Uganda Women's Leadership Project

General

UWONET will seek to achieve the successful domestication of the Maputo Protocol, mainly focusing on Land by strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations to proactively hold government accountable for the implementation of the Land Policy. Strong collective women#s and civil society voices are well known to be a critical factor in pushing for implementation of policies. This project will therefore continue to invest in the strengthening of a strong coordinated, Ugandan women#s movement. A network of consortium members and other actors operating initiatives advancing the Women#s land rights guaranteed under the protocol shall work together to identify priority issues for redress and design appropriate strategies. Through the Women#s body atParliament Local women#s rights activists, Women#s rights organisations and local women political leaders will be linked to the parliamentarians to demand for rejuvenation and set up of Land management structures at Local levels. The capacity of women particularly those from the grassroots will be built to be able to participate and be heard in government planning and budgeting processing to influence budget allocationsto services that matter for the poor and rural women. The proposed project builds on the concluded 5-year Raising Her Voice Project (RHVP) which was conceived and designed to influence the Uganda Government to ratify and domesticate the Africa Union Protocol on Women#s Rights without harmful reservations; and to contribute to promotingthe role of women in the decision-makprocesses affecting their lives. The five-year Project was launched in 2008 and ended in March 2013. This project will be part of the 2nd phase of the RHV with started march 2014. Although the 2nd phase of the projectfocuses on fostering Local women#s activism and leadership to advance Women#s land rights and fight against VAW, the 3rd year of the 2nd phase of RHV will only focus on Women#s Land rights. This project aims to build on this momentum by specifically building capacity of rural women and women leaders to be at the forefront of advocating for the issues impinging on their rights especially the right to Land especially land inheritance and succession rights. Theproject will building women#s capacity to engage with the governance framework and cultural institutions at different levels so that functional land management structures are put in place and responsive to the needs of women. It#s envisaged that the engagement of women with cultural institutions andLegal framework will increase land accessibility for women as well and control. The voices ofwomen At local level, the project will be implemented in 3 sub regions of the Greater north , in the districts of Lamwo, Kitgum( Acholi region) Kabong and Kotido( Karamoja region) and Nebbi and Arua (Westnile region). Given the situation of women in northern Uganda with regard to high land ownership injustices and other injustices against women, domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol is important to address gaps in policy, laws and implementation of programmes to address women#s rights. The project willfocus on pushing for the implementation of the recently passed land policy.