As Uganda and the rest of the world commemorate international women’s day under the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Genda Equality”, Uganda Rural Development and Training program (URDT) joined the celebrations that are held on 8th of March of every year.

As an organization that values women as an important part of the community and seeks to empower them as change agents, URDT carried out a number of activities in celebration of the day, which started on Monday, 6th to the actual day, Wednesday 8th March, 2023. Some of these activities included discussions about women empowerment during the foundation courses, the feature hour led by the URDT gender officer to clean the compound, sports activities and so much more.

Mr. Leodus Nuwagaba, the Gender Officer at URDT guiding students during feature hour

During the feature hour that took place after the foundation course on Monday, 6th March 2023, different members of staff together with students from African Rural University (ARU) and URDT Girls School participated in picking rubbish and cleaning the organization’s compound, which activity was spearheaded by Mr. Leodus Nuwagaba, the URDT gender officer, who was also in charge of organizing the International Women’s Day celebrations at URDT

Members of Staff, Girls School and ARU students cleaning during the feature hour

Later, on Tuesday 7th March 2023, different sports activities were held and these included volleyball and netball which took place at the URDT Girls School play grounds. The volleyball game was between ARU students and members of staff with the later winning the game while the  netball game was between students from ARU and those from Girls school in favor of the later.

Staff and ARU during the volleyball game  
URDTGS Vs ARU during the netball game

The actual women’s day celebrations at URDT were held in the URDT multi-purpose hall at URDT Girls School in a grand event that was attended by members of staff, students from both African Rural University and URDT Girls School, founders of Mustardseed Trust, Epicenter Managers, stakeholders and other members of the community. The function that started at 9:00am was also broadcast live on Kagadi-Kibaale Community Radio. It started with anthems, welcoming song from the URDT Girls School Choir, followed by welcoming remarks from Dr. Mwalimu Musheshe, the founder of URDT, who later welcomed Dr. Zula Namubiru together with her colleague, Ms. Nuluyati Nalwadda, both lecturers from the College of Education and External Studies at Makerere University for a public lecture.

The actual women’s day celebrations at URDT were held in the URDT multi-purpose hall at URDT Girls School in a grand event that was attended by members of staff, students from both African Rural University and URDT Girls School, founders of Mustardseed Trust, Epicenter Managers, stakeholders and other members of the community. The function that started at 9:00am was also broadcast live on Kagadi-Kibaale Community Radio. It started with anthems, welcoming song from the URDT Girls School Choir, followed by welcoming remarks from Dr. Mwalimu Musheshe, the founder of URDT, who later welcomed Dr. Zula Namubiru together with her colleague, Ms. Nuluyati Nalwadda, both lecturers from the College of Education and External Studies at Makerere University for a public lecture.

Some of the attendees at the Women’s Day celebrations at URDT multi-purpose hall

During the public lecture, Dr. Namubiru encouraged women to embrace Science, Technology and Innovation as digital tools have become powerful tools in socioeconomic development and have the capacity to help women overcome the barriers to opportunities they face such as marketing their products. She added that the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to empower women can only be achieved if women have the same opportunities as their male counterparts to access and use ICTs.

Ms. Nuluyati Nalwadda, who is also a PhD research fellow at the School of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University with her research focusing on Digital Technologies in Adult Learning and Education for refugee Women in Uganda supplemented Namubiru’s submission on women embracing technology as it plays a big role in having a better world.

URDT Girls’ School Students forming letter ‘W’ to symbolize ‘Woman’ as they perform

Nalwadda further encouraged the students at URDT Girls School not to fear Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects since many believe they are meant for boys. She reminded them of the saying that “what a man can do, a woman can do better.”

After the public lecture, Dr. Mwalimu Musheshe, who is also the vice chancellor African Rural University gave a speech with emphasis on how URDT managed to sustain teaching and learning during the lockdown in 2020 and 2021. Mwalimu said that students were given tablets and trained on how to use them to study online while at home. He added that even the teachers were trained on how to teach and assess students online, as well as conduct lessons on KKCR by both teachers from Girls School and other schools which benefited more students in the community.

Dr. Mwalimu Musheshe giving a speech during the celebrations at URDT

Later on, more activities were performed such as Music Dance and Drama from the URDT Girls School students and poems from both ARU and URDTGS students as well as songs on the International Women’s Day theme.

Some of the performances at the International Women’s Day celebrations at URDT

The ceremony ended at 3:00pm with a meal, where all the attendees dined together in the dining hall before everyone returned to their respective places of residence.

Attendees having lunch together in the main dining hall at URDT after the celebrations

Kiiza Nobert
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