President Museveni has advised women groups that are engaged in poverty alleviation to engage in several income generating projects so as to increase their household incomes. In a speech read on his behalf by Gender Minister Hon. Karooro Okurut he commended the good work the Acholi women in Entebbe were doing in mobilizing women and girls to engage in income generating projects and also preserving the cultural heritage of the Acholi people.
“Engaging in craft making, fish smoking. Bead making are good but I challenge you to also engage in farming, poultry as well as fish farming and also widen your knowledge by learning from other successful groups especially SACCOS from other areas of Uganda” the minister read in a speech.
The minister who was speaking at the launch of the Acholi Women Development Group Entebbe at Lake Victoria School on Saturday urged the Acholi community not to deviate from their cultural norms that are good and aim at preserving humanitarianism.
“I am pleased to note that the main aim of the group is the eradication of poverty towards a better livelihood which is an NRM Objective and the President has contributed shs 10m towards your group” Karooro stated in the speech.
She also urged the group to have the right attitudes and mindsets particularly towards work if they were to succeed. She revealed that Government would continue to address challenges on Gender inequalities such as negative attitudes, negative mindsets and poor cultural practices and perceptions in order to achieve sustainable development.
The minister urged the members to be steadfast in achieving the aims of the group. “I urge you to continue engaging in partnerships in order to increase wealth creation and prosperity for all” she continued.
The minister also encouraged women to fight for their rights and also called upon all children to report to the authorities’ people who abuse and violate their rights.
She appealed to the members to begin savings to form a SACCO and also encouraged other Ugandans to join SACCOS.
She was pleased to note that government through the ministry of health had put in place health care packages to take care of all maternal health needs.
“95 Percent of mothers receive antenatal care as a result of improved health infrastructure while 58 percent of birth are assisted by skilled providers and over 84 percent of children are immunized” she noted.
“Through the land and mortgage Act NRM Government has protected the land rights of women and as a result of the good laws 40 percent of women now own houses on their own land” the minister said.
She added that in the Education sector UPE and USE programs as well as the affirmative action policy of the girls to Makerere are all incentives to enable parents send the girl child to school and as a result enrollment has increased.
Acholi Women Development Group Entebbe is an association that brings together all Acholi women in Entebbe to engage in income generating projects and promote unity and togetherness among the Acholi community. Some of the activities that the women are engaged in include fish processing, processing of Ground nut paste, Art and Craft making.
According to the group Chairperson Consolata Acayo the group hopes to start a saving scheme where soft loans will be availed to the members at 10 percent interest rate. Acayo also revealed that Entebbe Mayor Kayanja has offered free computer training lessons for young girls at the municipal council.
