The Overview And Challenges

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a form of violence which includes physical, sexual, and/or psychological violence perpetrated by men against women and girls. GBV is a gross violation of human-rights and universal values, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international documents, and unfortunately remains prevalent worldwide, cutting across national and socio-cultural boundaries. Gender inequality persists in Uganda as well, including negative gender stereotypes, limited representation, and participation of women in decision-making spaces, in social, and economic life.

Traditional views on gender roles are widespread, lowering women’s participation in higher education and encouraging child marriage, especially in rural areas (UNICEF global databases, 2021). Another major problem pertains to domestic violence, which saw a rapid increase since the pandemic hit. In addition, journalists face censorship making dissemination of the problem almost impossible.

GBV Goal

Aiming in raising awareness on women rights and GBV, strengthening civil society to support victims and prevent rights violations, training independent media workers to exercise their fundamental freedoms and promote gender equality, strengthening policy dialogue and links between relevant stakeholders, and enhancing democratic dialogue in the digital sphere.

GBV Objectives

  • Increase community participation and involvement to promote access to quality welfare   of both children and adolescents, eliminate all forms of SGBV and provide psychosocial support to the victims.
  • Effective advocacy with relevant stakeholders and parties to conflict to promote adherence to and human rights law, with emphasis on humanitarian concerns.
  • Capacity building at all levels for effective prevention of and response to protection challenges, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable.
  • Human-rights based approaches are mainstreamed in the program design and delivery of all PICSA Uganda programs.
  • Enhancement of Community capacity for protection of the most vulnerable.

Approach / Solution

PICASA Uganda seeks to contribute to reducing gender-based violence (GBV) in Uganda, and especially in the regions and districts, where GBV is most prevalent.

Identify and understand the root causes of domestic violence in Uganda, based on the perceptions on the topic of the general population
Raise general and legal awareness of women and girls regarding their rights, and of society in general on domestic violence
Strengthen and improve the skills of staff through capacity building activities
Train journalists and media professionals in promoting gender equality through their work
Strengthen the dialogue and networking links between CSOs and other relevant national stakeholders for the development of a strategy on combatting GBV
Promote and enhance communication and dialogue on the topic via social media

Impact To Date

Reached 600+ adolescent girls aged 12-16 years and 1000 Women aged 16-44 who need multiple forms of psycho-social, educational and legal support.
120 persons equipped with knowledge and skills through capacity building activities on human and women rights

Capacity Building and Health system Strengthening

Responsive governance and accountable leadership are critical for strong and resilient primary health care systems and delivery of high quality essential maternal, newborn and child health, reproductive health and family planning.

PICSA Uganda provide technical assistance to District Health Services, health facility staff, frontline health workers, community actors and civil society to deliver sustainable and responsive services. We work with governments at national, district and Parish level to increase Community engagement for better accountability and strengthen local capacity to develop referral systems between the community and health facilities to deliver timely, quality and essential services.

PICSA Uganda partnered with local governments to strengthen leadership, governance and financial management in order to improve livelihoods, health and nutrition outcomes, and agricultural support services for women of reproductive age and their children.

Health policy and systems prioritize self-care interventions for access, equity, and cost effectiveness.
Digital healthcare is increasingly used to support user knowledge and options for delivery through direct-to-consumer pathways.
A self-care ‘tipping point’ is achieved by 2030 with goals for access to self-managed contraception (notably DMPA-SC) and HIV prevention (notably HIV self-tests).

Champion Reproductive Rights

No one should suffer or die because of unsafe abortion.

We aim to prevent unsafe abortion by making comprehensive reproductive healthcare equitable and integrated within health systems. At the same time, we will champion reproductive justice and support policies that promote gender equality.

By 2030 we will:

Make quality-assured products and services universally accessible.
Reduce out-of-pocket expenditure for hundreds of thousands of people living in poverty through targeted subsidy, public-private partnerships, and health financing interventions.
Prevent disinformation, reduce stigma and uphold the rights of marginalized groups and those who face discrimination to integrated SRH care, which includes HIV prevention and contraception.

Improving Sexual Reproductive Health Rights and Reducing Sexual Violence for Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW)

In collaboration with the district health and education services, over 1,000 adolescent girls in five schools received training on menstrual hygiene management and local sanitary pad making. PICSA Uganda  trained Community Adolescent Reproductive Health Mobilizers (CACAS) to facilitate community mobilization and awareness creation as part of improving adolescent and young women’s health in rural communities, thus ensuring a high level of sustainability. Our school intervention program established a low-cost adolescent girls and boys club in 10 schools to support menstrual hygiene education and support.

We also integrated our AGYW into community health-seeking behaviours: awareness was conducted on SHSR, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, malaria prevention and control, TB prevention, and early health-seeking behaviours. We also engaged in a community dialogue on various health problems affecting the community. The project has built the health facility and community health workers’ capacity in the planning and implementation of community health services for adolescent girls and young women.

OUR PARTNERS

Interested in partnering on our work in Uganda?