"Assessing Gender Sensitivity in Uganda’s Extractive Industry: A case of Buliisa, Hoima & Mubende Districts"

Global Rights Alert (GRA) undertook a rapid assessment in the oil rich districts of Hoima and Buliisa, as well as in the Mining district of Mubende to assess gender sensitivity in programming by government and investors operating in Uganda’s extractive sector. The results from this assessement will contribute to informing appropriate interventions to ensure that women are not excluded from participating and shaping the sector and its development priorities.

The assessment identified a number of barriers that limit access to information and participation by both men and women with regard to EI programmes. In a number of instances, Local government leadership has been bypassed by central government when undertaking sensitisation and consultative meetings in rural communities in the oil region. Both men and women do not receive adequate information on a number of issues, even when they demand for the same. For women however, the situation is worse because of the gender roles and expectations from their communities. Meetings on oil are organised in morning hours when the women are supposed to be working on their gardens, yet these meetings are sometimes on important issues such as land acquisition that women depend on for livelhoods and family support. When men attend these meetings and access information, they rarely pass it to the women. When women access information, they rarely act on it, because in patriarcha