Initiative for Mtoto Wa Shule

Every child deserves to stay in school

IMS is a youth-founded organisation in Uganda building community-led models that prevent school dropout, keep children in school, and open pathways back for those already lost. We work where the gap between a child’s potential and their reality is widest.

Spot the risk. Support the child. Succeed together.

Planning is the most powerful thing a parent can do for their child's education.

Spot the risk. Support the child. Succeed together.

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Who We Are

Initiative for Mtoto wa Shule (IMS) is a youth-founded organisation working in Uganda’s urban informal settlements to address one of the most persistent failures in education: children who want to learn, families who want to educate them, and a system that leaves both without the tools to succeed.

We do not build schools. We build the systems, financing models, and community structures that keep children in the schools that already exist — and create pathways back for those already lost.

IMS was founded in April 2021 by Fredrick Kayiira in Kampala. In five years, we have grown from a single school partnership in Kyotera, formerly Rakai district and Kamwokya slums of Kampala to a programme reaching thousands of children and caregivers.

Our Founder

Fredrick founded IMS in April 2021 with a conviction that school dropout in Uganda’s urban informal settlements is solvable — not with more buildings, but with community-owned systems that work without external management. He brings over seven years of specialist experience in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) across HIV, education, sexual and reproductive health, children and youth, and GBV programming.

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Our Vision

A Uganda where every child is enrolled, learning, and safe — and where no child loses their future to school dropout or never-enrolment.

Our Mission

To build, strengthen and scale community-led models that empower schools and communities to prevent school dropout, finance children’s education, and create second-chance pathways — starting in Uganda’s most underserved communities.

Our Impact

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Children and young people reached since 2021

Parents saving for their children's education

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Millions savings mobilised by families 2022–Jun 2026

Active Parents Education Investment Scheme (PEIS) savings groups

Students covered by Parents Education Investment Scheme (PEIS) groups

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School retention among PEIS member households

What We Do

IMS’s 2025–2029 Strategic Plan organises our work into four Strategic Focus Areas — each addressing a distinct dimension of school dropout, together forming a continuum from early prevention to recovery to systemic change.

GuardED

The most effective response to school dropout is one that happens before the dropout does.GuardED is IMS’s school-level prevention work

SaveForward

School dropout is not only a poverty problem. It is a planning problem. Families in Uganda’s urban informal settlements often earn enough across a year to pay their children’s school fees

BackInClass

For children and young people who have already left school — whether last term or several years ago — BackInClass creates structured pathways back.

LeadTheShift

Models only matter if they spread. Evidence only matters if it reaches decision-makers.LeadTheShift is IMS’s work to build a high-performing organisation..

PEIS Education Insurance

PEIS — the Parents Education Insurance Scheme — is a way for parents to plan, save, and pay for their children’s school costs together — before a fee crisis forces a child out of school.

It is not a loan. Not a grant. Not a scheme that requires donor money to run. It is a structured savings and planning system, owned and managed entirely by the parents who use it.

Since 2022, PEIS groups in Kampala have helped 421 parents save UGX 276 million for their children’s school costs, locally using their irregular income.

Partners and Funders

IMS works through a small number of deep, trusted partnerships — organisations that have reviewed our work and chosen to invest in it or build alongside us.

Support IMS

There are many ways to walk with IMS. Choose the one that fits you — whether you are an individual, a community, an organisation, or a government.

Sponsor A Child

The IMS Dropout Prevention Fellowship places trained young practitioners in partner schools as the frontline of the SUCCESS Model.

Sponsor A Child

Sponsor A Dropout Prevention Fellow

The IMS Pathways Centre (opening 2027) will serve out-of-school young people rebuilding their futures. Your equipment donation is a direct investment in a young person’s ability to learn, earn, and reclaim..

Donate Equipment To The Pathways Centre

Fundraise For IMS

Fundraise for IMS using your birthday, a challenge, a community event, or a workplace campaign. We will support you with a fundraising pack..

Partner With Us

IMS is actively seeking partners who want to implement our models, build the evidence base, or advance community education financing at scale. Below are the specific partnership pathways we are pursuing.

Volunteer

IMS welcomes volunteers who want to contribute skills, time, and energy to our work. We are particularly looking for:

Testimonials

What People Say About IMS

OKWI  A 24-year-old refugee and single mother, Okwi turned her life around through IMS’s tailoring program under the GROW project. Once struggling to feed her family, she now earns steadily, keeps her daughter in school, and dreams of empowering other women through her craft.