This campaign has now closed
Imagine if you bought beer but the pub landlord poured the beer into your hands rather than serve it in a glass because you were considered so dirty that you would defile the glass so that it could not be used again. Batwa Pygmies in Central Africa are treated like this. We work with partners in Burundi, DRC, Rwanda and Uganda to challenge these attitudes and to ensure that the most marginalized are treated equally, have the same opportunities in education and employment, can own land and have equal access to health care.
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
Batwa communities in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) traditionally lived in the forest and when they began to lose their land to farmers, they turned to pottery to make a living. Their communities have been devastated by poverty, discrimination and conflict. Very few Batwa children complete school, and in Uganda and DRC there are no Batwa local councillors or MPs. Batwa people are often arrested on the whim of a local official or policy officer. We have worked to support Batwa partners since the year 2000, and more people are now aware of their rights. However there is a real lack of leadership in these communities who rely very heavily on a small number of educated Batwa. This programme will help support and develop a much larger number of men and women who have strong leadership potential. Strong leadership will help the community to act in coherent and concerted ways to address rights abuses and to demand equality. The project is a combination of training, research, advocacy and practical activities. 320 Batwa leaders will receive training on human and minority rights, advocacy skills and techniques. Batwa organisations will create a regional network. Data collected on human rights violations will be published and will be used by Batwa people to lobby for changes to bring about real implementation of their rights to improve the well being of their communities. (This programme is already partly funded)