Disabled Women in Development

Disabled Women in Development (DIWODE-Uganda)

Postal Address	P.O. Box 72097, Kampala, Uganda
Street Address	Plot 313 Kisenyi Lane, Kisenyi 1 Parish, Central Village, Kampala-Central
Tel	256-71-736839 / 78-658117 / 77-357921
Fax	-
E-mail	diwodeproject2000@yahoo.co.uk or hzawedde@yahoo.com
Web Address	http://www.users.anytimenow.com/diwode_web/
Year Established	1999
Contacts	Harriet Zawedde, Executive Director Julius Musigire, Programme Administrator Justine Muyambi, Secretary
Mission	To promote self help initiatives by providing training and micro-credit facilities to the marginalized groups especially women with disabilities, women living with HIV/AIDS, orphans and the destitute for them to have self sustainability and live a meaningful life. DIWODE's objectives are to: Provide training to children and adults by imparting practical skills such as handicraft, tailoring, etc. Promote development programmes by setting up commercial economic projects like poultry farming, pig rearing, etc., for increasing and broadening the income margin of DIWODE members Mobilise disabled women, widows and women living with HIV/AIDS, orphans and destitutes to unite and promote the spirit of brother and sisterhood thereby identifying and initiating self-income generating activities amongst themselves Promote health programmes especially in the fight against HIV/AIDS among the targeted groups through massive sensitisation and care.
Geographical area of operations	Central and Lubaga Divisions in Kampala and Buwambo Parish, Wabitembe Village, Gombe Subcounty in Wakiso District.
Issues area of operations	Disabled Women's economic empowerment through micro-credit scheme, catering for orphans through education and their well-being, Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) programmes for our members.
Activities	DIWODE's activities include: Training disabled women, widows, the very old and orphans in practical skills Business skills development Initiation of micro-credit schemes Counselling We are engaged in selling of new and old clothes, we also sell filtered water, involved in saloon business and poultry farming. The Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) programme aims at training the community and members in the skills of writing and reading a short simple statement on his or her everyday life with understanding. Being 'functional' means that one can engage in all these activities in which literacy (reading and writing) is required for effective functioning for his or her own and for commmunity development. It is against that background that we developed this programme for our members so as to create a positive change among the lives of our people since many cannot read and write even their names. However, we still lack resources to fully implement this programme. The HIV/AIDS awareness and care programme: Organise HIV/AIDS seminars to address the issues concerning the epidemic amongst the members Provide counseling to the affected and infected members Provide food rations to the infected members Provide beddings especially mosquito nets to the infected members The Orphanage school: Provide free primary education to the orphans of our members and destitutes Provide scholastic materials such as uniforms, books, pens, etc.
Affiliation(s)	We are networking with Business and Professional Women (BPW) - Australia, Mobile call for action from SWEDEN, District union of Kampala for the People With Disabilities (PWD)'s.
Dissemination	We train elders in various fields, sensitise the community about the dangers of HIV/AIDS through drama.
Target Audience	Our focus is mainly on the disabled women, widows and the orphans.
Additional Information	Since inception, DIWODE has mobilised 99 disabled women, 50 widows and registered 250 orphans. DIWODE counsells disabled women not to underlook themselves as disability is not inability. They are equiped with practical skills to enable them do things on their own to earn a living. DIWODE wishes/seeks to put up a vocational training centre to equip children with practical skills. However, we are still restricted by funds so our mission is yet to be accomplished. We have also managed to establish a single unit office within KISENYI 1 parish, we managed to receive a website which seems to be a great achievement and we have started a drama club for our orphans.

Last update: August-13, 2005