CSO’s Strengthen Advocacy and Resource Mobilization to Promote Family Planning

Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s) in Uganda have taken critical steps to enhance their advocacy and resource mobilization skills.

This was realized at a three-day advocacy and resource mobilization training held at the Imperial Golf View Hotel in Entebbe, attended by 10 CSO’s promoting access to family planning, SMART advocacy, policies, and guidelines.

Patrick Mugirwa, Program manager at Partners in Population and Development Africa Region Office (PPDARO), who attended the training, disclosed that CSO’s in Uganda need the skills to mobilize resources and advocate for change if they are to remain relevant and self-sustaining.

“CSOs need advocacy and resource mobilization expertise to get funds from donors, sustainably manage them, and carry out the purpose for which they were given,” Mugirwa said.

Doreen Ruta and Cathius Twinamatsiko, the facilitators of the training, disclosed that resource mobilization and SMART advocacy include several steps that CSO officers should grasp and apply to document fundable proposals, policies, and guidelines for the organizations they work for.

Speaking before the trainees, Dr. Peter Ibembe, Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) Director of Programs, noted the importance of timeliness in advocacy and grasping the advocacy opportunity at the right and ideal moment.

Sadiq Adams, Church of Uganda (CoU) Communications Officer, says that after the Advance Family Planning initiative SMART diffusion workshop in Hoima, the Church of Uganda realized that several policies, guidelines, and other documentation were missing for the organization to operate well.

Lillibet Namakula, Team Lead at Public Health Ambassadors Uganda (PHAU), has benefited from the training in mapping, planning, documenting, and communicating for advocacy and resource mobilization for family planning and sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Doreen Kansiime, the RHU Advocacy Coordinator, says the organizations represented were trained in Advance Family Planning SMART diffusion and approaches between 2018 and 2021.

Caption: Doreen Kansiime RHU Advocacy Coordinator addressing trainees in Entebbe 

They include the Rwenzori Centre for Research and Advocacy (RCRA), Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organizations (UNASO), Busoga Health Forum (BHF), National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), Church of Uganda (CoU), Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office (PPDARO), Human Rights Initiative Centre (HURIC), Ray of Choice Africa (ROCA), Save for Health Uganda, Impact, and RHU.