EOC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Center for Economic Empowerment for Women in Africa-Uganda (CEEWA-U) on Tuesday 22nd November, 2017 at their head office in Bugolobi.
The partnership was signed by Mrs. Sylvia Muwebwa Ntambi, the Chairperson EOC and Ms. Florence Kuteesa, the Chairperson CEEWA-U.
CEEWA-U is a civil society organization which mainly deals with promoting economic empowerment of women in the development process. They undertake research, carry our capacity building and implementation of economic empowerment related activities.
The formation of this partnership traces its origin a pilot study undertaken by CEEWA-U in Apac and Mbarara districts to review gender and disability responsiveness of selected economic empowerment related policies and plenary findings regarding several elements and covering mainly Persons with Disability (PWD’s), youth and older persons.
The report indicated that there is generic information concerning gender and specific concerns of PWDs are not captured.
Concerning enjoyment of equal rights, access to and benefits and equal treatment, the policies recognized that they were not mainstreamed into objectives and actions.
As regards gender and disability needs they discovered that the goals, objectives and principles are generic and biased on women and also disregarded disability needs or impairment of older persons.
It was discovered that these groups of people are easily marginalized and the propensity of discrimination is high. This called for an intervention and a resolution to partner with EOC since the results from this study cover EOC’s broader mandate. This collaboration is timely and EOC will undertake to redress imbalances and promote equal opportunities for groups marginalized on the above-mentioned grounds.
Both organizations undertook to have joint trainings, workshops and meetings; share and disseminate relevant reports and updates on Government plans and programs especially those with impact on social justice and marginalized groups. CEEWA-U also undertook to share research reports with EOC and popularize EOC in different parts of the country.