Left Behind Twice: Why the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP) Rarely Reaches Women Living with Disabilities

Introduction

They say women are the backbone of a country. But imagine a nation where the backbone is broken wouldn’t the whole country bleed? When women are left behind, the entire nation suffers. And as the saying goes, “everyone is a potential candidate of disability.”

In Uganda today, this reality cannot be ignored. According to the 2025 population census, about 15% of Ugandans live with some form of disability ranging from visual and hearing impairments to physical disabilities, albinism, and dwarfism. Among them, women living with disabilities face a double burden: struggling not only with disability but also with gender-based exclusion.

Many of these women remain invisible in government empowerment programs, trapped in cycles of poverty and discrimination. Their voices, often unheard, raise one critical question: who speaks for the women living with disabilities when left behind?

Barriers Beyond Disability and The Struggle for Recognition

The dusty roads of Mayuge District echo with the songs of birds. The blazing sun bakes the earth, while the sweet scent of Mayuge sugarcane hovers in the air. Along these roads lies Luubu Blind Center in Luubu Village, Bukatube parish,Bukatube Sub-county. It is home to more than 30 visually impaired residents who live in modest plastered houses, many of them women.

At Luubu, Twezimbe Luubu Group of Blind was formed to help visually impaired women benefit from the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP). But the dream of empowerment feels distant.

Seated on the ground in a bright gomesi,  Editha Akuku, the group’s chairperson, clutches a small white walking stick. Her voice carries both strength and frustration.

“As a woman with visual impairment, movement is already a challenge,” she says. “Imagine going all the way to the district to ask about these funds, only to find the CDO [Community Development Officer] is not in office. It is painful.”

Akuku  accuses leaders of neglect, saying they fail to create awareness about UWEP. She believes parish chiefs and CDOs should come to the ground and educate communities about such programs.

Her frustration boils over into political disillusionment.

“Sometimes, I feel like we should boycott elections. We vote so that our concerns are heard, but if they continue ignoring us, then why do we participate?”Akuku narrates.

Another member, Mutesi Harriet, an activist for disability rights in Luubu Village, echoes these concerns. Dressed in a floral kitenge dress, she says discrimination makes it even harder to access the funds.

“They think we cannot use the money or pay it back because of our disability,” she says. “But we have families and children we take care of. We are capable.”

Harriet adds that poor sensitization leaves many women in the dark.

“They say the group must have many women, yet no one explains how to qualify. When we go to the sub-county, those in charge are hardly ever in office.”

Her appeal is urgent:

“We urge those in charge to change. We also ask associations like NUDIPU to guide us, because we too need these funds.”says Mutesi.

A few kilometers away in Bulanga Sub-county, Iganga District, and the challenges are no different. Heavy trucks carrying sugarcane thunder down the road, kicking up dust that settles around Tuzuuke Isave Disability Group, where members gather in a grass-thatched meeting house.

Here, Babirye Alosia, an elderly farmer and mother of nine, sits quietly. She is not sure of her age, but she knows too well the weight of living with physical disability.

“I have never received any information about UWEP,” she says. “In our village, it’s about who you know. Those distributing the funds select the people they want.”

Her words reveal a deep sense of exclusion.

Joy Babirye Bulanga, the Women Chairperson of Kyankuzi, says she oversees more than 30 persons with disabilities, some in registered groups and others not. “We just hear about the UWEP fund, but we don’t know how to acquire it. We have just been elected into office, and when you try to ask about such programmes, you are told to work with the previous women chairperson,” she explains.

Babirye says women with disabilities are unfairly judged as incapable of repaying loans, despite proof to the contrary.“When such women are given this money, they can develop in different ways. But those in charge of distributing funds say: ‘where will she get the money to pay back?’ Yet some of these women can start businesses like chicken rearing or farming. Instead, they get abled people and register them under disability groups, and those are the ones who access the funds,” she says.

In Kyankuzi, some women living with disabilities have resorted to local savings groups like Tuzuuke Isave, where they borrow and repay faithfully. Babirye wonders why government cannot trust them with UWEP funds when they already prove themselves capable.

It is in this same group that we find Mile Kwelyowa, a mother, wife, and member of Tuzuuke Isave. In her shrub-fenced brick house, Kwelyowa moves around on her knees, holding one of her two little girls as another follows closely behind. Seated on a nylon mat beside her husband, she narrates the difficulty of reaching government programmes. “I lack transport facilitation to reach the offices where these programmes are, and also a helper to guide me,” she explains. “Even if we are a group, they sometimes want us to appear in person so that they see our disability, which is so frustrating. That is how I miss out on such government programs.”

Her frustration is shared by Ibrahim Menya, the Persons living with disability Chairperson of Kyankuzi. “We have more than 20 People living with disabilities in the village. I have heard about UWEP, but as chairperson, I have never seen anyone come to train women on how to access the funds. At the district, you are told to bribe the Community Development Officer (CDO) to be put on the beneficiaries’ list,” he says. “We just hear these programmes on radio, but we have never received any civic education. And when PWDs go to access funds, they are asked for collateral security and threatened with prison if they fail to pay back. Yet some of us struggle even to move without crutches or a wheelchair to reach the district.”

When Leadership Fails

In Luubu Blind Village, Bukatube Sub-county, the story is no different. Peter Ochen councillor, and the PWD Chairperson, says the government has introduced many grants and initiatives, but bureaucratic hurdles keep women living with disabilities locked out. “There is always a lot of paperwork, especially for women living with disabilities. The CDOs are always in their offices and don’t come on the ground to talk to people about how to acquire and use these funds. We, as local leaders, try to help, but nothing much can be done if the CDOs don’t step out to teach these people,” he explains.

Waiswa Awali, the male councilor representing Persons living with disabilities in Mayuge district, says many women living with disabilities have not benefited from government initiatives like UWEP because of poor sensitization. “My concern is about the people in charge of these programmes, especially UWEP. Many women living with disabilities have not benefited simply because Community Development Officers have not educated them enough on the ground. Calling someone to apply for a grant when they have not been trained on how to use it is alarming. As councilors we lack facilitation to go to the ground and teach these women about such programmes,” Awali says.

He adds that even when women write proposals; their names are sometimes removed from lists when they reach the district. “That’s when you hear people saying women living with disabilities don’t have the ability to use these funds. Yet the reality is that the system is working against them. Sometimes we have the information about grants, but without transport facilitation, we cannot reach the people who need it,” he explains.

From Bulanga Town Council, Tenywa David, the parish chief and LCII chairperson, admits that awareness of UWEP is still low. “Since we became Bulanga Town Council, I just hear about UWEP funds, but people have not been educated enough. A lot of the community doesn’t understand UWEP; what they know is the Parish Development Model. The funds are always at the district and never distributed, yet they are meant to uplift women in our society. I urge those in charge of educating women about the funds to kindly do so,”he says.

In Buyemba Parish, Bukatube Sub-county Mayuge district, Abed Kiyanja, the parish chief, says that although funds were released in the last financial year, no disability group benefited. “The requirements are many. To qualify, women must be approved by the CDO, DISO, and LC1 chairperson. They must also have valid national IDs and be registered. But some women with disabilities lack IDs, while others find it difficult to attend meetings due to mobility challenges,” he explains.

Kiyanja further notes that unlike special grants, UWEP is a revolving fund that requires repayment. “This makes it difficult for some women living with disabilities. According to information from former CDO Abond Edward, no single woman living with disability in Bukatube has received UWEP. The alternative is the special grants, which don’t require repayment, and also the Parish Development Model (PDM), which caters for them,”Kiyanja says.

Acheng Harriet, the CDO of Bukatube and focal person for Persons Living with Disabilities and the elderly, says the issue also lies with low participation. “In communities where Persons Living with Disabilities doesn’t show interest, we encourage them to engage in such programmes. But some prefer the special grant, since UWEP requires repayment. Others don’t attend meetings, so they miss out on important information. As CDOs, we inform leaders about the funds, but it is hard for us to move to every village to sensitize directly,” she explains.

Civil Society Speaks Out

From the civil society perspective, the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) Mayuge District branch stresses the need to change attitudes. Charles Muyingo , a representative, says discrimination is still widespread. “People forget that there are different ages and abilities among Persons Living with Disabilities. Some think Persons Living with Disabilities cannot make decisions for themselves and must always be cared for. We are campaigning to change this mindset and ensure Persons Living with Disabilities are treated equally. We urge CDOs to educate communities about these programs, but many times a whole year passes without a single CDO visiting the sub county,” he says.

Muyingo challenges stereotypes directly: “People ask, ‘how will the blind manage these funds?’ But it is not about the disability the brains are working. I know my people of Bukatube are capable of paying back these funds if only given the chance.”

Anthony Masake, the Executive Director of Chapter Four Uganda, stresses the need for transparency and accountability in handling government funds meant for vulnerable groups.

“There has to be accountability for these funds,” Masake notes. “If people have been registered and profiled to receive protection funds from the government, it is critical that the money reaches the intended beneficiaries. When other people divert these funds, it becomes an accountability issue, and such individuals should be held responsible. It should never be the case that the difficult situations of people living with disabilities are used as a tool for soliciting funds while they themselves do not benefit.”

Auditor general report

The Auditor General’s reports show that a lot of UWEP money remains unused due to low recovery rates and delays in re-disbursement. For example, although about UGX 16 billion was recovered over five years, only UGX 963 million (6%) was given to new groups while the rest sat idle in Bank of Uganda accounts. The reports highlight that funds often take months or even a year to reach approved women groups including groups for women living with disabilities, leaving many intended beneficiaries without support. Weak monitoring and supervision, coupled with inadequate training and technical support, have further limited the success of the programme. As a result, government risks losing money through unrecovered or idle funds, while women entrepreneurs miss opportunities. The Auditor General Recommends that recovered money be quickly re-disbursed, delays reduced, monitoring strengthened and more training provided to ensure the programme benefits its target groups.

Background

Over the years, the Ugandan government has rolled out several initiatives to uplift vulnerable groups, particularly women and persons with disabilities. Among them is the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP), launched in the 2015/2016 financial year under the Second National Development Plan. Its goal was clear: to economically empower women by offering access to affordable credit, business skills, and markets for their products, while also strengthening institutional support.

At the same time, disability inclusion has been emphasized in Uganda’s development agenda. Yet inclusion is more than policy it is about breaking down the barriers society creates that prevents people living with disabilities from fully participating in education, business, and leadership.

For women with disabilities, these two struggles gender and disability intersect painfully. While programs like UWEP promised opportunity, the lived experiences of many reveal a different story. The key question remains: how far have these initiatives gone in reaching women with disabilities, and why are so many still left behind?

Misuse of UWEP funds is punishable under Uganda’s public finance and anti-corruption laws. The Public Finance Management Act 2015 mandates disciplinary actions, such as dismissal, suspension, or being forced to refund misused funds for government officers found guilty. Under the Anti-Corruption Act 2009, amended 2015, embezzlement or abuse of office can lead to criminal penalties, including fines, imprisonment for up to 14 years, and the confiscation of property obtained through the misuse of public funds. Additionally, the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) has the authority to investigate cases of fund misuse, and those found guilty can face prosecution in the Anti-Corruption Court. These laws aim to ensure accountability, but actual punishment depends on whether cases are referred for legal action or disciplinary review.

Conclusion

Women living with disabilities remain among the most excluded in Uganda’s development journey. Despite government programs like UWEP, their testimonies reveal a pattern of neglect limited sensitization, corruption in fund allocation, and persistent discrimination that keeps them on the margins.

If women are truly the backbone of the country, then leaving women living with disabilities behind is like weakening that backbone. A nation cannot stand tall when part of its strength is ignored.

For real empowerment to happen, government institutions, local leaders, and civil society must act together ensuring that women with disabilities are not just counted in statistics but included in solutions. Only then will Uganda move closer to a future where no woman is left behind.