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Jason Russell, co-founder/chief creative officer of Invisible Children Graduated in 2002 from the University of Southern California’s Film School.

__Uganda__ The basic geography of Uganda is that it is located in eastern Africa, west of Kenya, south of South Sudan and east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The population consists of about 35.2 million people. Economically, Uganda is mostly agriculturally based. Coffee, cotton and tea serve as some of their main exports, along with some other minerals (copper and cobalt). Today, Uganda’s social structure is made up of a simple class system, dominated by a small and educated middle class.

__References__ The African Union and the United Nations both have the same views as the Invisible Children. Since we have so many supporters already, the AU and UN have come together with Invisible Children to help put a complete end to Joseph Kony and his people of the LRA. Humanity United is also another non profit organization that supports us and strives for peace in Africa.

__Benchmarks__

__Safety and Rule of Law__ Out of the 21 Safety and Rule of Law indicators, Domestic Armed Conflict and Violent Crimes can be applied to the wrongdoings of Kony and the LRA. The LRA have been carrying out Africa’s longest running armed conflict. This started in 1986 with a woman named Alice Lakwena when she started the Holy Spirit Movement (HSM, later becoming the LRA), opposing the presidency of Yoweri Museveni. Alice was exiled from Uganda and Kony, a distant cousin of Alice, claimed the leadership position and took it to the extremes that it is today. Although Kony and the LRA haven’t been in Uganda since 2006, they have still been carrying out their attacks in bordering regions. Over the years, and to this day, these violent crimes mainly consist of children being abducted - over 30,000. Boys are turned into child soldiers for the LRA and girls are forced into being sex slaves. These violent crimes have caused many children to flee and they become internally displaced, which is another huge problem in itself.

__Participation and Human Rights__ Human Rights are obviously something that these 30,000 children are not being allowed by Joseph Kony and the LRA if they’re being abducted, harmed, and forced into something they do not want to do. Not only was Kony taking away human rights, but these children weren’t able to grow up on their own and experience the proper ways of workers’ rights. Kony stripped the children of those rights from the moment he took them and forced them into killing their families or do jobs and dirty work they should have never had to do.

__Sustainable Economic Opportunity__ None of this would still be going on if Kony and his followers didn’t think that there is some sort of a bureaucracy and red tape issue. To Kony and the LRA, the presidency of Yoweri Museveni is a problem, so, there’s this tension between the two forces. On one hand, there’s Uganda’s president, not being able to control the vast growing of the LRA and what they’re doing. On the other hand we have Kony himself - thinking he was doing a favor to Uganda by doing things in a way that he thought they should be done. Kony wanted to tell the government - and be heard - that things should be done under his command. As stated earlier, Kony hasn’t been in Uganda since 2006, but he’s left much damage behind and he’s still creating some damage in other areas. The damage that is going on today could be prevented if Uganda, and maybe even some of their neighboring regions that have been affected by Kony, have improved electricity. This idea may sound strange at first. But one way that Invisible Children uses their funds is for building and expanding systems that warn remote communities of LRA attacks. This is mainly done through radio. If Uganda and neighboring regions had the access and privilege of electricity to be warned, Kony and the LRA could be stopped before they do any harm

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Human Development__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Out of our four stages (media, mobilization, protection, and recovery) of Invisible Children, we focus a lot on the aspect of furthering a child’s education in our recovery stage. This helps benefit the future human development of Uganda and it’s progression to a better future. Schools for Schools is a program that works with our organization to renovate school structures and improve the educational environment for students. Currently, this program is helping 11 secondary schools in Uganda that have been affected by the LR. About 9,300 students have benefitted from this program alone. The Legacy Scholarship Program provides scholarships to secondary and university students, guiding them along the way to become the next generation leaders of Northern Uganda. 250 university students and 700 secondary students that have been affected by the LRA have benefitted from this scholarship.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On behalf of Invisible Children, I, Jason Russell, ask that we have the honor and privilege of using five million dollars from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to help Uganda’s children that have been affected by Joseph Kony. In 2012, Invisible Children raised $31,939,998 to which 81.48% went directly to our four stages of our organization. That includes media (spreading awareness through web campaigns or films), mobilization (film tours, music tours, campaigns, international events, fourth estate, and grassroots advocacy), protection (HF radio networks, FM radios, and defection fliers), and recovery (overall livelihood, Schools for Schools, Legacy Scholarships, rehab centers, and Mend). The other percentage of or funds has been put aside for the time being so we can invest in new programs or projects in the years to come. That five million could improve whatever ongoing problems there are in Northern Uganda in relation to Kony. Five million could be apart of a better future for the children in Northern Uganda who have had to suffer from the tragedies that Kony and the LRA have put them through. Thank you for your time.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Works Cited

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Groth, Azy. "The Details: UN Press Conference and Plegde Hand - off." Invisible Children. N.p., 29 June 2012. Web. <the-details-un-press-conference-and-pledge-hand-off>.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Invisible Children. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2013. <http://invisiblechildren.com/>.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Newcomb, Randy. "Why We Support Invisible Children." Humanity United. N.p., 13 Mar. 2012. Web. <http://humanityunited.org/blog/why-we-support-invisible-children#.UTBiIyAo7mI>.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Profile - Uganda." INADEV. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.inadev.org/profile_-_uganda.htm>.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Uganda - Economy." Encyclopedia of the Nations. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Uganda-ECONOMY.html>.