BY ZALIMON BASIGHALHA (GOOD LUCK)
Rwenzururu Nyabaghole Foundation for Development (RWENFOD), a brain child of the Rwenzururu Queen, Her Highness Agnes Ithungu Asimawe has started talks with the Microfinance Support Centre (MSC) Uganda aimed at lobbying financial support to the women in the cultural institution through getting access to affordable loans.
The Organization which was launched in 2012 aims at addressing some challenges faced by women and the Girl Child in the Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu.
However, its operations were temporarily halted following the attack by a joint security team on the Buhikira Royal Palace and Administrative Offices in November 2016, leaving scores of people dead and the subsequent arrest of Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere Iremangoma and more than 100 of his Royal Guards.
Yesterday, Nyabaghole and the Deputy Executive Director at the Microfinance Support Centre, Ms Hellen Petronilla Masika held talks at the Omusinga’s Country Home in Nyangereka Village, Hima Parish in Kitswamba Sub-county. The talks were aimed at discussing a number of issues all geared towards revamping the operations of Rwenzururu Nyabaghole Foundation for Development.
Nyabaghole, who decried the high rate of Gender Based Violence including early marriages and teenage pregnancies in the Rwenzori sub-region, noted that her organization was more than ready to collaborate with other partners to have the vice wiped out of the region.
She assured the Deputy Executive Director at the Microfinance Support Centre that she would hold meetings with women encouraging them to form SACCOs as a prerequisite for them to qualify to benefit from the affordable loans offered by the Microfinance Support Centre. More
She also revealed that she would implore women to embark on rearing domestic animals and practice agriculture on a large small.
About Girl-Child Education, the Queen stressed that once her “EMBAALE YA’NYABAGHOLE,” a youth camp that trains skills and the Bakonzo cultural norms and practices is revived, it would answer some challenges faced the Girl-Child, pledging to also conduct some outreaches in both primary and secondary schools within Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu.
In her remarks, the Deputy Executive Director at the Microfinance Support Centre, Ms Hellen Petronilla Masika assured Nyabaghole that she would work with and support her organization to give affordable loans to the Rwenzururu subjects.
ENDS