ACODEV, Uganda

Combating violence against women in post-conflict Uganda

In 2007 Action for Community Development (ACODEV) received a grant of 13 000 € for a project aiming at reducing violence against women in Kasese district in Western Uganda. In the project ACODEV organised community discussions, trained local organizations and officials and activated citizens to be paralegals and work against violence in groups.

The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was translated to a local language and information about women’s rights was disseminated through radio talk show, wall paintings and video and drama presentations. Especially the video presentations proved to be popular, but also the radio talk-shows received numerous calls from the listening audience.

”After the war men have been unemployed and they feel confused when it is suddenly their wives who are breadwinners. For most of the time the men feel angry at everything and everyone, and this leads also to domestic violence.”

Western Uganda is a challenging region to work in: during the last two decades the region bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo suffered from a conflict between local rebellions, Congolese groupings and government forces. Violence against women is common especially in post-conflict areas where the spiral of violence continues at homes. Traditional gender roles, lack of human rights awareness and lack of supporting structures contribute to the continuation of domestic violence.

During ACODEV’s project, the local organizations took domestic violence into their campaigning. Discussion about violence against women became more frequent and the women were encouraged to talk about their problems. Victims of violence got more support than before from the voluntary paralegals. Also the authorities handled the issue more effectively: the police formulated a new code of conduct and stopped asking for fees from the victims who reported an offence.

"It takes a lot of time to get men to participate in the discussion and take action against domestic violence.”

During the first project ACODEV noticed that it can be challenging to get all the members of the community to work against violence. In 2008 KIOS continued cooperation with ACODEV and supported them with 46 100 € for a two years project. This project has continued campaigning and awareness raising based on earlier experiences. There have also been new trainings and ACODEV has worked closely with officials and other organizations. Men’s groups have been formed and positive examples of violence free homes have encouraged men to rethink their attitudes.

ACODEV has also been able to build its organizational capacity and they are at the moment a significant human rights NGO in their region. Cooperation with other actors – such as police, local government, media representatives and other organizations – has witnessed a considerable growth. One objective of the project is to build the capacity of all actors further so that the work against domestic violence continues also after the KIOS funded project phases out.

(December 2009)