Has income generating activities and social mobilization among rural women led to greater economic independence, development, and improved status? : a case study of a local NGO (TEWPA) in post conflict situation in north-east Uganda

Abstract

This has been an effort to show if there indeed is anything to gain in engaging in incomegenerating activities (IGA). The study takes us to North-Eastern Uganda in the Sub-Region of Teso where a women’s group was founded by the name of Teso Women’s Peace Activists or TEWPA. A woman engaging in activities to gain income is not new on the continent of Africa. I Uganda, the local NGOs, community based organizations and the civil service have kept the drum of self-help and alternative income to come out of york of poverty. This study looks at the different theories that conceptualise the approaches to women empowerment and women engagement in IGAs as opposed to the basic mechanism that make this possible. This then has led to examination of social movements and social actions where collective actions and social capital plays a role in the mobilization process of women. Included are also a closer look at the WID, WAD, and GAD approaches and what went wrong for women’s fight to accepted and placed as equals to access the resources that men reserve for themselves and the traditional and religious values that put women in role models that may be considered out of date in some parts of world and yet very alive in some others. It is my hope that this study attempts to show this differences and the opportunities that can be seized and made use of to promote the women’s aspiration for a better place live in and a standard that reduces poverty and promotes opportunities. The gains and challenges they meet should act as the ammunition for tomorrow.