Girls and Women with Disabilities face multiple forms of discrimination as there is too often a big gap between them and the community’s decision-making, hence a special need to empower their self-determined lives and their access to decision-making and leadership positions.
To provide a wider knowledge about their rights, Isis-WICCE, National Union of Women with Disabilities Uganda (NUWODU) and Gulu Women with Disabilities Union (GUWODU) are implementing a 1yr project on “Increasing Access to Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights for Women with Disabilities” with funding from Amplify Change. The project seeks to strengthen the capacity of Women with Disabilities (WwDs) to advocate for improved SRH services and improve competencies of service providers to ensure quality services for WWDs in Gulu district.
Session Facilitator, Miiro Michael taking participants from Awach Sub-county through the different types of advocacy.
During project implementation 40 community volunteers(Paralegals) were trained from both Awach and Patiko sub counties on legal provisions and referral pathways for reporting and response to the violation of the rights of WwDs. The project also provided them with tools to document violations and report to appropriate authorities and conduct awareness campaigns on the rights of WWDs and act as local advocates of these rights.
Stakeholders in Gulu district are participating in an advocacy forum aimed at sharing paralegal findings, discussing existing limitations, exploring necessary action to be taken and strengthening linkages for effective response to the rights and needs of Women with Disabilities and improved access to SRH services.
Paralegals and health workers discussing issues faced to be submitted to the district
