Women And Children' Empowerment Network in Africa (WACENA)

Name of Organization
Women And Children’ Empowerment Network in Africa.
Organization’ Acronym
WACENA
Background
WACENA, was established in the year 2008 by a number of concerned mothers together with Makerere University Kampala’ female students with a purpose of addressing and suppressing the acute and long-term consequences of violence against women and children of Uganda.
The empowerment of women means development of their ability to take collective and individual control over their lives, identify their needs and determine their interests. In most cases, empowerment of women requires transformation of the division of labor and society
They observed and considered the 4 identical consequences faced by the victims of violence mainly;-
• Physical health consequences
• Sexual and reproductive consequences
• Psychological consequences and-
• Financial consequences
With all the above in mind, WACENA believes that women and children are part and partial of the holders of human rights. During the first year of its operation, the organization started various activities that involved the beneficiaries directly at all stages of participation.
Among the activities that were initiated include but not limited to:
i. raising women and children voices through music, dance and art events
ii. Needs Assessment
iii. preparation of Training Manual for gender equality
iv. Local leaders’ meetings and seminars
v. Micro-credit training for raped and defiled woman living the slums
vi. Initiating anti-child sacrifice campaigns
vii. establishing and operationalizing a Women and Children None-violence Forum
viii. developing a network of unemployed women youths and rehabilitation the LGBT persecuted girls minority
ix. developing and disseminating HIV/AIDS awareness products and publications
x. producing video educational programs on HIV/AIDS and violence against women and children
xi. training women Youth and Project staff in HIV/AIDS awareness raising strategies
xii. establishing database and carryout regular monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems for HIV/AIDS affected women and children
xiii. enhancing the competitiveness of the small businesses established in the City slums and semi-urban centers mentoring women entrepreneurs through cluster attachments
xiv. establishing networks with government ministries and civil society organization with related objectives
xv. conducting zonal workshops for High School girls and senior women teachers on issues of empowering young girls
xvi. addressing the issue of elevating a government policy that would make all sanitary towels for women and girls tax-free products
Vision
To establish a violent free Africa fit for all women and children.

Mission
The mission of Women And Children’ Empowerment Network in Africa (WACENA) is to establish and maintain a reliable platform through which the voices of women and children would be listened to and respected. In carrying out this mission WACENA does:
Give priority to advocating for the human rights of the women and children and their invisible movements, groups or activities in their respective communities.
Focus attention on violence due to religion, culture or tradition, inequality, discrimination, poverty, violence against women and children in conflict situations, or as a result of natural disasters and those who are at risk and vulnerable on multiple fronts.
Offer legal intervention to the victims of sexual abuse and neglect in order to realize the civil, cultural, economic, and social rights, including the right to development.
Monitor and evaluate the impact of its work through the substantive benefit that is accrued through it to beneficiaries around the Continent in particular and world in general.

Goal
The ultimate goal of WACENA is to enhance income, protection, equality and development for women and children.
Rationale
Learning the key objectives during the WACENA’ establishment, the Board of Directors formulated a WACENA strategy which provides a framework aimed at addressing the causes of violence against women and children of Uganda and Africa in particular.
WACENA ratifies Violence against women as defined in the UN Resolution of the General Assembly in 1993 and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women as "any act of gender-based violence that results or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological suffering or violation of women, including threats of such violence, coercion or violation of freedom both in public and in private life." Violence against women should be understood as: a) physical, sexual and psychological violence within the family, including violence and sexual abuse of girls in the family, rape in marriage, practices of genital mutilation, non-marital violence and violence during exploitation; b) psychological, sexual and psychological violence in the community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work in educational and other institutions, trafficking in women and forced prostitution; c) Physical, sexual and psychological violence conducted or supported by the state, at any point in time.
Therefore, the rationale of WACENA is based upon several reasons:
 UN research indicates that only a small proportion of acts of violence against women and children is reported and investigated; and few perpetrators held to account.
 In various countries there are no systems responsible for recording or thoroughly investigating reports of violence against women and children.
 For the countries that try to keep records, official statistics based on reports of violence in the home and other settings exist, they dramatically underestimate the true magnitude of the problem.
 Very few women and young children who suffer violence in their homes lack capacity to report.
 Very many women and children are afraid to report the incidents of violence against them for the fear of reprisals by perpetrators or of interventions by authorities which may worsen their overall situation.
 On a particular side of the children, in many cases, their parents who should protect them are silent of the violence is perpetrated by a spouse or other family member, or a more powerful member of society such as an employer, a police officer, or community leader.
 In societies where patriarchal notions of family “honour” are valued above girls’ human rights and well being, an incident of rape or sexual violence can lead to ostracism of the victim, under which further violence and even death at the hands of their families.
 Many governments lack systems of consistent registration of births, leading to lack of formal identity that can place infant and small children at risk.
 Many governments also lack rigorous investigation into and registration of child deaths.
 Millions of girls are married before the age of 18, and lack of marriage registration makes the problem more complicated to track.
 Few countries consistently record and report on the placement of children in institutions and alternative care, or detention, and few still collect information about violence against children in such placements.
 Women and children, the perpetrators of violence against them and the public at large may accept physical, sexual and psychological violence as an inevitable act in society.
 Laws in many countries still condone “reasonable” or “lawful” corporal punishment and reflect societal approval of violence when it is described or disguised as “discipline”.
 Corporal punishment and other forms of cruel or degrading punishment, bullying and sexual harassment, and a range of violent traditional practices may be perceived as normal, particularly when no lasting visible physical injury results.
Problem Statement
A great number of initiatives or campaigns, right from international comparative studies to small-scale interview studies with women and children at local level, are providing a clearer image of the magnitude and pervasive nature of the problem in all regions. Information generated from these initiatives indicates that, while some violence against women and children is perpetrated by strangers, the vast majority of violent acts is perpetrated by people who are part of the victims’ immediate environment: parents, and the wiser family, boyfriends or girlfriends, spouses, and partners, teachers, schoolmates and employers.

Examples:
• WHO estimates that almost 53,000 child deaths in 2002 were homicides.
• UNICEF estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and Sudan, 3 million girls were subjected to FGM every year.
• In the Global School-Based Student Health Survey carried out in a wide range of developing countries between 20% and 65% of school aged children reported having been verbally or physically bullied in school in the previous 30 days.
• An estimated 150 million girls under 18 have experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence involving physical contact.
• ILO estimates that 218 million children were involved in child labour in 2004, of whom 126 million were engaged in hazardous work. Estimates from 2000 suggest that 5.7 million were in forced or bonded labour, 1.8 million in prostitution and pornography, and 1.2 million were victims of trafficking.
• Only 2.4 of the world’s children are legally protected from corporal punishment in all settings.
Voices Against Violence research also indicates:-
• 1 in 5 girls and young women aged under 15 experience sexual abuse
• More than 60 million girls worldwide become child brides
• More than 140 million girls experience female genital mutilation
• In Malawi 50 per cent of schoolgirls reported being touched in a sexual way without their consent either by a teacher or another classmate
• At least 60 million girls are ‘missing’ due to female infanticide

WACENA Objectives
a) To stop all forms of violence against women and children in Africa without excuses.
b) To identity, dismantle and prevent all the notable violence against women and children
c) To mitigate the impact of violence, poverty, HIV/AIDS and all forms of violence against women and children
d) To establish projects, programs and activities that are gender-sensitive evidenced by the active/higher participation of women in planning, implementation and evaluation
e) To contribute to the livelihood improvement of women by curbing unemployment crisis through poverty reduction initiatives
f) To encourage and initiate general income-base enhancement of women in their communities with the inclusion of practical skills in development for sustainable livelihoods.
g) To engage the unemployed young women who have resorted to prostitution as a source of their livelihood be trained and equipped with start-up capital in order to curb their highest rate of vulnerability to sexual abuse and HIV/AIDS contraction.
h) To promote and emphasize the relevancy of agriculture in improving the livelihood of every rural woman.