Environment & Climate Justice
Human Rights cannot be enjoyed without a safe, clean and healthy environment. We are directly connected to nature meaning that our well-being is positively or negatively affected by the environment and climate. With the environment comes climate change which has tremendous struggles especially among the minority and marginalized groups such as such Structurally Silenced individuals. Through this program, we look at Sensitization about Climate change, Environmental development through wellness, financial liberty, and sheltering of Structurally Silenced persons.
We are vividly excluded from society and due to this unfortunate reality, we have to fight for our human rights aggressively and this isn’t possible if the environment is not safe, clean or healthy. Thus the need for Climate justice meeting the Structurally Silenced community amidst their everyday struggles such as homophobia. Environmental factors such as climate change greatly affect us as we are excluded from services and refuge offered to the general population, that is to say, when planning, strategizing and delivering services in regards to environmental factors, we are rendered irrelevant yet we have majority community members affected as they feed and survive on the informal sector that is greatly affected by climate.
The need to liberate and empower our community for the better is reflected in this program as it will focus on developing environment friendly skills our community possess, push for sensitization and a more favourable spaces that will target Structurally Silenced Persons in Uganda.
Rights 4 Her Uganda will focus on pushing for Climate justice merging with the Structurally Silenced community. We will involve and focus our community members towards therapeutic programs that will both encourage our wellness, better and safe environment, economic empowerment and steps towards creating positive climate change.
- To promote equality and equity for Structurally Silenced persons in Uganda.
- To promote Skillful setting, through shared innovation and learning
- Promote agriculture hand in hand with wellness
- To promote Sensitization and resilient strategies
- Mobile health service provision
- Foster a recurring pattern towards safe and clean environment
- Foster wellness and good mental health through greenery adaption, tree planting and gardening.
- Wide scale afforestation
- Economic empowerment, through use of recycled products for better material use, agriculture, art and cookery
- Safe spaces through working hobbies such as agriculture, cooking as it will be complemented by conversations and dialogues
- Encourage better climate change
Governance
Under our governance program, we are committed to promote inclusion through research and advocacy, literacy and education, mentorships and social-Justice campaigns among the Structurally Silenced community. Many Structurally Silenced individuals have something to bring to the table towards the betterment of our community despite the exclusion and suppression we face on a daily basis. With the existence of more leadership platforms through peers, volunteers, etc. Rights 4 Her Uganda will focus on encouraging healthy leadership and wellness among the Structurally Silenced community members.
The Program will focus on pushing for Healthy Governance systems which will involve transparency, accommodation of diversity among community members, better communication grounds between the leaders and the Structurally Silenced community.
We possess many skills that we shy away from sharing due to the stigmatization and discrimination, plus we are majorly excluded from the education sector, thus most Structurally Silenced persons struggle to develop their skills single handedly. It is with this basis that Rights 4 Her Uganda, through the Governance Program focuses on equipping our community members with healthy leadership skills for effective delivery of services that our community is in need of.
- Promoting research-based constitutionalism and constitutional governance
- Promoting democratic culture through creating platforms for discourse, debate and activism
- Promoting integrity by advocating for effective policy, legal and institutional mechanisms
- Strengthening the Structurally Silenced movement, women movement and the civil society movement.
- Carrying out public interest litigation and legal representation of Structurally Silenced persons and young HRDs
Sexual Reproductive Health Rights & Mental Health Wellness Program
This program includes the Rights4Her “HOME OF LOVE”
Rights 4 Her Uganda will provide a safe and inclusive space for Structurally Silenced women to talk about health, identify key issues of concern in health, existing resources, and capacities of the Structurally Silenced and SRHR movement. Under this very program, we will be pushing towards providing a safe Haven through a shelter for Structurally Silenced human rights defenders. We expose a lot of who we are in the work that we do, hence we become vivid targets to the homophobic crimes on a daily. This will be a home for rejuvenating and refueling ourselves amidst the struggles we face like homelessness, being disowned, exposure, overwhelming work, etc. the space will include psychosocial support, sensitization among other wellness activities. We will increase the representation of Structurally Silenced women in the SRHR movement, research, and document and strategize on how to better our mental health, fight against GBV, better reproductive health services and push for psycho-social support in our community.
Research and documentation will be carried out on Structurally Silenced women’s health and health needs, well-being needs, conception plans, and other health barriers. We shall carry out Peer to peer education, Prep and PEP sensitization training, Distribution of condoms and lubricants, Health education on HIV/AIDS/TB/Hepatitis B among other diseases, Contraception and safe abortions especially for bisexual women.
Many Structurally Silenced women minimize the SRHR and Mental Health topic as they are in denial of being in need of help over fear to open up for the sake of their mental state hence resolving to silence due to the stigmatization and self-protection of reliving the trauma.
As we fight for freedom, we many times forget to focus on those on the frontline or involved in the fight assuming that they are strong enough to go through hell or sometimes assume that all is well with them. And still many stay silent because they fear to express what they are going through sometimes because they fear it might affect their beneficiaries or what would be thought of them by others.
For one to be fully in the game and also able to give good results, they need to be emotionally, physically and socially stable. Human Rights/Feminism/Activism work drains so much that one can easily lose their lives if they don’t get help.
Our Home of Care mainly focus on Human Rights Defenders, Feminists and Activists. Many times we ask a question, “who protects a defender?” For years we have witnessed many Human Rights Defenders/Feminists/Activists go into depression, end up homeless, lack what to eat, goes silent… etc. all resulting from their work. Rights 4 Her Uganda home of care has a conducive environment which allows the HRD/Feminist/Activist to rest and rejuvenate as they re-strategies to get back on board
This program will focus on facilitating behavioral change in mental, Sexual, Reproductive Health, homelessness of Structurally Silenced HRDs/Feminists/Activists and Rights among Structurally Silenced Women in Uganda
- Foster accessibility and demand for SRHR services
- Increase access to comprehensive sexuality education and sexual reproductive health among Structurally Silenced persons.
- Foster the wellbeing of Human Rights Defenders in the Structurally Silenced community.
- Encourage normalization of Mental Health awareness and wellness.
- Create a safe and secure space for the well-being of Human Rights Defenders in the Structurally Silenced community.
- Foster partnerships and intersectionally