German youth impress with Acholi gender equality module

By Christopher Nyeko

Gulu: A team of ten youth from Germany who are currently in Uganda for their 16-day exchange visit to Uganda under the project dubbed “Youth Team Exchange on Gender Justice,” goal number 5 among the 17 sustainable development goals, has revealed their heartfelt impressions on how Acholi culture promotes embracing gender equality.

The German youth came to Uganda through an international partnership between the eineweltnet (one-word network) in German and the grassroots women and men association for development (GWAD).

GWAD is a nonprofit, local NGO based in Gulu City. Its goal is to reduce poverty at the grassroots level by empowering rural communities around Gulu economically, socially, politically, and culturally.

According to Giftty Claresa Wiafe, the team coordinator for German youth, they came to Uganda to learn about the legal, civic, cultural, and social aspects of gender justice in Uganda.

The 10 youth arrived in Uganda on December 1, 2023, and they have been able to visit civil society organizations, cultural institutions, academic institutions such as Gulu University, and the homesteads of their Ugandan counterpart youth to learn how gender roles are being shared in Uganda.

Yesterday, the German youth, accompanied by their Ugandan counterpart, were led to Ker Kwaro Pageya Place at St. Jude Bardeg-Layibi division in Gulu city. A

At the cultural institution, a number of cultural exhibitions pertaining to how Acholi people embrace gender justice and gender roles were showcased, while the nitty-gritty was also explained to them.

The participants were entertained with varieties of Acholi cultural dances such as Dingiding, Ajere, Bwola, and Orak, among others.

In an interview with ugreports.com, Gifty Claresa Wiafe, the team coordinator for German youth, expressed her impression, saying the dances were so emotional and physical and included both genders to participate.

Klaas Janowsky, participant, says there is a need for global unity to strengthen gender equality, reorganizing that cultural institutions can adopt dances to unify both genders to achieve gender justice.

Solomon Racakara, the field officer for the Grassroots Women and Men Association for Development, who is championing the Youth Team Exchange on Gender Justice Project, explained that the project emerged from his visit to Germany in 2019 after one of his proposals was vetted by one donor from Germany.

His previous idea was looking at promoting sustainable development goal number 5, which is gender equality, where he was trained on civil society organization administration and investment.

According to Rackara, under the youth team exchange on gender justice project, a total of 10 youth from Uganda will also travel to Germany in March 2024 to learn the gender equality concept and module in German.

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