Pamoya

WOUGNET Update Newsletter - April 2005
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A monthly electronic newsletter from Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) -
http://www.wougnet.org
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This month's contents:
1. Women Organisations in Uganda
2. ICT Policy
3. Links & Resources
4. Project News and Events
5. WOUGNET News
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WOMEN ORGANISATIONS IN UGANDA
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= Mulago Women in Development (MUWOD)
http://www.wougnet.org/wo_dir.html#MUWOD
Operating in Mulago parish, MUWOD started in 1998 with 30 members. By then
women in Mulago did not have a common voice to address issues affecting
them, individually and jointly. The group was formed to bring women
together and find ways of improving their status economically and socially.
With assistance of UGAFODE (a micro financing organisation), members
acquired skills in finance management and thereafter the group started an
independent savings and credit scheme which still runs todate.
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/muwod.html

= Disabled Women in Development (DIWODE-Uganda)
DIWODE's mission is to impart practical skills so that members can live a
meaningful life. Since inception, DIWODE has mobilised 99 disabled women,
50 widows and registered 250 orphans. DIWODE wishes/seeks to put up a
vocational training centre to equip children with practical skills.
However, we are still restricted by funds so our mission is yet to be
accomplished.
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/diwode.html

= Hope After Rape (HAR)
HAR is a voluntary women's Non-Governmental Organisation founded in 1994 as
a result of concern about the increasing number of reports of child sexual
abuse, rape and gender-based violence. HAR currently operates in the
districts of Kampala, Mpigi, Wakiso, Lira and Mbale.
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/har.html

= Nakaseke Women's Development Association (NAWODA)
NAWODA targets women, orphans, youth and the disabled in order to provide
them with information, training as well as to integrate the use of ICTs in
their political, social and economic aspects of life. This will reverse the
current trend of unequal gender access to new technologies.
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/nawoda.html

= LWA: Fruit juice and paste making project
Lungujja WomenÂ's Association (LWA) was established in 1995 to uplift the
status of women in Lungujja. Ten years down the road, LWA has 25 active
members who testify that through LWA they have been enabled to shift from
small to medium income earners for instance, some have managed to shift
from kiosks to fully-fledged retail shops. LWA has embarked on a project to
produce passion juice concentrate, tomato-paste and chili-paste, and herbal
soap.
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/lungujja.html#FRUIT

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ICT POLICY
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= GenderIT.org - Gender and ICT Policy Monitor
GenderIT.org is an information and communications technology (ICT) policy
portal for women and policy-makers. ICT policy is not just about
legislation of infrastructure and operators. Good ICT policy can promote
economic empowerment. It can counter the negative uses of ICTs, such as
trafficking of women. GenderIT.org promotes the need for gender advocacy in
ICT policy as well as the Â"how toÂ" of pushing for policy change. The
Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support
Programme (APC WNSP) developed GenderIT.org to broaden awareness of gender
and ICTs and to offer a practical tool for ICT advocates, especially
womenÂ's organisations and movements, to ensure that ICT policy meets their
needs and does not infringe on their rights.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/ictresources.html#GICT

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LINKS & RESOURCES
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a) Development

= Sustainable Development Initiatives (SDI)
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/development.html#SDI
SDI's mission is to contribute to national development in Uganda by
providing communities with opportunities that uplift them from poverty
through projects and programmes that address health, education, food
security, water, sanitation, human rights and environment.
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/sdi.html

= Development Alternatives Consult (DAC)
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/development.html#DAC
Based in Uganda, DAC's mission is to provide quality services for the
satisfication of the clients' needs and interests in the area of gender and
development. It was founded by 3 professionals with core expertise in
gender and development especially in gender planning and budgeting, policy
research and advocacy, gender-training, monitoring and evaluation.
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/dacug.html

b) Education

= Buzinge-Buremba Multi-Purpose Projects (BUBMUPS)
Operating in the districts of Mbale, Sironko and Mbarara, BUBMUPS's mission
is to provide educational assistance to disadvantaged children through
sponsorship programmes for Primary, Secondary and Vocational training.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/education.html#BUBMUPS

c) Environment

= Agency for Environment and Wetlands (AEW)
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/aew.html
Established in 2003, AEW's mission is to promote sustainable use of natural
resources through research and publication, training, networking and
information sharing, and lobbying and advocacy in order to achieve
sustainable economic and social development in Uganda.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/environment.html#AEW

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PROJECT NEWS AND EVENTS
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June 2005

= Call for papers and Invitation to a sub-regional conference: "Library
automation to reduce the digital divide: present and future trends for
University libraries in East and Southern Africa", Kampala, Uganda, June 6
- 8, 2005
A workshop was held in South Africa in July 2004 on the theme Â'Sustainable
use of ICTs in African LibrariesÂ' for both University and national/public
libraries, and a report entitled Â'ICTs and the LibraryÂ' was written after
the workshop. Several issues emerged which need further investigation,
while some of the issues were not fully covered. This conference is a
follow-up on that workshop.
There is a growing need to share the experience of automating university
libraries with limited human and financial resources, but amidst a growing
number of users. Makerere University Library is planning to hold a
three-day regional conference on the above theme early June this year. It
has secured some funding from Sida/SAREC to sponsor paper presenters and
the production of a book that will be published after the conference.
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews05.html#KSRC05

July 2005

= ActionAid International: 'Get on Board'
'Get on Board' by telling the world leaders what you think they should do
to end poverty. Actionaid International is collecting messages from
countries in the south to take to the G8 meeting which will take place in
Scotland on 6th July. This is part of the Global call Against Poverty
campaign. Get on Board is the epic journey of a small African bus. A
journey that starts in Johannesburg on 31 March, and ends in Scotland on 6
July at the G8 gathering of the worldÂ's most powerful leaders.
The Get on Board bus is one with a difference. Rather than transporting
passengers we will be transporting the messages of people from south and
east Africa and bringing these to the G8 leaders. These messages will form
a challenge from the people of Africa to world leaders to support, and not
undermine, AfricaÂ's own efforts to overcome poverty and injustice. Get on
Board will be meeting people living in extreme poverty ­ those whose voices
are rarely heard.
The Get on Board team are from Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and the UK, and they
will be driving 12,000 miles from Johannesburg, South Africa and through
Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. People from these countries
will be getting on board as the bus travels through. The bus will board a
ship at Mombasa, and from there will sail up the north east coast of
Africa, through the Suez Canal, and across the Mediterranean to Marseilles,
France. From there, the bus will travel to Italy and then to the UK ­
reaching itsÂ' final destination of the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland on
6 July. The bus arrives in Uganda on 7 May 2005 via Malaba and leaves on 15
May 2005 via Busia.
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews05.html#GOB

September 2005

= 2005 Tanzania Gender Festival - Â'Gender, Democracy and Development:
Popular Struggles for an Alternative WorldÂ', Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,
September 6-9

The 2005 Gender Festival [Tamasha la Jinsia] will focus on analyses of
concrete efforts to promote alternatives to the present socio-economic
structures and ideologies at all levels. Formerly known as the Annual
Gender Studies Conference (AGSC), the 2005 Gender Festival is an open space
for bringing together gender-focused groups, other civil society
organizations, institutions, activists and other development actors working
at various levels to meet, reflect and strategize on the progress made in
struggles for gender equity, social transformation and participatory
democracy in Tanzania.
The Gender Festival is a collective capacity building, skills building and
networking fora for civil society and development actors in and outside the
country.
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews05.html#TGF05

= Pan-African Women Invent & Innovate (PAWII) Exhibition, Conference and
Awards Ceremony: Â'Business Women Marketing A Wealth Of IdeasÂ', Accra,
Ghana, September 6-8, 2005
The PAWII event is the first of its kind to target AfricaÂ's most
exceptionally creative, inventive and innovative women entrepreneurs while
bringing together some of the most dynamic people in the world of
international trade and intellectual property to share good practice and
promote the importance of Innovation and Technology in Enterprise.
The event is organised by GWIIN in partnership for the first time with IFC
GEM (Gender-Entrepreneurship-Markets) Women Mean Business in Africa program
­ co-sponsored by IFC ­ the private arm of the World Bank Group. It is
hosted and staged in collaboration with the Ministry of Women & Children
Affairs Commission (MOWAC) Ghana.
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews05.html#PAW05

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WOUGNET News
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= WOUGNET/OWA Multi-stakeholder Consultative Meeting: "The role of ICT in
Socio-Economic Development", April 7 - 8, 2005

WOUGNET in collaboration OWA hosted a multi-stakeholder consultative
meeting from April 7th ­ 8th 2005 at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel, under the
theme Â'The role of ICT in Socio-Economic DevelopmentÂ'. OneWorld Africa
(OWA) was founded in 1999 and is the Africa center of the OneWorld.net
network, a network devoted to sustainable development and human rights.
The specific thematic focus of the consultative meeting was on ICT in
Health, Agriculture and Education as well as on the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) and its relevance to Uganda as a developing
country. The primary objective was to develop strategies for mainstreaming
ICT for Development (ICT4D). Mainstreaming ICT4D is the systematic placing
of modern information and communication technologies in those
efforts/strategies designed to realize important development goals.
The meeting was attended by 50 participants from government, civil society,
media, and UN agencies. A report of the meeting will be made available.

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