One of Building Tomorrow’s (BT) core values is creative ingenuity, a principle exemplified daily by the work of our Fellows, BT’s field staff who are talented recent Ugandan university graduates. Harriet Kemigabo and Desire Zampura, Cohort 9 Fellows based in Masindi District, Western Uganda, demonstrated this value through an innovative — and effective — strategy to promote school enrollment: village-to-village advocacy using a megaphone to amplify their messages.
Ahead of the 2025 school year, Harriet, Desire, and their colleagues in Masindi observed that many parents in rural villages were reluctant to send their children back to school following the nearly two-month holiday break. Various factors contributed to this hesitation, including a lack of information regarding the start of the academic term, reliance on children for household chores, and concerns about discrimination against children with disabilities.
To combat the low enrollment, the Fellows collaborated with the Masindi District government, which provided them with two megaphones. Harriet and Desire then walked different routes throughout the communities, using the megaphones to broadcast messages emphasizing the importance of education and the necessity of timely school enrollment.
This initiative proved particularly impactful for families of children with disabilities. The Fellows not only encouraged parents to enroll their children but also sought to challenge social stigma and discriminatory attitudes through their messages. One parent, Kyakwezi Innocent, was inspired to enroll his child after hearing the messages, remarking, “From now onwards, Joshua [his child with disabilities] is going to start school like the rest of my children.” Furthermore, the campaign increased awareness of available district and school support services, of which many parents had previously been unaware.
The efforts of Harrie and Desire yielded tangible results. Parents in multiple villages responded positively to the initiative, and Harriet and Desire’s Masindi-based cluster of Fellows have enrolled 222 children in school since school started in February.
By embedding themselves within communities, BT Fellows, along with the Community Education Volunteers they recruit, are able to identify out-of-school children through home visits and engage directly with parents. In 2024, BT’s Community Education Teams helped facilitate the enrollment of 48,574 children across Uganda, including 1,701 children with disabilities.
It is through innovative approaches such as the megaphone campaign that Fellows foster meaningful change. They work to ensure that more children — regardless of their circumstances — have access to quality, inclusive education and improved opportunities for the future.
