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  • Empowerment

Quick information guide


The Government of Uganda has put in place five programmes to improve empowerment of women:

  • Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP);
  • Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP);
  • Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE); as well as
  • investment in infrastructure that is benefiting women in rural areas.
  • Presidential Initiative of Skilling the Girl child

Stakeholders’ Focus

Stakeholders that include Government, UN Agencies and Civil Society Organisations are jointly working and have set up varied programmes in the areas of:

  • Entrepreneurship development
  •  ICT
  • Career, talent and personal development for the youth
  • Gender responsive governance
  • Mentorship
  • Leadership
  • Equality and decision making; as well as
  • Providing empowerment Funds

Empowerment of women in Uganda

 

According to the UNDP, gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a pre-condition for sustainable development.
For social, economic and environmental sustainability to prevail women and girls need to be provided with:
 
  • Quality education;
  • Health care;
  • Decent work; 
  • Access and ownership rights over property and technology; and 
  • Equal participation in political and economic decision-making processes 
angle-left Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP)

Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP)

About the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP)

UWEP is aimed at improving access to financial services for women and equipping them with skills for enterprise growth, value addition and marketing of their products and services.

The Programme addresses the challenges women face in undertaking economically viable enterprises including

  1. the limited access to affordable credit,
  2. limited technical knowledge and skills for business development,
  3. limited access to markets as well as information regarding business opportunities.

The programme should increase participation of women in business development, increase their incomes, livelihood security and overall quality of life.
List of services provided by the programme 1. Capacity and Skills Development -  upgrading needs-based skills to enable women start and manage their businesses. Women have an opportunity to get hands-on training in skills  as well as buy required inputs.
  2. Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) - beneficiary groups receive interest-free credit on a revolving fund basis to build their businesses.  
  3. Institutional Support (IS) - basic training to strengthen beneficiary groups in bookkeeping, teambuilding, enterprise planning and implementation, entrepreneurship/ business skills and group dynamics. In addition, business counselling is provided to the women to enable them realize their potential.
What is needed for a woman to register to the program?

Join a group of 10-15 members involved in income generating activities. The group then passes through a validation process in order to register: 

  • The beneficiary women groups are identified and selected through a community participatory process that involves Local Council 1 (LC 1) and Women Council leaders as trusted members of the community.
  • The selection of the women to benefit under the UWEP is undertaken by the Beneficiary Selection Committee chaired by the Sub-County Chief with members including the Chairperson of the Sub-County Women Council and the Community Development Officer.
  • The respective LC 1 Chairpersons confirms that the selected women group members are bona fide Ugandans who reside within their respective communities (the catchment area for the group membership may be a village, parish and must not go beyond a Sub County/ Town Council/ City Division).
Are there links to critical information women need to know about the program? For further information, check the UWEP webpage.
Does program organise public events that benefit women? N/A
Contact details

Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development 
P.O. Box 7136, Kampala, Uganda.
Switchboard: 041-4 347854, 041-4 347855;
E-Mail: ps@mglsd.go.ug;
Website: http//www.mglsd.go.ug
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