New project to help rehabilitate gender-based violence female victims in Kampala

Anthill Foundation, an NGO that focuses on gender in education, inclusion, health service and livelihood  is implementing a shs200 million project funded by the Aga Khan Foundation Uganda and the European Union that will help rehabilitate and offer support to gender based violence female victims in the five divisions of Kampala.

The project will run for 14 months until February 2023 and will target 500 adolescent girl and young women and 10 male champions from Kampala between the age of 13 and 25.

Speaking during a workshop in Kampala, Elizabeth Kalemera, the Executive Director at Anthill Foundation, a NGO said the onset of the Covid pandemic have far reaching effects on young women and adolescent girls in terms of gender based violence.

“Under this Covid response project, we will be looking at those affected by teenage pregnancy, gender based violence and child marriages among others and we will be offering support to ensure they get a second chance to enjoy life and become meaningful citizens,”Kalemera said.

She explained that with a big number of young population, Kampala was greatly affected by the pandemic and this saw many cases of gender based violence and hence the need to do something to change the situation.

“In the five divisions, there are high numbers of victims of gender-based violence yet the various structures in communities are overwhelmed. There is therefore a need for other stakeholders to come in and support in order to ensure safety, protection and education of the victims.”

“As part of the project, we will be offering immediate support in form of food, legal and psychosocial to help improve the state of mental health of these people. Also depending on the cases reported, we want to see adolescent girls and young women made aware of the legal structures and services available for them to access. We will also support them to pursue cases that need to be executed to ensure justice is served.”

She noted that in this, the main aim will be making communities aware of the various legal remedies in case of problems related to gender- based violence.

Kalemera says that whereas the 500 adolescent girls and young women as well as the 0 male champions seems to be a small number, the communities will also be engaged to ensure there is a ripple effect among other community members.

“We are to have community engagements, capacity building and trainings to ensure the 500 people create a positive ripple effect so that we have more than that number.”

She however insisted that men also have to be involved in the fight against gender-based violence since in most cases, they are the perpetuators.

According to Peter Lwanga Mayanja, a probation and social welfare officer, at KCCA they have handled over 50 gender based violence cases between November and December 2021.

“We have rescued over 300 victims from the streets and slum communities of Kampala. and many of these were girls who were involved in prostitution. We took them through rehabilitation and gave them vocational training,” Lwanga said.

He mentioned Kisenyi, Katwe, Kamwokya and Makerere Kivulu as some of the slum areas where the victims were rescued from.

According to the KCCA probation officer, efforts are continuing to ensure a safe environment for young women and men in Kampala, noting that the new project will help augment their efforts in dealing with gender-based violence cases.