The International Day of the Girl child

 The International Day of the Girl child

The International Day of the Girl Child was established by United Nations General Assembly recognizing that despite the progress achieved, discrimination and violence against girls and violations of their  human rights still persist.Intensification of efforts is therefore needed recognizing the fact that the empowerment of girls is key in decreasing discrimination, violence, poverty, and above all promoting and protecting  the full and effective enjoyment of their human rights.Hence empowering girls requires the active support and engagement of their parents, care takers and communities as well.

The International Day of the Girl Child was established by United Nations General Assembly on 17^th November 2011,in recalling its resolution 64/145 of 18 December 2009 and all relevant resolutions, including the agreed conclusions of the commission on the status of women, in particular those relevant to the Girl Child.

The UN felt a need to raise awareness of the challenges that millions of girls face every day. The UN declared that this day would annually be observed as the International Day of the Girl Child, starting from October 11, 2012.

The International theme as declared by UN is “Too young to wed, End child marriage”, but to customize it to the Ugandan context stakeholders suggested to change it to read “Too young to marry; end child marriage and teenage pregnancy”

The Key Stake holders for this day include:Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development, Ministry of Education and Sports, UNFPA ,National Council for children, Plan Uganda, FAWE, Raising Voices, Child fund, Uganda Children net work (UCRNN), ANPCAN, Save the Children in Uganda, VSO. Etc…….

 

 

Gender Mainstreaming in the Uganda Education sector

Welcome to the Gender in Education blog-sphere; let us begin the conversation!!

Gender inequality in Uganda has remained persistent even with interventions and policies in place. The National Development Plan (2010-2014/15) has an objective under the Social Development of “Promoting gender equality and women empowerment by ensuring equitable access to opportunities and participation in the development process”. Among the listed interventions are the strengthening of technical capacity for gender and equity mainstreaming in plans, policy analysis and evaluation; as well as promoting and conducting gender responsive budgeting. The Gender in Education Sector Policy also recommends capacity building for the gender mainstreaming as a key role for Ministry of Education and Sports.

For this cause, Government of Uganda received funding from Irish Aid through the Budget Monitoring Unit of Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. The funds will facilitate mainstreaming of gender in all programs and processes for Ministry of Education and Sports.

The Ministry of Education has set up a gender mainstreaming Unit to enhance gender mainstreaming in the sector.

The staff in the unit started working in April 2012 and so far, the Unit has undertaken the following activities:

• Conducted a Rapid Needs Assessment exercise for all departments in MoES
• Engendered Tools for the PAF Joint monitoring.
• Made proposals for departments to integrate specific gender items into their budgets and plans for FY 2012/13.
• Trained gender and budget focal point staff in Gender and Equity budgeting.

In the month of September the Unit with funding from UNDP and Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development will conduct a Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) with all staff of the Ministry and Development partners. The Audit is intended at assessing internal practices and gender support systems as well as establishing baselines and identifying gaps. All members of staff are encouraged to be part of this activity and to make use of the Technical Assistance within the Gender Unit Staff.

“Gender equality must be a lived reality”

Maggie Kasiko
Gender Technical Adviser/ MoES