Forum for Women in Democracy Uganda

“Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use.” – Ruth Gordon

“Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.” – Charlotte Whitton

“The best protection any woman can have … is courage.” – Elizabeth Cady Stanton

HON Tezira Jamwa tells her story at FOWODE Head Offices  HON TEZIRA JAMWA Tezira Jamwa, besides being a Board Member of FOWODE, was recently elected National Vice Chairperson NRM Women’s League Representing Eastern Region. A big accomplishment and a great platform for the women of Uganda. How did she get here though? That question will lead us to who is Hon Jamwa really? She is a daughter, a sister, a friend, a mother, a teacher, an activist and, a leader. Tezira is from the district of Tororo and was born in a polygamous family. First child of this family, her mother was a muganda who later separated with her father, leaving her children to be raised by husband’s second wife. Growing up, you can say her birthright manifested in her. Because of her natural leadership skills but also the ever-present desire to lead, she found herself pulled by this gravity to make a difference. She knew that a good education was the key to all her leadership dream...

“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” – Diane Mariechild

Following the tabling of the Public Finance and Management Amendment Bill, 2015 a spirited fight was put up by FOWODE, other Civil society actors notably CSBAG, the Equal Opportunities Commission & a section of Members of Parliament to reject the proposed amendments. The fight was a call to MPs to reject the proposed amendments. Key of the amendments to the bill was “to repeal the provision on the requirement to present a certificate certifying that the policy statements of the Votes are gender and equity responsive”.   This would have been a “tragic” move by government that would have undermined all its efforts in promoting the gender, equity and equal opportunities principles that it boasts of. The proposed amendments in the Public Finance and Management Act 2015 read; Section 13 of the Principal Act, is amended-(a) by substituting for section 13 the following: “the Minister or any other person responsible for the vote as the case may be shall base...

“It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union…. Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.” – Susan B. Anthony

“We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever.”   – Susan B. Anthony

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin

 “When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.” – Helen Keller There are threats and judging by this weekend's event, many of you might feel discouraged or scared to stand up for the right thing. Do not be. It is only in our relentless fight for what is Humanly deserved that fruits can grow.

The Ford Foundation has been going through a review of its strategy over the past one year and is now ready to launch its new programmatic framework. The Foundation while reflecting on global trends so as to better understand the state of human dignity   found that indeed there is growing inequality in all its forms. To address and respond to inequality, the Foundation will be working in six program areas: Civic Engagement and Government; Creativity and Free Expression; Gender, Ethnic, and Racial Justice; Inclusive Economies; Internet Freedom and Youth Opportunity and Learning. This month, FOWODE was privileged to be one of the co hosts of the Women’s Expert Dialogue on Identity Justice that was graced with the presence of the Ford Foundation Vice President for Education, Creativity and Free Expression, Hilary Pennington, the Representative for Eastern Africa, Maurice Makoloo and all the Program Officers from the Eastern Africa office. The dialogue was at...

UN Women convened a Validation Workshop on Women in Leadership Strategy on the 7 th of August 2015, in Kampala, Uganda with more than 20 delegates from the women’s movement in attendance of which Forum for Women in Democracy was part of. The objective of the workshop was to present the first draft of the Women in Leadership Strategy, which was aimed at informing UN Women’s role in supporting the Government of Uganda and stakeholders in engendering the electoral processes towards 2016. The workshop was aimed at filling in the gaps that would have been identified by the delegates at the workshop. UN Women Deputy Country Representative, Mrs Anna Mutavati, thanked the delegates for honoring the invitation to the validation workshop. She stated that UN Women joined women around the world in promoting women leadership, which was one of the key pillars of UN Women’s work. She went on to state that political transformation was essential for empowerment of women, whic...

An empowered woman has the capacity to transform her community. As elections edge close, Forum for Women in Democracy is focusing its energies in civic education because we believe that women’s role at all levels are critical in shaping the future of our country Uganda.   In July, we carried out training in Masindi to sensitize the community on civic education, build cohesion by forming groups to start up income generating activities The group formed   Agaterine that means combined effort was formed after being trained on soap making by Barungi susan a Trainer of Trainers who participated in the FOWODE young leadership building camp in June 2014, she came back and imparted the skills to the community members and some got interested and formed a group comprising of 18 menbers 16 women and 2 men in Budongo sub county Nyatonzi village Masindi District. This group has acknowledged the fact that combined effort is the way to go in empowering themselves ec...

Forum for Women in Democracy has trained 30 female leadership mentors from the districts of, Kabale, Kibaale, Kibuku, Rukungiri, Gulu and Luweero in campaign procedures and skills for winning the 2016 elections. In a two-day workshop this week, women leadership mentors acquired knowledge and skills in effective campaigning procedures to enable them train and sharpen women candidates’ skills for successful engagement in the upcoming general elections in 2016. The leadership mentors who were selected according to their political and leadership experience had their knowledge enhanced on Gender and development, Women and Leadership, Women’s engagements with Political Parties, Running a successful Campaign, Fundraising for campaigns, communication skills as well as Developing a winning manifesto. These were readied as political consultants for the women candidates in their various districts as captured in the voice of one Santa from Gulu.   “ The way I ...

Our Executive Director, Patricia Munabi Babiiha, was invited by the UNWomen Fund for Gender Equality (UNFGE) as keynote speaker at their donor roundtable meeting that took place in New York on 8 July 2015. FOWODE was one of the first beneficiaries of the UNFGE in 2010 and received a catalytic grant to support her gender budget work. The Executive Director shared the organisation’s Village Budget Club model that has gained popularity for its ability to awaken citizen’s consciousness and to spur them to demand for accountable leadership and improved gender responsive service delivery. Additionally she shared the gain of the Certificate of Gender and Equity that was integrated in the Public Finance and Management Act 2015. The advocacy for this certificate started during the implementation of the FGE grant. Prior to the roundtable meeting, Patricia shared the results of the project and how we have been able to sustain the work that we began during the lifetime of the...

2016 is around the corner; tensions can already be felt within the political parties.   Everybody is talking about the elections. So are the women of Uganda. On Thursday 9 th July 2015, the women of Uganda under the umbrella Women Democracy Group (WDG) of whom Forum for Women in Democracy is a member launched the women’s manifesto a political document that is placing demands to those that wish to stand for political offices. As a political document, the Women’s Manifesto set out the concerns of women in Uganda and the demands for accountability by political parties and candidates. The Women’s Manifesto builds on similar processes undertaken by women and women’s rights organizations in previous elections since 2000, when the first women’s manifesto was developed. The Women’s Manifesto builds on efforts, synergies and issues of previous efforts and gaps that need prioritization to advance women’s rights and gender equality. ...

Gender-based violence (GBV) continues to be a problem across societies, classes, races, religions and ethnicities, affecting an estimated one in three women in the course of her lifetime yet many times the victims remain silent.   In FOWODE‘s work on women and leadership, especially during our civic engagements, the issue of domestic violence generally and GBV in particular has always emerged. We believe that the “personal is political” and thus as we talk leadership it is critical to deal with emerging issues such as GBV. In 2012, we therefore embarked on engaging communities on GBV as part of our contribution to building communities of hope, aware of their rights and able to drive their own change. We supported the development of community informal structures called Community Advocacy Groups (CAGs) which have made a great contribution to GBV prevention. This week 12 community outreaches on GBV were held in 6 districts of Uganda including, Kween, Gulu, Pa...

Following the monitoring of government health centers, The Village budget clubs in Mityana held an interface meeting with the district leaders to hold them accountable. In their findings the Medical superintendent of Mityana Hospital informed them that the hospital dis not have enough health workers, the representative of the Deputy CAO responded to this and informed them that Mityana district is going to recruit more health workers in two months time and she committed herself that with the new recruitment the Main hospital and Maanyi health centre III shall be prioritized.  The Vice-chairperson of Mityana district also emphasized on this and committed that district shall post more health workers to these two health facilities and district wide. On the issue of inadequate drugs at the center, the District Health Officer Dr. Lwasampijja Fred emphasized that many times NMS does not deliver all the required drugs that is why this problem continues to be persistent. He no...

After my fatal incident when I was defiled and impregnated at the age of 17, I lost all the hope of ever having a bright future. I was devastated   when my mother reported to LCs that I had been defiled and she was laughed at saying I was lucky even to pick the pregnancy sighting that I would otherwise die without a child. Finding my self pregnant added salt to my wound of being born disabled and living with a single mother.   I have spent my life selling labor for a living and source of income to support my child. Ihave been discriminated against by many people who have casual work   due to my disability.   I am prouid to be part of the FOWODE group because I have learnt a lot in the trainings have learnt to plan and start some income generating activity see the hen I have bought to raise funds, have shared experiences with othe vulnerable women. Through FOWODE trainings, I have realised that even disabled people have rights an...

In consideration of the electoral processes towards the 2016 national elections in Uganda, Forum for Women in Democracy trained 50 civic action mentors in Voter education. Representative of 7 districts of Uganda including; Gulu, Kibuku, Luweero, Kibaale, Rukungiri, Kabale and Napak, the mentors acquired knowledge in voter education; explored and understanding of the road map to the national 2016 elections; with specificity on citizens’ engagement in the electoral processes. David, Byakutaga, the facilitator urged the mentors to engage in Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) as a tool to reinforce public confidence in the election process, foster election integrity and contribute to election peace. “We need to address the issue of vote rigging squarely, if it is at the ballot box during vote counties that the votes are stolen, I don’t then see why citizens themselves do not engage in Parallel Vote Tallying.” Rukiga S/C. Elaborations on integration of gender in voter ...

The Village Governance Group from Rukungiri visited Kibuku district to learn best practices of how the Grassroots Gender and Local Accountability project is impacting the communities of Kibuku district. The Village Budget Clubs (VBCs) work in Tirinyi Sub County on local accountability created impact, shriving vigilance of the communities in ensuring that social services that are due to them are provided for, and address the needs of the poor. The duty bearers appreciate our intervention in the district. During the Rukungiri VGCs visit to Kibuku demonstrated that the leaders at the district freely share budget information with the citizen’s. ‘An issue that continues to strengthen the partnership and enhances budget advocacy for strategic engagement, the level of collaboration and partnership with the duty bearers to co-opt community concerns in district development agenda continue to make us achieve the results FOWODE is realizing in Kibuku district. Also at...

Forum for Women in Democracy in partnership with GIZ Uganda held a very interactive dialogue at hotel Africana in Kampala. This dialogue was meant to celebrate the gains Uganda women have made so far in empowerment of women and girls. The Ugandan and German governments continue to show government in achievement of MDG 3 Gender equality. In her key note speech, Celebrating gains for Women and girls in 30 years- in Uganda’s Health, education and agriculture sectors; Dr. Maggie Kigozi she noted that Uganda and much of the world has much to celebrate ; in politics- there are women Presidents, Vice Presidents, In Uganda we have a female speaker in the August house, Ministers, and 35% of Uganda’s MP’s are female. Strides have been taken in the academia , technocrats, Civil Servants, district leaders , in the Civil Society Organisations , business, justice and media “Women now have role models that they can look up to Kazibwe, Kadaga, Jennifer, Alaso, Clinton, Elle...