Happy Childhood foundation was established on 15th September 2002 by a group of volunteers in response to orphans and vulnerable children crisis caused by HIV/AIDS and poverty in rural and semi urban communities in Eastern and North Eastern Uganda. The overall aim was to create a protective and conducive environment that upholds, respects and promotes the rights of women and children' We seek to advocate for a protective environment for women and children from sexual violence and/or sexual exploitation as well as to increase access to information on human rights and also facilitate provision of legal services for victims of Sexual Gender Based Violence. In summary we focus our efforts on; Supporting vulnerable children with scholastic materials, basic necessities and sponsorship for in school children. Rights monitoring and advocacy. Capacity building of both rights holders and duty bearers. Awareness creation within the communities. Facilitation of legal redress / access to justice and networking to support promotion and protection of human rights. In partnership with different agencies like USAID, we support the in school children with scholastic materials and basic necessities such as clothing and sponsorship for vulnerable children. The foundation carries out parental education on relevant child care needs together with growth monitoring and promotion including nutrition for mothers and children below 6 years. We also offer vocational skills training to vulnerable children. This includes tailoring, carpentry, salon, mechanics, and brick making. This is done either on mentoring basis, by attaching them to local artisans. Or through vocational training at the project sites. The foundation promotes sports because it is a key component of social life directly engaging communities; it brings communities together in a fun and participatory way, it helps create social relations, builds connections and improves communications between individuals and groups. Sports also mobilizes volunteers and promote active involvement, helping to build social capital and strengthen the social fabric. Participation in sports has significant physical benefit, contributing to people’s abilities to live long and health lives, improving well-being, extending life expectancy and reducing the likelihood of several non-communicable diseases, particularly heart deceases, diabetes and certain cancers. Sports also provide psychosocial benefits such as fostering social integration and teaching copying mechanism as well as improving concentration. With the help of the paralegals and local leaders we mobilize communities to participate in dialogue sessions that raise awareness on SGBV. We use the human rights education methodologies to support discussions, based on gender equality and universal declarations of human rights and its framework. Case studies are used to support discussion and initiate deeper understanding and knowledge. Local leaders, elders, Police, health care providers, clan leaders are part of the team that engage with communities on dialogue for different women and children rights issues. We Conduct Community based ebimezza open human rights forums, periodically where target communities especially rights holders such as women are given chance to discuss freely with duty bearers on issues of human rights affecting them. Proceedings of the discussions are recorded and aired direct on radio for the wider community to benefit. Emerging issues form a basis for advocacy and will be an integral part of the radio talk show where the duty bearers will respond and interact with the general public to guide them on possible remedies. We also conduct married couple evening counselling forums: domestic violence is always as a result of family disagreements on critical issues such as property sharing. Promoting forums for marrieds encourages free talk and openness. This relieves tension as a result of experience sharing between different couple hence mitigating conflict and domestic violence which directly affects children. Expert family counsellors will participate as moderators to encourage open and free discussions and where possible address emerging issues. Building the capacity of duty bearers is not only imperative in building a culture of protection, but also in sustaining one. Building the capacity of the justice system, alongside traditional mechanisms, is essential in order to convince communities that the justice system can protect and assert women’s and children’s rights in relation to Sexual and Gender Based Violence. A specialized SGBV and land rights Desk is established. This Desk consists of a paralegal legal officer and community paralegal volunteers who assist victims of SGBV through the difficult legal process and sensitizing communities on GBV, including the dissemination of information on what constitutes SGBV and the legal ramifications for those charged with an SGBV offence. In partnership with National coalition of Human Rights Defender Uganda a toll free line (0800100250), has been established. This is aimed at providing communities, survivors of domestic violence and land rights violation to call freely at any time to report cases of human rights abuse. Legal aid outreaches are conducted by paralegal volunteers and the paralegal officer to promote gender equality and promote land rights at community level. They will identify and refer children and women’s rights violations or SGBV for medical, legal and psychological redress. This also involved case management and working closely with the victim, advocacy and counselling as part of survivor centered approach.