The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | Patricia Akankwatsa | To continue supporting the effort of the Ugandan feminist society, the Embassy of France in Uganda launched an initiative aimed at financing the activation of the innovative ideas of creative innovative movement.
The program titled, ‘For an intergenerational and creative feminist movement,’ will be allocated a budget of 500,000 euros over the next two years (2022-2023) through France’s Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects instrument (FSPI).
The pilot projects that will be funded will address emerging challenges within the three sectors of sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence and gender & climate change.
France co-hosted the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in 2021. The Ugandan government and civil society greatly contributed to enriching the discussions that led to the development of a new action roadmap in favour of gender equality for the five years to come.
While speaking at the launch on 15th June held at the residence of the French ambassador to Uganda, the Deputy Ambassador & political advisor, Jean François Hasperue said that in 2018, France adopted a Feminist Diplomacy following the examples of Sweden and Canada.
“As part of this feminist diplomacy, one of our most crucial commitments has been to co-organize with Mexico and under the leadership of UN Women, the Generation Equality Forum,” he said.
Hasperue went on to say that this Forum aimed at updating the commitments of the Beijing Platform for Action which was about 25 years old, in order to develop a new acceleration plan for gender equality worldwide.
“I know that some of your organizations have been quite active within the Ugandan civil society to contribute to developing new solutions to identified emerging challenges.”
“I also would like to emphasize the key role that the Ugandan government played in that instance, to develop an ambitious roadmap for the next 5 years in Uganda to accelerate gender equality. I would like to take this opportunity now to thank you for this work that has been quite crucial to moving forward globally toward a new agenda on the matter,” he added.
Cassandra Roxburgh, Associate Editor for Minority Africa and one of the beneficiaries said that Minority Africa is incredibly excited to partner with the Embassy of France in Uganda to report on gender-based violence.
“The grant offers a unique opportunity for innovative, feminist organisations to come up with creative solutions to the epidemic of gender-based violence,” she said.
“As a media outlet, we are planning to produce a multimedia series to give a platform to women and people across the spectrum to share their stories about gender-based violence while advocating for much-needed changes in how the media engages with the topic of GBV,” she added.
Safina Virani, Co-director -of FRAUEN Initiative also another beneficiary said that getting this grant will be making one of our dreams come true at Frauen.
“When we started this organization, we wanted to create a safe space for women that were victims of sexual violence,” she said.
“As young feminists, we also seek to bridge the gap between the old and young generations of feminists. To have a collective feminist building, a sense of togetherness. We hope the intergenerational program will act as a stepping stone for this as well.”
