VULNERABLE GROUP LEADERS DEMAND FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN KAMWENGE DISTRICT

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 1^st .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.

 Issues raised by the participants

Mr. Sam mugisha the chairman of Kamwenge district advocacy group for PWD’s and other vulnerable groups presented a concept note which advocated for equal opportunities, data on PWD’S and meetings with other development partners at the different levels, in his presentation he cited out challenges faced  by PWD’s as;

  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

Tibimpama Rovence the Vice Chairperson LCV who represented the District chairman in her remarks promised the involvement of people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups in decision making forum such as budget formulation and policy advocacy for special considerations. She thanked RWECO/KALI for reawakening awareness campaign on policy advocacy for the vulnerable persons.

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.