“My favourite part of the forum was representation. Clearly, this wasn’t just about having one of them in the room to tick a box. For example, there was more than one sex worker, trans person, person with a disability, etc. And the fact that in the last session, the trans person said they came into the space expecting to be dismissed and traumatised and then experienced the complete opposite, that they felt welcome and seen and couldn’t wait to tell their community about the UFF and how there’s space for them and all people in their diversities. That really warmed my heart. Loved it.” Anonymous Participant
Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), a leader in the Uganda Feminist Forum, is committed to pushing for the feminist movement’s growth into a more robust force advocating for change in womn’s and minority groups’ lives, ensuring accountability that challenges oppression.
With the absence of feminism in practice in Uganda, enabling environments for the nurturing of young feminists are getting fewer and transgender persons and lesbian womn in the feminist movement continue to be at risk of arrest and violence.
In this regard, UAF-Africa supported AMwA in organising the 2022 UFF Convening under the theme “Feminism as Practice,” which focused on feminism as practice and co-creating a shared feminist vision.
The convening was preceded by two build-up events that confronted often deferred uneasy topics such as “A hard look in the mirror: From accountability to reconciliation”, created a conciliatory space for open expression of pain and discomfort to spur the process of healing and resolution, and the renewing of bonds of friendship and solidarity amongst feminists in Uganda.
The second event, “Justice and Equity in Practice: Unpacking Trans Lives as a Feminist Issue in Uganda,” provided an opportunity to delve into the lived realities of transgender persons and situate advocacy for their rights and freedoms.
For the first time in UFF’s history, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming persons were welcomed into the UFF without restrictions. The LGBTQI+ community acknowledged that they initially felt apprehensive about being in the space, but then those fears were allayed as they were welcomed and felt fully and meaningfully engaged.
Furthermore, to realise the dreams and goals expressed during the convention, a UFF Visioning Group was created to steward the process. They began working on a visioning strategy that would complement and facilitate the realisation of the dreams cast in the feminist vision.
The Uganda Feminist Forum (UFF) is further reinforced to strengthen feminist practice for a shared feminist vision of radical transformation.
Through the same convening, the Forum also realised the establishment of a feminist club at Makerere University by a member of the UFF.
As awaited, the 9th Convention realised a strengthened Ugandan feminist movement rooted in radical intersectional politics in theory and praxis, enhanced solidarity amongst the community of feminists in Uganda with accountability at the centre.
