19 Women Groups in Iganga Receive UGX 156 Million UWEP Funds

IGANGA, UGANDA: Nineteen women groups under Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP) in Iganga district have benefitted from over 156 million shillings in the UWEP program which was engineered by government to eradicate poverty amongst women in Uganda.

While briefing the beneficiaries on how to handle the funds in a meeting, the Senior Development Officer Iganga district, Mr. Bisiki Paul says that the 19 groups have already received the money but they are 21 groups that will benefit from 156,900,000/= revolving fund. The meeting was at Iganga district headquarters on Thursday, Jan 07, 2022.

”Today we have given out money of this financial year and the groups which requested for the money and succeeded have received their money totaling to 156.9 M and this money will be given to 21 groups but only 19 groups received today,” Bisiki said.

Bisiki noted that this money is always received every financial year and it’s used by women for three years before returning it. He urged women not to divert the money from the original projects for which they applied.

”We always receive this money annually and women return it after using it for three years. We call upon them to use this money for the intended activities and should not divert the money or be misled by their husband but should focus on using this money well to fight poverty amongst themselves,” Bisiki added.

However, Iganga district boss Gabula Ezera called upon women to take the money knowing that it’s a revolving loan that should be paid back.
”My appeal to women now is that there is getting the money knowing that it should be paid back and you deliberately fail to pay, if you’re here and you don’t want to pay back it’s better you tell us and we don’t give you this money. This is a revolving loan which needs you to pay for others also to benefit,” Mr. Gabula said.

He also called upon the women to encourage others to embrace Parish Development Model (PDM) by forming groups to access funds yet to be disbursed by government to develop people on parish level.
”I want to tell you that advise your fellows to form groups such that they benefit from Parish Development Model funds which will operate on parish level to fight poverty amongst the people,” Gabula emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson Women league Iganga district, Mudondo Madinah commended the government for fulfilling the promise by identifying women as the major base of everything in development.
”I thank the government for fulfilling the promise and knowing that women are the base of almost every responsibility. When a woman forsakes responsibility at home then the whole family will fail since a woman is a pillar in every home,” Ms. Mudondo said.