Forum for Women in Democracy Uganda

Forum for Women in Democracy represented by her Executive Director Patricia Munabi, was one of the women’s rights organizations that met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 14-16 November to call on African governments to re-dedicate themselves to upholding national, regional and international laws and policies that advance women’s rights and gender equality on universal human rights standards already agreed upon and protect them from social moral and cultural arguments and positions. Civil Society Organizations discussed the progress made in the field of women's and girls' rights 20 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPfA) was adopted. Participants said that most of the gains made in Women's and Girls' rights since the holding of the International Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 have come under various threats and are facing persistent challenges, notably from widening inequalities between the rich and poor and between men and

  Forum for Women in Democracy held a press conference on 13 th November to call upon on Members of parliament to include clause 8 (5) and 55(4) of the public finance bill 2012  On 5 th November 2014, the debate on the Public Finance Bill 2012 returned to the floor of Parliament and has been deferred until 13 th November 2014. As women’s rights activists we anticipate that Parliament shall handle this critical bill with gender sensitivity but also expedite the process of passing the bill into law hopefully before the end of 2014. FOWODE acknowledges that Women shape the development agenda throughout the developing world yet still remain disadvantaged and excluded in budgeting, decision and policy formulation processes. They continue to be sidelined within the household because they have less access to and control over resources and limited influence over household decisions. According to UDHS 2011, only 16% of Ugandan Women own land. 39% of women aged between15

A food secure community is an empowered community. Forum for Women in Democracy has recognized that the food value chain is critical in enhancing food security. In the past the female farmers only participated at the lower levels of agricultural value chain as a result, were ripped off by middlemen and in the long dry spells they suffered hunger because their produce would was not stored properly. To ensure this FOWODE with support from Diakonia and the Funding for Leadership Opportunities for Women (FLOW) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, gave the female farmers maize milling machines. In order to improve on household food security especially in female headed households, 3 maize milling machines were handed over to the model female farmers in Amuru, Amuria and Napak districts in the presence of the District Production officers, Sub county Chiefs, Councilors and rights holders that gathered in Kuju, Amuru s/c and Lopeei sub counties.  The grain millin

As part of the Uganda Women's week, Patricia Munabi the Executive Director of Forum for Women in Democracy was part a group of women that paid a solidarity visit to Sarah Ntiro in Hoima on Saturday 18th October 2014. This gesture was to celebrate her ground breaking achievement in Uganda's women's movement. She was the first woman graduate in East and Central Africa. Sarah was one of the first two African Women on the Uganda Legislative council 1958-1951 among many achievements. It is from the Legacy of courageous women like Sarah that thousands of the girl children have gone ahead to graduate in universities and colleges around East Africa and Central Africa. And for this, the women of Uganda shall forever be grateful.

  Forum for Women in Democracy was honored to be part of the Human Rights Based approach organized by Action Aid Uganda. The training was a foundational course to introduce the importance of using the human rights lens during advocacy. Prudence Nyamishana (Communications officer), Sarah Nakintu (Field Officer Mityana) and Annet Namwaya (Field officer Busia) represented FOWODE. The various sessions stirred the participants to do introspection on how they can change their generation and the communities in which they operate.   From this training, the participants realized that poverty is a human rights violation. This notion was disputed until; the trainer explained that poverty is a result of unequal power relations because those who are in power have not helped the poor to come out of their poverty. Therefore those that are living in power-the duty bearers have an obligation to ensure that they take care of those that are living in poverty. This doesn’t mean tha

As 2016 draws close, Forum for Women in Democracy has embarked on training women leaders. in the last week of October alone,  30 women political aspirants from the districts of, Kampala, Nakasongola, Apac, Bukwo, Buikwe, Kamuli, Kalungu, Masaka, Mityana, Butaleja, Wakiso, Kyenjojo, Kibuku and Luweero were trained in campaign procedures and skills for winning the elections.  The two-day workshop, brought together women political aspirants from various political parties to acquire knowledge and skills in effective campaigning procedures to enable them successfully engage in the upcoming general elections in 2016. The women political aspirants some of whom were engaging in political leadership for the very first time are vying for different leadership positions ranging from members of Parliament to district and local council councilors. The comprehensive training covered various sub themes including; Transformational leadership in Uganda’s Context, Women and Political Parti

FOWODE received an 2014 award for excellence in Institutional Governance at the 2014 Diakonia Gender Summit that took place on 26th to 29th October.  The first ever Gender Summit in Uganda was organized by Diakonia with support from the Swedish International Development Association (SIDA) . The Summit brought together partners of Diakonia who were part of a programme that is deepening gender programming in Uganda .   The award is given to an organization for demonstrated excellence in gender mainstreaming through effective implementation of Institutional Gender Action Plans.  The Gender Action Plans were developed by FOWODE and other partners following a capacity building programme aimed at   strengthening partners gender work and practices. This year’s Gender Summit was focused on advancing excellence and effectiveness of organizations in gender mainstreaming at all levels (the levels included, Institutional Governance (Main category), Project specific

The women with whistles parallel session at the 2 nd Uganda Women’s Week one to reckon as it attracted women and men of substance among them; political leaders, members of the civil society, local government officials, national and political party representatives, Women’s NGOs and young women leaders; women in the media and academia. This Session was organized by Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) and Women’s Democracy Network (WDN).    Themed ‘ Women with whistles, galvanizing voices for Good Governance ’, the session sought to enhance awareness of critical governance issues in the political and economic arenas and mobilize citizens to challenge status quo; current governance concerns in Uganda today and their impact on the nation, the effects of bad governance on the women of Uganda.     To pace set the parallel session was the FOWODE executive Director, Mrs. Mrs. Patricia Munabi Babiiha who challenged the participant to do thorough introspection n

Forum for Women in Democracy held   two workshops mentoring and support supervision workshops in Tororo and Kiboga concurrently in the first week of October 2014. These workshops aimed at enabling women to have functional caucuses that will ably influence council decisions for gender sensitive laws.   Majority of the women Councillors reported to have been able to influence their respective councils. For example, in Wakiso, the council agreed that   if any toilet stances are to be constructed in a school, half of them must be for girls. The women of Wakiso have also mastered the art of lobbying, advocacy and networking which has enabled them reach out to several relevant resource persons like the CAO, District Statistician among others, who have learnt to consult with the women's caucus before making critical council decisions. In Mukono district, the women influenced the budget in a way that 37% of the budget had been channeled to maternal health. They also lobb

Forum for Women in Democracy did not relent on her position to stand against exploitation of the poor masses. Like never before we were determined to see that the 200 shillings tax is scrapped off. However that was not the case. On Wednesday 8 th October 2014, the parliament of Uganda showed again that it is insensitive to the needs of the poor.   This was a desperate move to save the wretched of the earth after President Museveni rejected three Bills and returned them to Parliament for further consideration consequently opposing Parliament’s decision to scrap the tax on Kerosene. This entire move followed Finance minister Maria Kiwanuka’s 2014/2015 Budget speech in which she proposed a tax of Shs200 on a litre of kerosene to help the government raise Shs15 billion. While the women’s movement thought that the president’s view is noble ,  the question that lingered is, should it be the poor that bear the burden of such taxes yet there could be alternative so

It was that time of the year when the members of the Uganda Feminist Forum convened with the objective of reflecting, caring for one another as sisters but also to strategize on how to deal with a militaristic state as they advance the feminist agenda.  The three day workshop gave space to re-energize, collective reflection, visioning and planning a way forward in defeating the giant that manifests itself in various forms even in the political world where it is subtle. Through Leonard Okello’s presentation, the women’s eyes were open to the subtle nature if the giant that employs through tactics of manipulation, decoy that leads to self-censorship a detractor to women’s empowerment. Health is vital for the movement to thrive, a health session was conducted where the women were advised on well being and introduced to juicing a good practice phenomenon that is practiced in the western countries to reduce diseases such as cancer that has killed large

As 2016 draws close, concerned Ugandan citizens are well aware that they must play their part in deciding the future of their country, hence, free and fair consultative meetings in all regions across the country. Forum for Women in Democracy spearheaded the Bukedi regional forum that is part of the ongoing regional campaigns and consultative meetings across the 15 sub- regions of this country. This Forum was organized in partnership with the NGO forum and PACONET, took place on the 23 rd and 24 th September 2014. Over 200 delegates attended the meeting from diverse backgrounds and spheres. Representatives from political parties, some district speakers, representatives from the academia, youth and women representatives, media practitioners and reporters were some of the groups present at the forum. Two district chairpersons; a member of parliament and an RDC from one of the districts were also other district leaders present at the forum. As the meeting