By KT Reporter
Omoro district is struggling to recover close to 400 million shillings disbursed to women groups under the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP).
UWEP is an initiative of the government that is aimed at improving access to financial services for women and equipping them with skills for enterprise growth, value addition and marketing of their products and services.
The program is implemented as a rolling programme under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD). Women groups are provided interest-free credit for enterprise development on a revolving fund basis.
The women are required to be in groups of 10-15 members to ensure the successful implementation of their priority enterprise and full repayment of the Revolving Fund.
However, the majority of women groups in Omoro district are failing to pay back the money.
568 million shillings was disbursed to 84 women groups before the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 but only 186 million shillings has since been recovered, according to statistics from the district community services department. This leaves the district with the burden of recovering 382 million shillings from women groups.
Perry Jawoko Isiro, the Senior Community Development Officer Omoro district told Uganda Radio Network that many women blame the coronavirus pandemic for the collapse of their enterprises making it hard for them to pay back the money.
“Out of 84 women groups who received the funds, only six have fully paid back the money. This is because their income-generating activities collapsed during and after COVID-19,” says Jawoko adding that this is preventing other women from accessing the funds.
She said that in the last financial year, only five groups were funded-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
