May 9, 2012 in Africa Women's Decade, Empowerment, Featured, Icon, iCON, Inspirational Quotes, MDG, Newsletter, Policy advocacy, social enterpreneur, UNWE, WLN, Women empowerment, YLN
Warm greetings from iCON. It has been a while since you received our newsletter. This edition of the newsletter is bigger and better!
March 22, 2012 in Climate Chnage, Empowerment, Environmental sustainability, Featured, Icon, iCON, Policy advocacy, UNWE, WLN, Women empowerment, YLN
The reality of the changing climate and its threat on life and sustainable development of communities has become more apparent in Uganda and around the world. There is an increase in extreme weather conditions including droughts, floods, storms that needs the special attention of all people. Many people in emerging economies like Uganda are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood, because it is their source of water, food and energy for cooking and heating.
iCON recognizes the need to prevent further damage but also address effects of climate change on people and communities because it limits their potential to grow into visionary leaders as their entrepreneurial capacity is greatly affected. Under one of its core thematic areas of Gender, Environmental Sustainability and Leadership, iCON aims to build leadership capacities to address challenges and harness opportunities associated with the environment including finding lasting solutions to the climate change problem.
iCON is a member of a working group of CSOs in Uganda led by the Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA) Read the rest of this entry →
March 2, 2012 in Africa Women's Decade, Beijing +15 review, BPfA, CSW, Featured, Icon, iCON, UNWE, Women empowerment
By Norah Matovu Winyi
On Monday the 27th of February the members of the Uganda delegation to the Fifty- Six Session on the United Nations Commission on the Status
UN Headquarters in New York. The African Shadow report was launched at one of the Pararell events during the 54th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York
of Women (UNCSW 56th Session) met together with representatives of civil society organisations and women’s rights activists at Uganda House (Uganda UN Mission Building in New York) to plan and strategize on how best to participate and influence the outcomes of the CSW 56th Session. These meetings have been held every morning since then. They are attended by Government delegation which is composed 20 members (including several civil society representatives). In addition over 20 civil society representatives including some of those representing international and regional/sub-regional organizations based in Uganda were invited to the morning planning and debriefing meetings and this has provided a unique space for the non-state actors to interact with the delegation.
In the first meeting the delegates harmonized expectations and agreed on the ways of working in order to make the long journey to New York a worthwhile investment. The morning meetings have been interactive and very instructive on how to make strategic interventions within the CSW Session both in the official sessions as well as selected side events hosted by various member states, UN agencies, international organizations and regional and national civil society organizations. As a civil society representative on the official delegation holding the morning meetings has been a very good practice which has provided unique opportunities to dialogue and exchange ideas with our government colleagues on various issues and concerns and harmonize views on what we should focus on in the statements delivered by the Minister of State during the official sessions and the areas where follow up actions will take place after the team returns home after the CSW session. On a lighter note we have been able to support each other with tips on managing the tough weather conditions (the cold), and celebrate the many achievements of the yesteryears. Read the rest of this entry →
January 19, 2012 in Africa Women's Decade, BPfA, CSW, Featured, Icon, iCON, Policy advocacy, UNWE, WLN, Women empowerment
Gulu, 17th 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 56th 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 30th 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
December 15, 2011 in Africa Women's Decade, Beijing +15 review, Blog, building leadership, Icon, iCON, Policy advocacy, social enterpreneur, UNWE, Women empowerment
Maama Theresa Mbire has always been described as a woman beyond her time! Trained as teacher and then widowed early in life, she applied her energies to raising six children. In an era when many women would have looked to re-marrying as an easy way out, Theresa started a string of business enterprises, which was predominantly a male domain of action.
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!”
December 15, 2011 in Africa Women's Decade, Beijing +15 review, building leadership, Icon, iCON, social enterpreneur, UNWE, WLN, Women empowerment
Noerine Kaleeba is the founder of ‘The Aids Support Organization’ (TASO), a household name in Uganda and the region in as far as treatment and support for people living with HIV/AIDS is concerned.
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.
December 15, 2011 in Africa Women's Decade, Blog, building leadership, Icon, iCON, social enterpreneur, UNWE, WLN, Women empowerment
Nightingale Ruth Kalinda Kitogo is the second born in a family of ten children, and the first girl child in the home. At nine months old, she was diagnosed with polio. During a time when polio victims were stigmatized, Nightingale’s childhood and teen age were almost unbearable. Nightingale was denied a place in Makerere Medical School because she was lame.
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.
December 14, 2011 in Africa Women's Decade, Beijing +15 review, Blog, building leadership, Icon, iCON, social enterpreneur, UNWE, WLN, Women empowerment
Gulu, Uganda
Hope Okeny is the proprietor of Karin Children’s Medical Center in Agonga Parish, Gulu. She started up this medical facility in 2005 in answer to the great need for medical services by vulnerable families in this area. After the war in northern Uganda subsided, medical care and other facilities were availed to several areas, excluding this little Parish.
Over the years, Karin Medical Center has successfully provided qualitative health facilities for residents in Agonga parish, including antenatal healthcare, child immunization against preventable diseases and easy accessibility to clinical drugs.
During a, iCON Leadership Enhancement Seminar that she attended in Gulu, Hope Read the rest of this entry →
December 14, 2011 in Africa Women's Decade, Beijing +15 review, Blog, building leadership, Icon, iCON, Policy advocacy, social enterpreneur, UNWE, WLN, Women empowerment
After the 20 year long war in northern Uganda, Gulu was devastated by the conflict, and its people, even worse. The condition of Women, who for long had been trampled underfoot by society worsened as the economy struggled to get back on its feet.
However, iCON, through its Women Leader’s Network launched the “Women in Business Fellowship”, a forum that aims to empower female leaders in northern Uganda with skills to spearhead the process of economic and social transformation in their communities. The Fellowship, which was launched on the 14th – 18th November, saw a cross section of young women in universities in Gulu interacting with successful business women in the Gulu community in a bid to motivate them to come up with creative, tangible solutions to the problems in their areas of influence.
Through interactive activities, such as field visits, participants gained insights Read the rest of this entry →
