PDI is a district partner for UWEZO,   an initiative of Twaweza East Africa operating in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Uwezo conducts annual large scale, citizen-led, household-based assessments that measure actual levels of children’s literacy and numeracy across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, with the aim of increasing basic literacy and competencies among children ages 6-16. 
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As a partner organization PDI was contracted to manage 2015 annual learning assessment in Bududa District. Our mandate was to take overall charge of the process as the implementing partner in the district to carry out a pre- assessment exercise, recruit and train 60 volunteers who would later carry out the assessment.  UWEZO publishes national results each year; the quality of data collected by UWEZO has over the years provided a reliable source to the situation analysis in Uganda. 

This partnership not only fits in our objective of improving education gaps in Uganda but provided us with the opportunity to assess the needs first hand.  This data and understanding of the community informs our programming.

Second Chance Education Project (SCEP) project is part of PDI’s economic strengthening efforts for young women who are dropped out of formal education to provide them an alternative pathways of obtaining skills throw none formal education.

The SCEP specifically targets underserved adolescent girls and young women(AGYW) who have dropped out of school due to a range of circumstances largely: lack of school fees, unplanned pregnancies or parental cultural biases by parents towards girl education.  The high level of school dropout rates in Bududa district disproportionately affect young women whose alternatives are either marriage, or migration to urban areas  to work as domestic helpers; which predisposes  them to abuse by employers, and often end up with unplanned pregnancies.  

This project is funded by our Partner Forgirlsake, an organization that funds grassroots organization that promotes girls’ education.
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SCEP scholarship recipientsOur current beneficiaries are enrolled in vocational and post -secondary institutions pursuing programs ranging from nursery and early childhood education, nursing, fashion and design, hotel and institutional catering and hairdressing. We as PDI family are elated to be part of these young women’s journey. We believe that sometimes, maybe, it is that second chance that brings the greatest change in one’s life

Pathways Development Initiatives invests in early childhood education to provide otherwise extremely vulnerable students with the opportunity to succeed in the government education system.  Most students in Bududa begin their education in primary school, at the age of six or seven. Their peers in urban and other areas boasting enhanced government attention (typically nearer big cities) are more likely to begin their education at the age of three or four. These students across the country must sit for the same Primary Level Examinations (PLEs), the scores of which determine entry to secondary schools.  Thus, students in rural, remote Bududa face an extreme disadvantage right from the start of their educational experience. Seventy one percent of children in the district do not make it past the 7th grade. They also score among the lowest in the country on their PLEs.
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We opened our pre-primary program in May 2012, which enrolls students aged four to six for early childhood education from 8am-12pm, providing each student with a daily meal. Many of these children would otherwise stay home alone as parents and guardians go off to the field or to work. In order to emphasize the importance of early childhood education, we also facilitate sensitization workshops with parents in the Bududa community. 

The World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund recognize that the ages between 0 and five years are critical stages in a child’s development. At PDI we believe it is absolutely imperative that pre-primary age children gain the confidence and learn the foundational skills necessary to pursue a lifetime of educational success.