Combating Famine, Poverty, illiteracy and ill health in Africa; A case study of  Integrated Community Development Initiative (ICODI)

Africa is a continent with dreadful poverty and problems of resource shortages.  Estimates are that climate change and population pressure will see 85 million people migrate from that continent in the next 40 years. And yet there are people and organizations trying to do something about these problems and make a difference.

In this Webinar we are going to look at the work of ICODI a registered non-profit organization located in Mbarara District-South Western Uganda. Its mission is “To work with and through individuals and communities to improve on the economic, health and social wellbeing of the rural and urban poor communities in Uganda”. The goal is to reduce on the high levels of famine, poverty, ill health and illiteracy in the rural communities and urban poor communities in Uganda. You can find out more about ICODI at http://www.icodi.org

Kato Ssekah Abdu is the Founder and Programme Director of ICODI. Before starting the organization Kato was the volunteer finance officer for Expert Patients’ Association Mbarara (EPAM) - An association for HIV positive people in Mbarara District-south western Uganda. He was also working in the Data Department of MUST-HARVARD RESEARCH COLLABORATION; this is HIV/AIDS research collaboration between Mbarara University of Science and Technology (Uganda) and Harvard University (USA).

Kato was also involved in Improved Collaborative for Facility Based HIV/AIDS care, a Ugandan Ministry of Health Quality of Care Initiative Project to improve on quality Assurance in HIV Based Facilities in the country. He also worked with a project between King’s College London and African Palliative Care Association (APCA) on an HIV Outcome Evaluation Study in 2008 and he has been involved in several other social, economical and entrepreneurial projects mostly dealing with community development and youths entrepreneurial skills.

The objectives of ICODI are to

-       Eliminate high levels of illiteracy among the rural and urban poor people.             

-       Promote better health standards in rural and urban poor communities; reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB through awareness, prevention and control measures. Major epidemics of these diseases kill hundreds of poor Ugandans every day; Uganda's rural communities are even more vulnerable today than they were some decades ago, due to the corrosive effects of poverty and drought.

-       Train and support rural and urban poor people to start small income-generating activities so that their children will be able to attend school and attain formal education.  

-       Reduce on high levels of poverty by training and supporting the rural poor, including youths, to start small sustainable income-generating activities that will provide food while encouraging youths to acquire entrepreneurial skills.

This is one of the webinars that we offer through our network to show really good case studies of organizations that despite all the odds are trying to improve the lives of people in communities where poverty and ill health are a common occurrence.

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