Three East African countries policy makers have partnered to educate girls and young women on sexual abuse and exploitation.
The programme, which is under the ‘She Leads’ project is being anchored in nine countries across the world.
The aim is to help young girls to join the leadership space.
In Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda are the East African countries participating in the projects.
Nominated MCA Milka Moraa said there is a need to come up with policies that can protect rights and empower girls and young women.
She spoke during the regional workshop on engaging girls and young women in influencing regional policy.
“We are here as legislators to specifically talk about young girls and women’s rights. Also, what policies can we put in place to protect their rights and empower them to move forward,” Moraa said.
Ugandan MP Flavia Kabahenda said they convened in the 16 days of activism against SGBV to protect girls, young women and children from sexual exploitation.
Kabahenda is also the chairperson of the gender labour and social development committee.
She said the girl child is one of the 12 critical areas of the Beijing platform for action, where they were involved in the crafting of the convention on elimination and discrimination against women.
“In Uganda, we have a number of legislations and policy frameworks. We are working on the legal aid bill to support girls to be able to get appropriate justice,” Kabahenda said.
She said the Ugandan Parliament is also working on the sexual offences bill, meant to support and protect women, girls and children from sexual exploitation.
“I have come for a legislative agenda to ensure that as a region and as the East African community, we are in harmony and synergising our interventions to protect girls and women from sexual exploitation,” the MP said.
Linda Nyaleshia said there is a need to localise the policies so that they can reach the grassroots because that is where the advise starts from.
Nyaleshia is one of the representatives under the ‘She Lead’ programme, who comes from Karamoja in Uganda.
“I am here to interact with policy makers so that we can find a way on how we to combat this issue. As young girls, we face a lot of challenges and when you look at the cultural context, the marginalised communities are most affected,” she said.
ECPAT International Africa coordinator who is also Kenya ‘She Leads’ country coordinator Willy Buloso said they came together as East Africa countries to discuss and empower girls on how they can better advocate for children rights through legislation.
Kenya Alliance for Advancement of Children country director Timothy Ekesa said the project aims to eliminate social norms that discriminate against girl child.
“We want people who can work with girls and young women by creating space and involving them in the leadership positions and political space,” he said.
“This is why we have girls from the three countries participating in the She Leads project because we want them to have a discussion with their representatives in Parliament.”
Ekesa said girls and women are getting in the leadership space but social norms are still hindrance.
He said there is need to exchange ideas among the three countries and understand how women in leadership got the opportunity.
The official said She Leads is a project funded by the Dutch government and rolled out in nine countries after a survey revealed that the countries have a challenge of engaging young girls.
“It is through the survey that we saw a need to engage and empower girls and give them the opportunity to stand for their rights," he said.
Ekesa said there are so many laws that target to help the girls but they are not being implemented.
“That is why we want to engage the leaders in Parliament on how and what is supposed to be done for them to be implemented. The implementation process needs a collective effort,” he said.
