FAWE Uganda continues to bet on male champions

What the report says

The Observer reports that FAWE Uganda used its Annual General Meeting in Kampala on July 11, 2026, to highlight a different kind of advocacy: honoring men as allies in girls’ education and women’s empowerment. The Forum for African Women Educationalists Uganda Chapter, which has focused for two decades on sponsorship, protection, institutional support and advocacy for girls, named eight Male Champions and also recognized a broader group of educationists and student leaders.

Among those acknowledged was Dr. Martin Jerome Okec Aliker, who received a posthumous award for his role in the chapter’s scholarship programme from 2000 to 2008. His widow, Camille Aliker, accepted the honor. The article says FAWE Uganda wants to revive the private-sector partnership approach that helped support girls’ education, and it cites other honourees including Busitema University vice chancellor Prof. Paul Waako, Gulu University vice chancellor Prof. George Ladaah Openjuru, Prof. David Kani Olema of Busitema University, educationist Kenneth Kimera, and scholarship participant Dickens Kiyonga.

The piece frames the move as part of FAWE Uganda’s effort to strengthen gender equity by bringing men into the work, especially amid concerns about misogyny and persistent barriers for girls. It also points to scale: 600 young women and men are set to join the Mastercard Foundation Higher Education Access Programme for the 2026/2027 academic year, building on 1,293 previously supported students, and the chapter says it reached more than 126,000 participants in 2025. The Observer’s account presents this as part of FAWE Uganda’s broader shift from isolated projects to wider systems influence.