By Charity Akullu

Lira

At least 200 teenage mothers and school dropouts in Lira City have received sewing machines and hair dressing equipment in a bid to improve on their livelihoods.

The machines and equipment delivered were through Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development in partnership with Northern Uganda Women’s Network for Business Development (NUWEBIZ), an NGO in Northern Uganda.

The beneficiaries are aged between 16-20 years and are teenage mothers who dropped out of school. They were selected from the 49 parishes within Lira City, with three beneficiaries per parish.

Ms. Sharon Okello Nagenwa, the Executive Director for Northern Uganda Women’s Network for Business Development, an NGO heading the group of the 200 child mothers said very many organizations and government agencies keep training different women with skills in tailoring and hair dressing most especially those who dropped out of school but majority of them once passed out, lack resources and startup capital to initiate their own projects. “I strongly believe these sewing and hair dressing equipment will help them startup their own projects,” she said.

Ms. Lillian Ocare, the Assistant Town Clerk of Lira City said the donation by the Gender Ministry is a strategic intervention targeting the female youth that will enable many of them to become economically empowered. “This support has come timely and I think it`s going to help the beneficiaries,” she remarked.

Ms. Betty Amongi, the Minister of Gender, Labor and Social Development said she has realized there are so many problems women in micro businesses are facing. "I realized that there are barriers for women doing very small micro businesses who cannot have collaterals to make them get loans from banks," she noted.

A recent report by the National Population Council indicates that Oyam district has the highest number of teenage pregnancies, with 4,448 cases, followed by Lira with 3,871, Kole district with 3,186, Dokolo with 2,363, Kwania with 2,332, and Alebtong with 2,190.

In Uganda, Statistics reveal that 64 percent of girls engage in Sexual activity before the age of 18, and 34 percent get married before reaching the age of 18 years.

On average there are 1,000 teenage pregnancies recorded daily in Uganda, with Lango Sub-region accounting for 28 percent of these cases.

COVER PHOTO: Child mothers testing the donated sewing machines By Charity Akullu