Adolescent Health
Supporting Midwives & Midwifery
Citizen-led Accountability
Citizen Journalism
History and Mission
WRA Uganda was formed in 2009 to give a voice to the women most at risk of dying in childbirth. Our vision is a Ugandan society free of preventable maternal and newborn deaths by 2021. Our mission is to contribute to the reduction of maternal and newborn deaths through partnerships and advocacy at all levels. We help citizens recognize their rights and hold the government accountable for commitments made to maternal and newborn health.
Challenge
1-in-4 girls aged 15-19 years old is a mother or pregnant with her first child, robbing 25% of the country’s adolescent girls of their potential. Teen pregnancy also contributes to thousands of deaths and disabilities to young girls and newborn every year, with consequences for mother, child, family, community and nation.
Solution
WRA Uganda is implementing a comprehensive, multi-sectoral campaign to reduce teen pregnancy, rooted in the knowledge that it will take action across ministries of health, education, economic development and more to ensure that our girls are given the best chance at life for themselves and the country as a whole.
Current Campaigns
Act Now to End Teenage Pregnancy is a youth-driven campaign that unites advocates at national and local levels around reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health. These young leaders are demanding that decision makers be held accountable for improved adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
WRA Uganda is also utillizing Citizen-Led Advocacy campaigns and Citizen Journalism to raise the issue of adolescent pregnancies among policymakers. In 2016, 120,000 signatures — 70% from adolescents — were collected and presented to the Prime Minister along with the demand that reducing teenage pregnancy must be placed at the top of Uganda’s national health agenda. Read more here.
Our Impact
In Uganda, 17 mothers and 106 newborns die every day due in part to inadequate government investment in life-saving emergency obstetric and newborn care. WRA Uganda’s campaign Act Now to Save Mothers mobilized citizens to demand their rights, supported them to influence the planning and budgeting process for maternal health services through petitions, and trained citizen reporters to monitor progress and budget allocations. At the national level, WRA Uganda worked with policymakers to ensure that petitions signed by thousands of citizens were delivered and acted upon by the Parliament, resulting in the Government of Uganda accelerating progress on its global commitment to safe motherhood and providing more women with access to lifesaving emergency obstetric and newborn care. Read our impact report.
WRA Uganda News
Gallery
YOUNG PEOPLE DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY: The Act Now to End Teenage Pregnancy campaign is engaging young people in advocacy on issues that directly affect them. Adolescents and other stakeholders handed over a petition with 12,0000 signatures to the Prime Minister RT Hon. Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda to urgently reduce teenage pregnancy in Uganda. 70% of these signatures were from adolescents.
MEDIA AMPLIFIES STAKEHOLDER VOICES: Representatives from the Uganda chapter of African Youth and Adolescents Network (AfriYAN), Uganda Ministry of Health, Population Council and WRA Uganda at a press conference during the National Youth Dialogue.
THE PRIME MINISTER HAS A KEY ROLE: WRA Uganda staff ask the Rt. Hon Prime Minister (C) to exercise his powers under Article 108 A of the Constitution, mandating him to coordinate and implement government policies across ministries, departments and other public institutions. They requested he urgently develop a multi-sectoral plan to address teenage pregnancy.
TAKING THE CAMPAIGN TO THE PRESIDENT: WRA Uganda members pose for a photo with the President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (seated), during World Population Day celebrations in Isingiro District on July 11th, 2016. Nineteen-year-old Dora Ayebazibwe(3rd L), on behalf of WRA Uganda, called upon President Museveni to prioritize reducing teenage pregnancies. The President commended the campaign.
WORKING WITH LOCAL CELEBRITIES: Celebrated local artiste like Bobi Wine (C) and his wife Barbie (L) have used their platforms to talk about the need to end teenage pregnancy through a multi-sectoral approach and sign the petition. Signatures were collected via hard copy of signature collection forms, online and UNICEF’s U-Report platform.
TAKING THE CAMPAIGN TO PARLIAMENT: WRA Uganda worked with the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association and engaged Members of Parliament (MPs). To show the reality of the problem, they took with them a 14-year-old pregnant girl (4th right at front), which shook the MPs, who then pledged support.
PARTNER SUPPORT: A couple celebrates birth of their child at Barr Health Center III in Lira District, Northern Uganda. Men should support their wives to attend antenatal care at least four times and deliver at a health facility.
REACHING THE HIGHEST DECISION MAKERS: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon receives, from WRA’s Faridah Luyiga Mwanje, recommendations from citizens in almost 30 countries, for the updated Global Strategy on Women's, Children's and Adolescents' health in New York.
TRACKING PROGRESS: Citizen Journalists after a training on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood Uganda in collaboration with UN Women and The Guardian newspaper trained 35 citizen journalists from Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi to advocate for SRHR.
“NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US”: Citizens of Lira District give their views on the Post 2015 Development Agenda during a Citizens Hearing in Amach Sub County, Lira District.
Thank you to our partners
Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH)
Amref Health Africa
RMNCAH Coalition in Uganda
African Center for Global Health and Social Transformation
Africa Youth and Adolescents Health Network on Population and Development — AFriYAN Uganda Chapter
Contact Us
Robina Biteyi
National Coordinator, WRA Uganda
As the National Coordinator for WRA Uganda, Robina Biteyi provides overall leadership and guidance to staff and members to ensure achievement of the organization’s mission by; translating that vision into clear strategies and achievable goals and uniting members around the vision, strategies, and goals, while adapting them to the shifting contexts. She was motivated to join the WRA movement because of her desire to ensure that women and children survive and prosper.
Robina Biteyi is a public health nurse with a Masters’ Degree in community health from the School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool. United Kingdom. She has more than 30 years’ experience in maternal and child health, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and HIV and AIDS in both Uganda and Kenya.
For 20 years, Robina worked with African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), an international health non-governmental organization, where she developed and managed health projects and programs. Robina’s major interest is maternal and reproductive health with a special interest in advocacy and accountability.
When not at work, Robina enjoys interacting with family and young people. She loves walking as a hobby.
Click image for bio
Robina Biteyi
National Coordinator, WRA Uganda
RBiteyi@whiteribbonalliance.org
+256 392176052