GROUP A ASSIGNMENT.

UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS IN

UGANDA.
• Identify and describe the program/project.
• “Enhanced access to justice for poor vulnerable women,
children and marginalized communities”. it is a feminist non-
government organistaion tha provides legal aid services to
women, children.
• The organization implementing and the address
THE UGANDA ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN LAWYERS(FIDA-U).
Located in Iganga District.
• THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAME.
• Increased awareness of communities on women’s rights,
gender equality and the law.
• Increased legal aid service provision for vulnerable
women, children, and marginalized communities.
• Strengthened capacity of informal justice actors to
resolve disputes and provide referral services to
communities.

• SPECIFIC SOCIAL ISSUES\PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY THE

PROGRAMME.
• Ending violence against women and girls.
• Vulnerable and marginalized women and children especially
survivors of GBV have limited knowledge about the existing
access to formal justice mechanisms for redress.
• The grassroots communities in the project districts are
characterized by deep-rooted cultural and patriarchal beliefs
that do not favour women especially when it comes to
ownership of property, marriage and in handling sexual
offences.

HOW THE PROGRAMME AIMS TO SOLVE THE ISSUES;

• Gender equality and women empowerment. Gender
equality and women empowerment is a pre-requisite for
accelerated social economic transformation and ending
violence against women and girls and is critical for the
realization of women’s rights. Access to justice for women
and girls is a pillar for stable and peaceful societies.
• Focus on promoting socio-economic rights and justice for
women is part of a holistic approach to legal and economic
 justice. Through addressing women’s economic needs, there
is increase in women’s agency, autonomy and confidence
and as a result of the confidence built and the financial
independence, women are more assertive and supportive to
each other to access justice when their rights are violated.
• To address the access to justice needs identified above,
FIDA Uganda will continue to provide comprehensive legal
aid services and education to vulnerable women, children
and marginalized communities of the target districts. FIDA-
Uganda will collaborate with both the informal and formal
justice actors and key stakeholders like Uganda Law Society
(ULS), the Legal Aid Service Providers Network (LASPNET),
district leaders, Uganda Police, religious and traditional
leaders to enhance access to justice.
• FIDA-Uganda will continue to work with Community Legal
Volunteers (CLVs) to report, follow up cases and provide
legal advice to survivors of GBV taking into consideration
their needs.
• Sociological perspective that best explains the issues.
• The functionalist perspective.
Rationale for choice.
The functionalist perspective explains social institutions as
collective means to meet individual and social needs.it further
states that there are basic needs such as food, shelter,
clothing and money than an individual requires. Source
(Introduction to women gender studies, Chapter 12-THE
FUNCTIONALIST Perspective, by Deborah Holt,BS,MA.
FIDA-U works collectively with the community at large, cultural
leaders, district officials, police, judiciary, other CSOs, women
groups, community legal volunteers among others to realise its
objectives.
• Beneficiary Analysis.
Primary beneficiaries of the program.
The project final beneficiaries are mainly poor and vulnerable women
from Iganga district. These poor and vulnerable women include
victims/survivors of GBV; widows.
Justification.
The needs of the beneficiaries include the need for legal redress,
remedies, and accountability for rights abuses, such as GBV and abuse
of property rights, inheritance rights, and child custody and divorce
issues. The needs of the beneficiaries also include economic
empowerment to reduce their vulnerability to GBV; gender responsive
legislation, policies, and programs; and the need to acquire legal and
women’s rights knowledge on the right to access justice and the rights
impacts of abuse, including GBV on individuals, families, and the
community as a whole.
The constraints of the beneficiaries include: lack knowledge of their
rights and lack information on where to report cases or seek legal
redress for abuse; existing discriminatory traditional and cultural
norms and attitudes that condone violence against women and
children and encourage them to remain silent and not report abuse;
poverty that makes women and children in need of justice unable to
afford legal services and costs associated with formal justice systems,
such as legal representation, filing fees, and transport to formal courts;
lack of education and economic opportunities that leave women and
children economically vulnerable to GBV and unable to afford legal
services; and absence of legislation on provision of legal aid services to
poor and vulnerable women and children seeking justice for abuse.

Another constraint of the beneficiaries is the underrepresentation of

females in the judicial sector that undermines delivery of justice that
meets women’s needs.
This project is relevant to the needs and constraints of the final
beneficiaries because it seeks to: i) provide legal aid services to poor
and vulnerable women to enforce their rights to seek legal redress for
rights abuses; ii) educate poor and vulnerable women and
communities about legal and women’s rights, gender, and the law to
increase knowledge of their legal rights, promote women’s rights
literacy, and change patriarchal discriminatory norms and practices
that undermine access to justice and reinforce GBV; iii) lobby for
gender-responsive reforms, including legislation, policies, and
programs that effectively respond to the justice needs of poor and
vulnerable women; iv) strengthen referral pathways among community
and formal justice institutions, livelihood/social providers, and health
service providers to improve response efforts to GBV and ensure more
appropriate care, support, and access to services needed to ensure
physical, mental, and social well-being of survivors; and v)
economically empower poor and vulnerable women with skills for
enterprise growth through FIDA Uganda’s self-actualization model to
ensure economic independence as a method of preventing and
reducing GBV.
• Social welfare model of the program.
Logical Model.
How the program approach fits within the model?
The program entitled Enhanced access to justice for poor,
vulnerable women, children and marginalized communities has
outcomes which are achieved through the outputs making it a
logical model.
• Outcome 1. Increased awareness of communities on
women’s rights, gender equality and the law.
Outputs leading to the outcome.
• Awareness raising activities on women’s rights, gender
 equality and gender related laws conducted.
• Online legal information and legal advice for women and men
provided.
• Outcome 2. Increased legal aid service provision for
vulnerable women, children and marginalized
communities.
Outputs leading to the outcome.
• Legal counseling, advise, mediation and court representation for
vulnerable and marginalized women and girls provided.
• Establishment and functioning of women economic
empowerment groups supported.
• Legal research for public interest cases conducted.
• Outcome 3. Strengthened capacity of informal justice
actors to resolve disputes and provide referral services to
communities.
Outputs leading to it.
• Training and mentorship sessions of informal justice actors on
legal aid service provision conducted.
• Legal assistance and referral services provision by informal
justice actors supported.
•
•
• institutional model. The institutional model aims to provide
comprehensive social protection and promote social solidarity.