The Role of Civil Society Organisations in The Promotion of Women’s Rights in Amolatar Town Council, Amolatar District

DECLARATION .

vi

List of Acronyms vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

ABSTRACT x

CHAPTER ONE 1

Introduction 1

1.0 Background 1

1.1 Statement of the Problem 2

1.2 Purpose of the Study 3

1.3 Objectives of the Study 4

i. General Objectives 4

ii. Specific Objectives 4

1.4 Research Questions 4

1.5 The Scope of the Study 4

1.5.1 Time Scope 4

1.5.2 Geographical Scope 4

1.5.3 Content Scope 5

1.6. Significance of the Study 5

CHAPTER TWO 6

Literature Review 6

2.0 Introduction 6

2.1 Overview of donor and CSO work on gender equality and women’s rights 8

2.2 Critical findings drawn from experience: reviews and evaluations 10

2.2.1 Integration of Gender issues into SWAPs and PRSPs 10

2.2.2 Some successes have been recorded 11

2.3.3 Integration of Gender Issues into Direct Budget Support 13

III

2.3.4 CSOs working on women rights .14

CHAPTER THREE 16

Methodology 16

3. 0. Introduction 16

3.1 Research Design 16

3.2StudyArea 16

3.3 Target Population 16

3.4 Sample Size 17

3.5 Sample Selection 17

3.6 Data Collection Methods 17

3.6.lPrirnary Data 17

3.6.2Secondary Data 18

3 .7Procedures of Data Collection 18

3.7.lData Processing 18

3.7.2Data Presentation 18

3.7.3Data Analysis 18

3.8 Liniitation of the Study 19

CHAPTER FOUR 20

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 20

4.0 IntroductionS 20

4.1 Characteristics ofrespondents 20

CHAPTER FIVE 31

Summary of Findings, Discussions, Conclusion and Recommendations 31

5.0 Introduction 31

5.1 Summary of findings 31

5.1.1. Fighting gender based violence 32

5.1.2. Land and property rights 32

5.1.2. Equal access to education 33

5.1.3. Accessing basic health services 34

5.2.Conclusions 34

5.2.1 Reform of discriminatory laws stalled 35

ABSTRACT This report on the role of CSOs in the promotion of women rights was carried out by the researcher because of a growing concern about the fast changing women rights violation trends, and other forms of donor alignment and their possible implications for work on gender equality and women’s rights issues, in Arnolatar district, Northern Uganda. In many countries CSOs play a crucial role in working towards gender equality and women’s rights through representing, supporting and defending vulnerable groups of women; keeping gender equality and women’s rights issues on policyrnakers’ agendas; fighting for women’s rights at a legislative level; and holding governments and other stakeholders to account over their implementation of gender-related commitments. Understanding how they are faring under the new aid mechanisms becomes critical in understanding whether current funding is supporting or inhibiting the commitment to gender equality and women’s rights present in so many policies. The report highlights some of the key questions emerging for civil society around the way the new aid systems promote, marginalise or exclude gender equality and women’s rights issues, as well as developing themes for future targeted research. The report reflects the voices of organisations working for gender equality and women’s rights from around the world. It conveys the diversity and complexity of the issues around the new aid modalities and how these differ across countries and continents; it also shows some of the unintended consequences of new aid modalities. Above all, it reveals that many women’s organisations and those focused on challenging gender inequality feel threatened as the focus of funding moves in the direction of larger grants, tighter, short term targets, demonstrable and ‘scaled up’ results, and intensive administration. While progress has been made in some areas, many of the challenges and obstacles identified in 1995 still remain. In addition, the new challenges for women’s empowerment and gender equality that have emerged over the past decade, such as the feminization of the AIDS epidemic, feminization of migration, and increasing of trafficking on women need to be more effectively addressed.