Between the 12th and 18th April 2026, Oxfam in Uganda, represented by Charity Chelangat, the Youth Empowerment Coordinator, participated in a series of post-International Women’s Day (IWD) dialogues in Amudat District organized by our partner National Association of Women’s Organisations in Uganda (NAWOU).

The dialogues brought together project participants, district and sub-county leaders, and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) referral pathway actors under the international theme ‘Give to Gain’ and the national theme “Scaling Up Investment to Accelerate Access to Justice for All Women and Girls in Uganda.”

Discussions focused on injustices affecting women and girls, such as child marriage, teenage pregnancy, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and domestic violence, and on how they can be addressed within the communities where we work.

The dialogues both in Karita subcounty and Amudat district headquarters revealed key issues that hinder access to justice for women and girls within the communities they live in, including the inability to afford legal representation, leading many cases to go unaddressed, and fear of stigma or losing their marriages, which discourages reporting of violence. 

Corruption further undermines justice, as perpetrators may bribe police to avoid accountability, which complicates reporting while harmful social and cultural practices like FGM which are seen as rite of passage also affect women. In polygamous households, women may also face pressure and mistreatment from co-wives if they report abusive husbands, as others fear losing the family’s primary breadwinner, all of which collectively hinder efforts to seek justice.

From these conversations, all actors came into an agreement on the collective responsibility of all stakeholders to contribute towards gender equality, which can start by condemning violence and injustice, creating awareness, reporting cases and investing towards it. 

Benjamin Lokolem, a Religious leader committed to including gender justice/Gender equality in their church sessions. This is because he believes that women and men were created by god and there is no lesser being. 

The leadership of Amudat District Local Government, through the office of the Chief Administrative Officer, commended Oxfam and partners for creating an opportunity to unpack some of the concepts and to have deeper conversations in relation to realizing gender justice.