By Inyakuni Kennedy

Yumbe

Coalition for Action (CoACT)  a Women’s right Organization that works on gender equality and women empowerment has laid strategies to address social challenges in Yumbe district. In order to achieve this objective, coalition for Action is set to implement peace building, conflict resolution and mediation activities in Yumbe district.

Briefing the district stakeholders during an inception meeting held on Wednesday at the district headquarters, Mr. Albert Mwesigwa, the program coordinator said by 2026, they would want to see women participation in enhancing social cohesion and reducing inter-ethnic conflicts, increased inclusion before and after elections. “When it comes to increasing social cohesion or peaceful co-existence and reducing inter-ethnic conflicts, once we have women participating in the front line, it’s also going to contribute to preventing election related violence before, during and after since this program will be implemented towards election period,” Mr. Mwesigwa said.

He added: “we are an alliance of women led organization and we do most of our work through women Community Base Organizations (CBOs), where we support and build their capacity to promote gender equality, women empowerment  focusing on effective implementation of women peace and security agenda”.

Mr. Mwesigwa noted that once a woman realizes her potential, she can lead development at all levels. And as we have seen there are live examples where women are taking leadership.

Mrs. Zakia Aduyo, the deputy speaker Yumbe district council pointed that many times after elections, the one who wins will be looked at by the opponent(s) as an enemy or a bad person which affects them as politicians in executing their duties. “In terms of executing your duties in your office, you will fInd a lot of nasty wards coming towards you. And your friendship with the people you have been in the field with is not that good. Of course as women and political leaders we always find it hard to approach our opponents so that we stay in peace with them, and it’s the major challenge for us in the district,” Mrs. Zakia remarked.

However, she has appealed to coalition for action to train both women council and women caucus once the program commences in the district.
The women in Yumbe district have continue to experience both physical and psychological violences in the hands of their husbands as a result of drug abuse despite the various interventions to address the vice.
A woman identified as Ramula a resident of Odropi cell in Yumbe town council said her family is suffering from lack of support from her husband as he is engaged in substance abuse.

Similarly, Mayimuna not her real name, a mother of 7 children in Yumbe remarked that none of her six children have never been to school due to lack of support from her husband. She said her husband gives UGX 1000 for the six children and much of his money goes to eating mairungii. “My husband was poor when I got married to him, we worked hard to establish a business, I wonder why he is not supporting his family, I have seven children with him but one passed on. My husband does not give money breakfast, when it’s time for breakfast he goes to restaurant and even the money for lunch is merge to help the family but he buys mairungi every day”, the woman explained.

Mr. Asiku Abdul Mutalib, The chairperson Yumbe thanked the leadership of coalition for action for choosing the district out of many and pledged total cooperation for the success of the project. Asiku says women in Yumbe are overburdened with family responsibilities and noted that supporting them is very crucial. “When it comes to the level of women in Yumbe district and how they are overburdened with family issues. We have more than seventy-seven thousand households in the district. But when we look at the proportion of those households where men takes responsibilities, I want to say it can’t reach more than 30%. Most of the household in the district are headed by women because if you are a man and you are unable to provide the basic needs of the family, you are not a man,” Asiku said.

Asiku has appealed for a continuous empowerment of women with the necessary skills, knowledge and resources to enable them support their families. “They are very many challenges in Yumbe district that are associated with poor parenting, we have high school dropout rate, teenage pregnancies and when it comes to issues of drug abuse its worse. All these are because of high population and people are failing to take responsibilities. Most of the households are managed by women and they can not support at some points”, the chairperson said.