The Peace Centre as part of the Women’s Movement supports reservations to the merger of the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program(UWEP) with other programmes in light of the numerous barriers that women grapple with in accessing and enjoying credit and capital. Uganda is known to have registered strides in gender equality. UWEP which was launched in 2015 is one of the biggest initiatives and has been key in realizing Sustainable Development goals 1 and 5 that speak to ending poverty and gender inequality respectively.
The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development presented a statement on the floor of the Parliament of Uganda that indicated UWEP as one of the wealth creation vehicles that is due to be merged into one revolving fund to finance the Parish Development Model. The women’s movement of Uganda today expressed its concern at this proposal which defeats the very purpose for which the women-centric UWEP was created i.e to improve access to financial services for women and equipping them with skills for enterprise growth. Read their Statement.
