Peace Mutuzo, the State Minister for Gender, Labour and Social development has said women have utilized well the available funds under Uganda Women Entrepreneurship program (UWEP), noting that the funds are not enough to meet the increasing demand.
The Minister made the remarks yesterday in an interview with Business Focus at the sidelines of a press conference held at Ministry offices ahead of International Women Day scheduled for March 8, 2020 in Mbale Municipality.
Mutuzo said many women want to do development projects but sometimes the available funds are not enough to support all the registered women groups. She urged women to team up and address their challenges as a team if they are to improve their income levels and fight poverty in the country.
In 2015, the Government of Uganda introduced the Shs53bn Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP) aimed at improving women’s access to financial services, equipping them with skills for enterprise growth, value addition and marketing of their products and services.
Women are availed interest-free credit to initiate or strengthen their enterprises.
The Minister said that government has made significant strides in achieving gender equality. She said women empowerment can be attributed to the various policies and laws that are geared towards women participation.
“The Uganda government has enacted various laws aimed at empowerment and protecting women. For instance, government has made efforts to check the increasing gender based violence at work place, ratified the convention on human rights, line ministries and agencies have been urged to work together to combat human trafficking commonly in the East and North East parts of Uganda,” Mutuzo said.
She added that despite the reducing infant mortality rates in Uganda, the teenage pregnancy is on the rise accounting to the prevalence rate of 25%.
By Drake Nyamugabwa
