projects

Objective: To enhance digital inclusion in Oyam District, Northern Uganda, by connecting the unconnected communities and empowering them through comprehensive digital literacy training and the establishment of Digital Empowerment Centers.


Specific objectives:
i)To pilot an affordable next-generation broadband connectivity solution for rural and underserved areas in Uganda to impact service delivery, agriculture, education, and gender equality.

ii)To develop an affordable and scalable Rural Connectivity Broadband framework in Oyam district, Northern Uganda.
To advance digital inclusion and close the gender digital divide in unserved and underserved communities of Northern Uganda, particularly in Oyam District, WOUGNET is piloting a Rural Broadband Connectivity Model. This initiative employs a collaborative and participatory approach to promote inclusive internet access and the effective use of digital tools.

The project involves establishing free wireless broadband access points in key community spaces such as schools, hospitals, market centers, local government offices, and farmer groups. These will be supplemented by ICT Digital Empowerment Centers (DECs), to provide free access to computers, smartphones, and other digital resources. In addition to infrastructure, the project integrates comprehensive digital literacy training to build ICT skills among rural communities. This is further enhanced by activities such as gender-focused trainings, needs assessments, technical site surveys, and the development of a community knowledge base portal.To ensure long-term impact and sustainability, WOUGNET is building a network of Trainers of Trainers (ToTs) and Community ICT Extension Officers, while working closely with local government and key stakeholders to strengthen community ownership and resilience.

Funder: Internet Society Foundation under the Building Opportunities/Leveraging Technology (BOLT) program

Duration: 2025 – 2026

Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) in Uganda operate in increasingly complex environments where their safety online and offline is constantly under threat. Recognising the urgent need for structured, feminist-centred protection, WOUGNET implemented the Reclaiming Our Spaces project from

Duration: May to December 2025

Funded: Association for Progressive Communications (APC).

Goal: The project was designed and led by WHRDs themselves, ensuring that the strategies, tools, and knowledge developed were grounded in the lived realities of the women it served. Through a structured and intersectional approach to holistic security, WOUGNET equipped defenders with practical skills to identify, mitigate, and respond to the risks they face in their advocacy work whether digital surveillance, physical threats, or psychosocial harm.

Reaching across four regions of Uganda Central, Eastern, Northern, and Western the project built a resilient, cross-regional network of WHRDs prepared to sustain their work safely and confidently. Activities included training workshops, peer-learning sessions, and the development of context-specific security strategies tailored to the unique challenges faced by defenders in each region.

Reclaiming Our Spaces affirms WOUGNET’s commitment to centering women’s voices, safety, and leadership in the fight for human rights across Uganda.

The Holistic Security Toolkit: https://wougnet.org/download/holistic-security-toolkit-for-women-human-rights-defenders-whrds/

Goal: The project seeks to create a robust network of women leaders, journalists and key stakeholders to counter the spread of gendered disinformation in both politics and media.

Duration: 1 November 2024 – 28 March 2025

Funded by: Internet Society Foundation

Project Overview:
In Uganda, gendered disinformation has been on the rise, with women politicians and journalists aged between 20-55 being frequently targeted. Women politicians and journalists are disproportionately affected by defamatory narratives, disinformation, misinformation and online harassment These attacks not only hinder women’s political participation and professionalism, but also threaten democratic principles by discouraging potential female leaders.

Gendered disinformation undermines democratic processes and exacerbates gender inequalities, making it essential to address this issue to ensure a fair and just electoral landscape.

Goal: To foster community participation, ownership and sustainability of the WOUGNET Rural Connectivity Broadband Network (RCBN), while nurturing a comprehensive approach to inclusive internet accessibility, in Apac district, Northern Uganda

Year: One Year (2024)

Funded by: Internet Society Foundation

Project Overview:

Communities in Northern Uganda especially those in rural areas face significant barriers to access and use digital technologies, due to factors such as, poverty, digital illiteracy, cultural norms and gender stereotypes. To address these challenges, WOUGNET established the Kubere Information Centre (KIC) in 2005 in Northern Uganda, a digital hub that leverages Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to empower women and girls across various sectors.

To strengthen the uptake and utilization of ICTs, WOUGNET in partnership with Makerere University NetLabsUG launched projects to enhance women’s digital inclusion, focusing on free internet and digital tools accessibility to women, girls and marginalized communities, through the Rural Connectivity Broadband Network (RCBN) initiative.

To foster community involvement and participation in the uptake and utilization of the diverse Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), while nurturing a comprehensive approach to inclusive internet accessibility, WOUGNET with support from the Internet Society (ISOC) Foundation established the first technical community in the region to create a pathway for heightened adoption and promote long term sustainability of the diverse ICT initiatives, with a central focus on inclusive internet accessibility at the various network access points and access to the digital tools set up at the Kubere Information Centre (KIC) digital hub.

The technical community’s central role is to act as technical focal points for the various free internet access points provided by WOUGNET in the region. The expansion of new network sites created an urgent need to foster the growth and sustainability of this emerging technical community. With valuable support from the Internet Society Foundation, we aim to strengthen the community’s foundation, enabling greater knowledge-sharing, resilience, and long-term impact.

Together, we are building a network that is not only technically sound but also deeply inclusive and supportive of continuous development.

Goal:
To foster community involvement and participation in the uptake and utilization of ICTs, while nurturing a comprehensive approach to inclusive internet accessibility in Northern Uganda.

Duration: 2023

Funded by: Internet Society Foundation

Project Overview:
In the past years, WOUGNET set up the Kubere Information Centre (KIC), in Apac district, Northern Uganda, a multi-dimensional information Centre cultivating innovative solutions through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development of the rural communities. Given the various ICT development initiatives established in Apac district, Northern Uganda, by Women Of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), through the Kubere Information Centre (KIC), it becomes imperative to further stimulate the uptake of these initiatives among local communities and promote their long term sustainability. A pivotal strategy to attain this goal involves fostering an inclusive comprehensive community participation, engagement and ownership. Establishing a technical community within the region will create a pathway for heightened adoption and promote long term sustainability of the diverse ICT initiatives set up by WOUGNET, in conjunction with their various ICT development partners. The technical community will offer ICT technical support to the local communities and additionally support the Kubere Information Centre in order to promote community ownership and long-term sustainability of the different ICT development projects. Consequently, this initiative will stimulate broader community engagement with ICTs, nurturing a more inclusive culture of internet utilization and accessibility among the local residents. This will be facilitated by leveraging the diverse internet access points, including those at the Kubere Information Centre and other internet network hotspots in the area.

Goal:

The knowledge and skills of women and girls on digital rights are improved to bridge the gender digital divide in Uganda.

Duration: 1st September, 2024 – 31st March, 2025

Funded by: Enabel

Project Overview:

WOUGNET is implementing the Digital Rights for Girls and Women (D4GW) project to address the persistent gender digital divide and rising cases of Online Gender Based Violence (OGBV) in Uganda. Despite the rapid expansion of digital technologies, many women and girls remain excluded from safe, meaningful online participation due to systemic barriers such as limited access, low digital literacy, and targeted online abuse.

D4GW will focus on raising awareness, building local capacity, and strengthening community-led efforts to promote digital inclusion and online safety for women and girls. The project will engage civil society organizations, grassroots trainers (Trainers of trainees), and community members through regional workshops, and the distribution of accessible educational materials, including a comic book designed to spark dialogue on gender inclusivity and tech spaces.

An important outcome of the project will be the launch of an Online Gender-Based Violence Knowledge and Support Services Portal to provide reliable information and referral pathways for survivors and advocates. By centering the experiences of women and girls, D4GW aims to foster feminist digital spaces that are safe, inclusive, and empowering.

Goal:
Vibrant and resilient woman led Civil Society Organisations in Uganda.

Duration: 2023 – 2025

Funded by: Commonwealth Foundation

Project Overview:
Uganda boasts a fast-growing civil society with over 2,000 registered Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that contribute to national development, good governance and rule of law. Despite the positive contributions of Ugandan civil society and the existing legal protections, there are still several laws and policies with provisions that curtail on the enjoyment of their rights and freedoms in addition to stringent restrictions and directives that contravene and infringe on their Freedom of Expression (FoE) and Access to Information (A2I).

This environment makes it very difficult for Civil Society Organisations to thrive and carry out their operations. Creating an enabling environment for Civil Society Organisations requires a multi-stakeholder approach, therefore, the project will involve the direct engagement of women-led CSOs, media organisations, and the government with intended outcomes of:

  1. Increased knowledge and awareness among women-led and broader CSOs on the restrictive laws and policies affecting their freedom of expression and right to access of information.
  2. Women-led CSOs engaging constructively with government departments, agencies, and policy makers to challenge discriminatory laws and policies affecting the freedom of expression and right to access of information.
  3. An effective coalition of women led CSOs established holding the government accountable for restrictions on A2I and FoE and expanding the protection mechanisms available to reduce violations of women’s rights to FoE and A2I.
  4. Vibrant and resilient woman led Civil Society Organisations in Uganda.

Goal:
To increase knowledge, strengthen advocacy skills of Civil Society Organisations and media organizations for improved civic awareness and to foster reforms on restrictive legal frameworks.

Duration: 2023

Funded by: Internews

Project Overview:
In Uganda, there are increasing and unexpectedly legal changes and civic activism driven by the passage of legal frameworks that affect the operations of the organisations such as the Computer Misuse Act 2011 as amended in 2022 by the parliament of Uganda. Some of the enacted laws have provisions that do not promote a cohesive and inherent environment for Civil Society Organisations. Furthermore, internal shortcomings coupled with funding struggles have hampered the capacity of CSOs to regularly come together or invest in building the competence of their staff to caucus on the challenges encountered and on the importance of civic awareness. The restrictive laws and constant changes in the legal frameworks have numerous negative consequences on the operations of Civil Society Organizations. There is a need for a coordinated, sustained and muti-pronged approach to civic space issues in Uganda in order to create an opportunity for CSOs to positively influence the legal framework, broaden reach to minority groups and advocate for approaches that contribute to a strong CSO enabling environment. WOUGNET is therefore engaging selected CSOs and media organisations in Uganda to strengthen their resilience and build capacity to appropriately respond to emerging threats and restrictions and additionally improve their compliance with the regulatory requirements.

Goal:
To empower local communities through enabled access to rural broadband connectivity for a prosperous and knowledge-based digital economy.

Duration: 2023 – 2024

Funded by: World Association for Christian Communication (WACC)

Project Overview:
The Internet has evolved as a booster for the economic, social and technical development of human society. Despite the rapid uptake of the Internet globally, the gender digital divide increased from 11% in 2019 to 18% in 2022. Communities in rural areas especially women and girls lack a sustainable, reliable, just, accessible and affordable broadband connectivity, including the devices that can be used to access the broadband. With a focus on ‘Connectivity for all’, there is a need for enabling policies that address affordability and digital inclusion. Furthermore, connectivity efforts should consider persons with disabilities, women, girls and other low-income groups in the community. With funding support from Association for Progressive Communications (APC), WOUGNET in Partnership with netLabs!UG, a research centre at Makerere University, College of Engineering and Design Art and Technology (CEDAT) is implementing the Rural Voices project titled: “Strengthening Women’s Access to Enhanced Rural Broadband Connectivity in Uganda” . This project will be implemented in Apac District, Northern Uganda. The project will build on WOUGNET’s extensive experience of working on ICT empowerment for women in rural areas in different project sectors such as , agriculture, service delivery, digital security training and women empowerment, among a wide range of ICT development projects. . The project will further support and strengthen community aspects of the current rural broadband community network innovation that has been established in Apac Municipality in partnership with netLabs!UG.. The project shall further strengthen research on telecommunications and networking technologies. The project targets rural schools, health centres, government offices, women led farmer groups, media and the business communities.

Login
Report OGBV