Teenage pregnancies and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) remain critical challenges affecting girls and women across Uganda, particularly in rural areas. The National Women’s Council (NWC), organized a Paralegal Skills Training for Parish Women’s Council Leaders in the Sebei Sub-region. The training was conducted in Kapchorwa District and attended by parish women council chairpersons of Kapchorwa district and Women Council Chairpersons from all districts of Sebei subregion.
This was aimed at empowering women leaders with knowledge and skills in community mobilization, paralegal practice, psychosocial support, and electoral participation to strengthen their role in addressing GBV, teenage pregnancies, and other social injustices in their communities.
At the start of the training, participants shared their expectations, which reflected their eagerness to learn, network, and improve service delivery within their communities.
Program Manager – Emilly Akullu emphasized that the training was designed to equip Parish Women’s Council Leaders with basic legal, psychosocial, and mentorship skills, enabling them to become effective community mobilisers and first responders in cases of GBV and teenage pregnancy.
During the interactive sessions, participants raised several concerns and observations:
- Need for private and confidential reporting of GBV cases.
- Challenges of police releasing suspects through informal means
- Heavy workloads at community level affecting follow-up of cases
The Chairperson National Women’s Council – Hajjat Faridah Kibowa expressed profound appreciation to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD)—the mother ministry—and to the Secretariat for Special Interest Groups, under which the Women’s Council operates.
