1. Our Vision

We envision a future in which local Ugandans in the Iganga District will have the tools and the means to effectively create and facilitate their own health and development solutions using international human and technological resources.

2. Our Mission

The Uganda Village Project is a nonprofit organization that collaborates with diverse partners on the design of sustainable rural health and development solutions through networking, advocacy and project innovation in Iganga District.

We strive to uphold this mission in the following ways:

• Working on project development in collaboration with our local non-governmental and governmental partners in Iganga District, as well as the communities involved in the projects
• Advocating for community health and development through networking inside and outside the district, and supporting efforts on the ground by local partners
• Focusing on understanding the epidemiology and etiology of public health problems in Iganga in order to inform and support direct service projects
• Sustainable public health and development programs that have real impact in communities
• Culturally-appropriate project design
• Interdisciplinary long and short term volunteer teams of professionals and students which seek to support on the ground efforts of Uganda Village Project and its partners
• Learning about and experiencing the culture and daily lives of the Ugandan people
• In-depth planning, development, and evaluation to ensure outcomes are achieved

3. Our Goals

Our goals reflect each of our areas of focus: healthcare, clean water, orphan support, and capacity building.

1. Expand awareness regarding HIV/AIDS among at-risk populations in Iganga District
2. Increase availability of sustainable clean water solutions for communities who are currently lacking them
3. Improve the living conditions of HIV orphans in Iganga District
4. Create opportunity for pre-professional and professional students and other skilled volunteers from resource-rich countries to visit a resource-limited country and get hands-on clinical experience and exposure to issues in public health/tropical medicine
5. Support provision of healthcare and preventive health education to underserved populations in Iganga
6. Continue to build an effective public health NGO that assists local governmental and non-governmental partners in achieving sustainable programming goals using international resources

The Village Concept Model

The Uganda Village Project was created in February of 2003 as an initiative of the International Federation of Medical Students Associations—USA, a 501©3 non-profit organization. The IFMSA “Village Concept Project” model was designed in collaboration with the World Health Organization in 1986, whereby medical students and professionals essentially “adopt” a village in a developing country and work to assist this community over time. IFMSA-USA has successfully applied this model to Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Village Concept Projects under IFMSA can be found from our links page.