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KIKUUBE - Women in Kikuube district, the home of Kingfisher oil and gas fields have demanded that the Government and oil companies give them special consideration so that they are well-positioned to benefit from the oil and gas sector.

The oil and gas development is now heading to the production phase and the government, through the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), is expecting to produce the first drop of oil from the ground in 2025.

However, as these developments progress, the women claim that accessing oil and gas opportunities is still a challenge due to limited participation in the sector.

According to Sophia Nyamusana, the chairperson of Kisambo Art and Craft Women's Group, which has over 30 members, the challenges faced by women include the lack of information, gender-based violence, limited access to justice and continued women's rights violations are pushing most of them from participating from the sector.

Nyamusana says there is a need for the Government to implement and enforce policies that promote and ensure equal opportunities for women's participation at all levels of the oil and gas industry, including employment and business ownership.

She also demanded for training, mentorship and capacity-building programmes to equip women with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to participate in the oil and gas sector.

Nyamusana also called for improvement in access to justice for women affected by extractives by establishing mechanisms for reporting and addressing grievances affecting women in the sector.

She also called for the allocation of resources and funding, especially for initiatives that support women's entrepreneurship workforce development and access to finance within the oil and gas value chain.

Mary Ntegerwa from Kiziranfumbi sub-county said as women, they are concerned that they are unable to tap into the oil and gas sector and that as women, they have not been trained on what to do to see that they benefit from the oil opportunities.

She noted that some of the women are engaged in farming and hand and craft material but they are unaware of the procedure followed to supply their goods in the sector.

The women made the call during the celebration of Women's Month organised by Global Right Alert at Sir Tito Winyi Primary School in Kiziranfumbi sub-county on Thursday.

The event aimed at promoting women's participation in the oil and gas developments.

Quality challenges

Kikuube district female councillor (workers) Evas Muguryeke underscored a need to empower women on issues of standards required for one supply in the oil and gas sector.

She said rural women are still facing the challenge of producing quality products, which are supplied in the sector because they have not been trained.

Muguryeke added that for one to supply services or products to the sector, they need to have a company but the majority of the women have no company because registration of a company has a lot of red tape, which is an impediment.

She noted that with all these challenges there is a need for the Government and oil companies to intervene and have a special programme of supporting women to register companies and to train them on standards issues.

Joy Akoli, the Global Rights director of programmes, said that they organised the engagements to help women share their challenges with key stakeholders in the oil and gas development to forge a way forward to address the challenges hindering women from engaging in the oil and gas sector.

She challenged women to be confident and always fight for their rights, adding that several women's rights are violated as a result of oil and gas development but those women keep silent.

She said that there is a need for women to get empowered so that they can be able to speak out so that this violence gets addressed.

She also challenged women to engage in fruit and food production to ensure that they have what to feed their families.

Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom Omugo (queen) Margaret Karunga Andyeeri commended the civil society organisation for empowering women in the kingdom to be able to fight for their rights and called for more sensitisation. According to her, many women lack key information that can help them benefit from the ongoing oil development in the region.

In her message delivered by the secretary for Omugo Foundation, Princess Daphine Kabatarasi, she challenged the Government and oil companies to come out and train women on the issue of standards.

She noted that women are engaged in different development activities such as farming but are unable to supply in the oil sector because of quality and standards.  

She also demanded the empowerment of women on financial literacy if women are to benefit from the money which is always supported with them for the development.