CEDOVIP and Uganda Women Parliamentary Women Association (UWOPA) worked on advocacy for the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act. We focused on ways for government to allocate funds to the DVA and to influence expeditious approval of the GBV policy and advocacy for implementation of the HIVPEP policy for survivors of sexual assault.
a) Campaign for expeditious approval of GBV policy and advocacy for allocation of funds to DVA
CEDOVIP in partnership with UWOPA held a Legislative and Policy meeting. The meeting was attended by 32 participants of which 24 were female and 8 were male Members of Parliament. The group unanimously agreed to demand that the Ministry of Gender speeds up the process of approving the GBV policy and allocation of funds to the DVA implementation. As a result MPs have continued to demand that key sectors allocate funds for the DVA. Consequently, the Parliamentary committee on Gender tasked Ministry of Internal Affairs to allocate funds to the DVA, when the ministry presented their 2014/15 budget before the Gender Parliamentary committee. Similarly CEDOVIP was able to influence UWOPA to generate demand for the GBV Policy, Thus through engagements with various stakeholders UWOPA secured spaces to ask stakeholders to demand MGLSD to finalize drafting the GBV policy.
b) Review of progress of the implementation of the HIVPEP policy for sexual assault survivors.
HIVPEP coalition and CEDOVIP in partnership with UWOPA continued to coordinate and participate in advocacy for the implementation of the revised HIVPEP policy. Two meetings were held with over 60 participants including MPs. The meetings focused on two areas; popularizing the HIVPEP policy with the focus on supporting survivors of sexual assault and devise strategies on how to ensure its implementation. Results of the meeting include:
- UWOPA strengthened MPs’ understanding of the HIVPEP policy and services to enable them advocate for the implementation of the HIVPEP policy
- MPs committed to popularize the revised HIVPEP policy by disseminating the policy to respective district health officers
- UWOPA is planning an initiative to influence Ministry of Health to launch and disseminate the HIVPEP policy through a meeting with various stakeholders such as civil society, MGLSD, WHO and MOH