Mugabirwe Olivia Rukungiri District, Uganda PeerLink Initiative Uganda (PELI-U)/Virginia Gildersleeve International

Uganda’s population currently stands at 32.9 million people % of the population live in rural areas Uganda Bureau of Statistics, (2011).

Role in poverty and hunger eradication  Women continue to play a key role in agricultural production and still produce much of the food for household consumption and for sale.  Women have come up with saving groups through which they save money for start up capital.  They shoulder the responsibility of meeting school requirements such as fees, uniform, books and meals.  Engage in small enterprises like local brew making, crafts production, operate small restaurants, operate small shops and stalls of merchandize.  They also meet most costs related to health services in addition to shouldering most household duties.

What we do? We promote economic empowerment of women and focus on skills development for rural women (young single mothers and their parents) crafts making. We engage the community stakeholders (local government leaders, religious representatives, women and youth leaders) in dialogue on the situation of women in the community and how best it can be improved upon. We focus on teenage pregnancy prevention for school going students and pupils to help retain girls in school. We provide comprehensive sexual reproductive health education to young mothers, equip them with practical skills for income generation, teach them how to read and write, engage them in confidence building activities and encourage them to go back to school.

Challenges of rural women  Lack access to clean and safe water and fuel. They walk long distances to fetch water and collect wood fuel.  HIV / AIDS has affected rural women’s capacity to engage in income generating activities  Getting more husbands and partners involved in women empowerment initiatives.  Rural women still have no control over land. They dig in peoples gardens in exchange for food. They hire land on which to grow food for household consumption and for sale.  Still use rudimentary tools (hoes, pangas) in agricultural work and thus less production.

 Poor roads in rural areas make it difficult for rural women to transport their agricultural produce to markets.  Have no access to well equipped medical facilities and good schools for their children.  Lack capital to invest in income generating activities and have no security to secure loans.  Large families make it difficult to meet the ever increasing needs of the family and at the same time save.

Empowerment of women necessitates equipping women with knowledge, skills and attitude to enable them appreciate themselves, have control over their lives, restore their dignity, make decisions, take up leadership positions and participate in improving their livelihoods. This calls for collective responsibility, involvement of all community members, men, women, young, old to discuss on how best this should be done. Community dialogue on empowerment is the way to go There is need to support women to attain education, retain the girl child in school and help the girls to complete the highest education cycle. Women need to be helped to define economic empowerment in their language. Women need to appreciate the importance of economic empowerment and be at the forefront of economic empowerment in their respective communities. There is need to have more women take up leadership positions from grass root level to national level. Integrating Leadership development training for women in all community development initiatives could help bring more women into decision making positions

Questions for reflection What are you doing as an individual to empower women? What alternative programs/activities can we do to empower women? Where have we gone wrong in our efforts to empower women? Who do we need on board to do things better? Do we need more policies or we need action?

What resources exist in our respective communities to support empowerment of women? How can we get more young women and girls on board? What information related to economic empowerment do we get? How easy is it for us to access this information? What language is used in passing on this information? We need more women to support and embrace the empowerment of women.