The Uganda Girl Guides Association (UGGA) has joined force with the leaders of Lubaga division in Kampala in a campaign to sensitize girls living in slum areas on how to safely use the internet.

Barbrah Nabukalu, a young girls advocate at UGGA, said many young girls get "used" and abused by men in exchange for phones.

The campaign was launched on Saturday in Kampala and comes at a time when Uganda is commemorating the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which gets under way on November 25 every year.

Girls being trained on how to use the internet.

Internet use exposes many young people to friends and strangers alike, including scammers.

Nabukalu said some girls have been sucked into online relationships, whose eventual physical contact results into some getting raped or impregnated.

She said their joint campaign aims at guiding young girls on internet safety, including what to post online and what not to.

Besides also sensitising girls on protection against violence, the joint effort looks to also bring to the fore other critical issues.

Nabukalu said they are also educating the young people on environmental protection against pollution through, for instance, repurposing plastic bottles into decorations and trash cans.

Ibra Wasswa, the local councillor for Kawaala village in Lubaga, welcomed the campaign as a timely one.

“When we get such services to guide and support our girls, it is a pleasure and a blessing,” he said.

Wasswa said most girls of this generation own a phone, which drives many into the dark world of pornography and other vices, adding that minimal parental attention is fueling this.

“As leaders, it is a big concern to us because about 20% of the girls are getting pregnant and many have not returned to school."

Meeme Tebikulya, who is part of the area village health team, said cases of domestic fights are on the rise, with the majority going unreported.

She said many such cases involve men demanding from their partners food that they did not buy.

Joan Nakawuki, the youth exchange focal person for the South-to-South project at UGGA, voiced a bold message to young girls about pornography consumption.

"If it [pornographic material] comes to you, let it end with you."