About

Learn More About Us

Josephine Patrick Foundation is a Christian faith-based, non-governmental charity organization that began as a grassroots movement in response to the challenges faced by vulnerable groups—particularly Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs), young women and girls, youth, Persons Living with Disabilities (PLWDs), and the elderly.
Founded to promote Community Social Inclusiveness in the communities of Northern Uganda, the foundation also operates as an income-generating (IGA) social enterprise to support local needs through God's mercy and divine guidance.

Since its inception, the foundation has grown from providing shelter to the elderly and supporting OVCs to delivering a wide range of services, including nutrition, gender-based violence (GBV) prevention, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), livelihood development, and the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now recognized as a community-based organization, Josephine Patrick Foundation remains committed to its mission:
“To provide a warm, caring, Christian environment with quality care, support, and a sense of security—focusing on the holistic wellness, dignity, and wellbeing of the community in everything we do.”

Approximately 300 individuals from Key Populations (KPs), Vulnerable Populations (VPs), and Priority Populations (PPs) have benefitted from initiatives led by the Josephine Patrick Foundation within Lira District. This impact has been made possible in part due to consistent development support from Greater Love Financial Services and other dedicated development partners.

Legally registered as a Community-Based Organization (CBO), Josephine Patrick Foundation has its headquarters in Lira City, Northern Uganda. Initially established in 2017 as an informal grassroots initiative, it was officially recognized as a CBO on April 12, 2024, by the Lira City Council under Registration No. 24/LCC/056L, in accordance with the Non-Governmental Organizations Act, 2016.

The Foundation's main operational office remains based in Lira City. As Uganda's population continues to grow—predominantly in rural areas—access to education, healthcare, and spiritual guidance remains severely limited. Public health and education services are underfunded, forcing many Ugandans to seek private alternatives. In response, Josephine Patrick Foundation is addressing these gaps by delivering community-based education and medical services, particularly targeting the elderly, people with disabilities (PWDs), persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIVs), and Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) in underserved rural regions.

To further expand its outreach, the Foundation recently launched a community-based social organization as a “give-back” initiative to serve broader population needs through planned interventions.

Strategic Partnerships and Impact

Josephine Patrick Foundation collaborates with regional, national, and international partners to empower rural communities in the fight against poverty, disease, gender-based violence (GBV), and social injustice—including spiritual neglect. Its programs have positively impacted a wide range of populations including the elderly, women, girls, youth, PLHIVs, OVCs, KPs, PPs, and PWDs.
The Foundation's work is guided by global and national development frameworks, such as:

  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • Uganda Vision 2040
  • National Development Plan II (2019/20 - 2020/2024)
  • Sector-specific strategic plans and policies

A Strategic Transition for Lasting Change

Three years into its formal establishment, the Foundation undertook a strategic planning process to reflect on its journey and prepare for the future. This marks a pivotal transition into a strategic development partner in areas such as:

  • Health
  • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
  • Education and Literacy
  • Livelihoods
  • Human Rights
  • GBV prevention
  • Social Justice

All these are integrated with the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through church establishment and outreach ministries.
The strategic plan aims to sharpen the Foundation's focus, build programmatic expertise, and strengthen its ability to respond to the needs and aspirations of vulnerable communities across the Lango Sub-Region.

Planning for the Future

This forward-looking plan outlines the Foundation's:

  • Mandate
  • Vision and Mission
  • Thematic Focus Areas
  • Strategic Objectives
  • Human and Institutional Development Priorities

Drawing from its extensive experience—ranging from COVID-19 response to post-conflict recovery efforts—Josephine Patrick Foundation has demonstrated its resilience, adaptability, and capacity to deliver sustainable, pro-poor solutions.
Its renewed mandate is clear:
"To contribute to the realization of an Inspired, Compassionate, and Independent Society."

Our Vision

Inspired, Compassionate, and Independent Society.

Our Vision

We aim to provide a warm, caring, Christian environment, with quality care, support and a sense of security for our community. While aiming to center on the holistic wellness of our community, putting their wellbeing and dignity at the forefront of all we do.

Our Values

  • Honesty
  • Empathy
  • Accountability
  • Reliability
  • Transparency

Our Strategic Priorities & Objectives

  • Promote Dignified Aging: To support the elderly in maintaining their independence while being sensitive to their cultural and spiritual values. This includes delivering comprehensive and continuous care at the Care Centre through appropriate preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic services tailored to older adults.
  • Holistic Care for Vulnerable Children and the Elderly: To address complex clinical and nutritional challenges affecting orphans, vulnerable children (OVCs), malnourished children, and older adults. We aim to develop a shared understanding and collaborative care plans involving patients, families, caregivers, healthcare providers, and decision-makers.
  • Support to Uganda's Education System: To strengthen educational outcomes by equipping teachers with supplementary skills for delivering quality education, while expanding sponsorship programs for the most vulnerable school-going children in our communities.
  • Establish Educational and Faith-Based Institutions: To construct both primary and secondary school facilities in remote areas of Lira District to improve access to education. In conjunction, we will establish churches in these communities to uphold and promote Christian values among students and their families.
  • Community Empowerment and Sustainability: To collaborate with local communities, farmers, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), and stakeholders in developing sustainable community empowerment initiatives that create long-term economic and social benefits.
  • Commercial Agriculture for Community Development: To initiate and support agricultural programs that are socially, economically, culturally, and spiritually beneficial. These efforts will promote food security, generate income, and improve overall community well-being.
  • WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) Improvement: To implement effective WASH strategies at the Care Centre and surrounding communities, including enhancing access to clean drinking water, improving sanitation infrastructure, monitoring healthcare facility hygiene, and managing wastewater systems.
  • Establishment of a Care Centre in Lira: To build a modest Care Centre in Lira District that provides older persons with healthcare, nutritional and dietary support, psychosocial care, and a nurturing, love-filled environment. This flagship centre will be supported by additional branch offices across Uganda to expand its impact.

Children Empowered

Community Projects

Support Years Provided

Dedicated Staff

Programs

Thematic Programs
  • 1. Health & Nutrition Program

    Health an Nutrition is Josephine Patrick Foundation's core program. We provide better nutrition services and health protection for all in times of emergencies and development, save lives and build a sustainable health system.

    Our key focus in health care;

    Strengthening primary and secondary health care

    Offering affordable quality health service delivery with focus on Maternal and neonatal Health issues, free HIV/AIDs Counselling and Testing, Free Diabetes testing, Free Hypertension testing, TB cases linkages and referrals among other services

    Promoting public health education in communities and schools for healthy living

    Provide relief during disaster and emergencies

    Promote prevention of diseases and epidemics.

    HIV/AIDS Focussed Healthcare

    HIV&AIDS has become the single most serious disease in the world and has far-reaching social and economic effects. Uganda still has a high prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections and low awareness on HIV transmission. Combined with high levels of stigma and discrimination, these factors could quickly evolve into a serious problem unless there is rapid and adequate support for carefully designed HIV/AIDS prevention and control across Uganda.

    Josephine Patrick Foundation aims to work on Community Awareness Raising and Advocacy with the focus on stigma reduction with religious leaders, Sex workers, train youth, Community based Organizations, Media groups, Women groups' representatives in an effort to equip them to play a greater role in addressing issues related to HIV and AIDS in their communities.

  • Why this program is important?

    Water and sanitation-related diseases, such as diarrhoea and malaria, remain the leading cause of death among children under age five. This is primarily due to a high proportion of non-functioning water supply facilities, poor access to sanitation and low adoption rates of positive hygiene practices. Despite significant investments in Uganda water supply sector, access to safe drinking water remains a challenge in many rural and urban settlements.

    Josephine Patrick Foundation look at increasing access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in public gathering places and communities.

    Access to Drinking Water

    Josephine Patrick Foundation aims to increasing access to safe water by the construction of new water points in communities affected. These will include drilled wells, Hand pumps, gravity-fed systems (i.e. using pipes to transport water to tap stands) and rainwater harvesting.

    Also to conduct training and mobilizing water and sanitation (WASH) committees - WASH committees will be trained to manage the operation and maintenance of water systems and to facilitate community-based education campaigns about the link between poor sanitation and the spread of water-related illnesses.

    Sanitation

    Josephine Patrick Foundation understands that challenge revolving around the safe disposal of both human and non-human solid waste has been cited as the key reason behind the frequent occurrence of waterborne diseases.
    Cognizant of this problem, We are committed to increasing access to both household and communal solid waste disposal facilities.
    Towards this, Josephine Patrick Foundation actively encourages and supports households and communities to construct solid waste disposal facilities such as latrines and communal dumpsites in schools, churches, mosques, markets and health centers Gender segregation being a key factor in defining point of effectiveness of solid waste disposal, We actively ensures that at all communal levels the solid waste disposal facilities constructed are gender sensitive, segregated and equipped with the required hand washing facilities to ensure promotion of hygiene and healthy lives in the communities of intervention.

    Hygiene

    The effective reduction of water borne diseases and other diseases is contingent at house hold or communities hygienic practice level. Washing of hands before preparation of food or after visiting the toilet or changing infants after they have soiled themselves is as well key in eliminating water borne diseases though it appears non-essential.
    Josephine Patrick Foundation therefore proactively and continuously strive to engage the community(s) in ensuring adoption of good hygienic practices at household levels throughout their livelihood and embrace a healthy environment for a healthy mind.

  • Protection is intended to provide expeditious, quality and timely protection service to all people in emergency and development context.

    In Protection we focus on;

    Child protection

    Human rights protection, rule of law and equal justice to all

    Conflict resolution and peace building

    Relief services in disaster affected communities.

  • As Josephine Patrick Foundation we know that basic fundamental right of any child after food, shelter and health is education. An educated child is the leader of tomorrow, doctor of tomorrow, pilot of tomorrow, engineer of tomorrow, conflict solver of tomorrow and who knows a game changer. In some Parts of Uganda where war, famine, devastation and illiteracy had been the order of the day, children are the most neglected ones. Children at the age of school going are sent to look after animals, awking in towns and severely malnourished ones stay at home to see whether they live to see the next day.

    Our education program tends to advocate for all children to be enrolled in school with key focus on promotion of girl child education by creating a link between communities, parents and the school through capacity development trainings to enhance them with knowledge gender mainstreaming and value of educating the girl child. The program shall also look at major factor affecting girls continuation with education and respond there to and enable the adolescent girls continue to be in school.

    Our education program plans to provide remedial education for children aged between 14-17 who may not be able to join formal school with vocational skills through apprenticeship trainings to enable them acquire skills that are marketable in the local communities and generate employment opportunities for them and meet there livelihoods and support families and develop.

    The program also intends to support the married young women with adult education programs to help build their capacities for easy socio-economic development.

    Our interventions focus on;

    We provide psycho-therapy to child orphans and encourage them to attend to schools, providing them basic needs

    Provide educational outreach services in the communities and schools to find out status of children, their enrolment in schools, major challenges are facing and their welfare

    Identify children aged between 14-17 who cannot go to formal schools and support them in remedial education through vocational trainings to acquire skills and be self-sufficient

    To provide young married women and men with adult education programs to empower them for sustainable development and poverty alleviation

    To ensure conducive environment for leaners and better work environment to make them employable.

  • Josephine Patrick Foundation livelihoods programme is poverty alleviation based and it's the key to help communities earn a living and become food secure and self-reliance. To do this, we forge partnerships with the private sector, governments and NGOs in order to deliver results for our beneficiaries by promoting community and youth empowerment through our livelihood programs for socio-economic transformation and development to have a quality life.

    In this area we focus on;

    Agricultureal services by promoting vegetable growing, fish farming, piggery, tree planting etc. through youth skills training and apprenticeship

    Establishing village savings and credit schemes for revolving funds. And training community farm and business groups on small scale business starting and management skills

    Opportunities in entrepreneurship, employment and agriculture through creations of farming groups, savings schemes, vocational and enterprenual trainings.

Testimonials

Check Our Testimonials

Benard Odongo

Founder, Josephine Patrick Foundation

"The Josephine Patrick Foundation is built on love, care, and commitment to children and communities. It's incredibly rewarding to see the transformation in the lives of those we serve."

Grace Achieng

Sponsor

"Being a sponsor to a child through Josephine Patrick Foundation has been an incredible experience. I am proud to be part of a community that helps children stay in school and grow up in a safe environment."

Samuel Okello

Community Leader

"The impact of the Josephine Patrick Foundation on our community has been immense. Their Family Strengthening Programs have helped keep many children with their families, preventing unnecessary separation."

Patricia Ochieng

Beneficiary

"I am grateful to the Josephine Patrick Foundation for the care, love, and education they have provided me. I now have hope for a better future, and I want to give back to my community."

Daniel Okeny

Healthcare Partner

"Our partnership with Josephine Patrick Foundation has been deeply fulfilling. Their commitment to providing healthcare services to vulnerable children and families is truly inspiring."

Team

Our Team

Mr. Odongo Benard

Founder / CEO

Biography

In 2018, a Christian movement started to come out with ideas to gather together in fellowship in Christ Jesus; there where Benard (one of the group's member) became concerned about the plight of the children in Northern Uganda, especially those abandoned and neglected children, and those living in the care of their destitute elderly grandmothers and/or disabled guardians.
Benard felt God's call on his life to help them realize their potentials even if little he can afford to gather for them (vulnerable children).

Benard was born during insurgency and lived through 20 years of war, attacks, poverty and refugee camp life and spent a third of his life with his mother in Northern Uganda. He lost his father26 years ago and he surely understand the vulnerabilities of children living in foster homes and single parents

Responsible for overseeing all facets of the organization, Benard drives the mission, fundraising, operations, and engagement with the board of directors. He has single-handedly turned the charity organization around by aligning the day-to-day work with values around diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Benard is a strong Christian leader within the sector, making him a dynamic advocate for the entire nonprofit ministry; and he has extensive experience as a locally grantmaker focused on believing in God's favors and the arts of thanksgivings.

BOARD MEMBERS

Mr. Albino Odongo

Chairperson

Miss Nyakato Immaculate

Secretary

Miss. Josephine Akello

Treasurer

Mr. Okello Leonard

Programs Officer

Mr. Ogwal Anthony

Health Officer

Mr. Olweny Joseph

Member

Mr. Joe Acili

Member

Miss Koli Semi

Member

Help

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the mission of Josephine Patrick Foundation?

Josephine Patrick Foundation aims to provide holistic support to vulnerable groups, including orphans, vulnerable children (OVCs), the elderly, and individuals living with disabilities. The foundation offers Family-Like Care, educational support, healthcare services, and community empowerment initiatives to create a nurturing, sustainable future for the communities it serves in Northern Uganda.

How can I support the foundation's programs?

You can support the foundation through donations, sponsorships, or corporate partnerships. You can sponsor a child or a village, contribute to our educational or healthcare programs, or offer financial support to our Family Strengthening Programs. Additionally, you can volunteer or partner with us to help expand our impact across the regions we serve.

What is the Family-Like Care program?

The Family-Like Care program provides orphaned and vulnerable children with a safe, supportive environment that mimics a family setting. Children are placed in loving, nurturing homes within the community, where they receive care, education, medical services, and emotional support, helping them to thrive despite their challenging circumstances.

How does the foundation ensure transparency in its operations?

The foundation upholds transparency by regularly publishing annual reports that detail our programs, finances, and impact. We are committed to responsible resource management, and our operations are overseen by a Board of Trustees to ensure accountability and effective use of resources.

Where does the foundation operate?

The Josephine Patrick Foundation operates primarily in the Lango sub-region, covering eight districts in Northern Uganda, including Lira City, Aleptong, Otuke, Oyam, Apac, and Amolatar. We are actively involved in supporting communities through education, healthcare, and Family Strengthening Programs in these areas.

Contact

Get In Touch

Address

Obutuwelo 'B' Cell, Off Juba Road, Obutuwelo Parish,
Lira West Division, Lira City

Call Us

+256 772 002595