Advancing Uganda’s gender equality: Key areas of focus

The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development has identified five key areas for collaboration with development partners to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in Uganda.

Ms Betty Amongi, the Gender Minister, said the first focus should be on economic empowerment programmes for women. This target can be achieved by providing women with skills, resources, and opportunities to participate fully in the economy.

The minister said the economic empowerment programmes can help the country lift entire communities out of poverty and drive sustainable development.

“For example, earlier this year, the cabinet approved guidelines to promote the participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Public Procurement.  This is an opportunity to enhance the above categories of population meaningful participation in our economy,” she said while welcoming the Oxfam in Africa regional director, Ms Fati N’Zi-Hassan at her office in Kampala on Wednesday. 

Ms Amongi told her guest who paid her a courtesy visit that combating gender-based violence remains a top priority.

“We must enhance our efforts to prevent violence, support survivors, and hold perpetrators accountable. Oxfam's experience and expertise in this area can be invaluable in developing and implementing effective strategies,” she said.

Another area of focus is promotion of climate change resilient interventions that ensure women’s involvement in climate change efforts in the country. Develop and implement joint capacity-building programmes that equip women with the skills and knowledge needed for climate action.

The Minister of Gender said these programmes can focus on areas such as sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and disaster risk reduction among others.

The last area of focus would be to enhance generation and usage of gender disaggregated data to inform planning and programming in the country.

“As I conclude, I wish to reiterate the government of Uganda’s firm commitment to promoting gender equality and improving the lives of women and girls in our country. Together with partners like Oxfam, I am confident that we can overcome the challenges we face and build a more just and equitable society,” Ms Amongi said.

The 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (as amended), mandates the State to ensure gender balance and representation of women on all constitutional and other bodies, guarantees women the right to be accorded full and equal dignity with men.

It also mandates the State to provide facilities and opportunities to ensure the welfare of women and protect women’s rights taking into account their maternal functions (Article 33) as well as guaranteeing affirmative action in order to redress imbalances created by history, traditions and customs among other factors (Article 33(5).

According to the Gender ministry, Kampala administration has indeed been consistent in its pursuit for gender equality and the empowerment of women. Uganda has put in place an enabling legal and policy framework.

The government of Uganda prioritised actions to increase women’s economic empowerment in order to reduce extreme poverty and create wealth. 

Different complementary interventions are being implemented to facilitate women’s access to affordable credit with subsidised interest rates, skilling, access to market information, and appropriate time-saving technologies.

Some of these are; the Covid-19 Stimulus Package, the Agricultural Credit Facility Fund and support to Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) by the Microfinance Support Centre, the World Bank and Government US$ 217 million grant for Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project,  the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP)/ Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP), a Special Grant for PWDs and a Special Grant for Older Persons ( SEGOP) and the Parish Development Model (PDM).