Minister Amongi leads Uganda to women’s global meeting in New York

New York, US | THE INDEPENDENT | After hosting the International Women’s Day in Kiruhura district, the Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development Betty Amongi Ongom immediately flew to New York, USA, where she is leading the Ugandan delegation to the 67th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

The conference taking place at the UN headquarters from 6-17th March 2023, is running under the priority theme: “Innovation and Technological Change, and Education in the Digital Age for Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of all Women and Girls.”

Amongi takes over from the Minister of State for Gender and Culture affairs Peace Regis Mutuuzo who has been the alternate head of delegation from when the first delegation arrived in New York before Women’s Day.

The current session will also review the agreed conclusions of the sixty-second session, which looked at the “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”.

The Ugandan delegation includes third Deputy Prime Minister Rukia Isanga Nakadama, the Minister of the Presidency, Milly Babalanda, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Aggrey David Kibenge, a host of Members of Parliament and top officials from Civil Society Organizations.

Some of the Uganda-centered discussions will include side events on Creating solutions, partnerships and synergies for a gender responsive digitally driven legal industry in Uganda; Uganda’s experience of making digitization work for women and markets; and, challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls.

Other topics will revolve around higher education and civil society collaboration for the technological advancement of girls and women; women’s agency in post-conflict reconciliation in Uganda; developing a policy that supports career progression for women in engineering/science fields; expanding and reducing the coast of broadband; intensifying women’s functional adult literacy skills; and putting in place counter strategies an mechanisms for cyber harassment and blackmail.

In her first briefing with the team, Minister Amongi implored the delegation to keep President Yoweri Museveni’s women’s Day key message on developing programmes that help households fight poverty and increase incomes.

The Minister revealed that she will also be meeting the World Bank team in New York on the implementation of the UGX 800 billion Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project that was launched by President Museveni in Kiruhura.

It is the largest effort to support women economic empowerment in Uganda.