Our New Partner Organization: Assure Uganda
By Eerika Nokkala
The need for gender equality is increasing with the ongoing pandemic. Our new partner organization Assure Uganda seeks to engage and empower girls, as well as provide them with tools for creating a more just and equal future. We recently interviewed one of the organization’s founding members, Victoria Abigaba, to learn more about the work Assure Uganda does.
How was ‘Assure Uganda’ born? What urged you to create it?
“Assure Uganda is a nonprofit movement that seeks to engage young people, both in and out of school, led by young people and girls. Our aim is to enhance, promote and advocate for peace, social justice, and a shared concern for our mother earth . We feel there is no doubt that the world relies on the old adage; “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Assure Uganda was founded on the 7th December 2017 by a group of young people led by Agatha, Victoria, and Doreen. AU membership is available for young people below the age of 27, with the end goal of educating our young members to become agents of the social, political, and economical change they deserve. We were urged to start AU because girls are receptive to positive change, which leads to long term and wide-ranging benefits. We believe, that as girls, we are experts when it comes to our own needs and situations, and can therefore best represent ourselves as opposed to someone doing it for us.
Assure Uganda’s mission is to nurture and build a generation that can stand up for what they believe is right, have the power to change what is wrong, and be able to add value to society. And our vision: a generation of power, success, and value.”
Could you describe what your organization does? What kind of concrete actions do you engage in?
“At Assure Uganda, we believe that a peaceful world is dependent upon the respect of human rights, culture, good governance, democracy, justice, and environmental sustainability. Within these thematic areas, we seek to ensure that young girls are educated and shaped at an early stage to respect culture, electoral processes, build incorruptible institutions, advocate for what is right, and actively participate in leadership. We also act on practices that seek to protect the ecosystem in a bid to promote co-existence, as we protect the climate with emphasis on mitigation and adaptation processes to enable, as well as enhance, sustainable food security.”
Assure Uganda Regional Coordinators.
What are the values you wish to promote?
“Our daily work focuses on validating our six core values:
- Identical
- Cleanliness
- Involvement
- Relationship
- Integrity and Resilience”
What are your goals as an association?
“Girls are not valued in Uganda: starting from home and school, all the way up to a national level. As an example, girls are not supported by their teachers and lectures when it comes to school elections. Teachers feel that only a boy can be the head prefect or guild president, and see girls fit for the role of an assistant. When it comes to sharing ownership of property at home, girls are not valued and boys are given all privileges of sharing family property such as land, which yet again leaves girls completely excluded. Our main goal remains nurturing and building girls and young women to become agents of the social, political, and economical change they deserve. We believe we do it better than anybody trying to do it for us.”
How are you funded?
“Assure Uganda, being young organization led by girls, is still struggling in getting funding. Some of our projects are supported by both local and international friends of Assure Uganda. Once the organization’s visibility is manifested through networking and other means, AU has the potential to create a platform which donors can trust.”
What do you hope to achieve in association with Kota?
“Most of all, Assure Uganda hopes to achieve learning the proper way of doing things, including fund raising and hosting projects promoting sustainability, from Kota’s experienced board and staff, and all members of the alliance. Being part of Kota, we hope to be visible as an outstanding girl-led movement in Uganda, our region, and globally, as the issues affecting girls in Uganda crosscut nations.”
Assure Uganda members on a picnic last year.
What do you hope to achieve within next year?
“In Uganda, like in many African countries, poor leadership and governance is not separable from individual leaders. Democracy can also be viewed to be on a deathbed in many African countries. Many citizens are battling undemocratic leadership, all the while poor organization is resulting in poor economic capabilities for many young people, especially girls in Uganda. These issues have hindered the growth and development of human capital, which should be viewed as the greatest resource, as well as affected social protection and the availability of information on how to cope with these inequalities and injustices. Young women in Uganda, who have experienced poor socio-economic conditions first hand, need to be trained in skills that shape them into being better citizens. The girls and women can then add value to themselves – and the nation at large – through prioritizing the wellbeing of others and their country.
It is on the account of these issues, that Assure Uganda started this project to change leadership through mentorship, and began to create solutions that would impact the society in a positive manner: through domesticating democracy, good leadership and governance , but also through building individual economic empowerment, hence strengthening citizens bonds with their leaders. By next year we hope this project to be implemented in 300 schools and institutions of higher learning in all regions of Uganda. We will also teach University and secondary school student leaders basic leadership skills that emphasize good governance, democracy, and knowledge on economic empowerment.”
