OYAM – The deputy executive secretary of the National Women`s Council [ NWC ], Emilly Akulo Omara has urged women in the country to embrace the Parish development Model [PDM], saying the government programme will help them to improve their livelihoods.
Akullo said the PDM, which was launched in February 2022, favours women as they are allocated 30 percent of the Shs 100 million Parish Revolving Fund [PRF]. The women are followed by the youth who are allocated 30 percent, men/ general community 20 percent, persons with disabilities and the elderly 10 percent, and older persons 10 persons
Under the PDM, Government has committed that every financial year, beginning with 2022/ 2023, it will send Shs 100mln to each of the 10,594 parishes in Uganda for individuals and groups who are members of the PDM SACCO which are tasked to manage the PRF.
Akulo urged women who are members of the various Parish Development Committees [PDCs] to ensure that women get their 30 percent share of the PDM money. President Yoweri Museveni in his State of the Nation Address on Wednesday said some parishes have already received Shs 50mln.
“We [ NWC ] are focusing on the PDM to deliver positive results for women because women are members of the Parish Development Committee [PDM] which is a decision-making organ,” Akullo told women of Oyam district at Kamdini Town council on Thursday.
According to the PDM guidelines, the chairperson of parish women council are automatic members of the PDCs which are headed by the LCII chairpersons.
“Our women are sitting on the Parish Development Committees and we are encouraging them to continue pursuing their roles as women leaders to see that grassroots women benefit,” she added while training the women on their roles in the PDM.
Teddy Acio, the vice chairperson, Oyam district women’s council applauded the government for introducing PDM, saying it will help to empower them economically since they will use the money for commercial production, investing in enterprises such as poultry keeping, fish farming, and dairy farming, among others.
Martin Ocen Odyek, a PDM consultant in Sub-region asked the leaders to encourage more women to form associations to benefit from the five-year programme which aims to move 3.5 million households still in the subsistence economy to the money economy. Government will spend over Shs 1 trillion every financial year on the programme.
NWC is an autonomous body, established by the National Women’s Council ACT 1993 [cap 318]. One of NWC’s tasks is to organise and unify all women of Uganda who actively contribute to sustainable community and national development through promotion of peace, accountability, justice and self-development through training, sensitisation, networking, lobbying, advocacy and provision of micro-finance credit services.
For instance, NWC has been instrumental in the ensuring success of the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme [UWEP] among other government programmes.
https://thecooperator.news/pdm-parishes-receive-shs-50mln-each/
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