From Resolution 1325 to real change: Women in Uganda building peace from the ground up

You wouldn’t build an entry ramp for a building without consulting someone who uses a wheelchair, explains Juliet Mbambu, Executive Director of the Bwera United Women with Disabilities Association. If you do not understand their lived experience, you could make things harder for the people you’re trying to help – building “a mountain,” instead of a ramp. “‘Nothing for us without us,’ is our saying.”

Diagnosed with polio at the age of 10, Mbambu defied the odds in her community with the advocacy of her sisters and friends who, at times, carried her on their backs so she could attend school. Now, the social worker and mother of three leads support groups for children with disabilities, as well as their parents.

“I grew up in a very difficult situation. This is why I formed a group of women with disabilities – to amplify the voice, to create awareness, to advocate for rights – so that at least people should learn [directly] from us.”

Mbambu applies these experiences to her work in the Kasese District which, along with neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, has faced ongoing threats of violent extremism.

Bolstered by conflict mediation trainings she received through Coalition for Action on 1325 (CoACT) with support from UN Women, Mbambu leads community dialogues to prevent violent extremism and conducts outreach among the young people that extremist groups try to recruit. “And these youth, by the end of the dialogue, they come out with their own action points to prevent extremism and commit to [raising awareness among] their peers.”

Angel Musiime speaks with pride about the ways in which she has been able to change the trajectory of people’s lives, like convincing young boys to return to school and navigating difficult conversations to support a woman in an abusive relationship.

“I want to be a great woman of peace,” says the 26-year-old.

Musiime, who serves as a local parish chief and peace mediator in Kyegegwa Town Council, has had to overcome her own obstacles as a young woman, including losing her mother and experiencing pregnancy while still at university.

“In our settings, they say this is the end of you: ‘Get married, give birth to babies, and that’s life. Live like an African woman. Don’t work, be home.’ But I thank God I had this voice that kept on telling me, ‘Make your mother proud.’”

In 2023, Angel jumped at the opportunity to attend a peace mediators training with CoACT. “I remember that morning! I woke up, organized myself, breastfed my baby,” she says with a smile. “Of course, I saw it as an opportunity to do what I always wanted to do: to stand and defend people; to help women and girls have their equal rights.”

Through the training, Musiime not only learned conflict resolution and leadership, but how to “extend leadership to others,” she says. “From the skills we attained, I’ve touched people’s lives.”

“When there’s no space in the car, you just jump on the back of someone’s pickup,” says Sharon Kabugho, a Communications Officer with the Kasese District Local Government, describing how she reaches remote community meetings. “You have to get there.”

Uganda’s Third National Action Plan to implement the Women, Peace and Security agenda includes working at the grassroots level to stop conflict where it starts, including disputes over land, and gender-based violence. These Local Action Plans adapt WPS’s far-reaching priorities to unique on-the-ground contexts and boost accountability.

To get the information she needs as a peacebuilder driving the District’s Local Action Plan, Kabugho always meets stakeholders where they are. It’s a critical step, she says, “in enlightening [local] religious, cultural and district leaders to appreciate what real peace means.”

To Kabugho, peace means “seeing the humanity” in one another – and seeing women as true equals. She credits peacebuilding trainings for her understanding of how gender inequality hurts women and girls. “Through the training, I understood that disaster affects women differently from men… I came to appreciate that things I had accepted as normal, [actually] violate women’s peace.”

In her work, Kabugho meets many women facing physical, emotional and financial abuse. To get them the resources they need, she uses every tool at her disposal – not just pickup trucks – but radio shows, hotlines and social media.

For peace; for “the fact that our women are still undergoing different forms of abuse,” says Kabugho, “let us keep the candles up. Let us keep fighting until we are there. Let each stakeholder come out to see that Women, Peace and Security is fought for.”

“A society that guarantees women’s safety, guarantees its own stability,” says UN Women Deputy Country Representative for Uganda Adekemi Ndieli.

Across the country, UN Women has directly supported the development of 16 Local Action Plans, with critical funding and support from the Government of Norway. More women are now participating in peace building and conflict prevention, with representation on local peace committees in UN Women’s targeted Districts at 46 per cent – up from 17 per cent in 2022.

“In 2024 alone, approximately 500 community-level conflicts were successfully mediated or resolved through the women that we work with,” says Ndieli. “Women, men and youth are actively participating in – and benefiting from – conflict resolution, prevention, protection, and livelihood opportunities.”