Remarks by UN Resident Coordinator at Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting on Championing Gender Equality for All

Acknowledgements:

Honorable Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Dr. Mary Goretti Kitutu

The Chief Executive Stanbic Bank, Ms. Anne Juuko

High Commissioner South Africa, UN Colleagues, Distinguished Women leaders including CCEDU Board Chairperson and members of the Youth SDG Coalition,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the United Nations system in Uganda, I am delighted to join today as Stanbic Bank commemorates the International Women’s Day under the theme, “Championing Gender Equality for All”.  Today is an opportunity to reflect on progress made, call for change and celebrate acts of courage by ordinary women to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5 – Gender Equality and human rights. At this time, I wish to take a moment to recognize the sacrifice and impact of women across the world, Africa and Uganda, in particular those who are at the forefront of the response to COVID-19, those providing humanitarian assistance, those working on development and those who are in political leadership like H. E. Samia Suluhu the 6th President of the Republic of Tanzania – wishing her success. We thank those who created opportunities for the current generation by serving in the legislative council, in public service and in security. Ladies and gentlemen: One of the great women rulers of Africa is Queen Anna Nzinga (circa 1581-1663) of Angola who fought against slave trade and was known for being an astute diplomat and visionary military leader who successfully resisted Portuguese invasion and slave raids for 30 years. Let’s not talk about women empowerment, lets act to regain our role as strategic partners and leaders in our communities and nations.

Ladies and gentlemen, Stanbic Bank’s actions are aligned to Uganda’s 1995 Constitution, under Article 33(3) which provides for the protection of women and their rights as well as with gender responsive policies such as the Employment Act No.6 (2006), the Uganda Gender Policy (2007) and the National Policy on the Elimination of Gender-based Violence (2016). I wish to convey my appreciation to the leadership of Stanbic Bank Uganda for advancing gender equality through business operations and value chain systems. Congratulations Ms. Anne Jjuko, for being the first female Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic Bank, inspiring girls across the continent and thank you for honoring women it lines up with the Obuntubulamu code of ethics. Your appointment is evidence that Stanbic Bank Uganda is implementing the UNDP Gender Equality Seal certification programme for private enterprises which it subscribes to as well as its role part of the He4She campaign by UNWOMEN. So far 40 companies have committed to implement the Gender Equality Seal which promotes the integration of measures for gender equality as an integral part of corporate governance and good business.

The need

As we commemorate the Gender Equality Month, we are reminded of the realities surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Gender inequalities have been exacerbated and violence increased in our homes. A study carried out by the UN in Uganda on the social economic impact of COVID-19 in Uganda revealed that those employed within the informal sector and small and media enterprises- most of whom are women and youth, were the most affected. To address this challenge, the UN Country Team partnered with Stanbic Bank Uganda to complement efforts of the Government and other actors by setting up the Economic Enterprise Restart Fund (EERF) to provide low-interest refinancing to support the survival of micro and small enterprises. Women cannot reach their potential when violence prevails in the home. In February 2020, when we launched the Uganda chapter of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) an African Union platform to enhance the leadership of women in the transformation of Africa and to bring together women from all walks of life to change the narrative around women’s participation in leadership. This platform is a safe space for women regardless of status to help inform solutions to national issues of concern, particularly the urgent need to improve productivity of women at parish level. In order to eliminate violence against women and girls, the United Nations in partnership with the European Union are working with the government and civil society to implement the Spotlight Initiative which aims to end gender-based violence and harmful practices around the world.

Youth Empowerment and other initiatives

We cannot champion gender equality for all, without involving the youth. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the important role of young people in developing solutions to contribute to Uganda’s transformation to a modern society, especially being the world’s youngest nation on Earth. Allow me to share two examples:

I would like to introduce you to 25-year-old Immaculate Akello, a graduate from Kampala International University and CEO of Generation Engage Network with programmes in Otuke and Lira districts. Immaculate is contributing to the achievement of SDGs by providing climate smart incentives, focusing on social, economic and civic empowerment among youth and women. She offers a platform to influence policy by steering skilled and informed communities premised on the belief that each youth is a unique individual able to become the best version of themselves. Through eco-prenuership trainings, she has influenced and impacted over 500 youths from Africa and 150 women groups, she has also trained people on the production of shea butter and re-afforestation of the shea tree. She has led planting of over 1000 trees of different species in Lira and Butambala. Immaculate is a member of the Youth Coalition for SDGs which is comprised of over 30 organisations actively involved in promoting the SDGs in Uganda in the areas of Human Capital Development; Climate Action and Environment Conservation; Sports for Development; Gender Equality and Women Empowerment and Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The Coalition was established in June 2019 and works closely with the United Nations in Uganda and the National SDG Secretariat at the Office of the Prime Minister. Last year, the members of the Youth SDG Coalition came up with the idea of the One Million SDG Solutions from Youth in Uganda innovation challenge to identify Ugandan youth to present one million solutions which are changing lives positively by 2030. The best 38 solutions from 2020 are part of a catalogue which can be found on the website ugandayouthsolutions.com

The second example is Youth4Business Innovation and Entrepreneurial Facility which was launched in July 2020 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with Stanbic Bank Uganda to spur impact-driven entrepreneurship, foster innovation and leverage business solutions to address the youth unemployment challenges and enable micro, small and medium enterprises to recover from the impact of COVID-19. The Facility is also anchored in the global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as an integrated support package intended to act as a catalyst for innovation by enabling youth to pilot and transform sustainable enterprise ideas and models to address the market failure where financial institutions are reluctant to provide start-up capital to young entrepreneurs. We believe this Facility will strengthen the capacity of youth to engage in critical value chains in agriculture, the digital economy, tourism, industrialization and the environment-friendly development.

Call to action

The UN recognizes that expanding women’s leadership and participation across all levels in society requires changing perceptions of masculinity. We know that through their actions men can transform social norms, behaviours and gender stereotypes that perpetuate discrimination and inequality. The United Nations in Uganda and partners will soon launch the Private Sector Partnerships Platform for the acceleration of SDGs in Uganda. We invite Stanbic Bank to join the platform and help us expand the community of private sector leaders committed to gender. To the Parliament, we call for prioritization of passage into Law of key pending bills including the National Health Insurance Bill, the Pensions Bill, the Minimum Wage Bill and the Legal Aid Bill. We also call on the Government to address the fact that out of the top 20 positions in Uganda only the Speaker is a woman. We also ask the Government to revise the National Social Protection Policy to include the informal sector and increase resources for implementation of the National Plan for Older Persons 2012, the NSSF and Pension Act (to include prompt payments) and Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons Act among others.

As I conclude, on behalf of the UN, I reiterate our commitment to work with the people and Government of Uganda to attain the National Vison 2040 and inclusive sustainable development through the SDGs. Our priorities going forward will include promoting civic education and the principles of ‘Obuntubulamu’ supporting gender equality and human rights, facilitating agro-industrialization and tourism as well as greater investment in human capital development and financing the SDGs. I invite you to read our Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2021 – 2025 on our website https://uganda.un.org  for more details on our commitments.

Let me end with a quote from Nelson Mandela, “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression…Our endeavors must be about the liberation of the woman, the emancipation of the man and the liberty of the child.”  Let us unite informed by our shared humanity and liberate every woman so that in our pursuit of prosperity, we leave no one behind. Thank you for your attention.