2016 Achievements

•  Beyond 2011….. Project, the first project that promoted women’s participation in mainstream political positions in the 2016 general elections showed noteworthy results. There was an increase in the number of women candidates who won mainstream parliamentary seats of 6.2% compared to 3.6% in 2011. And an increase of 1.8 % of women on LC5 Chairperson Positions.
  
•  The other exciting news is the up scaling of our Youth Leadership Program. We managed to create a continuous relationship with the participants that allows consistent knowledge and information sharing. An alumni closed group online platform www.wlede.org/WLEDERSTEL was established to keep these potential future leaders connected.
  
•  WLEDE turned four years and we started scaling up our models of leadership development using the human rights based approach. We used a participatory approach taking inputs from all staff, the Governance Board and stakeholders to strengthen our niche and sustain the impact of our interventions.
  
  We focused on; – Creating practical models of leadership capacity development to improve women and youth leaders’ contribution to development; Scaling up our impact in human rights observance through replication of what had worked in our past interventions; Building WLEDE’s capacity to support implementation of our programs and built strategic partnerships.
  
•  Implementation of activities for the “Promote the observance of fundamental human rights and peaceful co-existence in the districts of Kamwenge, Kyenjojo and Kyegegwa in the Rwenzori Region” project were intensified and we have had some results being achieved.
  
•  Increased stakeholders’ awareness of the existing human rights violation regarding the plight of migrant and indigenous communities in the target districts. There was also increased stakeholders’ buy-in to promote fundamental human rights in their respective districts and sub counties.
  
•  Reduced gaps of ignorance of the law and fundamental human rights, information dissemination to all the target beneficiaries with high possibilities of spill-over to the neighboring districts.
  
•  Increased levels of awareness of citizens and local leaders on their roles, responsibilities and obligations towards promoting observance of human rights.
  
•  Increased participation of local leaders in non-violent conflict resolution and mitigation through alternative dispute resolution and increased vigilance and involvement of citizens in promoting and advocating for respect of human rights in their localities.
  
•  The Executive Director Ms Edith Ssali qualified as a Professional Fellow in Peace and Conflict Resolution in November 2016 in Northampton, Massachusetts, USA.
  
  As a result we improved our training materials by incorporating the knowledge and information acquired. Also used the skills to improve on the methodology of relaying the information to the beneficiaries of the project in the Rwenzori Region.