While the Government of Uganda has adopted Universal Primary Education (UPE), many UPE schools are grossly under-resourced. It is not unusual to find schools without the basic infra-structure required to provide a positive learning environment; lack of clean water and safe sanitation, scarcity of books and even indoor classrooms.
The Brick by Brick School Program includes an assessment of each participating school and then the development of a work plan where, in partnership with the school community we address these critical needs:
Safe water and sanitation for all.
About 4,500 children die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities. Countless others suffer from poor health, diminished productivity and missed opportunities for education. Using Interlocking Stabilized Soil Bricks, we are addressing the need for safe drinking water, while promoting environmentally friendly constructions methods.
Every student has a classroom.
Many primary schools in Uganda are crumbling, are unsafe and lack adequate classrooms for their students. Upon completion of our program, partnering schools have a classroom, desk and chair for every student.
Every teacher has safe and secure housing.
Often teachers must travel long distances to come to work. Partnering with parents, we build quality on-site housing for school educators.
A library for every school.
We construct adequate space for a library and train teachers to fully utilize their library as a center for learning.
Partnering with parents to build better schools.
Brick by Brick rejects the traditional model of charity and seeks full partners with our school communities. Our partnering communities fully participate in the design of our work plan and contribute 25% of the cost of each project with in-kind donations of labor, materials and housing and feeding our masons.