iCON reminds you to confirm your attendance to the Uganda CSW working group meeting with the Director, Ministry of Gender, to be held on Friday February 3^rd 2012.

iCON will be taking the debate on the 56^th theme of the CSW live on air. So tune in to the talk show “Manya Eddembe Lyo” on CBS FM on Sunday, February 5^th 2012 from 9pm-10pm to be part of this advocacy platform.

iCON shall be convening the CSW Working group for a planning meeting for working group representatives to the 56^th CSW meeting.

iCON shall be bringing daily updates from the 56^th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting from 27^th February to 7^th March 2012 to the mailing lists.

Join the Metro NY Chapter of the US National Committee for UN Women at their Annual Luncheon at the United Nations March 2, 2012, noon to 2:30 PM Delegates’ Dining Room at United Nations Headquarters United Nations Plaza, New York City on the theme: “Peace and Equality”

Keynote Speaker: Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury

Honorary Speaker: Jeni Klugman, World Bank

Early Bird Ticket Prices $130 (Members), $150 (General Admission), $300 (VIP). ) Early bird discount expires 1/31/12).

RSVP http://unluncheon.eventbrite.com.
Please note you can pay by credit card or check

Sessions

“Women’s Role in Advancing the Culture of Peace” by Anwarul K. Chowdhury: Ambassador at Large for Women, Peace and Development.

In a long and distinguished diplomatic career, Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh has been a tireless advocate for the culture of peace, women, children, and the most vulnerable countries of the world. His initiative in March 2000 as the President of the Security Council achieved the political and conceptual breakthrough that led to the adoption of the ground breaking *UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women and peace and security. From 2002 to 2007, he served as Under-Secretary-General and High representative of the UN.

“Getting Equal” by Jeni Klugman Director, Gender and Development for the World Bank.

Worldwide, women make up the majority of unpaid workers. Only 15% of landowners and one in five lawmakers n the world are women. One out of every 10 births are by mothers ages 15-19, almost all of them in developing countries. Violence against women is still widespread. Jeni Klugman will discuss the World Bank’s “Think Equal” initiative to increase
women’s economic opportunity and their voice in decision making. It’s time to think EQUAL.

RSVP http://unluncheon.eventbrite.com. Please note you can pay by credit card or check .

Over 500 children from three schools in Gulu ( Gulu Police Primary School, Alliance High School and Comprehensive College Gulu) were oriented on the Day of the African child. Under the theme “Together for Urgent Action in Favour of Street Children”, over 100 primary and secondary school children drew pictures depicting the causes of  the issue of street kids and giving recommendations to address the problem. Over 100 children participated in the drawing competition and 6 children (two from every school) were awarded with scholastic material for having the best paintings.

Streamlining iCON Clubs into a Children’s Fellowship Program

In 2011 iCON set out to streamline all iCON clubs in schools into the Fellowship Program, which is the key product of iCON. The Child Leadership Program ran two children’s fellowship programs in November and December at Katuuso Community S.S.S and Gloryland Christian college in Jinja where 50 children were taken through Leadership Enhancement Seminars on the theme “Building a cadre of children and young people who are passionate and committed in advancing environmental sustainability in Uganda.”

20 SHELA Groups Created, Women’s Leadership, Entrepreneurial and Peace Building Capacity Strengthened

iCON through the Women Leaders Network created 20 SHELA groups in northern Uganda. 10 groups were started in Ongako subcounty, with5 groups in Abwoch Parish and 5 others in Kal Parish. 10 more SHELA groups launched operations in Alero subcounty, where 06 groups opened operations in Panok rac Parish and 04 more, in Bwobonam Parish, Nwoya district. 16 Community Based Facilitators were also identified to monitor the SHELA groups.

25 Male Leaders to Fight GBV in Northern Uganda

25 men from northern Uganda were part of a Leadership Enhancement Seminar as iCON launched the Northern Uganda Masculinity and Transformational Leadership Fellowship in November. This Fellowship was formed to equip male leaders with skills to engage both men and women in transforming masculinities to end gender inequity and violence against women.

Creativity for Peace Building in Gulu

The Creative Youth Entrepreneurial Development Group was developed by Claudia Kakanyero, an iCON Fellow, at the end of 2011. The group aims to eradicate poverty among the youth in Gulu through the creation of projects that engage idle youth in capacity building activities for the positive use of their youthful energy.

The 30-strong team, which is in the early stages of its development, focuses on promotion of creative activities such as crafts, bakery and bee keeping in communities, in order to ensure that the youth spend their hours making peace, and fighting war.

Night Ayo: Inspiration in Plight

Night Ayo is an iCON Fellow. She attended an iCON Leadership Enhancement Seminar where she was inspired through a self discovery session to pursue her dream of starting up a poultry project. As a volunteer with Red Cross in Gulu, Night’s small allowance seemed insufficient to begin her business.

However, after the SWOT analysis, Night was able to use her allowance to purchase 50 chicks at 1500/- each. Although Night was left without any money to fund the construction of a poultry house, she kept the chicks in her bedroom while she literally built a brick poultry house by herself for the birds.

Although society and circumstances were against Night, she persevered and by end of 2011, her poultry project was flourishing with each of her hens being sold for more than twice the initial cost of purchase.

Night is an inspiration to her community, where she is known as a hard working, successful woman entrepreneur. She runs regular free training sessions for individuals interested in poultry farming. By the end of 2011, under Night’s mentorship, two people in her community had started up poultry projects of their own.

The 30-strong team, which is in the early stages of its development, focuses on promotion of creative activities such as crafts, bakery and bee keeping in communities, in order to ensure that the youth spend their hours making peace, and fighting war.

Some of the iCON Fellows from Northern Uganda

CSW Updates: iCON invites you to a meeting with government on Friday 03-02-2012 at 9:30am at the offices of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development offices to present the Civil Society Statement on the role of rural women in poverty eradication, development and challenges

Some of the iCON Fellows from Northern Uganda

Gulu, 17^th January 2012: iCON successfully mobilized members of Civil Society, informal and formal women’s groups, individuals and the

Some of the iCON Fellows from Northern Uganda

Private Sector in northern Uganda to discuss the findings of the theme of the 56 session of the commission on the status of women (CSW) “The Role of Rural Women in Poverty and Hunger Eradication Development and Current Challenges”. The forum enabled over ten organizations to assess the status of rural women in terms of their role in poverty eradication in the areas of education, health and social- economic well-being.

It also created an interactive platform for stakeholders and partners to discuss the current findings of the ongoing research, critique and give recommendations for improvement. The overall report will be submitted to the government in preparation for the 56^th session of the CSW in New York in February 2012.

Among the many issues addressed by the participants was the challenge of a high level of dependency on handouts in northern Uganda, which was caused by the 20 year long civil war. The war that was led by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) forced families and individuals to depend on handouts from charity organizations while living in Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps. According to the participants, this negative attitude had made it difficult for the Ugandan government and civil society organizations to effectively empower rural women.

The Uganda CSW working group was conceived on 30^th April 2009 in Kampala, Uganda to help in linking grassroots women in Uganda to the CSW as a major policy advocacy space for women. The working group currently has over 100 members across the country, including CSO’s, Private Sector, informal institutions and education institutions among others.

The Uganda CSW working group mainly exists to build the leadership capacities of women to influence social transformation in participatory policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and review processes nationally, regionally and globally.

Written by Nancy Nandudu

Communication and Advocacy Program (CAP)

Program Assistant

Rev  Bartholemew donated land for the building of the first Protestant Cathedral – Namirembe. He was also a family man who spread the gospel, invested in the development of formal education by building numerous schools and upheld his heritage. His valiant efforts helped to usher in the era of Christianity in Uganda.

In 1973, she established the first modern bakery that could produce sliced bread in Uganda. Eager to empower others, she applied her teaching background and additional training in hotel management to pursue her passion of working with women to facilitate their economic empowerment.

Some of the women focused initiatives she has helped to initiate include the Uganda Women’s Entrepreneurs Association Ltd. Maama Mbire is a serial business entrepreneur who oversees a business empire and believes that “the sky is just the beginning!”

This empire now includes manufacturing, agribusiness and commercial property development. Prof James Mulwana is at the helm of many corporate institutions and continues to influence business policy in Uganda and the region. He is also the founder of the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), Uganda’s apex body for the private sector. Prof James Mulwana has been recognized by many organizations in and outside Uganda. Prof Mulwana still finds time to, especially, mentor young people.

TASO exists because of the dedication of 15 individuals who, led by Noerine, boldly set out to contain the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in the 1980’s. Since 1987 when the institution was opened, Noerine has tirelessly dedicated her strength to building the institution, which has become a center of excellence and dedication to changing mindsets about people living with HIV/AIDS and bringing a sense of purpose back to victims of the disease.

Noerine is an inspiration to us all.

As fate would have it, she qualified as the first ever East African Physiotherapist, after years of persistence. She went on to become a qualified Occupational therapist before resigning from her active role in the hospital.

Soon after her resignation, Nightingale spear-headed a campaign for Community Based Rehabilitation, a new approach to health intervention in Uganda. This saw health care interventions being becoming more available within Communities. However, at the heart of Nightingale’s campaign was support for people living with disabilities. She strongly advocated for visibility, fairness and equal access for disabled people to opportunities, especially in education, health and community.

Nightingale fought through thick and thin to make the voices of countless others heard, and she is an inspiration to all of us to live lives of service and justice.