Uganda on course over women empowerment, PS Bigirimana tells UN
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- Other interventions the ministry has put in place include; establishing the External Employment Management Information System (EEMIS) to help government and recipient countries to track progress of the workers; reviewing of the regulations for labour migration to address migrants’ needs; and, conducting pre-departure orientation and training to each group that jets out of the country.
KAMPALA. The Uganda government is on truck in implementing global efforts towards empowerment of women, Mr Pius Bigirimana, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development has assured the United Nations.
Mr Bigirimana was speaking during the final sessions of the 63rd conference of UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) in New York on Sunday.
The conference was organised by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, an entity that has been working for the empowerment of women since 2011.
Mr Bigirimana said the government has involved issues of women empowerment at both planning and policy level not only through his ministry but across all the sectors.
“Implementation of Social Protection initiatives are a priority commitment to the Uganda government and this is articulated in the Policy Instrument like Vision 2040, the Second National Development Plan, the National Social Protection Policy 2015, as well as the various Sector specific policies and strategies,” he said.
Mr Bigirimana outlined seven policy frameworks through which the government is empowering women who comprise 51 per cent of the total population in the country.
He listed the legal frameworks as; the National Policy and Action Plan on Elimination of Gender Based Violence 2016 which is guiding interventions for prevention, response and ending impunity for all forms of GBV; the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP); the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP); the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE); investment in infrastructure that is benefiting women in rural areas.
Others are; the government’s commitment to enhance women participation in procurement processes with a provision of 30 percent of the budget for public procurements; creating a conducive environment for women who devise innovative approaches to build on traditional mechanisms for social protection through savings and credits; deploying women on Village Health Teams (VHTs) through which the women are involved in primary health promotion efforts.
For example, under YLP, Mr Bigirimana said, 101887 (46%) of the total 223,642 beneficiaries so far are female youths whereas women are the majority of the 157,493 older persons benefiting under the SAGE project.
“In preparation for the review of 25 years of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, Government of Uganda reaffirms its commitment to this instrument which set a global standard for gender equality and women’s empowerment. We therefore, call upon our Development Partners to support the Government’s efforts in the implementation of the prioritized Social Protection initiatives,” he said.
Earlier in the week, the Ugandan delegation took part in the side event that was discussing social protection for women and girls on the move. This was mainly addressing the rights of refugee women and migrant workers across the globe.
On behalf of the Uganda delegation, Mr Bigirimana spoke passionately about majority of the over 1.2m refugees being women and children, and also most of the Ugandan migrant workers who seek better opportunities abroad are females.
“Our government has put in place a progressive policy that ensures the protection of refugees and host communities with respect to human rights, access to services and prevention of all forms of violence, including gender based violence (GBV). Our Government has also ensured social protection for women and female youth who are migrating outside the country for employment opportunities,” the PS emphasised.
On the issue of migrant workers who the meeting observed have faced challenges in adopting to working environment away from home, Mr Birigimana said for the case of Uganda, Bilateral Agreement (BLA) have been signed with labour exporting countries to ensure job security and protection of their human rights.
Other interventions the ministry has put in place include; establishing the External Employment Management Information System (EEMIS) to help government and recipient countries to track progress of the workers; reviewing of the regulations for labour migration to address migrants’ needs; and, conducting pre-departure orientation and training to each group that jets out of the country.
