“Autonomy, empowerment and independence don’t come overnight”
KWDT encourages the local women to form groups, as a way of strengthening women’s voices and helping protect them from violence.
Margaret helps the women empower themselves through education and knowledge of their rights. ©Katosi Women Development Trust
Margaret Nakato is a woman with a vision: gender equality. She has made it her mission to empower the women who rinse, prepare and sell fish from Ugandan lakes to local markets.
Africa's inland small-scale fisheries sector, centred around the large lakes across Uganda, is an important source of employment for local communities. Whilst the fishing itself is still very much a male domain, when it comes to the processing, preparing and selling, it is estimated that 69 percent is done by women.
However, in order to prepare and sell fish products, they have to negotiate with the predominantly male fishers to get access to the freshly caught fish. The women are also competing with wholesale buyers who offer much higher prices. Many women face violence and threats on a daily basis.
Margaret is adamant that women are integral to the fishing sector and is on a mission to help women recognise this fact and use it to their advantage. “The women I meet at the fish landing sites around Lake Victoria don't recognise that they have a right to be in fisheries,” Margaret says. “They feel at the mercy of fishermen. That’s why we must inform them that they have rights!”
Support through women’s groups
Margaret is a coordinator at the Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT) in Uganda, a non-profit organization financially supported by FAO, that assists 691 women from 29 women’s groups. Many of them are food producers in small-scale fisheries.
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