This quarter, we shine a light on Teso Women Peace Activists (TEWPA), a women-led organisation taking the lead to advance peace, resolve conflict, build tolerance and justice, in the Teso Region.
About TEWPA: Formed in 2001 by Cecilia Engole following her participation in the Isis-WICCE Institute to respond to the challenges that women and girls face during and after conflicts. Teso Women Peace Activists (TEWPA), designs peace building and conflict resolution projects/programs that are issue based; and organize focused peace building training for TOTs in communities, for sustainability and as an effort to create lasting peace. TEWPA’s focus is peacebuilding, conflict transformation, democratization and human rights.
The Impact of TEWPA:
TEWPA has established peacebuilding committees and animators in the community structures, who have continuously been trained in human rights and peace building processes to facilitate their interventions in their various villages. The organisation also organizes dialogues, debates, and Barazas with duty bearers and beneficiary communities, to create awareness on women rights and other issues.
TEWPA’s approach to empowerment of women is mainly through holding synergy meetings. The women are organized in consortiums as interest groups for successful advocacy on identified issues of women’s concern. TEWPA works with women and men from different ethnic/tribal/political groups as a way of creating collective action to influence decision makers. TEWPA has trained over 246 Alternative Dispute Resolution Activists(ADRAs), women and men, to mediate land disputes in Teso.
So far over 50 mediation clinics have been conducted and over 40 land cases successfully resolved. 325 women Peace Committees have been trained in peacebuilding processes and Human Rights, in the Teso and Karamoja regions and these have in turn reached over 1,967 community members, who experienced conflicts, who have successfully internalized what their rights and responsibilities are. Likewise, the community members have taken up the responsibility to educate others in their different villages. TEWPA has also built the capacity of 159 adolescent mothers on life skills to sustain themselves. This is carried out through making reusable sanitary wear; making liquid soap; and other entrepreneurship skills. The girls were also sensitized to join family planning. The organization has therefore succeeded in making communities understand these actions as means that make them peaceful, and therefore important to sustain. TEWPA has reached over 8,631 community members in Teso region in the past one year, to create awareness on women land rights.
You can Contact TEWPA here.
Teso Women Peace Activists (TEWPA)
Plot 13, Emokori Road, Kichinjaji Ward
P.O. Box 558 Soroti- City- Uganda
Email: tesowomen2001@gmail.com/ alupocecilia47@gmail.com
Telephone: +256 782 718 422/+256 774 594 419/+ 256 754 590 655
