THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
(PAQEEKC) which was officially launched
on March 30, 2017 by the Hon. Rosemary
Nansubuga Senninde, Minister of State for
Primary Education. We hope that the
implementation of this project will enable
the Education Sector to deal with the sociocultural practices that continue to
undermine education outcomes as well as
improve education outcomes in Karamoja.
EDITORIAL
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the first issue of the Gender
Eye for the year 2017 on sharing our
experiences on promoting girls’ education
and gender equality in education. The
Theme for this issue is Mainstreaming
Gender in Education: Sharing our
Experiences.
For the period January to Aprils, our focus
has been on creating a positive and
supportive learning environment. We have
engaged communities through media and
community dialogues on gender and equity
aspects that are critical for improving the
performance of the education sector. Key
among these include safe learning
environment,
menstrual
hygiene
management and school feeding. At the
schools level, attention has been put on
mentorship and livelihood programs,
formation of school clubs to support life
skills among learners. We have also
engaged district and national level
stakeholders
on
gender responsive
planning, gender and equity budgeting and
generating sex and gender disaggregated
data.
It is important to note that Karamoja region
still lags behind other regions as far
education is concerned. The Ministry of
Education and Sports with the support of
Irish Aid and UNICEF has embarked on
Promoting Access to Quality and Equitable
Education for Karamoja Children Project
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I take this opportunity to welcome our new
leaders- Mr. Kakooza Alex, Permanent
Secretary and Mr. Kibenge. A. David,
Under Secretary, Ministry of Education and
Sports.
I call upon all stakeholders in the Education
Sector to take deliberate efforts to ensure a
Safe Learning Environment for all our
children especially the girls and special
needs children. I also call upon the children
to break the silence, report all cases of
violence and seek support from peers,
teachers, parents and leaders. I take this
opportunity to express our sincere gratitude
to our Development Partners who
generously support our programmes on
gender equality, girls’ education and safe
learning environment. Special thanks go to
Irish Aid and UNICEF for the continued
support to promoting education in Karamoja
region, USAID/RTI/LARA for supporting
positive
and
supportive
learning
environment.
We hope you will find this Gender Eye
interesting.
Dr. Nkaada Daniel
Commissioner, Basic Education
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
GENDER
RESPONSIVE
TEACHING IN
CENTRES
ECD
By Hajat Safina Mutumba
Senior Education Officer,
Primary Education, MoES
Pre-
There has been a growing body of evidence
that lasting social change, the sustainable
generation of wealth, and growth of human
is impossible without addressing the deep
structures of inequalities, the most
persistent being inequality between male
and female.
This has also been observed amongst
parents being gender irresponsive right from
the earliest stage when children are born
whereby they specify the colours of clothes
children should put on; for instance boys
putting on blue whereas girls are given the
pink colour, boys given balls and girls dolls
among others. This creates an impression
that boys and girls should be treated
differently yet they are equally the same in
spite of the biological differences.
ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
centres/pre-primary. Caregivers/teachers
are expected to promote gender
responsiveness in all the activities carried
out in schools. That is during the teaching
and learning process at the ECD centres and
other levels of learning to enhance equity
and equality in their classrooms and schools
to ensure that children are given equal
treatment. These include the language used
to communicate to the learners, the games
and activities given, avoidance of gender
stereo types in the materials and texts used,
among others.
Therefore, it is significant that parents,
caregivers and teachers get to know that
whatever is done by boys can be equally
done by girls and vice versa. Continuous
sensitization is needed on how to treat all
the children equally to avoid gender bias
and
stereotype.
Both boys and girls are given an opportunity to
participate
At the ECD centres and other levels of
learning, caregivers/teachers specify the
activities, materials, texts and games given
to girls different from the ones given to the
boys an implication that the two sexes are
taken to be different in terms of
performance. This causes gender inequality
amongst learners/children.
As Ministry of Education and Sports
(MOES), all the materials and text books
developed currently advocate for the
promotion of gender responsiveness in all
aspects
including
the
pedagogical
approaches right from the grass root which
are the Early childhood development
2
Children play together in a rural ECD centre as the
male caregiver observes
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
Boys and girls are given chance to take part
during play
Both boys and girls take part during material
development
LAUNCH OF THE UNICEFIRISH AID NEW COUNTRY
PROGRAMME: PROMOTING
ACCESS TO QUALITY AND
EQUITABLE
EDUCATION
FOR KARAMOJA CHILDREN
PROJECT
Education is universally acknowledged as a
key factor for human development. The
right to education is constitutionally
guaranteed for every person in Uganda
irrespective of sex or other economic and
social standing (Constitution of the
Republic of Uganda, Article 20). Education
widens opportunities, choices, incomes, and
therefore plays an important role in lifting
communities out of poverty.
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
Despite the enabling legal and policy
framework on gender and education in
Uganda, there are still wide gaps and key
bottlenecks in access to education deeply
entrenched in cultural social norms that act
as barrier to enhancing girls’ education and
their participation and benefit from
education sector service delivery, especially
for children in Karamoja region. Children in
Karamoja region suffer from multiple
vulnerabilities aggravated by the high
poverty rates and house hold food insecurity
resulting from effects of climate change. For
instance gross enrolment rate in Primary
Schools in Karamoja is 58% (66% for males
and 49% for females) compared 109% at the
national level. Gross enrolment rate in
Secondary Schools in Karamoja is 25% (8%
for males and 6% for females) compared to
25% national gross enrolment rate. The
persistent challenges of low enrolment and
the absence of flexible alternative education
opportunities to meet the real needs of the
population has not improved the situation
where drop- out rates have continued to be
high. In some communities, education is not
given much value and children especially
girls are subjected to child marriages,
female genital mutilation, child trafficking
and child labour. All these affect children’s
wellbeing and potential for development.
Investments in children’s education, health
and personal development are therefore
vital to sustainable development.
In responding to the challenges to Education
in Karamoja, Irish Aid signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with
UNICEF to promote access to quality and
equitable education to the most vulnerable
children in Karamoja by strengthening the
capacity of MoES at the national and district
level through evidence-based advocacy,
institutional
capacity
building,
communication,
partnerships
and
innovations. The programme will enhance
teacher effectiveness; strengthen school
management, assessment and monitoring of
learning outcomes; work to eliminate of
violence against children in schools;
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
mainstream gender across education
programmes to remove barriers hindering
girls’ education; and promote peace
building and conflict-sensitive education.
The programme will pay special attention to
cultural and social practices and value
change that continue to undermine
inclusive, quality and conflict-sensitive
learning. The programme which will cover
all the 7 districts of Karamoja and operate in
283 primary schools and 23 secondary
schools, will be implemented by key
Government Ministries in particular;
Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry
of Health and Ministry of Gender, Labour
and Social Development and other
International/National
Organisations.
Namely
Trail
Blazers
Mentoring
Foundation, VSO and Straight Talk
Foundation.
UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry
of Education and Sports (MoES), organized
an official launch of the programme with
key district stakeholders from the 7 targeted
districts of Karamoja on 30th March 2017.
The Launch was very participatory. It
attracted the Top Leaders of Irish Aid,
UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and
Sports who made statements and passed on
messages to District Leadership and
Communities on Education. The day was
colourful with edutainment; school children
presented educative poems, music and
drama including presenting an issues paper
to the leaders. The Launch was preceded by
a March with a Brass Band through Moroto
town for purpose of raising public
awareness on the programme but also on the
value of education in the development of
Karamoja Region. The District Education
Officers from each of the participating
districts organised Radio Programmes on
Community Radios to publicise the
programme. Officials from UNICEF,
MoES, Partners and the District Education
Officer- Moroto District hosted on a
Community Radio Programme in Moroto
Town on the Value of Education to
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
Karamoja’s Development: investing in the
Girl Child Education.
Officials from UNICEF, MoES and other
partners also visited selected schools in
Moroto District to engage with adolescents
especially girls to appreciate their
educational challenges and to inspire them
towards retention, completion, better
performance and transition from Primary to
Secondary Schools, and from Secondary to
Higher Education including Business,
Technical and Vocational Education and
Training (BTVET).
The Ministry of Education and Sports is
grateful for the support.
Below are some of the Quotes captured from
the different stakeholders at the launch:
“Karamojong children are equally
bright but parents have left children in
hands of teachers, we need force to
improve Karamoja education and it’s
through education that Karamoja will
develop. ‘In Kaabong district for
example, an action was taken to
increase enrolment by assessing age of
children
ready
for
school”.
Representative of Kaabong district
“…….the Go back to school is good but
issue of retention to school still challenge. A
case of Namalu Seed SS, whose enrolment
was 170 students in 2016 but due to GBS
number increased to 400 students. Most
students have no scholastic materials that
will eventually make them drop out. We have
success stories of students sponsored on
scholarship who did well in ordinary level
but could not do well in S.6 due to lack of
scholarship”. Representative Nakapiripirit
district
“….I am an example, my father had
negative attitude towards education but a
local chief came home, and advised our
father. The chief took two of us to school
otherwise I wouldn’t be a leader now if
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
force was not used. Karamoja is a difficult
world unless we take action through force.
Me and my wife valued education and
educated our children. Religious leader,
Kaabong district
“We must remove barriers hindering girls’
education. In Karamoja schools, we have
girls who get pregnant in S4 or S6, but they
send these girls out of school. Let this
house agree to allow child mothers to go
back to school”. Participant Abim district
“Both parents must support and protect
children especially their security of
children. As a mother i endeavoured to take
my children to school, my children
graduated. In Nakapiripirit district, the
infection rate of adolescents is high, a
situation where in February an adolescent
girl was sexually abused by a man who was
infected and child feared to tell the father
but eventually reported where police took
action. However, there was interference
and compromise by some leaders. If
government fought for disarmament and
also defeated the rebel Kony, why can’t
government do the same for Karamoja
education?” Participant Nakapiripit
district
Some parents encourage abortion, should
also be part of target in the interventions.
Secondly development partners concrete in
one area and not to move in other sub
counties. Participant.
Some of the student and community in
attendance
“Naleyo Dance” from Kasimeri P/S
FLOW OF EVENTS AT THE
LAUNCH OF THE NEW
COUNTRY PROGRAMME:
Irish Aid Deputy Head of development cooperation
addressing the gathering
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
Students from Kangole Girls S.S presenting a POEM
UNICEF country representative addressing the
gathering
MoES Director Basic & Secondary Education addressing
the gathering
Hon. Minister Rosemary Nansubuga Senninde, MoES
Director Basic Education Mr. Nsumba Lyazi, MoES
Assistant Commissioner Basic Education Mr. Mukasa
Tonny Lusambu and other participants during marching
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Hon. Minister of State for Primary and MoES officials during
the launch
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Hon. Minister of State for Primary and UNICEF country
Representative signing the commitment board at the Launch
CHAMPIONING
ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
The Ministry of Education and Sports in
2015 passed the Guidelines for Prevention,
Management of HIV and AIDS and
Teenage/ Unintended Pregnancy in SchoolSetting of Uganda which allow child
mothers to continue with education, the
practice is different! Today once a girl gets
pregnant while in school, the she is expelled
out of school. Whereas the policy guidelines
allow the child mothers to continue with
education, the possibility of re-entry is
currently extremely low at 8%. Majority of
young mothers fail to return and complete
their education. Pregnant adolescent girls
are blamed for the violence and held
responsible for the consequences of
pregnancy without due consideration of the
factors and circumstances underlying the
violence. This further victimises the child
mothers and their babies.
RE-
ENTRY
OF CHILD MOTHERS
BACK TO SCHOOL- SUCCESS
STORY
By: Joyce Atimango, Executive
Director, Trailblazers Mentoring
Foundation (TMF)
The number of adolescent girls dropping out
of school due to teenage pregnancy and
child marriage at primary and secondary
school continues to increase each year.
Jessica (not real names) got pregnant at 16
years and dropped out of school in 2013.
Rebecca is 17 years old, was served with 60
strokes because of refusing to get married to
a man arranged for her by her parents.
These stories confirm the study reports by
Ministry of Education and Sports conducted
in 2015 that pregnancy accounts for 21.3%
of girls’ school dropout at national levels.
However, there are higher levels of dropout
among adolescent girls due to pregnancy in
Eastern Uganda at 42.8% and in West Nile
at 29.3%. The above examples are some of
the cases/issues that TMF is currently
addressing in order to promote girls’ rights
to education, health and protection.
7
Trailblazers Mentoring Foundation (TMF)
is a Non-Governmental Organization that
was started as an initiative by former child
mothers who turned their negative
experience into a positive action. TMF is
championing the re-entry of child mothers
back to school. TMF envisions a generation
where all girls are in school, empowered
and enjoying their childhood. The mission
of TMF is to contribute towards increased
retention of girl in school through ending
teenage pregnancy and child marriages.
TMF programs identify, rehabilitate and
empower the child mothers and girls at risk
of dropping out of school
through
mentoring , life skills and integration into
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
school clubs where they are supported,
guided and counselled thus increasing their
level of participation, increasing their stay
in school and speaking out on rights
violations. TMF aims to enable the teenage
mothers’ access educational opportunities
through re-entry to formal education,
vocational training, and skills building. By
providing access to education for child
mothers, TMF addresses the social and
emotional learning needs of these
adolescent girls ; including identifying their
strengths and goals, discussing the
importance of staying and completing
school, and identifying a career path that
will maximize their ability to function
independently as a young parent.
A total of 300 girls that dropped out of
school were reached by TMF through the
Go Back to School campaign, out of which
50 were returned to primary and secondary
school. Some of the girls supported included
a child mother who enrolled for a one year
course and attained a certificate in
Secretarial studies. Two child mothers
completed Uganda Certificate of Education
(UCE) and 5 completed Primary Leaving
Examinations (PLE). As a result of TMF
interventions, parents from Nebbi district in
Panyango Sub- County donated 3 acres of
land used by child mothers for making
bricks and farming. The income earned was
used for payment of tuition and purchase of
scholastic materials. Part of the income was
used for taking care of babies’ welfare. The
out of school young women are now
providing peer to peer support to other out
of school young women in the community.
Due to empowerment programs by TMF,
the child mothers who returned to school are
now girl child advocates speaking on behalf
of other girls and have taken up leadership
positions at school as head prefects, head
girls and youth representatives at parish
and sub county level. So far, 5 child mothers
are in leadership positions representing
youth at parish and sub county. The child
mothers have been integrated into the
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
community as advocates for change where
they sensitize communities on positive
parenting as well as provide peer to peer
support to fellow child mothers.
Based on the lessons learnt, TMF
recommends for programs that emphasise
and prioritise on information sharing to
create awareness among all stakeholders at
all levels to support re-entry of child
mothers back to school. This will support to
minimise
instances
where
school
administration either expel adolescent girls
on pregnancy or refuse to re-admit them
once they have given birth. In addition there
is need to increase awareness among pupils
to ensure that they are empowered with the
information on prevention of teenage
pregnancy as well as re -entry after giving
birth. The MoES and other stakeholders
need to implement the re -entry policy
guidelines for child mothers and pregnant
girls back to school.
Child Mothers who have returned to school
W
HERE ARE THE GIRLS?
A UNICEF/GOU REVIEW OF
THE STRATEGIC PLAN AND
GENDER ACTION PLAN 20142017
By Rosette Nanyanzi-Gender Unit
The UNICEF Strategic Plan (SP) and
Gender Action Plan (GAP 2014) monitors
advancement in Girls’ Education through
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
outcome and output indicators. The purpose
of this “game” plan is to set out an approach
to further support, articulate and accelerate
results in line with the existing SP and GAP
for adolescent girls.
The “game” plan articulates 3 key results, 4
intended outcomes and 6 evidence based
strategies. The exact combination of results
and outcomes varies by country and the
specific educational status of adolescent
girls in each context. Likewise the
appropriate combination of strategies is also
context specific. The “game” plan identifies
which countries will contribute to
anticipated results and outcomes, and
outlines an approach to support countries to
strengthen and scale up results using the
most appropriate strategies within that
context, aligned with existing country
programmes.
Advancing girls’ secondary education is one
of the four targeted priorities within the
UNICEF Gender Action Plan (2014-2017).
A “game” plan sets out a strategy for
UNICEF’s contribution to advancing
secondary education across twelve UNICEF
country offices Uganda inclusive.
At the National level, the National Strategy
for Girls’ Education (2014-2019) identifies
a barriers to girls’ access to secondary
education. These included the persistent
low value attached to girls’ education,
sexual abuse, early sexual engagement,
teenage pregnancy, unfriendly school
environments, inadequate life skills and
inadequate gender capacities among key
partners involved in implementing
programmes on girls’ education.
On 31st of January 2017, MoES and
UNICEF converged as a Team to review the
Country Programme with a view of
ensuring that the barriers to girls’ education
are addressed. The focus of the review was
to ensure a reduction in the number of
adolescent girls that are out of school,
increase the number of marginalized girls
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
completing lower secondary education with
relevant learning outcomes.
The team from UNICEF included the Chief
of Education, the Chief child Protection,
Chief Monitoring and Evaluation and
technical officers from these sections. The
Ministry team included officers from the
Gender Unit and officers from Basic and
Secondary Education.
The teams reflected internally on the rolling
work plan to get a more conceptual clarity
of the activities proposed for adolescent
girls and whether the activities talk to the
needs of the girls.
At the end of the meeting, both UNICEF
and MoES agreed that to be able to deliver
for adolescent girls, deliberate interventions
targeting the needs of the adolescent girls
are key including building the capacity of
partners implementing the programmes to
analyse the needs of adolescent girls,
locating where they are and redesigning
activities to benefit them. Improving
documentation of our successes and lessons
for sharing learning was equally
emphasised.
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
Another important lesson is that such
workshops can be held cost effectively
when the organizers have support of the
administration and they are able to explain
to them how addressing gender issues can
reinforce the overall school mission and
vision.
(L)Girls of Lodonga Girls primary Schools
learning how to make pads(R) mentoring session
NEED
FOR
SCHOOLBASED
TEACHER
GENDER TRAINING.
Florence Namukasa
Natete Muslim High School.
I have been carrying out several activities
designed to encounter teachers and students
gender bias that lead to extremely low
student motivation to learn that ultimately
leads to low academic achievement. Among
the key activities are:Teacher professional development: These
have been designed on the basis of schoolbased
Continuous
Professional
Development (CPD), making use of the
knowledge teachers already have, as well as
the closeness to where they have to practice
their knowledge and enabling an
environment where teachers freely share
knowledge and skills. The workshop
content should address teacher and student
bias in a participatory approach where
sharing is emphasized. It is important to
start even when enthusiasm is low; my
experience is that eventually if the training
is done in a friendly way, and teachers are
involved in planning for the training and its
content, eventually most of the teachers
come on board.
10
Learning materials: A second important
area where I have found a lot of success is
in taking time to re-examine the learning
materials that teachers use and make the
gender friendly. I started with my own
department of chemistry and encouraging
other teachers to be sensitive to issues such
as examples that are given in the textbooks
that only depict scientists as men and never
women. In this endeavour, I made a very
large chart of great women scientist through
the ages that I pinned out in my class such
that girls can constantly be reminded that
they can also become great scientists.
Women role models: A related activity that
I have been engaged into is bringing science
women role models to class. This, I started
with professional personally known to me
and requesting them to talk to the girls for
short periods about their work and how they
managed to achieve their dreams. I must
say, this almost has a ripple effect on the
motivation of the girls. It even works better
if the talk is held on a careers day where
other activities such as exhibitions take
place as well.
Lastly, but in no way least, students can be
encouraged to engage with community
challenges and write about them and publish
their work. This has the ability to unlock
girls’ potential especially those who have
low self-esteem. In this regard, I have
opened for them a blog where their work is
published.
At
this
link.
https://schoolsciencejournalismproject.wor
dpress.com/ by posting more student
articles.
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
Much of the work to put an end to the cycle
of violence is attitudinal, it’s changing the
mind-set, it is a struggle of learning to
unlearn. It is very wrong to justify
punishment because all it breeds is pain and
hate – all it carries are negative
consequences to the victim; an increased
risk of physical and mental harm, increasing
chances anti-social behavior and aggression
among the children, worse of it all is the
acceptance to take in any form of physical
violence as a means of disciplining. Let us
not sow violence into the minds of our
leaners it may never be pleasant to reap off
the same.
STOP
VIOLENCE-
SCHOOL
Amanyire Daniel –
Gender Unit
Can punishment ever be a form of
disciplining especially with intent to change
behavior? Have you ever heard of any
complaint of this nature “…….Mr. Head
teacher I request to bring this to your
attention, your mathematics teacher
unreasonably beats up my child“. So this
gives me another thought – can punishment
ever be reasonable?
Between me and you often times we have
interacted with similar scenarios, a
statistical analysis of violence against
children -Hidden in Plain Sight that was
carried by UNICEF in 2014 reported that 3
in 10 adults worldwide believe that physical
violence is necessary to properly raise or
educate children. This brings me to a point
of agreement that indeed values are not
taught but rather they are passed. Ivan
Pavlov a behavioral psychologists through
his different experiments under classical
conditioning says any behavior is learnt
through conditioning the mind. Likewise if
a child is constantly exposed to any form of
violence through this conditioning this child
will do exactly the same when in the
position of an adult.
11
It is unfortunate that even with the so many
legislations prohibiting any form of
violence in our schools the figures of this
vise keep shooting up, “I was beaten-it’s the
reason I have grown up to be a responsible
person”, practicing something wrong over
and over never makes it any right –all it does
is to grown the victims into future
perpetuators as the practices finally settles
as culture.
Something can still be done don’t call off
the campaign – let us ride on the newly
amended children’s Act 2015, clause 106 A
sub section (1) of the same Act states that
“A person of authority in any institution of
learning shall not subject a child to any form
of corporal punishment”, It further
criminalizes corporal punishment under sub
section (2) stating that breaking the
Children’s Act can lead to three years in
prison or a fine of UGX 2000,000 or both.
We all owe our learners a duty of care let
us not fall on the wrong side of the law…
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
ADDRESSING
VIOLENCE
AGAINST CHILDREN: From
Data
To
Action
Angela Nakafeero and
Nanyanzi/Gender Unit.
Rosette
Violence Against Children is a concern of
the many actors involved in child protection
across the country. In 2012, the Ministry of
Education conducted a study to establish the
main drivers of violence against children.
The study findings informed the
development of the Reporting, Tracking,
Response and Referral Guidelines on
Violence Against Children in Schools, the
National Strategic Plan and a number of
interventions across all sectors.
ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
experiencing violence can have a negative
effect on children’s social and emotional
growth and their achievement in schools.
Although teachers and peers can be
perpetrators of violence in school, they can
also be protectors and allies in addressing
violence.
In light of the alarming statistics on violence
children, the education sector has
strengthened its efforts and is making use of
the available data to come up with
interventions targeting the teachers and
learners/peers. The sector has developed
resource materials, Readers and organized
trainings for both primary and secondary
teachers.
In the same vain, the Ministry of Gender,
Labor and Social Development in
partnership with the Afri Child, Child Fund,
UNICEF, Uganda Bureau of Statistics
(UBOS), TPO, Makerere University School
of Public Health and the US Centre for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
conducted the violence against children
study in 2015 with the aim of investigating
the magnitude of violence against children
and its underlying risks and protective
factors.
Following the successful implementation of
the study, the MGLSD together with its
partners organized a three day VAC Data
Usage meeting to disseminate the findings
of the study and draw strategies to address
the key issues that were identified in the
study.
The meeting brought together
officials from Government agencies, UN
agencies, Civil Society Organizations and
Development Partners.
While presenting the findings, the CDC
team also presented what global research
shows about violence against children and
the education sector. Globally, all children
have a right to safe access to education and
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(L)VAC training session for teachers at Moroto
Core PTC &(R)training of students at Kotido Mixed
primary School
The sector has plans of targeting the teacher
training institutions to ensure that the
teachers that are churned out of these
institutions can promote violence free
schools.
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FORUM
FOR
EDUCATION
IN UGANDA’s good
practices on promoting gender in
education
NGOS
The Forum for Education NGO’s in Uganda
(FENU) is a national coalition of civil
society organizations. FENU is made up of
over 100 civil society organisations and
community based organizations who
undertake joint advocacy work to contribute
to the achievement of quality education.
FENU works through six thematic areas;
Access and Quality, ECD (Early Childhood
Development), Emergencies in Education
(EiE), Refugee Children’s Education
(RCE), Lifelong Learning, and Gender
equity thematic group.
Good practices to promote gender in
education
National Level
Advocacy through the Gender thematic
group- FENU advocates for gender equality
in education.
Networking- We believe in joint efforts.
The more the partnerships, the better the
results.
ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
thus translate the strategy in the different
programmes that the various CSOs carry out
in their programme areas. This in the long
run works hand in hand with the
Government to implement this strategy.
We don’t just advocate, we implement our
recommendations- When the members in
the FENU Gender Equity group meet, they
put up recommendations for improvement
of gender equity. As we advocate for these
recommendations, we also advocate that
each member engages their organisation to
carry out activities to contribute to the
realization of the various recommendations.
The activities can vary depending on the
program areas or capacity of an individual
organization. An example can be cited
below;
At the previous International Day of the
Girl child in October 2016, the members of
the FENU gender group agreed to hold a
radio talk show to inform the public about
this day. Stromme Foundation offered
radio airtime on CBS and representatives
of the group went on radio to engage the
public about this day and how it is
important to all people including the men.
By the end of the radio talk show, some of
the male listeners called in after realising
that this day concerned them since they
have daughters, wives, mothers, nieces,
among other female persons in their lives.
Reaching out (District / community)
Providing information on policy issues- An
example is that in one of the Gender
meetings, we distributed the NSGE
(National Strategy for Girls’ Education) to
the participants. Appreciation goes to the
gender unit, MOES for providing these
copies.
We went further than just distributing. We
asked the participants to go read and analyse
these copies and make individual
presentation at the coming meetings. This is
to imprint the information in their minds and
13
FENU secretariat also engages in district /
community dialogues to call upon
stakeholders to keep their children in
schools. Such activities include;
District level meetings where participants
brainstorm on what more they can do to
promote and improve the quality of
education in their districts.
Community meetings where the issue of
girl child retention is emphasized. Parents
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
and other stakeholders are encouraged to
keep the girls in schools regardless of the
various pending challenges. Stakeholders
go into groups depending on their status
(parents, girls themselves) among others
and discuss the issues in education and how
they can address them to keep children in
schools. This group work helps the girls to
give their issues without being intimidated
by any elder.
ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
only upper primary girls’ and teachers’
meeting after the general career guidance
mentorship. The team talked to the girls
about menstrual hygiene management,
staying in school among other issues.
The girls then present their issues to the
whole meeting. Some of these issues are
those that parents / community can address
but were not aware about due to the girls’
fear to open up.
Mentoring and Career guidance- On 6th
and 7th March 2017, A team representing
the FENU gender thematic group visited 4
schools in Kabale district (Kicucwe P.S,
Kantare P.S, Kantare S.S, Brainstorm, High
School) to carry out career guidance for
both boys and girls.
This activity was agreed upon as a
recommendation in one of the previous
gender meeting engagements. Various
organisations joined efforts to implement
this recommendation and inspire students to
make informed career decisions.
Children at Kicucwe P.S before the distribution of the
pads.
MAKE
GENDER
AND
BUDGETING
A
EQUITY
REALITY-Kabunga Ronald
Public dialogue on socio-economic
empowerment of women, gender
mainstreaming and gender budgeting
The representatives that went were; FENU
secretariat, WEGCDA (Women and Girl
Child Development Association), REHORE
(Restoration for Hope of Refugees), DES
(Directorate of Education Standards), and
World Vision.
The Friend-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) organised
a public dialogue on the socio-economic
empowerment
of
women,
gender
mainstreaming and gender budgeting in on
Tuesday 21st March, 2017 at Serena Hotel.
Distributing sanitary pads in the upper
classes of primary schools- The team
managed to secure various items (books,
bibles, sanitary pads) for the schools they
visited. These materials were collected from
various members and well-wishers of the
FENU fraternity.
The dialogue featured key panellists among
which included; Prof. Christa RandzioPlath, Lawyer and Former Member of the
European Parliament; Hon. Monicah
Amoding Member of Parliament and
Chairperson UWOPA; Ms. Solome
Nakawesi-Kimbugwe, Former Executive
Director Akina Mama wa Africa
The team distributed sanitary pads in the
two primary schools. This was done in an
The goal of the discussion was to examine
the gender sensitivity of Uganda’s
14
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
budgetary policy and other gender
mainstreaming efforts as tools for achieving
Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender
equality and empowerment of women and
girls and compare notes with respective
efforts in selected European countries
The key guest speakers commended the
efforts reached in Uganda towards gender
equality and empowerment of women and
girls. This according to them has been
enabled by:



Formation of structures that support
policy formation, mainstreaming and
monitoring of compliance e.g. creation
of MoGLSD and Equal Opportunity
Commission,
General improvement in publication and
dissemination of gender disaggregated
statistics by the different stakeholders
which helps in building a case for an
urgent need to fix the inequality and
inequity issues highlighted from the
statistics.
Incessant advocacy campaigns by the
Government agencies, Development
Partners and CSOs at all levels that have
not only created a sense of belonging on
the side of women but also empowered
the women economically, socially and
politically.
Direct financial support to the women
and the youth through programmes like
“Women
Entrepreneurship
programmes” and the “Youth livelihood
programme” have massively enhance
the economic power of women more so
towards contribution to economic
growth and development.
As for Gender and Equity Budgeting (GEB)
in Uganda, the efforts started way back in
F/Y 2003/2004 with a budget call circular
from MFPED that required MDAs to show
how gender issues were addressed in the
budget. Although this was a great move by
MFPED, compliance remained negligible.
Thanks to the continued advocacy by
different stakeholders that saw the
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
enactment of the Public Finance
Management Act in 2015 with a provision
on the award of a gender and equity
certificate by the Equal Opportunities
Commission and MFPED to Ministries,
Agencies and Local Governments. With a
law in place, more and more public
institutions are now critical on addressing
gender issues during budgeting as
evidenced from increased percentage
allocation to SDG targets.
During the dialogue, Prof. Christa RandzioPlath highlight to participants that in
Europe, 46% of women are employed, 34%
of women are educated compared to 28% of
men, 22% of women are in leadership
positions and that in EU gender budgeting is
a requirement. Uganda therefore needs
more deliberate efforts to support the
achievement of the SDG 5. Some of these
are outlined below:


Gender and equity budgeting advocates
should start analysing revenue in
addition to sector expenditure. For
sustainability reasons, government and
stakeholders need to start thinking of
gender and equity approaches that are
self-sustaining instead of completely
relying on funded approaches,
Efforts should now be put on tracking
the resources allocated by the MDAs to
ensure that funds are spent in
accordance to the budgets,
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER









There is a need to strengthen efforts and
resources invested in building women
human capital,
There is a need to continue building
capacity of all institutions in gender and
equity budgeting. This training should
be institutionalised and made mandatory
for key influential persons including
politicians in all MDAs.
Engagement of women in the informal
sector,
With national gender and equity
monitoring indicators in place, efforts
should now be focused on collecting of
statistical data to show the progress
made,
Advocacy and campaigns for women’s
property rights and inheritance should
continue. For example, the marriage and
divorce bill should be passed.
There is also a need to put women at the
centre of budgeting process and building
their capacity to ensure that their voices
are heard and more women issues are
budgeted for.
Rewarding actors for their excellent
performance in addressing gender
concerns so as to motivate others to
follow suit.
The Government of Uganda should
ratify the “Kigali Declaration on ending
child marriage and teenage pregnancy”,
Abuja Declaration on 15% expenditure
on health as well as ensuring that the
Minimum Wage and the Marriage and
Divorce Bills are passed by the
Parliament.
Government and Development partners
should increase their funding for gender
and equity issues especially to
institutions working policy formulation,
advocacy and compliance.
ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
“Girls are powerful. When they’re educated
and safe, they have the ability to transform
their communities. When girls are educated
and safe, they are able to stand up for other
girls in need, and are able to subsequently
empower one another and transform our
world.”
Despite the truth in the statements above,
unfortunately not all countries of the world
view girls as equal members of society to
their male counterparts, and hence, are
severely limited in terms of rights and
opportunities as women. However, Uganda
For Her (U4H) Initiative is a unique nongovernment organization looking to
empower Uganda’s young women to
become leaders in their communities
through
education
and
economic
opportunities for self-sustainability. By
providing free services and programs which
educate girls about their rights as women,
and how to become economically
empowered and vital members of their
communities, U4H is looking to help
Uganda’s girls reach their full potentials.
Promoting awareness on human rights and
gender equality, as well as spreading the
message on the importance to keep
Uganda’s ‘girl child’ in school, are two of
U4H Initiatives core objectives. In order to
promote such awareness on the importance
of gender and educational equality, U4H has
broken down the issues into four separate
initiatives, in order to best tackle to
problem. Including; girl’s education,
education training on reproductive and
sexual rights, economic empowerment and
girl’s leadership.
U4H was able to provide 26 schools in
Uganda with scholastic materials, including
books to help girls stay in school by
reducing their overall costs. U4H also
conducts free training lessons on
reproductive and sexual health to support
adolescent girls make informed decisions,
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THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
and speak up in cases of sexual violence.
U4H also distributes reusable sanitary pads
to Uganda’s ‘girl child’.
Through the Young Women’s Economic
Empowerment Program, adolescent girls
are equipped with practical skills such as
tailoring, computer skills, hair dressing and
agro-business. U4H firmly believes that by
providing opportunities for women to
become educated in a practical skill, they
will become economically independent.
Through the Girls’ Leadership and
Mentorship Program, young girls are
equipped with life skills they require to be
brave, resilient and confident.
Women are powerful and equal members of
society, and it remains our mission to push
for educational and economic equality
throughout Uganda.
A
GA KHAN SPEARHEADS THE
DEVELOPMENT
OF
GUIDELINES
FOR
SENIOR
WOMEN AND MEN TEACHERS
By Rosette Nanyanzi & Daniel Amanyire
The Education and Sports sector has been at
the fore front of promoting gender equality
and ensuring a conducive learning
environment in all its institutions. Through
the structure of the senior women and men
teachers, the Ministry has conducted
mentorship of the young people, guidance
and counseling as well creating awareness
on the challenges of growing up and sexual
maturation especially on the issues of
menstruation management.
Although the senior women and men
teachers have been entrusted with this key
responsibility, their roles have not been
clearly defined by the Education Sector.
Secondly most of the SWMTs have been
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
assigned the role without any skills or any
form of training conducted. It is generally
assumed that they are all teachers, thus they
know what they are expected to do in
supporting learners to stay in school.
However, experiences of both teachers and
learners and members of civil society
indicate that this is not always the case.
Most teachers feel that they are not well
prepared and equipped to provide the much
needed support to the young people.
Realizing the need to support the work of
the senior women teachers, the Aga Khan
Development Foundation through their
West Nile Region Office embarked on the
process of developing the guidelines for
senior women and men teachers.
A consultative meeting was organized with
key stakeholders who included ministry of
education and sports officials from the
headquarters, senior women and men
teachers, head teachers, project staff from
West Nile, district officials and members of
civil society organizations.
The team had a review and discussions on
the education and sports policies where the
work of senior women and men teachers is
hinged. Such policies included the Gender
in Education Policy and Strategic Plan, the
National Strategy for Girls’ Education and
the National Strategy to End Violence
against Children in Schools.
An experience sharing on the roles and
responsibilities of SWT/MT also showed
the SWT are overwhelmed about the work
and this coupled with the big numbers as
well the limited capacity. The group noted
that many of their roles are not assessed and
supervised and there is no reward system to
motivate the teachers to perform their roles.
From these issues a concept note was
developed and this will presented to the
Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
of the Ministry for comments and approval
for the wider consultation to begin.
Once finalized, the guidelines will go a long
way in addressing the challenges adolescent
girls and boys face as they are growing up.
RECAP
FOR
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S
DAY
UP-COMING EVENTS
1. National Celebration of the Day of
the African Child, 16 June 2017 in
Iganga District under the Theme;
“Accelerating
Protection
Empowerment
and
Equal
opportunities for children in
Uganda by 2030”
2. National Celebration of the
International Menstrual Hygiene
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017
Day on May 28, 2017 on the Theme:
“Education about menstruation
changes everything”
3. National Dialogue for Religious and
Cultural Leaders on Elimination of
Violence Against Children in
Schools on May 30, 2017 in
Kampala at Pope Paul Memorial
Centre.
NEW
UNIT
MATERIALS
THE GENDER EYE NEWSLETTER
CONTACT:
GENDER
UNIT
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND
SPORTS
LEGACY TOWERS WING B
FIRST FLOOR
TEL: 0393517407
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ISSUE 1: May’17 2017