Welcome To SCOEN

An association of women lawyers working to promote and protect the rights of women in infrastructure development. Infrastructure projects can result in the loss of livelihoods for women, loss of land rights, increased risks to health and safety, and greater gender inequality. Infrastructure provision enhances connectivity, improves mobility, and generates economic opportunities and services.

However, we have observed that not all infrastructure projects result in positive outcomes for all groups. Infrastructure development can also entrench gender inequality, especially when women are denied the right to meaningfully participate in infrastructure planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance. Our actions encourage policy makers and business leaders to embrace a gender-responsive approach to infrastructure as a means towards gender equality and women’s empowerment.

We examine the effectiveness of existing infrastructure policies, project evaluation approaches and operational-level grievance mechanisms, among other things, to identify gaps and formulate recommendations for ensuring women’s empowerment. We work with stakeholders to mainstream a gender perspective across the infrastructure lifecycle—planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance as a strategy for achieving positive outcomes for women such as increased labour market participation, economic empowerment, and improved health and safety.

Our Findings

1. In Uganda, there is a lack of awareness of the differentiated impacts of infrastructure projects on men and women. In all stages of the infrastructure project lifecycle, it is often wrongly assumed that men and women will benefit equally, which leads to adverse impacts on women’s rights.
2. Positive outcomes for women can be achieved through greater attention to gender balance in local and national decision-making and planning bodies and increased women’s participation throughout the construction and operational phases.
3. Access to effective remedy is often denied women for a host of legal and customary reasons; women’s rights to land are often abridged and abused, and compensation is denied.

Our Objectives

• To prevent sexual exploitation and abuse happening across infrastructure lifecycle
• To engage financial institutions stakeholders to invest in projects that does not harm to women and the environment
• To ensure the protection and promotion of women’s rights while implementing infrastructure projects We work with MDBs to create independent accountability mechanism to receive gender-based violence (GBV) complaints by women
• To Monitor and document cases of GBV, seek remedies and redress for women victims harmed by infrastructure projects and engage stakeholders to take several steps to address systemic failures that lead to GBV and harm the environment
• To engage investors to implement measures around preventing GBV and provide remedy when their projects lead to GBV and sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment
• To engage stakeholders of infrastructure projects to put in place policies that promote and protect women’s rights and ensure environmental, social, accountability, and transparency standards that foster women’s rights