Women can do it seminar in Kampala

For four whole days 30 participants from the UYD Women League are meeting in Hotel Nexus to have Woman Can Do it (WCDI) seminar. All the women participating are young woman leaders, and some are even candidates for the election in 2011.

The program includes gender, women in politics, the situation within UYD/AUF, networking, working successfully with media, building confidence, communications technics, public speaking, argumentation, body language, representation and presentation of women in the society, women leaders in the struggle against HIV/AIDS, advocacy, campaigning, and how to train other women in the future.


The WCDI seminar is an exchange of experience, both between ugandan women, but also sharing experiences with the norwegian youth politicians. The group are all spending time togheter during the seminar, and its only women speakers on the program.


The women attending are from all over Uganda, and from different backgrounds. The capacity building are meant to strengthen and empower young women leaders. The seminar is sponsored by LNU and the Norwegian Labour Party.

The human right situation in Uganda

The AUF & UYD delegation visited FHRI (Foundation for Human Right Initiative) to discuss the human right situation i Uganda. The delegation received reports, and got information of the current challenges.

The human rights situation in the north is still an issue due to the conditions in the camps, the psychological trauma caused by the war, and the resettlement of refuges.

The unemployment is high (some say as high as 60%), and the youths are the once most effected. But generally poverty is the biggest human right issue.

The group naturally focused mostly on the political human rights.
Because of the coming election the situation is becoming worse. The foundation director told stories of imprisonment, torture and even killings of politicians.

Åsmund Aukrust had earlier been to visit UYD- members in prison, so we also discussed the health situation and the overcrowding in the prisons.

The director finished of the meeting by emphasizing that in order to achieve change in the human right conditions, one need to change the leadership from the grasroots.



The UYD and the AUF delegation (Tore Eikeland, Ida Spjelkavik, Tonje Kristensen, Hilde F. Fjellså and Åsmund Åukrust) with FHRI

Grasroot meetings in Uganda

To engage with democratic, non-violent political activities in a country that has never had a peaceful change of power, can be challenging. AUF has for nearly ten years has had a project going with a youth organization, Uganda Young Democrats (UYD) in Uganda.

In front of the election next year (in February / March), UYD together with its mother party Democratic Party (DP) tries to mobilize large amounts of people for change in Uganda, to throw the opposition repressive President Museveni out from the Chesterfield lounge in the presidential palace, so they can create stable democratic structures.

The recent days AUF have together with our comrades in UYD, participated in major meetings in the capital Kampala, as well as in several of the districts east of the city (Gomba, Mityana og Mubende). The aim has been to strengthen local branches, and to discuss the power structures in the regions, in order and strengthen the organization as a whole.



Rita giving a speech about empowering women, youth and the grasroot

The local elections in Georgia will take place at the 26.of May

The AUF delegation and "Social democrats for development in Georiga"

Visit to IDP settlements

The leader of YSG, Georgi Kanchaveli, lead the delegation to a Internal Displeased Persons (IPD) settlement just outside of Tbilisi. Some more members from YSG, the AUF delegation, and one human right activist took the bus to see the conditions for the victims of the war in 2008.

This settlement had over 4000 people living there, and more then 900 out of them where school children. We talked to a lady working in an small shop, she told us that everybody wants to go home to South Ossetia, but their homes have been destroyed or is occupied by Russians. One of the biggest problems for the IDPs in that camp now is unemployment, war trauma and stigma.

AUF promised to raise the questions of IDPs in Georgia when the return to Norway.

Youth seminar in region of Georgia

AUF and YSG have had a youth seminar in Batumi. The focus was youth empowering, youth activity, and youth influence. Tonje spoke about regional activity, Edvin spoke about the parti system in Norway, Kjetil spoke about self-government in Universities, and Ida spoke about youth organizations (with AUF as an example).

YSG spoke about social democracy, about youths role in democracies, and encouraged the Batumi youth to organize. It was 40 people attending the seminar, and some of them were members that also participated at the seminar in Kutaisi the last time AUF was visiting.

The central members of YSG and the AUF delegation also found time to visit the local self-government at the state university of Batumi.

Election campagning

The local election in Georgia is in the end of May, and AUF (Kjetil Vevle, Tonje Ertsås, Edvin Søvik and Ida Spjelkavik) are visiting the campaign. There are posters and billboards everywhere, and a specially from number 5, or the national movement as they are called. They are the once in power both nationally and regionally.


There have been complains that they are misusing there power to buy votes, that they have closed down shops that have supported the opposition in any way, and that they are only building and fixing cities now because of the election. The national movement has got a lot more money and resources than the other parties, and this makes the election much more difficult for the others.


Read more here: http://auf.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=320:valg-i-georgia&catid=44:nyheter&Itemid=100

Georgia

In Georgia we have got a sister organization called YSG-Young Socialists of Georgia.
In May there will be an election, that is why we are here.

At this moment we´re in Batumi, Georgia. We just arrived this morning.
We were in Tbilisi yesterday meeting both The National Movement and The Social Democrats. It was quite a difference, but very exiting.
We also had a meeting with the executive board in YSG.

Today we are going to have a seminar about youth in politics with the new branch in Batumi.