FIDA celebrates 50 years of championing women's rights, legal empowerment
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The Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA) has celebrated its 50th anniversary with a grand dinner in Kampala, highlighting its contributions to the advancement of women's rights and legal empowerment in Uganda.
The dinner at Serena Hotel Kampala brought together feminist organizations, FIDA pioneers, program beneficiaries, women-led movements, community legal volunteers, officials from the Ministry of Gender, and women’s rights lawyers, among others.
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The golden jubilee celebration provided a platform for FIDA Uganda to showcase its journey, evolving since 1974 into a cornerstone of legal aid provision in the country.
At the dinner, Rebecca Kadaga, the First Deputy Prime Minister and one of FIDA's pioneers, congratulated the organization on reaching its 50th anniversary.
She commended its members for their resilience and innovation.
Kadaga shared the history of FIDA in Uganda, highlighting the challenges faced in establishing the organization.
She revealed that their initial efforts focused on campaigns against rape and other injustices.
"One of the things that we did was to organize marches in Uganda, in the city of Kampala against rape, defilement and against poor judgements. So we marched to the Ministry of Education to take a petition to Minister Amanya Mushega, the then Education Minister to complain about defilement in schools. From there, we moved to the ministry of justice to complain about the speed at which justice was being given to the people," she narrated
Kadaga noted that due to limited funds, they initially operated from a small office provided by a fellow member.
She also highlighted their efforts in establishing shelters across the country for victims of gender-based violence and training paralegals.
"We trained paralegals where we could not establish branches and also established shelters in different parts of the country for victims of gender based violence. At that time, we had partners, but at some stage, we ran out of funds, and I think we closed the shelters."
Kadaga proudly highlighted a major milestone of FIDA acquiring a permanent home as it celebrates its golden jubilee.
She thanked FIDA members for their dedication and pledged to personally engage the Minister of Justice to expedite the Legal Aid Bill.
The Minister of Gender, Labour, and Social Development, Betty Amongi, congratulated FIDA on 50 years of championing justice for women, children, and vulnerable communities.
She noted that FIDA's work closely aligns with the responsibilities of her ministry.
The minister emphasized that FIDA's work over the past 50 years has transformed the principles of justice, equality, equity, and dignity from mere aspirations into a reality for many.
"For 50 years, FIDA has championed justice for women, for children and vulnerable communities, and that's what my ministry does. They have been handling, providing legal aid and representation to advocating for gender responsive laws and policies, and consistently stepped in where the need is greatest. This work has ensured that the principles of justice, equality, equity and dignity are not mere aspiration, but a reality for many," Amongi said.
She acknowledged that despite the progress made in advancing women's rights, significant challenges still remain.
The minister expressed confidence that these challenges can be addressed through continued collaboration between her ministry and FIDA.
"As we look to the future, I must emphasize that much work remains. While we have made commendable progress in advancing women's rights, significant challenges still persist, and as such, we must ensure that all responses are framed within a gendered lens. Our continued partnership with FIDA Uganda will be pivotal in confronting these challenges. Your expertise in legal advocacy, your grassroot connections, and your unwavering focus on gender responsive justice systems will remain crucial and we track the way forward together."
Lillian Adriko, the CEO of FIDA, expressed gratitude to the organizations pioneers and congratulated all members on the significant milestone of securing a permanent home during FIDA's 50-year journey.
She commended all partners for their unwavering support in ensuring justice for vulnerable individuals, particularly women.
She noted that last year alone, FIDA handled 22,000 legal aid cases, of which 14,000 involved women.
"The numbers that I have mentioned are not just numbers to us, but they represent more than just the statistics. They are stories of lives transformed."
She encouraged members and other partners to make legal aid a core aspect of their social responsibility towards underserved communities.
Adriko also emphasized the need for local enterprises and business models to complement the efforts of development partners.
"We would like to particularly interest all of you to make legal aid a core agenda of your social responsibility to the underserved communities. A lot of the work has been supported by development partners from the Global North. We would like to reiterate the need for our own local enterprises and business models to complete the effort of the development partners together, we can reimagine justice, dream bigger and strive further."
Adriko urged everyone to partner with FIDA in their fundraising efforts for the Legal Aid Clinic.
"We've already mentioned that we own our own home. Now we'll be starting an initiative to purchase the house that houses the Legal Aid Clinic."
As they embarked on this new journey, FIDA's Executive Director highlighted online harassment as a pressing challenge that must be addressed.
"There's still inequality in the legal environment that we operate in. There is a rise of cyber bullying, online harassment and the widening digital divide. Some of the new challenges that we must confront as an organization."
