The African Views Youth program started with a proposed evaluation designed to provide vital insights into the impacts of the Recovery for Acholi Youth (RAY) educational programs in 2011. Where appropriate, provide competent and practical strategies that substantively support equitable (equity) replication of this program in other contexts. In the contemporary scientific and technologically evolving global society, evaluation audits are a systematic way for educational actors such as NRC to assess how their educational programs (like YEP, ALP & construction of classroom blocks) have substantially impacted the lives of the target beneficiaries. It is also a practical strategy to assess organizational policies used to implement such educational programs.

In upholding our organizational (African Views) aim to provide tangible direction in conducting this evaluation audit, it is instrumental that we make clear what the word equity means to us. Using the word equity in the education sector, we refer to deliberate policies to make educational resources accessible to all learners regardless of socio-economic status, gender, race, disability, geographical locations, ethnicity or culture, and language. According to UNESCO (2008), equity and inclusion practices involves policies, planning, institutional structures, capacity, partnerships, and coordination to achieve the right of all children to an education in their locality, in regular provision alongside their peers, within an accessible, safe, secure and child-friendly learning environment, where diversity is acknowledged and responded to every effort is made to reduce barriers to participation and learning.

With the context of challenging terrains such as northern Uganda, where the over two decades' armed conflict has wreaked havoc on the education sector (and other social services), efforts to achieve equitable education programs are daunting.  Multilayered approaches by different actors (Ugandan government, NRC, UNICEF, SCiU, AMREF, etc.) become inevitable. Implementation of equitably focused education programs by such actors is planned, systemic, and focused on the core of staff hiring, retention, and promotion processes across the organizations. At the target schools/community level, this involves examining students' enrollment to review and implement transparent procedures and protocols that account for and benchmark equity and diversity in all aspects of students and teaching staff demography.

The evaluation provided empirical research and summative evaluation, accurate measures, and tailored recommendations to understand their educational programs' impact in the entire Acholi sub-region. The evaluation audit assessed the extent to which their programs achieved their objectives and how such programs could be equitably replicated in different geographical settings with the cardinal objective of achieving Education for All as enshrined in the Millennium Development Goals program, now SDGs. 

Conducting evaluation audits in education to assess programs' effectiveness promotes the possibility of achieving inclusive education for all children (learners) in disadvantaged societies such as Northern Uganda and the Karamoja region.

African Views Organization has developed several Youth programs, including Student Chapters. Among the programs are the Youth Initiatives, Student Exchange Programs, Cultural Exchange programs, and UNESCO Ambassadors. See the slides for details.