Population Health, Youth Empowerment & Communitarian Ethics

It is our pleasure to give the floor, at this time, to our friend Gideon Byamugisha from Uganda. Gideon will present to us all his great initiative to increase youth education among HIV-positive and at-risk populations. Gideon considers, as do many of us, that we need to invest in and promote youth education among vulnerable populations, in order to transform their chances for health and a future, and to make good health contagious. Such an objective will be achieved through communitarian ethics, traditional social values and religious principles of solidarity.
Congratulations, Gideon, to you and all your team on such a successful project! 

2017 World AIDS Day Conference On “Population Health, Youth Empowerment & Communitarian Ethics” 

(26^th– 30^th November 2017 Hotel Ivory,  Nansana Municipality- Uganda)

Introduction                                                                                                                               

The Friends of Canon Gideon Foundation (FOCAGIFO) is utilizing the traditional morals on Solidarity with the disadvantaged, the Communitarian Ethics teachings on ‘loving neighbour as self ’, the Uganda Kingdoms’ values on unity and cooperation, the Country’s Patriotic spirit for Justice in Health and Development and the African Traditional society philosophies of  “Mwoyo Gwa Gwanga[1]”, “Bulungi Bwansi[2]”, “Gwanga Mujje[3]” & Harambe[4] to increase ‘youth education, training and empowerment’ access, retention, quality and graduation among those youths and families that need that ‘good quality education, training and empowerment’ most for ‘self- liberation’ and ‘self-insurance’ against poverty, disempowerment and vulnerability but are least able to pay for it. This type of youth-focused intervention is envisaged as one of the most effective strategies for ;                                                                                                                                                

• Tackling the behavioral facilitators, bio-medical drivers and structural sustainers of persistent HIV and AIDS related Stigma, Shame, Denial, Discrimination, Inaction and Mis-Action (SSDDIM) and low SAVE (Safe behaviours and practices ; Access to good quality treatment and nutrition ; Voluntary, routine and stigma –sensitive counseling & testing ; Empowerment of the most  ‘Holistic Poverty, Depression & AIDS’ at-risk children and youths, most ‘Holistic Poverty, Depression & AIDS’-vulnerable families, most ‘Holistic Poverty, Depression & AIDS’–affected community groups; most ‘Holistic Poverty, Depression & AIDS’– challenged countries  and most ‘Holistic Poverty, Depression & AIDS’- oppressed regions and continents);
• Addressing risks, reducing vulnerabilities and ending (and sustaining the end of) new HIV infections, transmissions, AIDS related illnesses, deaths and impacts;
• Consolidating national gains in democratizing education, strengthening regional socio-economic progress and beefing up continental level health improvements; 
• Raising employability ,household level incomes and effective utilization of Uganda’s natural and human resources for enhanced development and achievement of a middle-income economy;   
• Realizing  Vision 2030 (Sustainable Development Goals), Vision 2040 (Uganda), Vision 2050 (East African Community ), Vision 2063 (Africa Union) and Vision Divine Mission (Isaiah 65: 17-25; John 10:10b; Revelation 21:1-4; 22:1-6);
• Achieve Higher Levels of Sustained and Sustainable Health, Wealth and  ‘Preventable Disease and Deaths’ Control;
• Improving community level leadership and societal governance levels to statistically significant amounts of quantity and quality;
• Make Good Health Contagious.

The 2017 World AIDS Day Conference

At the 2017 World AIDS Day Conference on “Population Health, Youth Empowerment and Communitarian Ethics”, FAST-TRACKING THE ‘END OF AIDS’ -FOCUSED youths, parents  and guardians,  local community  leaders and society governors, spiritual mentors and cultural gatekeepers, educators and trainers, theologians and ethicists, development partners and other Champions Of Long Term Hope Against AIDS And Its Drivers will come together to:

• Engage in informed thinking, discussion and consensus building  on the  ‘Population Health & Youth Empowerment”  challenges of our time in the context of the behavioral drivers , bio-medical  facilitators and socio-economic sustainers of HIV and AIDS risk, vulnerability  and impact  among young people,  their families and communities ;
• Review and Tease Out how deploying and fully utilizing the (a) traditional morals on Solidarity, (b) Communitarian Ethics on ‘loving neighbour as self ’, (c) Kingdom values, (d) Patriotic spirit for Sustained and Sustainable Development and (e) Traditional society philosophies mentioned above can help (through continued local community collaborations, national level partnerships, regional solidarity  alliances and  international level friendships) in (i) Strengthening the Organization’s FOCAGIFO Hope Institute (ii) Building and operationalizing Hope University Semuto and in (iii) Expanding the Hope Social Enterprises Unit) to ensure that the Friends of Canon Gideon Foundation Ministry succeeds annually in educating, training and empowering a total of 3600 young people (from ‘poverty & preventable disease‘ at risk families, ‘poverty & preventable disease’ vulnerable community groups and ‘poverty & preventable disease ‘ challenged  regions and countries) to study and graduate as citizens, societal service professionals and community leaders who are Health competent, Spiritually empowered, Gainfully skilled (iv) Productively employed, Social justice sensitive and Environmental health conscious enough to make their own contribution towards:
  – Positioning themselves, their  families, their communities, their countries, their regions and their continents for  the 21^st Century community leadership and societal governance imperatives against AIDS, its drivers, facilitators, sustainers and impacts;
  – Bringing about and sustaining secure, safe, healthy, peaceful, prosperous and spiritually fulfilled families, communities and countries for all their current members and their future generations.

At the next Ahimsa Forum in June 2019; The Rev Canon Prof Gideon B Byamugisha and the organization that carries his name (FOCAGIFO) will be reporting on how this social  innovation is working . i.e. Using Communitarian Ethics, Traditional Social Values and Religious Spiritualities of Solidarity to :

• Invest in and Promote youth education among the vulnerable;
• Increase youth training among the HIV positive and the at-risk and  
• Sustain youth empowerment among the most HIV & poverty impacted families and  communities to transform their health chances, variables and futures and make good health contagious.

The Innovative Social Entrepreneurship Idea

Deploying and fully utilizing the traditional morals on Solidarity, Communitarian Ethics on ‘loving neighbour as self ’, Kingdom values on unity and cooperation, Patriotic spirit for Sustained Health and Sustainable Development and the various African Traditional society philosophies on empathy, goodwill and pooling together of resources  to strengthen collaborations, partnerships and friendships between:

• Youths, parents and guardians,
• Local community leaders and society governors,
• Spiritual mentors and cultural gatekeepers,
• Educators and trainers,
• Theologians and ethicists,
• Development partners and social business developers, 
• as well as other Champions Of Long Term Hope Against AIDS And Its Drivers to improve youth education affordability and access, youth training quality, and youth empowerment outcomes for sustained health and sustainable wealth is a great social entrepreneurship strategy that leads to statistically significant social change and social  progress in population health indicators and to realizing positive outcomes on almost all of 17 goals and the 169 targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development[5]

In the East African Countries’ situation where 

– Many of the schools, colleges and institutes in Africa ignore the world of social innovation  and entrepreneurship and businesses also overlook good quality education and training for the ‘least able to pay’  majority of the citizens;
– Success in school is mostly based on memorization and the curriculum does not encourage initiative, imagination, team work and/or an entrepreneur spirit ; 
– Students are not well prepared for skills demands in HIV Prevention, general health protection, sustainable wealth creation, commodity value addition and productive employment ; 
– Where the potential remains high but not maximally utilized for many people, congregations, communities and leaders of faith to be more  involved in tackling social issues related to educational access exclusion, marginalization, affordability and quality;
– Currently, the private sector owns about 69% of the total  institute and university establishments and the trend (where private investment is dominant) is expected to grow (with the liberalization of the sector[6]) in reverse proportion to the affordability, access, quality, retention, graduation and subsequent employment levels among the least able youths and families to pay for good quality education and training; this effort and this conference by the Rev Canon Prof Gideon and his team at FOCAGIFO is worthy of our moral, financial and other practical support as Ahimsa Members and Partners.

For More Details on  Registration, Attendance and Support kindly contact: Rev Canon  Prof Gideon B Byamugisha <gideon_byamugisha@ yahoo.co.uk>; Mr James Claude Mutyaba -The Executive Director FOCAGIFO <mjamesclaude@yahoo.com> and copy to Mrs Juliet Mukunde Kiggundu <mukundejt31@yahoo.com>.