General
Source: The Observer
As Uganda celebrated the International Women's day at the weekend, three Ugandans were listed for awards by Women Deliver, a global advocacy organisation.
Women Deliver, advocates improved health and well-being of girls and women. Martin Wanzala, from Allied Youth Initiative; Nargis Shirazi (Woman to Woman Foundation) and Humphrey Nabimanya (Reach a Hand Uganda) will each receive $5,000 to promote girls' and women's health and rights in their communities.
This C-Exchange seed grant is part of a $50,000 Women Deliver grant to Young Advocates in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
"We know that if we want to advance girls' and women's health globally, we cannot act alone," said Saundra Pelletier, CEO of WomanCare Global. "Collaboration is critical and Women Deliver helps forge partnerships for girls and women everywhere."
The programme was launched at the Women Deliver 2013 conference in Malaysia to create new opportunities to engage and empower youth.
"Young people have fresh, new ideas to overcome maternal and reproductive health challenges in their communities, but they do not always have the means to transform proposals into projects," said Joy Marini, executive director of Corporate Contributions at Johnson & Johnson.
The selected projects will help increase access to youth-friendly services and information in Uganda and end child marriage in rural Zimbabwe.
Women's day?
Women in Uganda have come a long way, and some people take March 8 as no more than another excuse to party.
A look at the recommendations in the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women shows the progress. The UN calls on member states to increase women's leadership and participation in national governance, end violence against women, engage women in all aspects of peace and security processes, enhance womenís economic empowerment and make gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting.
Today, the number of girls graduating from university has increased significantly, with female graduands sometimes outnumbering the males. Uganda was the first African country to have a female vice president in Specioza Wandira, and now has a female speaker of Parliament in Rebecca Kadaga.
The Uganda speaker of the East African Parliament is also a woman, Margaret Zziwa, not to mention female ministers such as that of Finance, Maria Kiwanuka. Harmful cultural practices like female genital mutilation are now illegal in Uganda with the passing of the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act 2010.
However, according to Gertrude Ssekabira, the chairperson of Action for Development (Acfode), Uganda should continue celebrating the Women's day to let the world know that much as women have achieved much, they are not yet on the same level as men.
"We need a change in the mindset of people. Men still hold negative superiority attitudes towards women, boys are more favoured to go to school than girls, fathers still demand for dowry for their girl," Ms Ssekabira says.
Ugandan entrepreneur and president of CEDA International Rehmah Kasule, she has organised a Mentoring Walk in Kampala next Saturday. CEDA mentors women and youths in leadership and entrepreneurship development.
Kasule believes mentorship is key to addressing youth unemployment. Ms Kasule believes the walk is a good opportunity for young leaders to connect with women professionals.
She says that while affirmative action in education has increased the number of young women entering universities, formal education alone doesn't empower girls to enter the job market because they lack key employment skills like critical thinking, confidence and communication.
The celebration of women's day started in 1908 in USA.