African Rural Development Initiatives

African Rural Development Initiatives (ARDI) was founded in 1999 following a research study by ActionAid Uganda that focused on adolescent girls (13-18 years of age) and their sexual and reproductive health and behaviour.
ARDI works in Mbale district and Manafwa district, recently curved out of Mbale, which are located on the Kenyan border, 50 km eastern of Mbale Town. The ARDI offices are located in Bukitongo village, near lwakhakha, at the border area.
The founders of ARDI were government community development workers, teachers, church leaders and parents from the local community.Up to now, various volunteers have been working for ARDI, including a trained counsellor, two project staff and a tailoring teacher.
Some of the activities and programmes of ARDI include ;
1.Life skills education for young people and the wider community

Volunteers provide education to young people and the wider community. Life Skills education consists of education about HIV/AIDS, STI’s, pregnancy. How to prevent these? With life skills training, reproductive health and family life education.
Aim is to reduce the vulnerability of women and girls to domestic violence and other social ills. The volunteers carry out sessions with young people, as well as other people in the community.
2.. Goats project for single teenage mothers
Many teenage adolescents in rural areas in manafwa district (Uganda) are not in school, partly due to being (single) teenage mothers. Especially this group of young people is vulnerable and deprived, having few opportunities for education, work, marriage, and social acceptance; and due to their dependence on others (mainly males) for income, they face a relatively high risk on sexual and reproductive health problems, including HIV/AIDS.
The African Rural Development Initiative (ARDI) takes this chance to say thanks for the support of the following partners from Uganda and overseas: Actionaid,Work Aid ,ACETand other partners