The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party has launched two policies, including a policy against sexual harassment and a gender policy to create a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for everyone.
According to Agnes Kisakye, the Chairperson of the FDC Women League, the policies lay the foundation for achieving gender equality, equity, and inclusion within the FDC party.
“These policies are a testament to the FDC’s commitment to justice, democracy, and the empowerment of all marginalized groups as enshrined in both the party constitution and the national and international frameworks to which Uganda is a signatory,” she said.
While launching the two policies on Monday, December 16, 2024, at the FDC party headquarters at Najjanankumbi, Kisakye highlighted the core objectives of the policies, including increasing knowledge and understanding of gender issues among the party leaders, members, and officials.
Others highlighted include institutionalizing gender-responsive planning and budgeting, programming, monitoring, evaluation, and gender audit; promoting gender balance in FDC leadership and staffing; and mainstreaming gender in research and contrast of partners.
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According to the FDC party President, Partrick Oboi Amuriat, the launch of the gender policy reassures the women who would wish to join the party of safety, democracy, and inclusion of all persons in the party activities.
“What we are doing as FDC today is to reassure the public and those who may have hesitated to join this party and participate in the leadership that FDC is now secure for your wife and husband. Your wife is going to come to us and not go back home with the unwanted pregnancy,” he said.
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He, however, explained that the major root cause of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is poverty, stating that there is a lot of stress in homes because husbands are poor enough to provide for their families.
“Gender-Based Violence is not coming by itself. There is a root cause of it, and the first that we can clearly see and we have experienced in our families and communities is poverty,” Amuriat added.
The Deputy Secretary for Mobilization (Buganda region), Olive Nassuna, said that the policy aims to protect women’s rights against gender-based violence in all spheres of life, adding that they will continue to work within the parameters of the policies to pioneer advocacy for women’s human rights against sexual harassment.
