The Department of Community Based Development.

1. Community Based Services

Kasese district has made significant strides to promote gender equality and to empower women. However, despite the efforts made by the district to promote gender equality and empower women, some glaring gender gaps remain. Some of include the following:

Women’s participation in decision-making at some levels is still low. Although women are responsible for over 80% of the agricultural production in the district, they own less than 7% of all productive land on which this production takes place.

The level of literacy among adult women in the district is 42% as compared to that of men of which is 52%. (Source: 2002 Population and housing census).

According to 2002 population and housing census, children (0-18 years) were 300,399, which means that they constituted 57.4% of the total population. Majority of these children comprise of categories that are vulnerable for example orphans, abandoned children, child mothers, street children, children in conflict with the law, children living under constant abuse, children in paid employment & children infected/affected by HIV/AIDS and of recent there are street children particularly in Kasese and Hima town councils. Many of the children who are abused never receive any form of medical or psychosocial support.

The same census put the number of orphans at 31,872 (10.6% of all children). Studies carried out by UNICEF and Save the children in Uganda in the district indicate that the high levels of orphanage is   attributed to the following key factors: the re-occurring wars, high prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS and a high prevalence rate of communicable diseases.

According to a study carried out by the department of Community Based Services in 2008, majority of these juveniles offenders, were involved in theft (60%) followed defilement (32%) and other petty crimes (08%). However, according to the same study, Kasese and Hima town councils had most of the juvenile offenders. Bugoye, Maliba , Bwera and Karambi sub counties also ranged high among the rural sub counties.

According to a study carried out by Kasese District Mediators Association (KADIMA) in the district in 2007, the number of children who live on the streets of the major towns like Kasese, Bwera, Katwe and Hima was put at 274.(source unpublished report copied to probation office  2007)  Majority of these children are males a ratio of 10:1. Poverty is one of the key factors driving children to the streets. The other factors are abuse, orphan hood, and family break ups. Street children are characterised by lack of adult guidance, care and protection and general apathy.

The number of child labourers in the district is estimated to be between 10,000 - 15,000 and the majority of whom are females. The most affected areas are, Kasese, Hima, Katwe Kabatooro, and Bwera Mpondwe town councils, the fishing villages, Karusandara, Muhokya, and Lake Katwe.   The female child labourers are mainly engaged in domestic servant hood while the males are mainly engaged in brick making, car washing and petty trade. Child labourers are exposed to hazardous working conditions, getting little or no pay at all and most of them are never given chance to attend school.

Given that the children are the ones who will be in control of our district in future, it is imperative that we take pro-active steps to address their plight.  This can done using a number of strategies some of which include the following: - Promoting the community’s awareness about the need to protect and promote children’s rights, strengthening the capacity of the people who deal with children’s issues like CDWs, police, LCs and others to handle those issues effectively.  The others are, formulating and widely disseminating the District Action Plan on children, supporting the process of formulating and passing ordinances and byelaws aimed at promoting the welfare and protection of children.

Inadequate participation of People with disabilities in the development process

According to the 2002 Housing and population census, the total number of PWDs in the district stands at 22,407of which 10,927 (49%) are females and 11,480 (49%) are males. Persons with physical disability constitute the biggest percentage of PWDs (78.0%).

High adult illiteracy rate - According to the 2002 population and housing census, the literacy rate of persons aged 10 years above was 57%. The literacy rate was higher among the males (37%) than among females (33%).
However, efforts to address this problem have been undertaken by the district through the promotion of Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) Programme. FAL is strong tool for poverty eradication that empowers communities with skills, knowledge and information to participate in the development process. The district currently has 281 classes with a total enrolment of 5,992 learners. However, because of inadequate resources, these classes are poorly facilitated in terms of instructional materials and facilitators allowances.

Although women form the majority of FAL learners (78%), their time to attend classes is often limited by the numerous domestic chores they have to attend to on a daily basis.

Illiteracy and the effects associated with it especially poverty, can be addressed through the following strategies:-Creating massive awareness among all types of  local leaders and the general community about the importance of FAL in promoting socio-economic development, and strengthening the capacity of FAL instructors and FAL supervisors to effectively implement the programme. Others include scaling up facilitation of the FAL classes in form of providing reading and instructional materials and developing a scheme of motivating FAL instructors so that they do not abandon the learners 

High unemployment and low labour productivity - Underemployment and unemployment are generally wide spread in Kasese district. These have resulted into low incomes and poverty among the community members. It is estimated that most of the district’s labour force (75-85%) is engaged in subsistence agriculture, earning meagre incomes.

Loss of Cultural heritage - Kasese district is endowed with rich cultures. However, due to the last 4 decades of political turmoil, these cultures have not been well documented, promoted and preserved. Loss of cultural identity among the different social groups is yet another development challenge facing the district. This can be been attributed to inadequate funding of activities that promote culture in the district, inadequate and weak formal cultural institutions and the globalisation trends.

High levels of poverty among the youth - The youth (12-30 years old persons) in Kasese district constitute about 43% of the total population.  Most of them live in rural areas. However, because of the apparent availability of better employment opportunities and social amenities in urban centres, there has been a steady increase in the number of youths migrating to urban areas.  The lives of thousands of youths in the district are marred by poverty, inadequate education and skills and marginalisation.

Most of the youth do not own land on which they can carry out agricultural production. Some have resorted to hiring land for cultivation, which culminates, into high costs of production. The constant draughts in the district have rendered agricultural venture useless.

Lack of social security for older persons - According the 2002 population and housing census, the district had 18,417 Older persons (60 years and above). These people have been marginalised and often left out of the district’s development process. Majority of them are too weak to perform productive work and are economically dependant on others such as their children, their relatives and neighbours for survival.  However, because of economic pressures on the extended families, this is dying out.

Some of the older persons bear the burden of looking after their grandchildren with meagre resources due to migration or death of parents or their children.

Limited skills by the community on how to prevent disasters - Another development challenge facing the district is the constant occurrence of disasters and the lack of capacity to mitigate their effects.  The district has been mainly prone to disasters caused by hailstorms, river floods, draught, conflicts and landslides. The occurrence of disasters has resulted into loss of lives, displacement of communities, poverty, over burdened central and local government budgets and loss of properties. However, every time disasters occur, women and children are more affected than the men are.

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