National Association of Women’s Organizations In Uganda (NAWOU)

Project: Combating Gender Based Violence against Women and Girls in Four Regions of Uganda

Location: Uganda: Sironko (Eastern region), Apac (Northern region), Kanungu (South Western region) and Mubende (Central region)

Duration: 2011-2014

Partner: National Association of Women’s Organizations In Uganda (NAWOU)

The situation

Gender-based violence against women and girls (GBVAWG) in Uganda is a public issue, and a human rights concern that cuts across all ethnic, racial, class, religions and education aspects. Uganda has high levels of domestic violence and the government has failed to enact bills specifically designed to address GBVAWG. Moreover, new forms of increasingly brutal GBVAWG are growing in frequency, e.g. rape and killing, defiling infants under three years old, use of fire arms and acid attacks.

What Womankind is doing

Womankind is collaborating with our partner NAWOU to:

• reduce gender-based violence against women and girls (GBVAWG) through making community members aware of women’s rights and GBVAWG

• increase knowledge of existing legal and psycho-social support services amongst women in four regions of Uganda

• ensuring that GBVAWG is considered as a serious issue that is firmly on the agenda

With our partner we are:

• establishing 20 drama groups which will put on performances to raise awareness on women’s rights, GBVAWG, and legislation relating to GBVAWG, including the Domestic Violence Act; these performances are expected to reach a total audience of 42,000 people over three years

• providing a space for 100 women and 100 men community leaders per year to participate in dialogue meetings to share information on increasing capacity to speak out about women’s rights and GBVAWG

• disseminating information about the prevalence of GBVAWG through the production and distribution of information and education materials and radio adverts which will reach at least 60,000 women and men

What we have achieved so far

The project started in August 2011.  Please check back in a few months for an update.