JustIn⏰: @CommunitiesOrg represented by our #ED @ConsultAlbert is a part of the Kigezi Region planning Meeting organised by @NPA_UG at @KabaleDistrict Rukiiko Hall. Among the issues to discuss are the key challenges that must be addressed under the #NDPIV

JustIn⏰: 🌱 EMPOWERING YOUNG PEOPLE, BUILDING RESILIENT COMMUNITIES: LOSCO AND PARTNERS ADVANCING YOUTH EMPOWERMENT IN KIGEZI Today, the Local Sustainable Communities Organisation (LOSCO) @CommunitiesOrg joined the Ndorwa Secondary School community in Kabale Municipality for the launch of the Thrive Impact Club, an initiative designed to empower young people in school and out of school while addressing challenges such as school dropouts and teenage pregnancies. The initiative was launched by Hon. Enid Origumisiriza, Kabale District Woman Member of Parliament, and is being championed by Kabale District Youth Councillors Edgar and Natasha, in collaboration with partners committed to advancing youth development and wellbeing. The launch featured career guidance and mentorship, with emphasis on self-discovery, talent development, life skills, and informed decision-making. Participants also planted fruit trees, reinforcing the importance of environmental conservation and youth participation in sustainable community development. As part of the broader empowerment efforts, Hon. Enid Origumisiriza continues to support menstrual health and hygiene through the provision of reusable sanitary towels to schoolgirls, in partnership with Pad a Girl Child Foundation Uganda, helping promote dignity and support girls' continued participation in education. Speaking during the mentorship session, Mr. Taremwa Albert, @Consultalbert - Executive Director of LOSCO, encouraged students to make responsible choices and develop resilience in the face of peer pressure and life challenges. “Life presents us with choices every day, and the decisions we make today shape our future. Making good choices requires self-awareness, discipline, and the courage to stand by your values, even when faced with peer pressure. Learn to think critically, consider the consequences of your actions, and seek guidance from trusted mentors.” He Said He emphasised the importance of the 3Cs—Choices, Consequences, and Courage—and encouraged students to believe in their potential, respect themselves and others, and remain focused on their aspirations. 🤝 A Commitment to Long-Term Partnership and Youth Empowerment LOSCO recognises that sustainable youth empowerment requires long-term collaboration among schools, community leaders, elected representatives, youth structures, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders. We look forward to building and strengthening meaningful partnerships with Hon. Enid Origumisiriza, youth leaders, schools, and like-minded organisations to expand opportunities for young people both in and out of school. Through sustained collaboration, we aim to advance life skills, education retention, SRHR awareness, environmental stewardship, leadership, and community resilience. Together, we can nurture informed, confident, responsible, and empowered young people who contribute positively to their communities and shape a more inclusive and sustainable future. #LOSCO #YouthEmpowerment #ThriveImpactClub #Kigezi #CareerGuidance #Mentorship #SRHR #GirlsEducation #EnvironmentalConservation #CommunityPartnerships #YouthLeadership #SustainableDevelopment

JustIn⏰: Our #ED @Consultalbert participating in the INTEGRATING GENDER AND DISABILITY INCLUSION INTO ACCOUNTABILITY PROGRAMMING training organised by @Accu_ug "Gender and disability inclusion are essential to effective #transparency and accountability because #publicaccountability is only meaningful when all citizens can #accessinformation, participate in decision-making, raise concerns and influence corrective action". In Kigezi and beyond, women, girls and persons with disabilities may experience additional barriers arising from #poverty, #socialnorms, #discrimination, inaccessible information, limited mobility and exclusion from community and public decision-making spaces. Access to information: Public budgets, audit findings, project information and accountability materials are often technical or provided in formats that may be inaccessible to persons with disabilities or difficult for women and other underserved groups to access and understand. Meaningful participation: Women and persons with disabilities may attend accountability meetings without having meaningful opportunities to speak, influence priorities or participate in decisions. Programming should move beyond numerical representation to meaningful voice and influence. #Publicresource allocation: Accountability processes should examine whether public resources respond equitably to the needs of women, girls and persons with disabilities, including in health, education, water, roads, social protection and livelihood programmes. #Accessibilityofaccountability mechanisms: Physical venues, transport, communication channels and digital platforms may create barriers for persons with disabilities and people living in remote communities. Accountability mechanisms should be physically, digitally and communicatively accessible. #Genderresponsive and disability-inclusive monitoring: Community monitoring should collect and analyse data disaggregated by sex, age and disability, where appropriate, to identify who benefits from public services and who remains excluded. #Safetyandprotection: Women, persons with disabilities and community accountability actors may face intimidation, discrimination, harassment or retaliation when raising concerns. Safe, confidential and safeguarding-sensitive reporting and grievance mechanisms are therefore critical. #Representationindecisionmaking: Accountability structures should deliberately include women's organisations, organisations of persons with disabilities and other representative community groups, rather than relying only on traditional leadership structures. #Relevance to Transparency and Accountability: Integrating gender and disability strengthens accountability by answering a critical question: “Accountable to whom, and whose experience is being reflected in the evidence?” For LOSCO, this means ensuring that audit findings, citizen monitoring, community dialogues, media reporting and engagement with duty bearers reflect the experiences of those most likely to be excluded. The approach will strengthen transparency by making information more accessible; improve accountability by enabling excluded groups to monitor public services; and enhance responsiveness by ensuring that corrective actions address differentiated needs. Ultimately, gender and disability inclusion will help LOSCO move from “accountability for citizens” to “accountability with all citizens”—ensuring that women, girls and persons with disabilities are not merely counted as beneficiaries, but recognised as rights holders, evidence producers, monitors and active accountability actors.

Happening now!!! @CommunitiesOrg Citizens' Concern Africa (CICOA) in partnership with Local sustainable communities organization (LOSCO)@CICOA_Ug holding a Regional stakeholder conversation on safe and inclusive accountability pathways in Kigezi Region @NCHRD_UG @DefendDefenders @cehurduganda

JustIn @CommunitiesOrg represented by ED @ConsultAlbert attending the #4thEdition Joint Review Mission, 2026 for Kigezi Sub Region, Theme: the role of Governance, leadership, and partnership in strengthening client centred health services and the mission has brought together Key Health Stakeholders including Min of Health @CHRISBARYOMUNS1 the GOH, District Health Officers, health facility in-charges, Health Unit Management Committee (HUMC) chairpersons, political and technical leaders, development partners, CSOs, religious and cultural leaders, health workers and other key stakeholders from Kigezi Sub Region. Reliable Health facilities are client centred, functional, consistent and well staffed @GAMateeka DHO Chair and DHO Kabale. The Kigezi Sub-region - Kabale, Rubanda, Rukiga, Kisoro, Kanungu, Rukungiri has made notable progress in expanding access to primary healthcare over the past decade. However, compared to national aspirations and better-performing regions, the sub-region continues to face persistent challenges in equitable access, quality of care, health workforce distribution, and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) service delivery, particularly in remote and mountainous communities. Nationally, Uganda has approximately 8,600 functional health facilities, with about 74% of approved health worker positions filled, reflecting gradual improvements in health system capacity. However, rural regions such as Kigezi continue to experience shortages of doctors, midwives, specialist personnel, medicines, and diagnostic equipment, with lower-level health facilities bearing the greatest burden. Uganda's public expenditure on health remains at approximately 6–7% of the national budget, well below the Abuja Declaration target of 15%, limiting investments in health infrastructure, workforce expansion, and service quality. Maternal and reproductive health indicators illustrate both progress and remaining gaps. Uganda's maternal mortality ratio has declined significantly over the past two decades—from over 500 deaths per 100,000 live births in the 1990s to an estimated 189–284 deaths per 100,000 live births depending on the reporting methodology—but remains well above the Sustainable Development Goal target of fewer than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births. Skilled birth attendance has increased nationally to approximately 74%, and almost all pregnant women receive at least one antenatal care (ANC) visit. Within Kigezi, health-facility performance on institutional maternal mortality has continued to improve and remains comparatively strong relative to several other sub-regions of Uganda. According to the Ministry of Health Annual Health Sub-Programme Performance Report FY2024/25, Kigezi's Institutional Maternal Mortality Ratio (IMMR) declined from 71 maternal deaths per 100,000 health-facility deliveries in FY2022/23, to 63.4 in FY2023/24, and further to 46.9 in FY2024/25. During FY2024/25, the sub-region recorded 57,573 health-facility deliveries and 27 maternal deaths, compared with 55,178 deliveries and 35 maternal deaths in FY2023/24. This performance places Kigezi well below the national institutional maternal mortality ratio of 69.1 per 100,000 deliveries in FY2024/25, indicating meaningful progress in facility-based maternal health outcomes. Kobugabe Joanita – Communication Officer, Rubanda DLG District Health Officers (DHOs) in the Kigezi sub-region have appealed to Government for increased support in providing adequate ICT equipment, connectivity and digital infrastructure to health facilities to facilitate the effective transition to electronic health information systems. The call was made during the 4th Kigezi Regional Joint Review Mission (JRM) 2026, being held from 1st to 2nd September 2026 at Volcano Hotel, Rubanda District. The mission brings together key stakeholders in the health sector to review achievements, identify persistent challenges and develop strategies for improving healthcare service delivery across the Kigezi sub-region. The review is providing an opportunity for stakeholders to assess progress in areas including immunisation, maternal and child health, HIV services, tuberculosis control, disease surveillance and other health programmes, while examining gaps that continue to affect the quality and accessibility of healthcare services. The Chairperson of the Kigezi Regional DHOs Forum and Kabale District Health Officer, @GilbertMateeka, called upon stakeholders to strengthen leadership, accountability and client-centred care at health facilities emphasising the critical role of health facility in-charges and HUMC chairpersons in ensuring that resources invested in health facilities translate into improved health outcomes for communities. He urged health facility leaders to ensure that facilities remain clean, functional, accountable, responsive and welcoming to clients, while supporting health workers to effectively perform their duties. Also highlighted are the persistent health challenges affecting the region, including preventable maternal and neonatal deaths, adolescent health challenges, malnutrition, communicable diseases, and gaps in access to and quality of healthcare services. The #stakeholders also called for stronger partnerships among political leaders, technical teams, religious and cultural leaders, development partners and communities, noting that improving health outcomes requires collective responsibility. On the fight against corruption, the DHOs expressed support for Government's anti-corruption efforts while appealing for allegations to be properly investigated before action is taken, in order to protect innocent health workers from being unfairly implicated. They urged health workers to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and ethical conduct in the execution of their duties. The DHOs further emphasised that client-centred care should involve respect, dignity, confidentiality, safety, compassion and timely attention to patients. Health workers were encouraged to avoid unnecessary delays, absenteeism, lateness and neglect of duty, which can undermine public confidence in the health system.

JustIn⏰: @CommunitiesOrg in partnership with @cehurduganda Supported by @amplifyfund conducted a #baselinesurvey on where Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) was found to remain central to Uganda's development agenda and the realization of human rights. Despite significant national progress in maternal health, HIV prevention, family planning, and legal reforms, substantial disparities persist among rural populations, women, adolescents, persons with disabilities, indigenous communities, refugees, and other marginalized groups. The Kigezi Sub-region, comprising Kabale, Rubanda, Rukiga, Kisoro, Kanungu, and Rukungiri districts, is home to approximately 1.79 million people according to the 2024 National Population and Housing Census. The region faces unique geographical, socioeconomic, and cultural barriers that affect access to SRHR information, services, and justice mechanisms. Population growth, rural settlement patterns, poverty, gender inequalities, and difficult terrain continue to influence health outcomes and service accessibility. This baseline assessment utilized secondary data from the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), Ministry of Health (MoH), Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS), United Nations agencies, and district records to establish the status of SRHR in Kigezi. The assessment identified several key barriers: · Limited access to youth-friendly SRHR services. · Persistent stigma and discrimination affecting vulnerable populations. · High rates of adolescent pregnancy and early marriage. · Gender-based violence and underreporting of violations. · Weak referral mechanisms between health and justice institutions. · Limited legal literacy regarding SRHR rights. · Financial and geographical barriers to accessing services. · Inadequate inclusion of marginalized populations in policy and decision-making processes. The report further highlighted the critical role of JLOS institutions in promoting access to justice, legal aid, accountability, human rights awareness, and protection for vulnerable populations experiencing SRHR violations. urlkub.co/5mp1nD

JustIn⏰: @CommunitiesOrg participating in the simulation #workshop: Protecting Non-Profit Organisations from #TerrorismFinancingAbuse and Unintended Policy Harm- It Begins With You! Organised by @civicadvisory supported by @Brot. Our ED @ConsultAlbert representing the entity.

JustIn⏰: @CommunitiesOrg a part of the #StudyReport launch and Peer Knowledge exchange Dialogue on EHRDs collecting evidence that leads to a deeper understanding of key challenges faced by #HRDs from the ethnic and indigenous minorities organised by @RRightsAfrica & @MRG

JustIn⏰: @CommunitiesOrg in #Partnership with @cehurduganda is holding a #JUSTICELAB in Rukiga. Community policing should work in a way that communities should own the Police, to sit and analyse the community issues and come out with solutions" @gilbert_kags #UPF RCLO Kigezi