Mothers' Union Department

Mothers' Union Department

A Bout Mothers' Union

But the plans of the Lord stand firm, the purposes of his heart through all generations (Psalm 33:11)

Whether we have been blessed by having a strong family, with a dedicated supportive mother at the centre, or have had the tragedy of not having, most of us have an ideal of how family, especially parenting, should be.
Mary Sumner, the founder of Mothers' Union and herself a mother of three, was all too aware of the burdens and responsibilities of parenting; of the feelings of inadequacy that could swamp young mothers.

1876: When her daughter, Margaret, had her first child Mary took the initial steps in founding a society for the support of women in their role as mothers. Mary recognised that good parenting was more than providing for the physical needs of the child, and she believed that the primary responsibility was to raise children in the love of God.

1896: The Central Council of Mothers' Union was formed and the first Central Constitution was agreed unifying members across diocese, into a national union with Mary Sumner as President. Members agreed objectives and a central vision that marriage, parenting and prayer were key to the future of families.

1900: Mary's connections within the Anglican Communion led to Mothers' Union branches quickly being established in Wales, Ely, Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield and Newcastle, followed by branches overseas in Dublin, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Canada, India and Madagascar. By 1900 the Mothers Union had nearly 170,000 members.
The years following the death of the Mothers' Union's first patron, Queen Victoria, saw a dramatic increase in membership. New countries invited speakers and Provincial Mothers Unions were established in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Early 20th Century:
An increase in the sphere of influence of Mothers' Union. In the years up to World War II Mothers' Union gave evidence to the Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce, campaigned to raise the minimum age of marriage for women to 16 years of age, gave evidence to the Government on abortion and sent a deputation to the Board of Education on religious education.

1936: Worldwide membership growth and publications such as families first brought members an awareness of the needs of families in developing countries. The Diamond Jubilee provided the impetus for the first funds granted for support and development work overseas.

1960s &1970s: Modernising and remaining relevant to members saw new initiatives. New programmes were set up to meet the needs of the times: Away From It All Holidays were established so that members could provide holidays for families who would otherwise never have the opportunity. New objects and more relaxed membership rules were introduced and the Mothers' Union prayer was updated.

Late 20th Century:
The rapidly changing face of society brought great changes within the Anglican Church and therefore to members of Mothers' Union. New issues, such as the ordination of women, homosexuality, increased awareness of acute poverty in the developing world and our global responsibilities to address the inequalities within both developed and developing world societies all became issues where Mothers' Union members wanted to witness and answer God's call within their sphere of ministry.
New units were formed nationally and mirrored at diocesan level so that approaches in Faith and Policy, relief and project work (Action and Outreach) could be brought into focus. Finance and Central services and Marketing were established to resource members nationally to enable them to serve in their communities and branches more effectively.

2007: The Mothers' Union's range and depth of work far exceeds Mary Sumner's original vision of a circle of prayer upholding family life it now has 3.6 million members in 78 countries.Yet prayer continues to be at the heart of the witness of members who in the Wave of Prayer maintain constant chain of intercession across global membership. Members continue to promote family life through supporting families affected by prison sentences; parents through parenting courses, child contact centres and family areas in prisons.

Advocating for women at the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations, literacy programmes in Africa, Away From It All holidays, membership of the Jubilee Debt Campaign and the End Child Poverty coalition all highlight the concern that members continue to feel for disadvantaged families.

"I am proud of all Mothers' Union does, both practically in local communities, and internationally, to work towards making it possible for all families to have proper care and support, peace and security."


MOTHERS UNION UGANDA

Mothers’ Union Family Life Programme (FLP) builds on community members’ own life experience, creates dialogue and mobilises collective problem-solving through capacity-building via trained voluntary facilitators. It aims to transform the lives of communities in Uganda by bringing people together in learning and action groups to tackle common daily life issues. The programme builds strong families, unites communities, and enables participants to grow and prosper through collective action.

Implementation
The programme was created in 2003 by local communities, alongside Mothers’ Union Uganda. The basic model has changed over the years through direct collaboration between the communities and the Trainers. Today the programme comprises:

Phase 1: Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop - in order to build capacity in facilitation and to maximise effective use of the Family Life Programme Operational Guide, written by Mothers’ Union Uganda in close collaboration with local communities. The guide covers areas in: group dynamics, health and hygiene, home-based care for PLWHA and their families, community greening (including soil and water conservation), food security, human rights, parenting, and participatory monitoring and evaluation.

Phase 2: is a ‘sensitization’ process - the concept of community mobilisation and the opportunity for training is introduced to each community in the target areas. This is the methodology used for all global Mothers’ Union development programmes, and is a tried and tested approach to ensure full community ownership. In each community, a group facilitator will be recruited on a voluntary basis and trained by the regional FLP Trainer on facilitating self-selected group formation and fostering a participant-led learning environment.

Phase 3: group formation in each community – leads to collective problem-solving of the specific self-identified needs across the different sectors of the community. The community self-identified needs are addressed through group facilitation in reference to the relevant thematic areas as per the FLP Operational Guide.
Impact
Behaviour change has been identified within the following areas through close monitoring by facilitators, support steering committees and FLP Trainers across Uganda;

Participants’ increase their ability to identify community needs, collective problem-solving and self-initiated actions for change.
Participants’ confidence and capacity to evaluate and take advantage of opportunities is increased, encouraging and inspiring change, in order to improve their situation.
Empowering community members to create sustainable income generation activities, saving schemes and economic development which improve family stability and bring higher standards of living.
For example, communities address lack of natural resources and establish model gardens. Group members share their knowledge and newly grown resources, initiating exotic seedling exchanges enabling higher yields. The also provides a variety of vegetables with high vitamin content to improve health and nutrition.
The programme targets the most disadvantaged communities in Uganda with participants comprising women, men and young people. The most vulnerable of these are particularly encouraged, such as widows, PLWHA and disabled persons, to participate. The programme benefits families irrespective of religion, race or tribe.

“In partnership with the Ministry of Gender and UNICEF, through the Family Life Programme (FLP), communities in Luwero and Bukedi Dioceses are carrying out Community Dialogues. Malaria, Sanitation and Hygiene as well as Maternal Child Health have been the major issues to deal with in these”.
Sarah Kasule, Family Life Programme Trainer and Coordinator

“Before Family Life Programme... We had no toilet, vegetable garden or rubbish pit and our stove was not efficient. We would throw rubbish everywhere in our compound, didn’t boil water and we didn’t manage our banana plants well. The Family Life Programme gave us knowledge and skills to improve our health and sanitation. We now have good latrines, we boil our water, we grow vegetables and bananas. We have 50 chickens and 10 cocks. We plant coffee and have a merry go round with savings of 150,000 Uganda shillings. I have learnt a lot about love and unity.”
Janet, Kitany women’s group, Sebei

Future
This year has seen the development of the first formal written draft of the Family Life Programme Operational Guide, through consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including the current target communities. Mothers’ Union Uganda are leading this consortium in the creation of the first contextualised manual for the programme after 6 years of reactionary facilitation and relevant training being implemented.

The aim is to create a training package and operational manual which will be readily available and more accessible across the globe once relevant structures, including monitoring and accountability tools, have been locally developed, allowing further cross-sharing and training to take place between Mothers’ Union internally.

Mothers Union Uganda - St. Luke's Church of Uganda (Kagadi Town Parish)

Mothers Union Department - Home and Family Life Programme

The Department is working with St. Luke's Church of Uganda - Kagadi Town Parish, the department is comprised of women. The programme is on different levels.

The Mothers Union Programme at Parish level work hand in hand with Mothers Union Archdeaconry level to make sure women at all levels achieve there goals.

We take this opportunity to thank The Mothers Union UK for the good programmes they are working with, and we feel we Mothers Union of St. Luke's Church also we can adopt them and help us in achiving our vision.

- A rough Guide to Mothers Union

- Family Life Programme

- World Wide Parenting Programme

- Literacy and Development Programme

- Bringing the World Home

- The Mothers Union World Wide Parenting Programme (WPP)

- Mothers Union Family Life Programme (FLP)

- Mothers Union Literacy and Development Programme (MULDP)

- Our Overseas Development Work January to July 2009

- DADS ADD


Mothers Union Literacy and Development Programme (MULDP), The Mothers Union World Wide Parenting Programme (WPP), Literacy and Development Programme are some of the Programmes that very Important is as far as Mothers Union development is Concerned. Mothers Union trainings and in workshops help us to share with Mothers Union and the entire community at Large.


All along we have been doing little activities in as far as Mothers Union/ Women is concerned. We have managed to deal with Widows, Women abandoned by their Husbands, Young ladies who have been impregnated when they are still young, and Cases of the girls who dropped out of School, Domestic Violence, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and many other programmes, but we have not yet succeeded as we expect because we still have poor source of funding. We lack Mothers Union Materials to use during trainings like the ones you have sent to us. We feel that if we can Join hands together with Mothers Union and the Community altogether we can make it possible to fight bad characters/ practices in our communities.

We are happy now women in the Church now have Voice and now we can meet the need of the women/ Mothers Union. We promise that we shall continue Working with Mothers Union in our Region, Uganda and Africa in general, in our areas, Workshops, Trainings and External Visits. We INVITE you to come and work with us and See what we are doing as Women of Kagadi St. Luke’s Church. Let us combine effort for Development and work for the Kingdom of God. In God we Trust.

You can Contact us

St. Luke's Church of Uganda - Kagadi Town Parish

P. O. BOX 5 Kagadi

Kagadi Town Council

Kibaale District

Mid-Western Uganda

East Africa

Africa Continent

Tel: +256 783 898 483

For general: st.lukescouparish@yahoo.com .