Tallawah Justice for Women & University of Nottingham : Building the Capacity of Women Grassroots Leaders in Conflict Prevention and Peace Building - Phase 3

Duration: April 2023

With support of Tallawah Justice for Women and the University of Nottingham, GWED-G organized an Interface Dialogue to highlight the important role that women leaders can play in contributing to the peacebuilding functions of transitional justice.

The Interface Dialogue brought together women grassroot survivors’ leaders, local government
leaders, activists, local parliamentarians, cultural and religious leaders and focal points from the Ministries of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Gender, to discuss how to ensure more inclusive processes for peace building, conflict prevention and transitional justice in Uganda.

Tallawah Justice for Women & University of Nottingham : "Out of the Shadow" Women Survivor Leaders Arise Conference - Phase 2

Duration: Aug. 2022

Increasing the visibility and influence of women grassroots leaders in SGBV decision-making processes in Uganda :

With support of Tallawah Justice for Women and the University of Nottingham, GWED-G held a one-day Women Arise Conference with as main objective to foster inclusive dialogue concerning the crucial role and influence of women grassroots leaders in developing and shaping policies that directly impact women survivors in post-conflict Uganda. The conference critically aimed at highlighting the important role of women grassroots leaders in conflict prevention, mediation and violence de-escalation under women, peace and security agenda in Uganda, as per the Ugandan National Plan (NAP) III.

The results are : An increase in the number of women leaders who feel confident in articulating their views publicly and/or directly to policymakers and persons of influence.
An increase in the willingness of policymakers to listen to and engage with women leaders and to take their perspectives on board (for example, by committing to addressing specific issues of concern raised by the women leaders).
An increased level of public engagement for example through the number of public views and commentaries of the documentary and blogs

GIZ : Strenghtening accountability for effective service delivery – (SAFES-D)

Duration: May to Aug. 2022

GWED-G in Partnership with GIZ implemented a 4 Months project in 6 sub-counties of Labongo Layamo, Mucwini, Kitgum Matidi, Lagoro, Omiya Anyima and Pager Division in Kitgum District and municipality respectively. The project sought to enhance gender sensitive planning and service delivery in Kitgum district by increasing capacity of women to actively participate and engage with duty bearers to demand for accountability for good governance.
GWED-G implemented the project with support from GIZ under the CUSP –Civil Society in Uganda support program with funding from the European Union and German Government.
The project aimed to increase women’s effective participation in the implementation of the district plan and budgets in Kitgum district for increased gender sensitive service delivery.

The project worked with district and sub county leaders both appointed and elected, cultural leaders and community based organizations and employed the Baraza approach and media to engage with citizens to demand for accountability

Tallawah Justice for Women & University of Nottingham : Surviving Sexual Violence, Becoming Leaders - Phase 1

Duration: Jan. 2022 to Dec. 2022

Surviving Sexual Violence, Becoming Leaders: An Evidence-based Assessment of Leadership Capacity of Women Survivors in Uganda
With support of Tallawah Justice for Women and the University of Nottingham, GWED-G conducts in 2022 a new research about Leadership Capacity of Women Survivors in Uganda.

This project is aimed at aggregating and analysing data on women leaders of survivor, grassroots and CBOs in the conflict-affected regions of Northern and North-Eastern Uganda. The primary objectives are to concretely assess how the work of women leaders of survivor and grassroots organisations has contributed to the effort to end violence against women and girls in their region;
To understand the challenges and limitations which prevent these women leaders from being more effective and to make a sustained impact, including at the political level;
To ascertain what changes the women leaders wish to see at the political level to advance the agenda of ending violence against women and girls in Uganda

AJWS : The Bakery Project

Duration: March. 2022 to Dec. 2022

GWED-G supported the women economically through a training in bakery, business skills and communication to be able to open a sustainable business on their own in Gulu or in the region. The project was founded by the American Jewish world Service

The project trained women in producing qualitative bakery products, planning and budgeting, keeping proper records of stocks and sales, learning how to start a small business, producing communication material and increase the number of customers.

CIV-Fund : Promoting women land and environmental rights to enhance food sovereignty and security in Northern Region

Duration: July 2021 to Dec. 2022

GWED-G concluded its project of promoting women land rights to enhance food sovereignty and security in Northern region, mainly targeting the women, in Omoro and Gulu district in the sub-county of Koro and Unyama. This project promoted women land rights, access, and utilization through community sensitization, trainings of different categories of women groups who are advocates and working with stakeholders and it is funded by Civfund.

The primary goal was to empower more women to have right/ a voice over land access and utilization where women will freely cultivate and expand on the production of the local seeds and be custodians of the local seed bank which is targeted to promote good human health through consumption of the local seeds, reduce the cost of production associated with the GMOS which is dangerous to human health, and is expensive in terms of production

DGF : Promoting Human Rights, Peace and Inclusive Governance

Duration: April 2020 to March 2022

GWED-G in partnership with the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) has implemented the Promoting Human Rights, Peace and Inclusive Governance Project, a continuing project phase 1 (2018-2019) and phase 2 (2020-2022) in the Districts of Gulu (Paicho, Unyama, Bungatira); Amuru (Lamogi, Amuru, Pabo); Nwoya (Koch-goma, Alero, Anaka) and Omoro (Koro, Bobi, Lalogi,) sub-counties.
The project’s goal was to have a peaceful Acholi region where human rights are upheld and community effectively engage in civic actions for post conflict recovery and development.

The project has contributed to improved respect for human rights, increased inclusion and participation of women and youth in decision making spaces at district and sub-county levels, significant reduction in land based conflicts, increased enjoyments of land rights and inclusive governance.

WPHF : Empowering Women for Peace in Northern Uganda

Duration: Jan. 2021 to March 2022

Empowering Women for Peace in Northern Uganda (EWOP-NU)”,
was a 15-months project funded by Women’s Peace & Humanitarian
Fund (WPHF) and implemented by GWED-G in the districts of Gulu, Amuru and Lamwo. The project was formulated based on the need to situate women as protagonists in
decision making processes and for leadership in and meaningful
contributions to conflict prevention and peace building in the
Acholi Region.

The project intends to emphasize gender equality
and women’s empowerment to transform unfavorable gender
attitudes, cultivating positive views towards women and women in
leadership, with a focus on conflict prevention by conducting
women-led community dialogues to promote gender equality and
women’s roles in conflict prevention and leadership.

AJWS : Mitigating the impact of covid19 on Adolescent girls and young women in Northern Uganda

Duration: Nov. 2021 to Oct. 2022

GWED-G supported in the intervention of a humanitarian and covid19 support implemented a project mitigating the impact of covid19 on adolescent girls and young in Northern Uganda. This project was from November 2021 to October 2022 in response to Covid19 pandemic and was funded by American Jewish World Service (AJWS).

The project created opportunities to hone teenage girls and young women’s skills depending on their inclination, aptitude and willingness to participate, the project further empowered beneficiaries with life skills and provided the foundation for young women and girls to make better choices about their education, health, and general well-being.

PELARD-N: Protection & Empowerment of Land Rights Defenders in Northern Uganda

Duration: 2020 to 2022

PELARD-N was an European Union (EU)-funded project being implemented in partnership with Human Rights Focus (HURIFO) and Soleterre operating in the districts of Amuru, Gulu, Lamwo and Nwoya. This project aimed to protect and empower land rights defenders in post-conflict Northern Uganda through creating a conducive working environment for Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) working on land rights issues.

The specific objectives of this project included capacity building for 60 land rights defenders, allowing HRDs to better detect and prevent security risks, and to understand the local, national and global HRD protection mechanisms. Skills were boosted for monitoring, documentation and reporting of land-related human rights abuses that are prevalent throughout the region, impeding socioeconomic development.

You can read more about this project's objectives by clicking here.

ALENU Project: Action for Livelihood Enhancement in Northern Uganda

Duration: Jan. 2020 to Apr. 2022

This European Union-funded project focusing on improving livelihoods by food diversification, enhancing market opportunities and better maternal and child nutrition has been implemented in partnership with Caritas Switzerland (lead), Agency for Accelerated Regional Development (AfARD), and Advance Afrika. The aim was to change the food production and consumption patterns through training and raising awareness, as well as improving market access to advance livelihoods (especially household nutrition) and increase resilience of poor subsistence farmers in West Nile and Acholi regions.

Farmers were trained in sustainable and climate smart crop and livelihood production to support the production of healthy and diversified foods. We also supported market linkages to increase crop yield productivity. We conducted training in post-harvesting and business development, and directing producers to market opportunities. Additionally, this project addressed maternal and child health issues through community-based initiatives and the distribution of micro-nutrient supplements and de-worming. ALENU also focused on nutrition and population growth issues through sexual reproduction health education on family planning, women's empowerment and access to health services and products.

VOICE: The Influencing Change for Women Voices and Rights Project

Duration: Dec. 2018 to Jun. 2020

The Influencing Change for Women Voices and Rights Project, or VOICE Project, was funded by Oxfam-VOICE. The interventions covered Gulu and Omoro Districts with the aim of strengthening and expanding women's leadership and participation in decision making processes and platforms at local, sub-regional and national levels.

This 18-month project sought to increase women's effective participation in political decision making and to sharpen women's leadership skills in community-based organizations, as well as to strengthen GWED-G's advocacy capacity.

MSH Project: Strengthening Women- and Community-led Accountability for Improved Service Delivery in Northern Uganda

Duration: Aug. 2019 to Jul. 2020

This project was an undertaking in coalition with Northern Uganda Human Rights Partnership (NUHRP) with GWED-G as the lead organization, funded by Management Sciences for Health (MSH). The MSH Project represented a social accountability project designed to increase the local government's accountability in delivering good quality healthcare services.

The primary goal was to empower women an communities to enable them to access better quality healthcare services, resulting from increase accountability and responsiveness of government and health facilities. The main mechanism through which GWED-G has achieved this is through using data-driven advocacy and capacity building, in effect, monitoring changes in service delivery throughout the course of the intervention and supporting advocacy for the government to improve areas of sub-standard service provision. This project has increased the awareness of and demand for improved services, and service providers had greater accountability to citizens. Also, citizens had enhanced input and participation in governance for the improved management of resources.

GlobeMed Project: Economic Empowerment of HIV-positive Mothers & HIV Prevention

Duration: Apr. 2008 to Present (Ongoing)

Columbia University has cultivated a long-term internship partnership project with GWED-G to support this project focused on HIV prevention. As a result of the LRA War, Uganda was the country leading in number of HIV-positive orphans, and continues to struggle with high rates of HIV today. While interventions immediately following the war sought to tackle the spread of HIV, one purported unintended consequence has been a fear of HIV and stigmatization of HIV-positive peoples. This has led to people avoiding testing and treatment, as well as social isolation of those impacted.

This project works to destigmatize HIV/AIDS to help integrate HIV-positive people into communities to live harmoniously with others. We provide livelihood support to HIV-positive mothers, who are among the most isolated through stigmatization. Additionally, we create awareness about Sexual and Gender Based Violence and distribute safe-birthing kits (mama kits) to women who have limited access to health services.

HURICAP: Enhancing NUHRP's Land Rights Advocacy & Institutional Capacity

Duration: Mar. 2018 to Dec. 2019

Amnesty’s long-running Human Rights Capacity-Building Programme (HURICAP) has graciously funded the Northern Uganda Human Rights Partnership (NUHRP) coalition for this project. GWED-G, who was the host institution for NUHRP, was also the lead partner in implementing this project that ran in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Amuru, Nwoya, Pader, Agago, Omoro and Lamwo. The overall goal of the project was to contribute to strengthening NUHRP partners’ abilities to dealing with land conflicts and advocating for the protection of land rights for communities in the Acholi region.

One of our objectives was to increase advocacy standing against violations and abuses of people’s land rights; we sought better land security and access rights, use and ownership under customary land systems. We worked towards this by training community-based volunteers on Monitoring, Documentation and Reporting of human rights issues. We have also conducted studies on land controversies, as well as the forceful eviction happening in Apaa. Additionally, we held dialogues with the community and traditional chiefs, radio talk shows on land justice, as well as a high-level stakeholder platform on regional refugee camps.

Another key objective was to support the capacity and functioning of NUHRP for its pursuit of human rights in Northern Uganda. This meant institutional development in the area of bolstering our partnerships and submitted proposals, as well as enhancing our coalition's visibility throughout the region.

DGF : Promoting Human Rights, Peace and Inclusive Governance in Acholi Region

Duration: Apr. 2018 to Sep. 2019

GWED-G concluded this Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) funded project operating in Gulu, Amuru, Nwoya and Omoro Districts. This project represented Phase I of an initiative to contribute to a peaceful Acholi Region where human rights are upheld and the community effectively engages in civic actions for post-conflict recovery and development.

A total of 40,928 people participated in learning events and 155,675 community members reported improvements in the protection of fundamental rights. Another 1,100 individuals reported having engagements with decentralized government institutions and representatives. Additionally, 5,484 people reported peaceful land relations in their communities. 641 Human Rights Defenders were trained and deployed to engage in awareness creation, monitoring, documentation and reporting of human rights violations. We also held 355 media engagements through radio talk shows and spot messages on human rights and governance issues.

Diakonia Sweden : Humanitarian Support for Apaa

Duration: Dec. 2018 to May. 2019

GWED-G concluded its first humanitarian support project for the displaced peoples of Apaa. This project ran from December 2018 to May 2019 in response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Apaa and was funded by Diakonia Sweden.

The purpose of the Apaa Humanitarian Emergency Project was to provide basic human needs, including food and non-food items. For years, the Apaa community, largely made up of Acholi people, has been struggling with increasing attempts to dispossess them of their lands by investors. The forced evictions have become increasingly widespread and violent, with many losing their homes and all their worldly to arsonists. For the farmers of Apaa, losing your land means losing an important aspect of identity and the means by which to generate income through agriculture.

Diakonia Sweden : Promoting Gender Equality through Women Empowerment

Duration: Sept. 2016 to Oct. 2019

This Diakonia Sweden-funded project was implemented in Amuru, Nwoya and Omoro Districts to create a peaceful society where the poor and vulnerable women and girls, men and boys demand and enjoy their full human rights.

Key results from this project include increase power sharing in households between men and women; increase economic diversification by the provision of farm inputs and capacity building of VSLA groups; stronger linkages between VSLA and farmers groups with financial institutions and private sector agricultural businesses; more peaceful land conditions in the intervention areas using Alternative Dispute Resolution; improved access to referral services for Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV); and better awareness of impact group members on climate change and mitigation or adaptation strategies.

Trust Fund for Victims : Rehabilitation from War

Duration: Apr. 2015 to oct. 2018

GWED-G implemented a project called Integrated Physical and Psychological Assistance for War Victims in Northern Uganda funded by Trust Fund for Victims (TFV). The project was covering 18 sub-counties in 4 districts.

The goal of the project was to contribute to improved quality of life and well-being of war survivors in a region ravaged by two decades of conflict. This project identified and supported war victims who suffered from primarily physical impairments due to the war. By connecting war victims with accessible medical interventions, we were able to contribute towards reduced levels of trauma and restore hope among psychologically affected survivors. The TFV Project also responded to cross-cutting issues, like Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) through prevention and response interventions and economic empowerment through skills training and material support.