Women groups resist merger to fund Parish Devt Model

The Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Uganda)  and Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP) have asked government to maintain UWEP as a separate Fund instead of merging it  other wealth creation programmes to finance the Parish Development Model (PDM). 

Ms Elizabeth Kemigisha, the FIDA advocacy manager, yesterday said the Ugandan government made international commitments to have women’s saving Fund  to separately cater to some of their needs so merging UWEP with other funds to finance the PDM erases efforts made towards economic empowerment of women.

“Merging UWEP with other programmes will water down this commitment because the programme will have lost its categorisation as a special programme for women,” Ms  Kemigisha said.

 Government is launching the PDM as a strategy for organising and delivering public and private sector interventions for wealth creation and employment at the parish level as the lowest economic planning unit. 

According to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, government plans to merge the existing seven wealth creation programmes including UWEP to finance the new initiative. 

“So this year, we pray again for Parliament, especially the Members of Parliament that have continued to serve women or continued to work with women and are interested in economic empowerment to ensure that UWEP is not merged at the end of two years,”  Ms Kemigisha added.

Ms Kemigisha made the remarks at a meeting convened by FIDA and UWEP to discuss how to keep UWEP as a secret fund.

“We are seeking out Parliament to continue supporting and saving UWEPA. This work   began from the women’s movement last year where 34 women organisations came together to oppose the merger. The merger was proposed by Parliament and there was a halt for 2 years for this fund to be merged together with other funds.”

“The nature and maturity period for enterprises to be supported under PDM don’t favour the needs of women. Women are more interested in enterprises that give them daily income to sustain themselves and their households. However, the 18 product enterprises that are being proposed under PDM are good only for a long time.”

“While men may have the luxury to wait until such a time, the majority of their women counterparts are looking for survivor now. For example, how can I feed my children, how can I provide for my sick mother, what about basic needs of salt, soap, pads, kerosene, attending antenatal care, buying books and uniform all which can’t wait,” Ms Kemigisha added.

Ms  Evelyn Letiyo,  the United Nations Women’s representative, said they will work with FIDA to ensure that the women’s Fund operates separately as a saving fund.

 “It’s important that women are given the leeway to use their 30 percent allocation to run enterprises for their special needs. That is why they should be targeted separately however in line with provisions of PDM,” Ms Letiyo says.

She also asked MPs who share the same goal of women empowerment to organise themselves and second motion. 
Bungokho North Constituency MP  John Faith Magogo applauded the women entrepreneurship support  that has been offered in his area.