Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

The overall goal of the programme is to contribute to gender equality for refugee and host community members in Uganda and Zambia.

Expected results

1.1) Increased access to formal financial services such as credit, savings and insurance - also through digital channels;

1.2) Appropriate utilisation/adoption of formal financial services through financial education, marketing and communication;

1.3) Increased access to business relevant information (e.g. market information, weather);

2.1) Increased awareness of gender inequality norms and practices;

2.2) Role models become change agents to support other households to overcome gender-based inequalities;

3.1) Women gain knowledge and confidence through self-help groups and peer-learning;

3.2) Improved business/financial and life skills;

4.1) Gender relevant (by-)laws analysed and improved;

4.2) Gender sensitive project humanitarian accountability framework installed;

5.1) Programme achievements, learning & best practices captured & shared with relevant stakeholders.

Target group / Beneficiaries

The programme will target a total of 2,922 direct beneficiaries: 1,780 female and 1,142 male / 263 are persons living with disabilities, in Uganda (West Nile and Lamwo districts) and Zambia (Kalumbila district);

Activities

Thematic focus of the proposed programme is on gender equality achieved through a combination of addressing negative gender ideas, beliefs and norms; improving knowledge, skills and confi-dence of targeted women; addressing gender gaps in policies and (by-) laws as well as by in-creasing women’s access to resources. Key activities will focus on gender awareness to address behaviour change for adverse norms and practices; advocacy for gender inclusive local laws, policies and practices; the establishment and support of women’s self-help groups to increase their knowledge and confidence; and the economic empowerment of target beneficiaries, investment risk mitigation through savings and insurance, and processes of change in the country or region expected to be triggered.

Context

All target areas in Uganda (Lamwo district and West Nile) and Zambia (Kalumbila district) host a big number of refugees. The majority of them are women or children (80% in Uganda and 60% in Zambia). A significant proportion of them – together with their host communities - cannot be described as resilient or self-reliant as they lack the necessary income to meet their basic house-hold needs or the safety nets to withstand shocks. Also, refugees and host community households have limited access to finance through formal financial systems as many financial institu-tions are still reluctant to lend to them because they see them as unstable and risky clients. In addition, restrictive masculinities and stereotypical social norms create gender inequalities and make it more difficult for women to get economically empowered and for women and girls to get sufficiently protected.

ADC-co-financing rate: 69,11 %