CEHURD) with Partners in Community Transformation (PICOT) are implementing a two-and-a-half year Action in the districts of Koboko and Maracha, under the Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU) with support from the European Union through the Office of the Prime Minister. This Action is titled “Integrating Legal Empowerment and Social Accountability for improved local government performance and governance (LESA Action)”.

Since the implementation of this project, considerable gains have been registered across the two districts of Koboko and Maracha; the continuous sensitization and dialogues in the last two years have had a great impact on the mindset change of the community towards community participation. The principle of participation as a tenet of governance is important because communities are far more attuned to what they need for their development, which helps them build and improve their confidence.

Community members have a role to play in lower planning and budgeting as stakeholders, taxpayers and end-users of all government services. Community participation paves way for self-development and contribution because it not only provides valuable local insight but also instills a level of accountability. With information, it becomes easier for communities to detect instances of resource mismanagement and corruption.

Gender mainstreaming is a public policy perspective and practice that entails assessing and including the concerns, experiences and different implications for people of different genders in any planned policy action, including legislation and programmes, in all areas and levels so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated (adapted from the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), July 1997). The achievement of gender equality and empowering all women and girls is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5).

The Legal Empowerment and Social Accountability (LESA) intervention has registered great improvement towards improving community participation and involvement in governance at the lower local government planning process in the two districts of Koboko and Maracha. This has been registered as a result of the continued sensitizations and engagements conducted that have empowered communities to participate actively. Women’s participation in the region has been low given the cultural and social norms surrounding women participation which undermine women’s involvement.

As we celebrate #InternationalWomen’sDay2022, the LESA Action has been able to register a great improvement in women’s participation in the last two years. The realization of gender participation in planning and budgeting is a strong precursor of achieving equitable community participation and budgeting and transformative development.  

Compiled by the CEHURD DINU-LESA Team.

By

Decent Kamukama

On March 1^st, the international community observes Zero Discrimination Day in honour and celebration of every person’s right to enjoy their rights and live a fulfilled life. In commemoration of this day, we seek to raise awareness of everyone’s right to be treated equally and with dignity with specific attention to ensuring that countries, “remove laws that harm, create laws that empower” as this year’s theme.

“Discrimination is a violation of human rights and must not go unchallenged,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared, “Everyone has the right to live with respect and dignity.” It is against this basis that discrimination against women and girls should be challenged in all ways to attain an equal world where all groups of people have equal access to services. As we commemorate the International Zero Discrimination Day, let us all be cognizant of the fact that more than 70 percent of the world’s population have been victims of discrimination in various ways on grounds of being young people, female, of different sexual orientation, persons living with HIV/AIDS, refugees, and persons with disabilities, among other people. More particularly 3.97 billion of 7.9 billion population are women, and nearly 90 percent of the world’s population of every gender holds some prejudice against women, according to a UN study published in 2020.

At Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), today is an opportunity to call for urgent action to end the differences related to income, gender, age overall health, profession, impairment, sexual preference, substance use, gender identification, racial group, class, ethnic group, and religion. While it is unfortunate we still need a day to remind us of this basic right, discrimination, intolerance, and inequality remain unresolved issues that lead to the unjust treatment of individuals due to their particular social identities. That is why we need laws that empower people to defend their rights. Without laws to provide guidance, societal practices and norms can be manipulated to foster discrimination.

Celebrating the right of everyone to live a full and productive life and live it with dignity is what we recognize today with an ardent focus on highlighting how women and girls can become informed and promote inclusion. You and I can unite and work together in our battle against prejudice by standing up for what is rightfully ours.

That is why it is important to ponder on the cultural practices that have been promoted over the years and yet are discriminatory. In the Elgon/Sebei region, young women and girls are at risk of forced Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), which is a cultural rite of passage into adulthood. This is a risk to their health and wellbeing, and not only exposes them to negative consequences such as difficult labour, male domination and gender stereotyping but also reduced sexual expression. In looking forward to a zero-discrimination world, both state and non-state actors need to work together and ensure coordination towards the achievement of gender equality by 2030.

Stigma and discrimination of girls and women based on gender, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE), HIV status, or other lived realities such as trade, disability, geography greatly impact their access to SRHR information and services. Most interventions are often mainstream and do not reach these categories of young people or if they do, they reach them with messages that are inconsistent with their needs and lived realities. The National Sexuality Education Framework was a key milestone in the implementation of sexuality education in schools. However, despite the passing of the National Sexuality Education Framework (NSEF) in 2016, there has been little progress towards its full implementation on account of opposition to key content areas by religious groups and institutions. In a bid to end discrimination against girls and women, the stakeholders should look forward to implementing the decision from the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) case ruling of 2021 to enable the dissemination of Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights information.

Celebrating the right of everyone to live a full and productive life and live it with dignity is what we recognize today with an ardent focus on highlighting how women and girls can become informed and promote inclusion. You and I can unite and work together in our battle against prejudice by standing up for what is rightfully ours.

The writer is an intern at Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD).