New Horizons – Uganda

The New Horizons policy towards development is based on the growing recognition that it is necessary to strengthen the position of women and promote the equitable distribution of rights and opportunities for women and men. The organisation aims to change the attitudes and behaviour of individual women and men by creating a process of equal rights for women and men at parish, county, sub-county, national and regional level.

New Horizons also empowers women through education. It offers educational opportunities taught by qualified personnel and choice of subjects offered to women is decided after interviews and counselling.

Activities include:

• Motherhood and Family Planning . Women are taught about the importance of not bearing children too young or too old. They are taught about family planning and the need to limit family size to the families ability to support it. Women are counseled on how to approach a change in sexual attitudes by their partners. The programme also teaches women about sexually transmitted disease, how to recognise it, what treatment is available and the absolute importance of refraining from sexual relations until cured for certain.
• Basic Literacy and Numeracy. Women are taught basic reading and writing in English or Luganda; how to fill in forms and how to obtain the best results from applications; simple arithmetic and how to avoid being cheated. They are also shown how to budget to make the best use of the money they have.
• HIV/AIDS Women are taught how HIV/AIDS is transmitted and the precautions that should be taken to avoid contracting the disease and how HIV/AIDS cannot be transmitted. They are also informed about the steps to be taken if they suspect they have the disease.
• Vocational Training New Horizons runs courses in tailoring. On successful completion of the course the students are awarded a certificate recognised by many employers in Kampala. It also plans to start courses in word processing, spreadsheets and bookkeeping.

Development Issues
Agricultur, Women, Gender

The project's aim is to give women the ability to support themselves and their families should the need arise and to offer an alternative to heavy manual labour at poor rates of pay.

The objectives of New Horizons' development co-operation policy are to contribute towards an improvement in economic and social development in Uganda, within the framework of sustainable development. "To achieve these objectives, one of the areas targeted is to reduce food insecurity and the promotion of equal rights and opportunities for women, youth and children in all areas of society. Equal rights and opportunities of women and men must be integrated in all aspects of development cooperation."