 |
| District chairman for PWD's giving his remarks |
This
was during an interface meeting for district leaders and the vulnerable group
leaders that took place on Labour Day 1st .may. 2013 at Kamwenge District
Headquarters in the education boardroom. Despite the down pour of heavy rains
that rained till mid day, this did not stop participants from turning up in big
numbers for the meeting. These included the District Chairperson LCV who was
represented by his vice, District Speaker, Subcounty Chief Ntara, District Chairman
for persons with disabilities, District Councilors Kamwenge Town Council And Ntara
Sub county Chairman Youth , Secretary For Social Services among others.
In
his opening remarks, MR Bwambale Geoffrey the program officer Karambi Action
for life Improvement told participants to organize themselves in groups so as
to advocate for their rights and access government programs for equal opportunities.
Under the project; “ROEA104399 Enhancing
civic competence to strengthen social accountability in 25 districts, 5 regions
in Uganda”, RWECO conducted the Participatory Poverty Assessment in 5
districts of: Kasese, Kabarole, Bundibugyo, Kamwenge and Kyenjojo whose aim
was to assess the applicability of the
national policy papers in achieving the social goals of service delivery and
launched the policy briefs in the region to share the findings of the
participatory assessment. Action point during the policy brief launch was to
cascade the policy briefs for the vulnerable groups to make campaigns on issues
that pertain to their livelihoods and service delivery.
Thus
RWECO in partnership with KALI have embarked on mobilizing the vulnerable
groups especially the PWD’s basing on the outcomes of the poverty assessment.
The joint annual campaigns with district vulnerable groups on poverty
eradication and service delivery monitoring
in Kamwenge district follows a training of leaders of vulnerable groups
that was conducted in march 2013. The Purpose of the Joint Campaigns with Vulnerable groups was to interface with Local government leaders and bring the plight of the poor vulnerable groups on the policy agenda and to mobilize and rally support of the district leaders for increasing budgets to vulnerable groups with specific focus PWD’s and SNE in the district.
Neglect of PWD’s in policy
formulation and implementation
Lack of empowerment and advocacy
strategy in place to enable the vulnerable to voice out their issues
Ignorance of the disabled they are
not aware of their rights
Low budget allocation for the PWD’s
and the youths
Inaccessibility of the allocated
funds especially the youths
Addition
to the above, He said, Disability is not inability” citing
out examples of PWD’s who have excelled in their career despite of being disabled,
District speaker kayunga,woman Mp Koboko and the Head Of ICT Department Uganda Martyrs
University Mbarara Campus.
Action points agreed upon during
the meeting;
Advocating for the implementation
of different articles and laws that promote the plight of people with
disabilities and other marginalized groups
Sensitization of PWD’s to
participate in budgeting, planning and resource allocations at different levels
of local government.
Follow up on budget performance for
the allocated funds to the PWD’s in a given financial year
Lobby and advocate for user
friendly pavements on all public places
Identifying and funding talented
PWD’s
Creating a rehabilitation center
for PWD’s and orphans
Conducting integrated meetings
between PWD’s and development partners on a quarterly basis
Support the building of a rehabilitation
and resource center for PWD”s
Radio talk show programme
To
sum up everything the meeting ended up with a radio talk show at Voice of Kamwenge
from 9:00pm-10:00pm where the District Speaker, District Councilor People With Disabilities, KALI staff And The
Chairman Advocacy For Vulnerable Groups In Kamwenge District respectively discussed the outcomes
of the meeting and sensitized the entire district to rally and support PWD’s at
their different capacities.
