Genogen Women in Development Organi

Genogen Women in Development Organisation (GWIDO) is a community based organisation (CBO) working with women in Nebbi District. It is based in Parombo Town Council and was formally registered in 2017. The organization started as an informal group in 2015, championed by Roseline Nyakwo who having completed a course in fashion design perceived she would use her knowledge and skills to empower women through an apprenticeship programme in sewing, knitting and designing of garments. This was after the realisation that more andmore women and girls had been approaching her for training, and that many who had passed through her training had been successful. Roseline remained in contact with her trainees, with some of them directly through saving funds together.Initially, they started as a merry-go-round where they would contribute funds in a rotation to a person. Then they moved to a more formalised savings scheme were the group would contribute funds on a weekly basis and share out at the end of the savings cycle, with members acquiring loans during the savings cycle. Sitting at their Annual General Meeting (AGM) of 2017, the group decided to transform into a CBO with a goal to create awareness on the rights of women and girls, and empower them through poverty reduction initiatives in addition to vocational skills training. The leadership of the organisation then embarked on the processes of strategic transformation in which resources were positioned and wide consultations made. ACHIEVEMENTS What have been the principal results in the past three years that contribute to significant, structural, sustained and positive improvement in the lives of men, women, girls and boys suffering from poverty, injustice, insecurity and exclusion? GWIDO has experienced rapid growth over past one year, when it was formally registered. In the previous two years it was rather operating informally. Nevertheless, programmes have impacted some lives especially through economically empowering women and youth many of who were women and youth suffering from poverty and exclusion as a result of dropping out of school and failed marriages. The organisation can count more than 10 women who have graduated and are now living successful lives. GWIDO currently runs an apprenticeship programme for 4 months through which women and girls are trained in tailoring, knitting and designing of garments. The organisation targets to enrol more women every year and has expanded the curriculum to include lifeskills and basic entrepreneurship trainings. The Organisation is strengthening its own institutional capacity as well as that of its members to effectively fulfil its mission and objectives. The following have been achieved in the area of organisational capacitystrengthening: good governance policies have been developed, office infrastructure and training equipment have been upgraded and, staff structure has been improved. INSTITUTIONAL PURPOSE The Vision: Empowered women with sustainable livelihood assets and capabilities. Mission Statement: To promote a stable, fairer and prosperous world by providing support and capacity building for vulnerable women, girls and marginalised young people. Mission: What is the current purpose of the organisation? As a core purpose ofits work, GWIDO is strengthening its position and relevance in target communities with the main focus on empowering women and girls so that they take more responsibility for their rights and livelihoods improvement. This will be achieved through buildingtheir civic competencies to know their right and obligations. Women can gain control over their own lives by exercising the right to political participation, freedom of expression and information, freedom of assembly and access to justice. Gender mainstreaming and advocacy will be a central approach through which the organisation will advocate for the rights of women and to further promote their livelihoods by building their leadership and entrepreneurship capacities, and in starting micro businesses. Institutional objectives: What are the principal changes the organisation seeks to achieve over the long term? The main objectives of the GWIDO are to: 1. Create awareness on gender and rights of women and girls by ensuring that women#s voice, concernsand issues are represented wherever it is most appropriate. 2. Enable women to generate income and assets for improved livelihood and to fight poverty. 3. Build up life vocational and entrepreneurial skills among women and girls for self-reliance and employment. 4. Promote good health practices and effective health development activities for the benefit of women and girls through education, advocacy and capacity building. 5. Create awareness, advocate and promote child protection and prevent gender based violence. 6. Foster advocacy, networking, partnership development, information exchange and research with other organizations with similar goals. Field(s) of activity: What are the principal thematic and geographic areas in which the organisationworks? Who are the social actors that benefit from the work? The aspirations of the GWIDO are enshrined in its three-year Strategic Plan 2018-2020. Broadly over the next three years GWIDO#s work through this strategic plan shall focus on: # GenderandRights Awareness # Life Skills and Vocation Education # Economic Empowerment and # Organisational Capacity Development GWIDO has over the last two years been working with women in Parombo Town Council and during the strategicplan period 2018-2020 programmes will expand to include neighbouring sub-counties of Parombo, Achana and Akworo; but may also include the wider areas of Nebbi District if funds permit. GWIDO#s work will target mostly marginalized women and girls in the communitybut will alsotarget youth and other vulnerable persons in the community depending on the goals for which programmes are designed. 4. STRATEGIC POSITIONING Analyse the environment in which the organisation works? Who are the other relevant social actors, includinggovernment and business, and what roles do they play? #In this context, what is unique about the position of the organisation? Social and demographic context: The National Action Plan (NDPII, June 2015) identifies four critical areas of concernfor the governmentof Uganda. These are poverty, income generation and economic empowerment; reproductive health and rights; legal framework and decision making; and the girl child and education. More than half of the now 39.03 million persons in Uganda (52%) is female, half of the population is children under the age of 15 years (NDPII, June 2015) due to the country#s high fertility rate estimated at an average of 6.2 children per woman. About 56% of women aged 15-49 years have experienced physical violence at least once since age 15 and27, and 22% had experienced physical violence within the 12 months prior to the UDHS 2011, survey. Uganda ranked 11th among Africancountries with the highest number of child brides, either forced or lured into marriage before the age of 18, according to World Bank (2014). Nebbi District has a population of 291,734 (Male: 48%; Female: 52%), 151,702 female, 140,032 male (population projection). The main language is Alur. Over 85% of the district population is engagedinsubsistence farming. Much of what is produced is consumed at the household level and less than 40% is marketed. Parombo Town Council was upgraded to the town council status in the financial year 2017/2018 by government. It covers the entire area ofthethen Parwo Parish and was curved from Parombo Sub-county. The townhas a projected population of 12,356,000 people. The town council is bordered to the West by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Social Actors: The Ministry of Gender Labourand Social Development is responsible for the advancement of issues of the marginalised in Uganda. Since its inception in 1986, the ministry has gone through several institutional changes, starting as the Ministry of Women in Development. Two of the major outputs of the Ministry have been the National Gender Policy and National Action Plan for theAdvancement of Women. The policy recognizes gender relations as a development concept in identifying and understanding the social roles and relations of women andmen of all ages and how these impact on development. It stipulates that sustainable development necessitates maximum and equal participation of all social groupings in economic, political and social cultural development (National Gender Policy 1999). The National Action Plan identifies four critical areas of concern for the government of Uganda. These are poverty, income generation and economic empowerment; reproductive health and rights; legal framework and decision making; and the girl child and education. A fifth area, violence against women and girls is soon to be added. At the district level, there is the gender desk and the community development office and roles and responsibilities are distributed in the various district departments. The sub-county level and village level are for implementation of programmes by the Local Government. The Local Government Act stipulates that women must occupy 30% of all positions of the Local Council structure while people with disabilities occupy 20%of these positions(a man and woman) (Local Government Act 1996). This gives a total of 40% of women's representation on these structures. However theactive participation of women and people with disabilities to represent their constituencies is still low due to lack of skills in advocacy, lack of enough resources to mobilize them and the continued power and culture structures that promote gender inequalities.Women#s political participation is promoted as long as they remain within the political statusquo. A number of organisations especially women's organizations with technical and financial support from international agencies and donors have done a lot of advocacy work to promote the rights of women as human rights in the country. Some of the advocacyinitiatives include the campaign on land rights and the ongoing campaign on the domestic relations# bill. While this is the case with organisations at the national level, women's groups at the grassroots level are mainly engaged in income generating activities with major emphasis on agricultural projects and handcrafts. GWIDO hopes fill the gap in the linkages between the national and community initiatives to promote the empowerment of women. While the national level NGOs with the exception of afew, are engaged in policy advocacy work aimed at making government policies gender sensitive, the grassroots women are mainly focusing meeting their daily survival needs with little focus on government policies and laws.

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