Women's association raises a community from a slum

The impact of post-British colonialism in Jinja, Uganda, is examined, with particular emphasis being given to the involvement of the Masese Women's Association in revival efforts in Jinja, Uganda has gone through periods of political upheaval resulting from civil strife during Idi Amin's rule in 1971-78. Refugees had started to squat in the "Masese" slum area and were experiencing destitute poverty and unemployment. In response to such conditions, citizens, governments, and nongovernmental organizations, in association with the Masese Women's Association, engaged in an effort called the Masese Women's Self Help Projects with the aim of bringing about a change in the way of life for the people in Jinja, Uganda. A Housing and Human Settlement Upgrading Program was created to establish a settlement and credit plan that would enable women to acquire secure land tenure and production materials for housing. The project also developed a community infrastructure for employment, health, and education services. The women's organization encountered many obstacles in the realization of these housing and settlement projects, among them illiteracy and traditional thinking and practices of the kind that have confined Ugandan women to the private sphere.     

Rural Ugandan women and the technological race to the 21st century

This article discusses the needs in developing countries for simple and inexpensive technological devices to improve communications and transportation and to reduce time and energy spent on housework. Manufacturers in the developed world continue to export expensive technological products that ignore the lack of access to electricity among a large consumer population. Individuals and organizations can help developing country women by engaging in conversations with their counterparts and determining the nature and extent of assistance that is needed. Products, such as old computers, spare parts, and computer books, can be donated to organizations, such as the YWCA, which provide training to girls and women. Industry can produce and market technologically appropriate implements and appliances. Individuals and women's groups can lobby industrialists and manufacturers for initiatives that improve living conditions for millions in developing countries. Groups can mobilize financial resources for local and international projects. Partnerships can be formed between cities, local universities, nonprofit organizations, individual school classes, or individuals. Governments need to ensure that the educational system is producing skilled workers and to modify imported technologies for local development. In the race to the 21st century, there is a need for deliberate social action to make technology accessible to women, men, and children in remote rural communities in developing countries. The gain for women in developing countries would be substantially reduced time and energy expended in daily chores. In developing countries, most of the agricultural and domestic work is carried out by women. These women are not even at the starting gate, while women in developed countries are way ahead in the race for modernization and technological development.