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Tag: Sweden

  • Do you have what it takes to be ‘Ambassador For A Day’? British High Commission Kampala & partners; Embassies of Denmark, Sweden & UN host 10 Ugandan winners

    Do you have what it takes to be ‘Ambassador For A Day’? British High Commission Kampala & partners; Embassies of Denmark, Sweden & UN host 10 Ugandan winners

    The UK with partners; Royal Danish Embassy, Embassy of Sweden and United Nations Office of the Resident Coordinator in Kampala proudly support Ambassador for a Day 2023, a competition for International Women’s Day.

    Ambassador for a Day is a global initiative, held annually, offering exciting opportunities for young women to become an ‘Ambassadors for a Day’. Ambassador for a Day promotes greater gender equality by building ambition, inspiration and momentum for a new generation of female leaders. Successful candidates are selected through essays submitted to a selection panel. This year the focus was on young female students and potential entrepreneurs from across Uganda.

    On 1 June 2023, 10 winners were hosted by the British High Commission and partners and, were given an opportunity to participate in a series of uplifting activities including shadowing the Ambassadors of the respective embassies and the UN Resident Coordinator, interacting with inspirational women in Business in addition to visiting the Innovation Village where they partook in a pitching session with Damali Ssali the founder of the enterprise.

    Business mentors included, Emma Mugisha, Eunice Waweru, Dr Nataliey Bitature, Bridget Brown and Barbera Mulwana.

    ‘Ambassador for a Day’ Gollapalli Pragna Sree, Delhi Public School, said; ‘it was a wonderful opportunity I grabbed upon and it was great having a great conversation with the young women entrepreneurs and learning a lot from every single woman… and it was a great experience meeting with the ambassador winners.’

    ‘Ambassador for a Day’ Nicole Babirye, Nabisunsa Girls School, said; ‘I thought today was amazing and I’ve always grown up with people saying that I can’t do anything that would be of much value and always doubting my worth and feeling that I have to be perfect but with this Day with this major experience I have learnt the true value of imperfection and I have to value the important things first I will forever be grateful for the welcoming nature of these powerful ladies and I hope to continue learning from them as the future unfolds.’

    Ambassador for a Day promotes greater gender equality by building ambition, inspiration and momentum for a new generation of female leaders.

  • Government of Sweden announces new funding to UNICEF for improving the lives of mothers and children in Uganda

    Government of Sweden announces new funding to UNICEF for improving the lives of mothers and children in Uganda

    Kampala: The Government of Sweden has today announced new funding to UNICEF to improve the lives of mothers, children and youth in Uganda under the agency’s new Country Programme 2021-2025.

    The five-year funding worth 165,000,000 Swedish Kronor (app. UGX 67 billion/US$18,7 million) will be utilized by UNICEF to support the most vulnerable and underserved women and children in rural areas as well as in urban settings including refugees and host populations and those affected by humanitarian crises.

    Importantly, the new funding will enable UNICEF to contribute to the accelerated mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign, critical for continuity of learning and safe reopening of schools and closely linked to the prevention of teenage pregnancies. Undernutrition in children is another government priority where UNICEF support is critical and that will be boosted by this contribution.

    Under the new UNICEF Country Programme 2021-2025, UNICEF is committed to continue supporting government efforts to ensure increased access to and use of quality integrated health, nutrition, HIV, newborn, and water and sanitation services; improved learning for all children and young people; and protection of all boys and girls in Uganda from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, including harmful practices.

    The Swedish Ambassador, Ms. Maria Håkansson, was pleased to announce the extension of the long-standing partnership with UNICEF.

    “The support comes at a critical time in Uganda’s fight against the COVID-19-pandemic. In the short term our support will enable UNICEF to play a critical role in the Government’s accelerated mass vaccination campaign that started last week. This will help prevent the expiry of millions of doses of vaccine and contribute to safe reopening of schools,” said Maria Håkansson.

    She added, “Around half of Uganda’s population is below 18 years of age and 25 per cent of teenage girls in Uganda are already mothers or pregnant with their first child. Keeping girls in schools reduces the risks of early childbearing and child marriage.”

    The UNICEF Representative to Uganda, Dr. Munir Safieldin, thanked the Government of Sweden for the continuous support extended to UNICEF especially at this critical time when the nation is slowly recovering from the pandemic.

    “Since its declaration, children and young people are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new funding received is clear evidence of our shared commitment to improve the lives of children in Uganda, that have been greatly affected by the pandemic,” said Dr. Safieldin.

    “UNICEF remains extremely grateful for the Swedish support which will go a long way in supporting the Government of Uganda to ensure boys and girls  have access to critical health care, protection services and are able to return safely to school and learn.”

    The Government of Sweden is a significant partner to UNICEF Uganda since 2013, supporting the joint work undertaken by UNICEF Uganda and the Government of Uganda, most recently in the areas of maternal and newborn health, adolescent health, HIV/AIDS, and building health systems that facilitate the delivery of services. Under the recently concluded Government of Uganda-UNICEF Country Programme 2016-2020 that coincided with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden supported the continuity of essential health services for children and women and other COVID-related emergency needs.

    Dr. Safieldin emphasized that “the new funding will build on the gains made for children and support the country to build back better.”

    While UNICEF’s mandate covers the entire country, The Government of Uganda-UNICEF country programme 2021-2025, particularly aims at accelerating change for Uganda’s  most deprived children and will be implemented in 29 districts with the highest numbers or rates of child deprivation and or districts that are especially vulnerable to external shocks such as refugee movements and the impact of climate change.

  • Sweden contributes nearly $4 million to support maternal and child health in Uganda

    Sweden contributes nearly $4 million to support maternal and child health in Uganda

    The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) through the Swedish Embassy in Kampala has contributed 35 million krona – about 4 million US dollars – to support maternal, newborn and child health programmes in Uganda’s West Nile region.

    The support is expected to reach an estimated 135,000 pregnant women and over 300,000 children with key health interventions.

    “This contribution is part of our efforts to improve maternal and child health by strengthening heath service delivery in Uganda, indirectly supporting gender equality and women’s empowerment,” said Mr Per Lingärde, the Swedish Ambassador to Uganda.

    “UNICEF plays an important role in supporting the Ministry of Health to end preventable maternal and child deaths across Uganda, so we are proud to further strengthen these efforts.”

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    The West Nile sub-region is among the most disadvantaged areas of Uganda with very poor maternal health indicators. These include low rates of immunization, high rates of unattended births, limited use of bed nets, and high rates of malaria, diarrhea and HIV/AIDS, among others.

    As a result, the region has one of the highest under five mortalities in the country with 125 deaths per 1,000 live births compared to the national average of 90.

    West Nile, along with the Karamoja region, also has the highest child poverty rate in the country with 68% of all children under the age of 5 living in poverty and being deprived of a number of their most basic needs such as health care, adequate nutrition, safe water, education, and shelter, among others.

    In addition, the region is hosting over 600,000 refugees and asylum seekers from South Sudan. The continuous flow of refugees into the region poses a major challenge for District social service systems as they lack both human and material resources to meet the needs of the increasing population.

    The UNICEF Representative, Ms Aida Girma, thanked Sweden for its support, particularly for the West Nile region which is overstretched by the increasing number of refugees.

    “Nearly 340,000 refugees from South Sudan have arrived since July and we expect at least 300,000 more to arrive in 2017. These funds therefore come at a critical time and will help to save children’s and mother’s lives, both from within the South Sudanese refugee community as well as within the local communities that are hosting them across West Nile” she said.

    Since 2013, with a contribution of over 3 million USD, SIDA has been supporting a similar programme in Karamoja, which has thus far: helped more than 22 000 pregnant women deliver their babies in health facilities; provided 68 health facilities with emergency equipment; and trained 162 health workers to manage maternal and newborn conditions related to pregnancy and child birth.