Discover the Unseen

By Jesus Gonzalez

About the organization

Invisible Children, began when three Southern California college students, Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole, decided to head for the dessert plains of Africa with a video camera, in search for a story. They filmed the violent war that is still taking place in Uganda. The students used the talents they learned at USC and UC San Diego, to impact the nation.

Our Mission

• Invisible Children uses film, creativity, and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony's rebel war and restore Northern Uganda to peace and prosperity.

Inputs

• Our executive staff works as a team to run this organization.

• Each program is run by a smaller team.

• We receive funding from donations and fundraisers held by supporters.

Outputs

• We help rebuild war-affected school buildings.

• We help students get a chance to attend secondary school.

• We mentor children with leadership skills, parental guidance and academic tutoring.

• We help local development in Northern Uganda by investing in job and capitol creating programs.

Process

• One specific program is called the Legacy Scholarship Program(LSP), it provides scholarships and mentoring to 563 secondary and

201 university students.• Children are accepted into the program

based on academic performance and

level of vulnerability, with special

attention to orphans, heads of

household, formerly abducted

returnees, those living positively with HIV/AIDS, or child mothers.

Outcomes

• Once accepted, the students receive a full paid, merit-based scholarship and Mentoring from one of IC’s 24 full-time mentors.

• An LSP mentor is an employed community leader who builds a personal relationship with their student. Mentors visit student’s home and school monthly to ensure the

student receives the support needed to succeed.• Mentors have professional development training in

psychosocial support, child protection, and trauma counseling.

Community Need

• 91% of students are orphans—44.9% are partial orphans, 46.1% are total orphans* 

• 26.1% of students are orphans*

because of HIV/AIDS • 23.9% of students are orphans due to

war* • 5.5% of students are members of

child-headed families* • 4.3% of students are child mothers* • 13.7% of students have been abducted by the LRA at

least once*

Community Need Con’t.• Illiteracy is common in Uganda, particularly

among females(the program favors to give girls scholarships for this reason.)**

• Much public education in primary and secondary schools focus on repetition and memorization. This kind of pragmatism needs to end so a generation can have the substantive knowledge and wisdom to move forward.**

*http://www.invisiblechildren.com/legacy-scholarship-program

**http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_UGA.html

Foundation for Critical Thinking

• Critical thinking is essential if you want to get to the root of your problems and develop reasonable solutions.

• The foundation

seeks to

pervadechange in

education and

society.

Invisible children

• We educate children, so they can become leaders and turn their life around. They can be leaders of the country, the local village or just the leader of the family, because.

• The Legacy Scholarship program tries to change education by giving students mentors, so they can succeed. It also tries to change society when the program allows them to attend a university to try to break the cycle of poverty.

Critical Thinking

• The program promotes Critical Thinking by the mentor seeking improvement when they make their monthly visit. It teaches the student to aggrandize their wisdom.

• When the student is exposed to university education, it allows them to think creatively.

• After they graduate, they will hopefully be compelled to challenge their government and seek the truth behind the 25 year war.

Critical Action

• The program will help the students practice what they will do in real life by what they are studying in the university.

• Also the program will most definitely maximize their growth by graduating from a university.

Get Involved

• The easiest way to get involved would be to donate money through the website, invisiblechildren.com. There is a few programs you can pick from to donate to.

• Another fun way to help is to have a fundraiser and get friends involved.

• You can also work for Invisible Children or become a rodie. A rodie will travel around the country and spread awareness of the War in Uganda.

Get Involved Today!!!

• You can also participate on a worldwide event this April 25th. For the last 25 years, thousands of people in central Africa have been silenced by the LRA. So for 25 hours, thousands of participants around the world will go silent so that the victims of the LRA are heard. Money raised from the 25 event will fund The Invisible Children Protection Plan and bring life saving communication and rehabilitation projects to the victims of the LRA.