Final Evaluation: Eliminating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities (Uganda)

Author(s)/editor(s)

Lwanyaaga Julius

Location: Uganda

Grantee: Integrated Disabled Women’s Activities (IDIWA)

Grant period: 1 January 2020 – 31 December 2022

Grant amount: USD 417,560

Authors/editors: Lwanyaaga Julius

Publication year: 2023

Integrated Disabled Women’s Activities (IDIWA) implemented the three-year project “Eliminating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities” with the support of the UN Trust Fund from 2020 to 2022. The projects main objectives were to:

promote equitable access to disability-friendly multisectoral services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and empower women and girls with disabilities to demand their rights; and
strengthen protection mechanisms and bolster the capacity of women and girls living with disabilities as well as disabled people’s organizations to promote gender equality and effective responses to sexual and gender-based violence, and to advocate for others.

The final evaluation revealed that IDIWA successfully carried out the planned project activities and made a significant contribution to systematizing the process and involving various actors to address and respond to sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities and other women.

Main findings of the evaluation:

All the beneficiaries reported the violence they had experienced and felt appropriately supported, and were able to lead efforts to demand their right to live free from violence.
96% of stakeholders said the structures and the relationships built will sustain the changes, achievements and aspirations of the project.
The project helped to strengthen institutional policies and actions, and, when necessary, to ensure new ones are adopted to effectively prevent sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls living with disabilities and other women and girls.
The project contributed to substantive change in gender norms towards embracing equality and to creating effective frameworks for developing gender-responsive approaches for securing the rights of women and girls living with disabilities and promoting their safety.