CARE’s Women Respond initiative is an unprecedented listening exercise, learning from women to help us better understand the unique situation COVID-19 presents, refine our programming and advocacy and elevate women’s voices and concerns to meet their challenges. Women Respond is listening to 12,959 people—8,252 of them women—to understand how they are leading during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage economies and communities globally, Uganda like many other countries has instituted  several measures to mitigate the growing spread of COVID-19 infections. His excellency President Y.K Museveni declared a lockdown at the beginning of June 2021 to reduce the increasing numbers of COVID-19 positive cases and eased  it on 30th July 2021. During this period, CARE remained on the frontline to support the COVID-19 response activities accross the country.

Improving women’s equitable influence over household financial decisions increases their capacity and likelihood to save, reduces their risk of loss of income, and improves their financial stability and resilience to shocks.

Social norms—the often unspoken rules that govern behaviour—shape almost every aspect of human life. In the Eastern African Region, social and gender norms are pivotal in positioning and determining peoples’ ways of life, shaping opportunities and outcomes.

CARE International in Uganda has embarked on a journey to develop the current Business Plan that outlines the strategic goals for the next five years.

Improving women’s equitable influence over household financial decisions increases their capacity and likelihood to save, reduces their risk of loss of income, and improves their financial stability and resilience to shocks.

After confirming the first COVID 19 case in Uganda and subsequent lockdown by the Government , CARE undertook some measures to prepare staff and enable business continuity as follows:

CARE’s analysis points at three main issues that keep on driving poverty and social injustice in Uganda as described above. Therefore, all our programs are designed to address these root causes. While long term programs are better equipped to effect change on these drivers, CARE Uganda also ensures its humanitarian interventions address them. Sometimes, emergencies are even creating opportunities that would otherwise not exist.

This rapid gender analysis (RGA) seeks to explore the implications of COVID 19 in specific areas in northern Uganda to inform current CARE Uganda programming in the region, as well as to serve as reference to any other. stakeholders working in the area and with similar target groups. The specific locations this RGA covers are: Omugo settlement, Palabek settlement, Gulu municipality, Arua municipality, Moyo district and Lamwo district.. This study looks at how COVID 19 is affecting men, women, boys and girls, from refugee and non-refugee backgrounds, in the urban, rural and settlement contexts. It follows earlier RGAs2 conducted prior to the outbreak of the pandemic and seeks to identify where there have been changes of note as a result of the pandemic. On this basis, it provides a number of recommendations to donors and for implementing organisations.