Monday 31 October 2011

EASSI CONTINUES TO CALL FOR ENGENDERING SALW WORK IN THE EAC

In October 2011, Jackie Urujeni & Grace Rukundo who attended and completed one month Training on Gender & SALW Mainstreaming in 2010 and 2011 at EASSI secretariat in Kampala facilitated a country level training in Rwanda.

The training was carried to enhance the capacity of National  Focal Point members on Small Arms to mainstream gender in SALW interventions at national level. The country level training is a follow up on a one month intensive training where participants were expected to start their knowledge and experience sharing at country level using action plans that they developed during their own training at EASSI.

The Rwanda training followed similar country level trainings in Uganda on 3rd October 2011 and in Kenya on 4th October 2011 for NFP staff. Two more trainings will be conducted in Tanzania and Burundi in November 2011.


Friday 28 October 2011

UGANDA SUFFERING ONE OF THE HIGHEST RATES OF CANCER

Even before Ugandans come to terms with the harsh realities of HIV/Aids, another shocking fact has emerged. The Pearl of Africa has the highest cancer rates in the world. According to research from the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in the US, the first case of cancer in Uganda was diagnosed in 1960s. In a media briefing, Dr Jackson Orem director Uganda Cancer Institute, lamented that the HIV epidemic is among the leading causatives of cancer. in the developing world, Uganda inclusive and the most affected are women and children. "Uganda has among the highest cancer rates in the world, yet limited resources for patient diagnosis and care are available. This makes Uganda's cancer survival rate just 10 percent," Dr Orem said. "The trend threatens to undermine the young and productive segment of Africa's population and thus improving cancer survival rates especially among children is essential," said Dr Orem. Research done by the UCI reveals that in 2008, the country had only one oncologist, and Mulago hospital was receiving about 10,000 cancer cases annually, most of which in there late stages.

MOTHERS-TO-BE MOST AT RISK FROM INADEQUATE HEALTH BUDGET


The shortage of health workers in Uganda is a "crisis", says the Minister of Health, and activists say expectant mothers are bearing the brunt of the country's staffing deficiency. Just 56 percent of Uganda's available health positions are filled. Parliament's recent refusal to reallocate part of the country's budget to hire more doctors, nurses and midwives has now become a rallying point for Uganda's maternal health advocates. A parliamentary committee's recent attempt to redirect 75 billion Ugandan shillings – about US$27.5 million - out of a national budget of more than 10 trillion shillings ($3.6 billion) towards hiring enough health workers was rebuffed in September, a rejection that became official when President Yoweri Museveni agreed parliament's final budget. The reallocation failure has angered health advocates, especially maternal health activists, who point to the lack of trained nurses and midwives as a key reason an estimated 16 women die daily giving birth in Uganda. According to the International Monetary Fund, Zambia and Uganda have similar GDPs, but World Health Organisation figures show very different death rates for mothers in the two countries: 7.8 percent of all deaths of women of reproductive age in Zambia are related to childbirth, against 11.3 percent in Uganda.

Tuesday 25 October 2011

EASSI SIGNS MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH UGANDA EXPORT PROMOTION BOARD AND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TO BOOST INFORMAL CROSS BORDER IN THE REGION

L-R: Marren Akatsa-Bukachi (EASSI), Elizabeth Kata (UEPB) and Awel Uwihanganye (UNCCI) shake hands after the signing of the MOU that seeks to boost informal cross border trade in the EAC Partner States

This morning, EASSI represented by Marren Akatsa-Bukachi (Executive Director) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Uganda Export Promotion Board (UEPB) and the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI) to boost informal cross border trade in the EAC Partner States. The MOU seeks to foster pooling of resources to collectively build women trader's capacity, advance the simplified trade regime and find solutions to challenges faced by the informal traders at the different border points of Katuna, Kanyaru, Busia, Mutukula and Namanga.

As per the Memorandum of Understanding, EASSI, UEPB and UNCCI undertake to perform jointly several activities. These include:
·         Strengthening cross border women associations at the borders and building the members capacity to trade and manage their businesses better;
·         Simplifying trade processes and procedures for the informal women cross border traders;
·         Advocacy for women;
·         Forging strategic alliances with the existing COMESA Cross Border Trade coordinating secretariat (UNCCI) among other border agencies
·         Seeking buy-in of other players to facilitate trade
·         Provision of Trade Information

The ultimate goal of the above mentioned interventions is to have women graduate to formal trade.

EASSI, given that it is a gender based organization, is looking into issues of gender based violence, HIV/AIDS and what the EAC can do to engender informal cross border trade that is mainly dominated by women. EASSI has so far trained over 500 women informal cross border traders at some of the border points of the EAC as well as opened five resource centers that are managed by coordinators. The resource centers are meant to avail women with information on how to go about their businesses because information is a strong tool for the economic empowerment of women.
EASSI under her ongoing project on engendering wealth creation in the EAC with the support of Trade Mark East Africa has also trained and co-trained with customs officials at the borders on the customs union protocol.

All the three institutions are optimistic that the interventions will have an impact on the women at the borders.


Thursday 13 October 2011

OUR COUNTRY-LEVEL TRAININGS ON ENGENDERING SMALL ARMS WORK

Rwanda: Media Fraternity Urged to Promote Gender Mainstreaming

Journalists from various media houses around the country have been called upon to earnestly highlight gender based issues. The call was made during a conference on Gender and Governance in East Africa, organised by the Association of Rwanda Female Journalists (ARFEM) in collaboration with the Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI)...

More: http://allafrica.com/stories/201109170124.html

Tuesday 11 October 2011

3 WOMEN SCOOP THE 2011 NOBEL PRIZE

EASSI congratulates the three iconic women including  President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf -Africa's first democratically elected female president, Leymah Gbowee - a Liberian peace activist and Tawakkul Karman a woman who stood up to Yemen's authoritarian regime for winning the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize ($1.5 million) for their work to secure women's rights, which the prize committee described as fundamental to advancing world peace.

These were the first women to win the prize since another Global Fund grantee partner, Wangari Maathai, who in September 21011 was named as the laureate in 2004. Most of the recipients in the award’s 110-year history have been men and today’s decision echoes the belief that women have creative and strategic solutions to the problems facing their communities.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the three women "for their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."

The peace prize was in line with Norway's development aid strategy, which is often focused on women's rights. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the award "important and worthy." In his 1895 will, award creator Alfred Nobel gave only vague guidelines for the peace prize, saying it should honor "work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."