SIHA Uganda | Mapping women’s rights groups and organisations in the Greater Horn of Africa

Shared Planet was retained by SIHA Uganda to map women’s rights groups in the Greater Horn of Africa. The aim of the project was to support the KOMBOA consortium of feminist organisations in the Horn of Africa in empowering communities within the broad demographic of African women, girls and gender-diverse peoples, developing evidence-based and community-informed strategies, and advancing gender justice.

The project involved mapping women’s rights groups and organisations in Ethiopia, the Somalia region, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda. We developed a comprehensive analytical framework to investigate the objectives of the organisations, operational challenges, capacity to affect change, engagement in movement building, resilience, and their ability to advance gender justice and counter anti-rights movements.

An evaluation criteria and ranking system was developed to assess successes, failures and capacity gaps. Information was gathered through desk research, online surveys (in English and Arabic), and KIIs with women’s groups across the five target countries. A focus group discussion with SIHA Country Leads was held to receive feedback on the report, recommendations for organisations to interview and insights into the dynamics of backlash in each county. Findings were collated in a final report, providing concrete recommendations to inform SIHA’s feminist movement building in the region.

The final mapping and accompanying report provided SIHA, and the KOMBOA consortium, with concrete recommendations for areas of intervention and capacity building to support women’s rights-based organisations interested in engaging in movement building in the Greater Horn of Africa.