore raise funds through the U Fund to support specific projects in the Africa Region of which three have been considered as priority areas. These are:
-HIV/AIDS awareness education
-Reaching out to Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances (CIEDC)
-Peace Education through Scouting
Grants will therefore be made to National Scout Associations/Organisations undertaking activities in the above mentioned categories.
HIV/AIDS is the worst calamity Africa has ever gone through; the disease is threatening to wipe out a whole generation in the continent. Sub Saharan Africa is the home of 70% of the adults and 80% of the children living with AIDS in the world. This is in the backdrop of public health infrastructures that are already strained by the demands of malaria, Tuberculosis and other diseases. Care for HIV/AIDS sufferers and the affected is therefore inadequate. The Youth of Africa are the most affected by the scourge; one in every ten young people between the age of 15 and 24 years is HIV positive. Yet this is the most active and productive age bracket, the present and the future generation!
Peter is 12 years old. His single mother died of AIDS two years ago leaving him and his two siblings in the care of her brother, Kamau. But Kamau had a family of his own and his meagre salary could not afford to feed three extra mouths much less take them to school. He therefore became abusive to Peter and his sisters denying them food and locking them out of the house at the slightest provocation. Peter could not bear it anymore and he decided to run away to the city, where, he heard, there was plenty of money.
Millions of people in Africa have been killed, many others wounded or maimed for life. Property has been destroyed, children have been orphaned, abducted and raped. Many have watched in horror as their parents, relatives, sisters and brothers, friends and neighbours are butchered in cold blood. The trauma is unfathomable. The number of African countries at war continues to rise over the years. There is need for a lasting solution; an end to this act of madness.
