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Uganda Women's Network

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Uganda Women’s Network
AbbreviationUWONET
Formation1993
Legal statusNon-governmental organization
PurposeTo advocate for gender equality in Uganda
Location
Region served
East Africa
Membership
16 Civil society organizations
Executive Director
Rita H. Aciro-Lakor[1]
AffiliationsUganda National NGO Forum
Uganda Debt Network
Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda
Uganda Land Alliance
FEMNET
SOAWR
Network of Ugandan Researchers and Research Users
Mwelekeo WA NGO
The NGO Coalition for East Africa
Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women[2]
Websitehttp://uwonet.or.ug/

The Uganda Women's Network (UWONET) is a Ugandan non-governmental organization (NGO) working to advance public policy regarding women's rights. It is an umbrella organisation of national women's NGOs and individuals operating in East Africa. The executive director is Rita H. Aciro-Lakor.[1]

History

UWONET was created after the 1993 East African Women's Conference, held in Kampala, Uganda, in preparation for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.[3][4][5]

1998 Land Act

During the early part of the twenty-first century, women in East Africa provided 85 percent of the agricultural work, yet owned only 7 percent of the land.[6] Many women's rights organizations and individuals, disillusioned by groups that were not bringing women into the political process, started turning to UWONET – especially their campaign for land reform, which started in 1995.[7] UWONET, in conjunction with the Uganda Land Alliance, lobbied Parliament in 1998 about women's right to inherit land in Uganda.[8] In 1998, the Land Act was passed with provisions for women's rights.[8] This campaign set a precedent for women in Uganda to "work together and to respond to issues in a more timely and aggressive way."[6]

People's Manifesto

In 2000, UWONET published "People's Manifesto", which took on the topics of internal reform in UWONET and also the "need to develop means of incorporating women's concerns" to the leadership level in Uganda.[9] In the run-up to the Ugandan 2001 presidential and parliamentary elections, UWONET spearheaded an initiative that took steps towards challenging the lack of internal democracy in the Movement Government.[clarification needed] Together with like-minded organizations, UWONET put together a 26-page manifesto known as the "People's Manifesto" to highlight the people's rights and lack thereof to aspiring presidential candidates.[4][10] They also published the manifesto to "let parliamentary candidates in the 2002 March elections know the demands that women wanted addressed."[11]

Women's Manifesto

In 2015, UWONET, together with other organisations under The Women's Democracy Group, launched a political document, "The Women's Manifesto 2016–2021", which set out demands taken from a cross section of women in both rural and urban areas. Among other things, the document made five major demands: the betterment of women's health, land and property rights, education, economic empowerment, and decision-making in politics.[12][13]

Function

UWONET coordinates "collective action" among its members to attain gender equality in Uganda.[14] Since UWONET was founded, women have been contributing more economically[14] and have won land rights from the 1998 Land Act.[6] According to director Lakor, however, there is still a long way to go to reach gender equality.[1]

Programme areas

UWONET'S activities are implemented under four thematic areas; namely:

  • Economic justice and empowerment. Under this programme area, UWONET seeks to: advocate for gender-responsive[clarification needed] trade policies; advocate for increased women's access, ownership, and control of economic resources; and, strengthen society's capacity to demand gender-responsive policies for equitable national resource allocation.[14][15]
  • Rights and access to justice. The strategic objectives of this component are to advocate for the implementation of laws and programmes that protect women's human rights and reproductive health rights.[16]
  • Leadership and democratic governance. The strategic objectives of this component are to: enhance the capacity of women leaders at national and district levels to engage in decision-making, advocate for an increased women's participation in leadership and democratic governance, and strengthen the capacity of civil society on social accountability and constitutionalism.[clarification needed][17][18]
  • Institutional development and organisational strengthening. Under this programme area, UWONET seeks to: develop and implement effective mechanisms for institutional governance[clarification needed] and increase visibility of the network's interventions.[19]

Membership

The network was founded by nine members but has grown to be composed of sixteen women's organisations and nine individual activists.[7] These include:

  • Action for Development
  • Association of Uganda Women Medical Doctors
  • Association of Uganda Women Lawyers
  • Centre for Domestic Violence Prevention
  • Community Development Resource Network
  • Department of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University
  • Disabled Women's Network and Resource Organization
  • Empower Children and Communities Against Abuse
  • Forum for Women in Democracy
  • Isis Women's International Cross-Cultural Exchange
  • National Bahai Committee for the Advancement of Women
  • Send a Cow Uganda
  • Slum Aid Project
  • Uganda Media Women's Association
  • Uganda Women's Trust
  • Women Engineers, Technicians and Scientists in Uganda

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Women and Power: Rita Aciro, Executive Director of UWONET". NTV. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  2. ^ "UWONET is a member of". UWONET. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  3. ^ "Who We Are". UWONET. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa". Rowman & Littlefield.
  5. ^ "Uganda Update: Meetings". Global Grassroots.
  6. ^ a b c Asiimwe, Jacqueline (2001). "Making Women's Land Rights a Reality in Uganda: Advocacy for Co-Ownership by Spouses". Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal. 4 (1): 173–174, 180–181. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  7. ^ a b Kawamara-Mishambi, Sheila; Ovonji-Odida, Irene (2003). "The 'Lost Clause': The Campaign to Advance Women's Property Rights in the Uganda 1998 Land Act". In Goetz, Anne-Marie; Hassim, Shireen (eds.). No Shortcuts to Power: African Women in Politics and Policy Making. New York: Zed Books Ltd. pp. 160–161, 186. ISBN 1842771469.
  8. ^ a b Benschop, Marjolein (2002). Rights and Reality: Are Women's Equal Rights to Land, Housing and Property Implemented in East Africa?. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Human Settlements Programme. pp. 64–67. ISBN 9211316634.
  9. ^ Goetz, Anne Marie (2005). "Constraints on Women's Political Effectiveness in Uganda". In Cornwall, Andrea (ed.). Readings in Gender in Africa. London: The International African Institute. p. 229. ISBN 0852558716.
  10. ^ "Museveni Launches 'People's Manifesto'". Africa News Service. 21 December 2000. Retrieved 26 August 2015 – via Highbeam Business.
  11. ^ Tripp, Aili Mari (2004). "Women's Movements, Customary Law, and Land Rights in Africa: The Case of Uganda". African Studies Quarterly: 6. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  12. ^ "Women's Manifesto 2016-2021: What's in it for you?". Daily Monitor.
  13. ^ "Launch of the women's manifesto 2016–2021". UWONET.
  14. ^ a b c Agwang, Sarah Jesca (3 May 2015). "Status of Women in the Labour Market". East African Business Week. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  15. ^ "Women's Economic Justice and Empowerment". Uganda Women's Network. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  16. ^ "Women's Rights and Gender Equity". ActionAid Uganda. ActionAid. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  17. ^ "Leadership skills training for LC5 women councillors in south western Uganda". CEWIGO. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  18. ^ "Projects by EU Institutions". Open Aid Data. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  19. ^ "Institutional Development and Organizational Stregthening". UWONET. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
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