Over 200 women groups, PWDs receive start-up kits for income generating projects

The Humanitarian Assistance and Development Services (HADS) is a humanitarian and development organization has given out start-up kits to over 200 women groups of people with disabilities in Kampala and Tororo districts.

The functions to give out the kits were done in Kampala and Tororo where the groups received kits to help them in income generating activities like tailoring, mushroom growing, and poultry, bakery, and computer services among others.

The items also included ovens, chicks, flour mixers and fabrics.

Speaking during the handover, the HADS Executive Director, Mariam Kivumbi said by giving start-up kits to women groups, they are empowering them to be less vulnerable, especially to gender based violence in their homes.

“The start-up kits will help the women groups and the people with disability start income generating projects for self-sustaining. We want these vulnerable people to be able have better lives away in their communities,” Kivumbi said.

“We target the vulnerable as a way of improving their livelihoods with the aim of reducing violence against women and girls through economic empowerment.”

She noted that the kits are part of the $30,000 dollar project funded by the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP).

According to the HADS Executive Director, they also help victims of human trafficking by resettling and rehabilitating them but asked government to put in place more protection homes to put the victims.

She emphasized security for these homes to ensure safety of the victims of trafficking.

“A protection home must have security because some of the traffickers are big people in government and it may be easy to compromise the security of the victims. However these homes are few and we ask government to put in place more of these.”

Beatrice Mugambe, the senior gender advisor at UNDP Uganda hailed HADS for the initiative that empowers mostly women.

“Most cases of gender based violence are caused by social norms . Many of these are things we have grown seeing and being told by our cultures .Whereas some cultures are good, others are so bad that they make women and girls submissive and lesser citizens in society . Because of this, they girls and women are the most trafficked persons . This state of affairs can only be ended through empowerment,”Mugambe said.

“NGOs like HADS that empower women and girls to be self sustaining are welcome .”