Uganda: Fight against poverty kicks-off

  1. Posted on Thursday 18 September 2008 - 11:01
    Adhiambo Ogwell
    Image of Adhiambo Ogwell
    Linda Ogwell, AfricaNews reporter in Kampala, Uganda
    Women in the Lake Victoria region are now being targeted to fight poverty in a bid to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on eradication of poverty and hunger. The Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities Cooperation, an NGO launched a campaign to provide skills to small-scale entrepreneurs.
    Safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation facilities are a precondition for health. Providing access to clean water forms a key part of the fight against poverty, hunger and child deaths.
    The Swedish Development Agency (Sida) is sponsoring the project that would be executed by the NGO’s gender arm consisting of female politicians and local authorities’ employees from the Lake Victoria region.

    “Women play an integral part in any efforts to alleviate poverty and hence must be provided with the necessary skills to empower themselves,” said Dr Julius Ayo-Odongo, Secretary General of LVRLAC. Under this initiative, women will be trained on entrepreneurial and business development skills which include business planning and budgeting, generating business ideas, resource mobilization, simple record keeping, costing and pricing and savings and investment.

    Also, they will be trained on basic life skills with emphasis on HIV/AIDS and income generation for youth. The training will be held in selected towns across the lake region in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. After the initial training these women will then move into the communities and train their fellow women.

    Lake Victoria region hosts the second largest freshwater lake in the world with a population of almost 40 million. Economic development has been based mostly on agriculture, agriculture-based industries, fisheries and some mining operations. Poverty is widespread in the region with many household depended on fishing activities to earn a living.

    The United Nations earlier this year warned that the rise in food and oil prices would undercut the progress made by many African countries in eradication of poverty and hungers. The world is at a mid-point in its effort to achieve the MDGs but many African countries are not on track.

Latest News

  1. AFCON: 46 hurt in Zambia victory celebrations09/02Over 40 casualty cases were recorded Wednesday night at Zambia's University Teaching Hospital (UTH) after post-match celebrations turned violent …
  2. African Peer Review Mechanism making progress08/02In 2003 the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the continental development plan, initiated the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM…
  3. Combating HIV infections among African women08/02With a lack of knowledge and power, African women continue to bear the brunt of HIV infections.
  4. Legume cultivation booms in Western Kenya07/02Small Holder Farmers (SHFs) who traditionally relied on seed companies for all their seeds are now bulking their own legume seeds for their farms.
  5. Malawi vendors chase out Chinese07/02Vendors in Kalonga, the Northern district of Malawi, on Wednesday petitioned the District Commissioner to flash out all Chinese nationals who are doin…
  6. Zim: Informal sector urged to join HIV battle05/02While the Harare City council is busy engaging in running battles with city vendors, Health Minister has called for authorities to devise ways to form…
  7. Elections: Wole Soyinka warns Mugabe, Wade03/02The Nigerian Nobel Prize winner for literature said heads of states who are trying to cling to power suffer the same fate as the dictators who were sw…
  8. AU elections rescheduled for June in Malawi01/02Following a deadlock during Monday's African Union elections, with a tie between former wife to South African president Jacob Zuma, Home Affairs …
  9. Senegal in turmoil as protest intensifies01/02Hundreds of anti-government protesters Tuesday gathered in the central Dakar, Senegal to show their dissatisfaction over the incumbent president Abdou…
  10. Zimbabwe’s inflation still favourable -…01/02Zimbabwe's annual headline inflation still compared favourably with economies in the region, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono said o…
  11. AFCON 2012: Sudan qualifies after four decades31/01The Sudanese national team has sealed a historic win over the Stallions of Burkina Faso.
  12. Senegalese opposition to intensify protests31/01Opposition and civil society groups in Senegal have vowed to increase their fight against incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade's presidential bid.
  13. Malawi: Rights coalition condemn stripping of…30/01The 39 members of the Solidarity for African Women's Rights Coalition based in 18 African countries have vehemently condemned the stripping of wo…
  14. Kenya to deworm five million children annually30/01Kenya launched the second phase of its national deworming programme at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012, aiming to treat 5 million childre…
  15. Benin’s Yayi Boni is AU’s new…30/01President Yayi Boni of Benin Republic has been elected chairperson of the African Union in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa
News archive