Enhancing Access to Justice for Women survivors of Gender Based violence in Gulu City Northern Uganda – FATE

Advocacy, Gender Equality, Human Rights, Justice, Leadership & Governance, Peace Building & Transitional Justice, Women Empowerment

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January 31, 2024

The present project seeks to Enhance Access to Justice for Women survivors of Gender Based violence by delivering training on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms, gender-based violence (GBV) legal frameworks and advocacy skills to community structures and paralegals to mediate conflicts within communities effectively in Gulu City ( Pece-Laroo and Bardege-Layibi Divisions).

Duration

From July 2023 up to now

Context

Women of Northern Uganda, Acholi Sub region face so many challenges in accessing justice and legal aid services due to underlying factors such as expensive court, lack of self confidence to present themselves before the court, and yet they are majorly the victims and survivors of Gender based violence with denied access to resources/properties such as land.

Key activities

The project will provide psychosocial support to survivors of violence, ensuring that persons with special needs such as persons with disabilities or persons living with HIV/AIDS are specifically encouraged to join community structures. Paralegals will be trained in basic counseling skills such as Helpful Active Listening and confidentiality, identification of severe cases of trauma so that they can refer these cases to more professional counseling services that will be identified during the inception phase.

To ensure that GBV survivors are supported to further access health, protection, psychosocial, economic and legal assistance. The project will coordinate with other existing CSOs to ensure survivors are referred through the existing national GBV and legal aid referral pathways to get the appropriate services. Community will be made aware on basic legal information and access to legal, medical and psychological services for women and girls, through sensitization using media.

Target

The target groups and beneficiaries shall include:-

100 women and adolescent girls ages 15- 65 years, but with a heavy focus of those at high risk of exploitation and abuse, including GBV (e.g. transactional sex, early marriage, domestic work,) affected by the impacts of conflicts and urbanization and with limited access to no social and economic capital, Local council I and II courts that mediate and adjudicate cases in communities, Traditional justice system-Courts, Civil society organizations that are giving legal aid advices and probono services to the women, Police who prosecute cases, Human/Women Rights Defenders/ Paralegals in the communities and Human Rights Volunteers.