Education standards and facilities in the northern part of the country have suffered due to the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency.
The money raised goes toward rebuilding and refurbishing the partner schools in five main categories: water and sanitation, infrastructure and facilities, teacher training and incentives, equipment and resources, and technology.
At the end of the competition, the top fundraisers from each cluster are awarded trips to Uganda to help implement projects funded by money they have raised.
Invisible Children Inc. discussed where and how to invest their resources, knowing they wanted to choose programs that would do more than just temporarily address the gaps.
In order to meet this goal, Invisible Children brought together a group of individuals with the skill sets and personal commitments needed to see such a complex project through.
By having a specific group monitor the project from beginning to end, Invisible Children knew they would be able to ensure that the funds were implemented in the places that were needed most in the most effective way possible.
As Invisible Children wanted local ideas and community participation to lead efforts toward effective change, they created a development committee for each of the 10 schools.
More than $1.7 million came in from this semester[5] and was funneled back to the 10 partner schools, continuing to improve the quality of education for thousands of students.
The team on the ground worked closely with the School Development Committees to spend this money, carry out needs and infrastructure assessments, draw building plans, seek technical advice, and devise budgets.
Unique to this semester is the release of Invisible Children's latest piece of media, GO!, a documentary that captures the adventure of a group of American students traveling to northern Uganda during the summer of 2007.