Why we do what we do

FOR CHILDREN

Uganda has one of the youngest populations on the African continent (UNICEF, 2015), Children comprise up to 56% of Uganda’s population, yet they continue to be seen as secondary. By 2014, Uganda had a population of 40 million people, including about 19 million children (UNICEF Uganda statistics, 2019). The living conditions for this important group of the Ugandan society is anything you would call undesirable. Children continue to live in conditions characterized by inadequate access to education and health services, biting poverty in homes, exploitation and violence. The given living conditions for children in Uganda undermine the four cardinal rights of a child to survival, development, protection and participation. Kidnapping, child murdering, and child sacrifice remain widespread in Uganda.

FOR WOMEN

In Uganda, the prevalence of gender-based violence and discrimination against girls and women remains high. In this context, DRF pays particular attention to the vulnerabilities that girls and women face such as sexual violence, early and forced marriages, forced labour, child labour, trafficking, barriers in access to education, etc. Violence against girls and (young) women and the denial of their economic rights stand in the way of achieving substantive gender equality and increase their vulnerability to child labour, child trafficking and (commercial) sexual exploitation. Once trapped in physical and economic forms of exploitation, it is even harder to turn this around, more so because both forms of discrimination and exploitation are driven and endorsed by the same set of norms and values. Therefore, DRF will not only address economic and physical aspects of gender-equality; It will also address underlying social-cultural norms and the policies and legislation that reflect and sustain these norms and values

We believe that if we tackle the discriminatory perceptions, attitudes and practices that underpin and condone violence against women; and if we equip young women and girls with the tools, skills and knowledge to be financially independent and to challenge patriarchal structures; we will create an environment in which girls’ can exercise their agency to challenge the status quo, resist abuse, and discrimination.