Surviving the
Pandemic: Impact of Covid-19 response on women market & street vendors in Uganda
By the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa Artwork: Akiiki Paul Research & Writing: Gillian Nantume
#MakeHerVisible
Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
Cover artwork: Akiiki Paul Design: Julian Kemigisha Research & Writing: Gillian Nantume Published: June 2022 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented including copying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. ©SIHA Network 2021 Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa P.O. Box 2793 Kampala – Uganda www.sihanet.org
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Table of Contents Abbreviations and Acronyms............................................................................................................................................... 4 Executive Summary......................................................................................................................................................................5 Key findings.............................................................................................................................................................................6 Key recommendations...................................................................................................................................................7 Introduction........................................................................................................................................................................................8 Methodology.................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Guiding questions............................................................................................................................................................ 13 Data Collection.................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Desk review of literature.............................................................................................................................................. 13 Field interviews................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Impact of Covid-19 on livelihoods of women vendors.....................................................................................14 Business stoppage and violence towards street vendors.................................................................14 Loss of income..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Expectations of the government..........................................................................................................................16 Rise in GBV............................................................................................................................................................................. 17 Eviction of street vendors...........................................................................................................................................18 Coping mechanisms and sources of resilience.........................................................................................19 Opportunities to pursue for more gender-inclusive recovery..................................................................20 Government programs...............................................................................................................................................20 What more needs to be done by the government?............................................................................ 22 List of people interviewed......................................................................................................................................... 23
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Abbreviations and Acronyms CSOs
Civil Society Organisations
GBV
Gender-based Violence
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
IGC
International Growth Centre
ILO
International Labour Organisation
KCCA
Kampala Capital City Authority
MoFPED Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development NDP
National Development Plan
NGP
National Gender Policy
OSIEA
Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa
PPE
Personal Protective Equipment
SACCOs
Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations
SIHA
Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
UBOS
Uganda Bureau of Statistics
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UPDF
Uganda Peoples Defense Forces
UWEP
Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program
VAW/G
Violence Against Women/Girls
WHO
World Health Organisation
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Executive Summary
Market women in Kasubi Market, Kampala City. Photography by Gillian Nantume
This report seeks to highlight the impact of the response to Covid-19 on urban poor women, particularly informal street and market vendors in Uganda. The report also recommends actions that the Government of Uganda can take to enable and support women’s participation in a sustainable recovery process, two years after the paralysis caused when the Covid-19 pandemic began. Nearly 14 million (98 percent) of Uganda’s total working-age population are engaged in the informal sector, and of these, 87 percent are women workers.1 Street and market vending was particularly impacted
by the Covid-19 pandemic because the industry depends on engaging with people (often in large crowds) in public spaces. Also, the vendors have very little savings due to the low wages. They are therefore very dependent on their daily income for survival, and the profit they take home at the end of the day is extremely sensitive to fluctuations in price, inflation, and consumer demand. As women are significantly overrepresented in this field, women were disproportionately exposed to the economic hardship brought on by the pandemic.
1 National Labour Force Survey 2018 -1019, Uganda Bureau of Statistics
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The informal economy encompasses all street and market-based exchange of goods and services by business units that have no tax identification number (TIN), but may or may not have business permits (trading licenses) issued by local authorities in areas where they operate. Much as the informal sector has, for the last decade, consistently contributed more than 55 percent to Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it has its own unique challenges. 2 However, the sector is important because of its contribution to job creation and the generation of incomes for the poor. SIHA conducted a study to evaluate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic response on urban poor women, particularly street and market vendors. The study was conducted between July 12th – 15th of 2022, through interviews with four women market and street vendors in Arua and Kampala districts.
Key findings Some of the findings indicate that market and street vendors are significantly affected by taxes, insufficient capital, and inspections by authorities regardless of the business operation. Furthermore, increased transport costs create a significant barrier in the urban informal economy. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, these challenges were exacerbated by the restrictive measures put in place by the government to curb the spread of the virus, such as the ban on public transportation.
“You have seen the distance from my market (Driwala Market) to Arua town. So, you have to foot from here to the town (to replenish stock), which you have not been doing (before). Then, (sometimes) you have to use a boda boda, which even becomes double expensive. So you find that whatever you are selling, it is even actually making no profit or very low profit.”3 Women market and street vendors who were interviewed for this study indicated that before the pandemic, they belonged to cooperative societies. However, when the first national lockdown and restrictions on public transport were enforced on March 30, 2020, these women were unable to work for three weeks. As a result, their savings dwindled to nothing as they juggled taking care of the home and paying rent. “At that time (when the lockdown was announced), I had 185,000 UGX in my cooperative and 475,000 UGX in my mobile money account. It took me eight months (to use up the savings), and thereafter, things became hard.”4 Market and street vendors who previously sold non-food items before the pandemic had to adapt to the situation when only food-vendors were allowed to operate in markets.5 However, they faced challenges associated with entering into a new business field without the necessary skills and knowledge. “It wasn’t easy, because you know, you are used to dealing in this business (secondhand clothes) and then, you are shifting - all of a sudden - to start a new business 3
Salmon Mugoda, Stephen Esaku, Rose Kibuka Nakimu & Edward Bbaale | Robert Read (Reviewing editor) (2020) The portrait of Uganda’s informal sector: What main obstacles do the sector face?, Cogent Economics & Finance, 8:1, DOI: 10.1080/23322039.2020.1843255 2
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Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City
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Mercy Ozizuyo, Market vendor, Awindiri Market, Arua City
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‘FULL SPEECH: President Museveni’s 5th COVID-19
address (The Independent, 2020). https://www.independent.co.ug/full-speech-presidentmusevenis-5th-covid-19-address/ Accessed on July 21, 2022.
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(selling fruits and vegetables). You may not know where to get them (fruits and vegetables), how to sell them, the quantity ... it needs a lot of effort for you to adjust.”6 While the Covid-19 National Taskforce instituted a cash bailout for more vulnerable members of society,7 This safety net did not buttress every vulnerable woman. “I never got (the cash bailout). I tried my level best with my women. They (local authorities) requested for our national IDs, [which] we gave them. We even gave them our (mobile) telephone numbers but we never got money.”8 As a direct result of the financial strain caused by the closure of businesses, the government and civil society organizations (CSOs) reported an increase in cases of gender-based violence (GBV).9 This was made worse by the ban on public transportation and gatherings, which ensured that CSOs, which would have mediated cases of GBV or offered sensitization on sexual reproductive health and rights, were hindered in their work during the lockdown. However, with the lifting of the lockdowns and relaxing of restrictions, women market and street vendors have returned to their savings cooperatives as a source of social support and financial credit to help them get back on their feet. The Government of Uganda has also instituted a number of programs that seek to support vulnerable women with the skills, knowledge, and capital grants needed to reinvigorate their businesses. 6
Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City
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‘Covid relief: Govt to give direct cash (Daily Monitor, 2021).
Key recommendations The findings of this report have generated a number of recommendations for the government. Some of the recommendations include: ◊ Boosting women cooperatives’ capital.
vendors’
◊ Ensuring budgetary allocations take into consideration the unequal impact of poverty on women vendors. ◊ Supporting women vendors through capacity building and skills development. ◊ Seeking women’s voices and representation in market place planning and management. ◊ Creating safe and healthy work environments for vendors. ◊ Increasing security at the markets and lighting on the streets. ◊ Improvement of rubbish management in markets and on the streets. ◊ Implementing the Regulation of Street Ordinance 2019.
KCCA Trade
https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/covidrelief-govt-to-give-direct-cash-3444516 Accessed on July 21, 2022. 8 Molly Wambi, street vendor, Kamwokya, Kampala City 9 Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development. 2021. Financing Gender Based Violence Prevention in Uganda. Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
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Introduction
Market women in Kasubi Market, Kampala City. Photography by Gillian Nantume
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ugandan government, through the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) and the Uganda Women Empowerment Programme (UWEP), supported women’s empowerment through championing savings groups and skills-training to enable women to better compete in the economic sphere,10 in an effort to reduce the level of unemployment and poverty among urban poor and rural women. Now, as Uganda charts a recovery path from Natukunda, Hope. Nareeba, Peter. Nakijoba, Sawuya. Woman Empowerment and Household Income in Kira Municipality, Uganda. Journal of Economic Science Research, 2021, 4(4), 3774. https://doi.org/10.30564/jesr. v4i4.3774 10
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the Covid-19 pandemic, the government is strengthening its contribution to the growth of the informal sector by designing social and financial support programs that fit into the National Growth Plan, 2007. “Empowerment of women is top of the government’s agenda for post-Covid recovery. For a long time, women had been struggling to start up businesses, and their biggest challenge was capital, affordable credit, the skills needed … and the markets.” 11
Frank Mugabi, Communications Officer, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development 11
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This report supports these efforts by highlighting the impact of Covid-19 on women street and market vendors in Uganda. The report presents data from targeted interviews with vendors, CSOs, government officials and a review of relevant literature on women’s economic empowerment and the Covid-19 pandemic. When a 7pm a nation-wide curfew came into force on March 31, 2020,12 It affected everyone. The livelihoods and economic standing of women, particularly in the urban informal sector, were disproportionately affected. In April 2020, the closure of the markets was a main challenge for market vendors. However, two weeks into the month, the president issued a directive allowing market vendors who sell food to resume work.13 After April, specifically from June to September, fewer customers due to the ban on public transportation became the main challenge. At the time, while people were free to walk on foot during the day, vehicles apart from delivery and cargo trucks – were not allowed on the road. This meant that the few customers who made it to the markets struggled to carry their purchases home. The situation was only eased four months later, when boda boda cyclists were allowed back on the road, but only up to 4pm.14
Although market vendors were allowed back in the markets, they had to sleep at their workplaces for two weeks before returning home. These women faced other risks and hardships, which included, the safety of the children they had left at home, health risks in the market due to poor sanitation, and the risk of sexual harassment and rape.15 Most of these restrictions were lifted by August 2020, although in June 2021, with an upsurge in Covid-19 cases, the president instituted another lockdown with the same harsh restrictions.16 School closures were instituted across many countries in Africa beginning between March and June of 2020. The Ugandan government implemented the longest continuous period of school closure in the world, lasting 22 months. Estimates predict that this period of closure may have created a learning deficit of 2.8 years in Uganda.17 The long period of school closure increased the care burden on Ugandan women, giving them less time to devote to economic activities. As a consequence, some women left the labor market altogether, and women’s businesses, which already were smaller and less profitable than men’s, were the first to close as the economy contracted.18 The Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development (MoFPED) 15
Uganda: Authorities announce 14-day nationwide lockdown April 1 /update 3 (Crisis24, 2020) https://crisis24. garda.com/alerts/2020/04/uganda-authorities-announce14-day-nationwide-lockdown-april-1-update-3 Accessed on July 25, 2022. 13 ‘FULL SPEECH: President Museveni’s 5th COVID-19 12
address’ (The Independent, 2020). https://www.independent.co.ug/full-speech-presidentmusevenis-5th-covid-19-address/ Accessed on July 21, 2022.
‘Ugandan
Boda Bodas return to road – With requirements’ (Voice of America, 2020). https://www. voanews.com/a/africa_ugandan-boda-bodas-return-roadrequirements/6193508.html Accessed on July 21, 2022. 14
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‘Vendors opt to sleep in markets, walk to work. (Daily
Monitor, 2020) https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/ news/national/vendors-opt-to-sleep-in-markets-walk-towork-1882730 Accessed on July 21, 2022. 16 ‘Uganda re-imposes lockdown to beat back COVID-19 case surge’ (Reuters, 2021) https://www.reuters.com/world/ africa/uganda-re-imposes-lockdown-beat-back-covid-19case-surge-2021-06-06/ Accessed on July 21, 2022 17 HRW. Impact of Covid-19 on Children’s Education in Africa. 2020. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/08/26/ impact-covid-19-childrens-education-africa 18 Goldstein, M. Martinez, P.G. Papineni, S. and Wimpey, J. The Global State of Small Business during COVID-19: Gender Inequalities. World Bank Blogs. 2020
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reported that many urban people experiencing poverty lost their sources of regular income and became financially unstable as they had little or no savings to resort to, with women and girls more likely to be negatively affected compared to their male counterparts.19 After the lockdowns were lifted, an FSD survey found that many Ugandans increased their borrowing and sold some assets to help protect themselves from the economic effects of Covid-19.20 The share of individuals in Uganda who borrowed increased from 15% in April to 25% in July 2020 and stayed at this rate in September 2020. “The little money I had, like the money that I had saved at home, I had to use it on domestic things … (when I had used it up) I could seek for help from others, like my friends. I borrowed some money from my friend, on interest, and I began (trading) with that.”21 Since many of them lack collateral, many women vendors are generally not given credit. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted a gap, and need, in credit service provision, especially to women in the informal sector. Gender inequalities also widened during the pandemic, from risk of job loss and economic stability to experiences of violence inside the home.22 In the initial response to the pandemic, while countries focused on the health and Kirabo, S. Yegon, E. Ajema, C. Wandera, N. Afifu, C. and Mugyenyi, C. Impact Of Covid-19 On Women Workers in the Urban Informal Economy in Uganda and Kenya. Secondary Data Review . The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). 2022 20 Impact of Covid-19 on the economic resilience and financial behavior of Ugandans. Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Uganda. 2021 21 Mercy Ozizuyo, market vendor, Awindiri Market, Arua City 22 The Lancet, 2021, COVID-19: the turning point for gender equality, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01651-2 19
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mortality impacts of the coronavirus, a mounting gendered social and economic crises threatened to roll back decades of women’s empowerment. In Uganda, where poverty rates were estimated to have shot up from 17 percent to 32.7 percent during the Covid-19 pandemic,23 sustainable development can only be achieved by gender-inclusivity and equal opportunities that address the risks women face in the informal sector. To this end, the Ugandan government has launched (but has yet to implement) a Parish Development Model (PDM), which is projected to provide socioeconomic protection to 30 percent of the women and youth. The PDM is an addition to other social protection and financial programs, such as, the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP), The Presidential Initiative on Wealth and Job Creation (Emyooga) and Skilling Uganda. Like CSOs across the continent, CSOs in Uganda faced obstacles in responding to the needs of women vendors during the pandemic. A survey of 1,039 CSOs, from 46 African countries, found that the unprecedented scale of disruption caused by the pandemic severely tested the sector’s capacity to effectively play its role.24 The survey found that in 2020, 69.3 percent of African CSOs reduced or cancelled their operations, with beneficiaries being denied vital services, such as, educative programs for children and adolescents, life saving medication for HIV+ people, shelter for survivors of domestic violence or rape, and other activities. “3 million slip into poverty as Covid strikes economy” (Daily Monitor, 2020) https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/ news/national/3-million-slip-into-poverty-as-covid-strikeseconomy-2455458 Accessed on July 25, 2022. 24 The Impact of COVID-19 on African Civil Society Organizations Ongoing Uncertainty and a Glimmer of Optimism. EPIC-AFRICA. 2021. 23
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However, after the first few months of the lockdown in 2020, CSOs developed means to adapt to the restrictions, and thereby reach more with their services, such as, delivering health and humanitarian aid to vulnerable populations, which in turn, helped many informal sector workers, especially women, stay in business. “We are an NGO offering legal aid services. Transportation was difficult, because we could not move to offer our services. This is because our services are basically offered in the office; a client walks into the office and we know the services we can give them … Not until some lawyers had to fight to include legal aid services as part of the essential services.”25
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This report is structured in five sections beginning with Chapter 1 which is the introduction to the report: Chapter 2 describes the methodology and guiding questions, Chapter 3 covers the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on market and street vendors, Chapter 4 gives an overview of Uganda’s current measures to support the economic recovery of women in the informal sector, and Chapter 5 identifies opportunities to pursue a more genderinclusive recovery.
Judith Ayikoru, Legal Office, FIDA Uganda, Arua Field Office
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Methodology
Women street vendors in Kampala City. Photography by Gillian Nantume
The study was carried out in Kampala and Arua districts with selected market and street vendors. We also interviewed a few government and private sector representatives and key leaders. Similarly,
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a review of secondary data on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on informal women workers in Uganda was undertaken that informed part of the information presented in the report.
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Data Collection
Guiding questions
The study was guided by the following questions: ◊ Did female vendors have savings, social protection, or unemployment benefits to survive on during the lockdowns? ◊ How long did it take for them to lose their source of livelihoods? ◊ How were they able to survive before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic? ◊ What are the challenges that market women faced when they were asked to sleep in the market? ◊ How else should the presidential directive that market vendors must sleep in the market have been enacted? ◊ What were some of the women informal vendors’ expectations from the government? ◊ Did these women receive the cash bailout and how did it help them? ◊ After the lockdowns, what have their local governments and CSOs done to improve their quality of life?
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This study is based on two data collection activities: (1) a desk review of literature and (2) field interviews of female market and street vendors and other stakeholders.
Desk review of literature As part of the preparation for this study, a desk review was conducted to identify and analyze policy and program literature from Uganda and other global field studies and media reports. The development of the recommendations section of this study drew heavily on two manifestos (one by women street vendors26 and one by women market vendors27) to complement the interviews conducted in the data collection phase.
Field interviews Data collection was carried out in Arua and Kampala. Interviews were conducted with key stakeholders from the government and the private sector, as well as women market and street vendors. A complete list of interviewees is included in Appendix A.
Titled ‘Reclaiming and reframing the policy arena’ the seven-point Manifesto is a political document and a public declaration of key demands that must be met for Uganda to fully realize its vision for gender equity, equality and women’s effective participation in governance and development. The Manifesto is a direct result of concern about the historical injustice and insufficient attention given to critical issues affecting women street vendors. It is also the result of concern about the under-representation of women street vendors in politics, policy and decisionmaking levels and public life in general. 27 Titled ‘Making Her Visible: Shaping Informal Economy and Policy’ the six-point Manifesto is a political document that lays out critical issues of concern for women in the markets and makes demands for addressing them. The Manifesto is a collectively developed set of demands that contribute to the achievement of gender equality, equity and sustainable national development. 26
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Impact of Covid-19 on livelihoods of women vendors
Food sellers in Kasubi Market, Kampala City. Photography by Gillian Nantume
When the president declared a nationwide curfew on March 30, 2020, he ushered in restrictive measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, such as, a nationwide lockdown, movement restrictions, indefinite closure of schools, closure of borders, discontinuation of community health service outreaches, as well as closure of formal and informal services, such as, trade. While these restrictions helped contain the spread of Covid-19, they had devastating effects on the economy.
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Business stoppage and violence towards street vendors In Uganda, which had one of the strictest lockdowns and bans on public transport in East Africa, women market and street vendors were prohibited from working in the first two weeks after the total lockdown was declared (Observer newspaper, 2020).28 In Kampala City, many women vendors ‘Museveni imposes 14-day COVID-19 lockdown’ (The Observer, 2020) https://observer.ug/news/headlines/64074museveni-announces-14-day-COVID19-lockdown . Accessed on 30 June 2022. 28
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live in the peri-urban areas surrounding the city. When the bans were instituted, vendors, who do not have a definite place of work, began to sell their merchandise to people in their neighborhoods. “I could not come to the street. The military and police could beat people (they found vending) on the streets. And, I had to look for something to eat … so, I began selling to people who lived near me.”29 In a bid to avoid the beatings, whenever the women street vendors saw the security officers, they would run away, leaving behind their merchandise and sustaining heavy losses. “At the time, the president had told people to use lemon and ginger, but whenever I tried to sell them, security would confiscate my merchandise. KCCA was not bothering us, but the police were harassing us.”30 “When they came to beat us, you could leave the merchandise and you would take off. So, you look for more capital to access merchandise in the market. When the capital (I had) finished, I started washing clothes (in the neighborhood) for money.”31 Women street vendors who dared to defy security directives to sell their wares on the streets of Kampala City were mostly single mothers, women whose husbands lost their jobs due to closure of businesses, or those living with physical disabilities. “I felt bad when the lockdown was announced, because as a leader, I knew the heavy burden I was going to carry. Our cooperative has people with disabilities, single mothers, (and) widows. (Because the security officers were beating street vendors) I had to feed them yet, I also Molly Wambi, street vendor, Kamwokya, Kampala City 30 Asina Zawedde, street vendor, Wandegeya, Kampala City 31 Molly Wambi, street vendor, Kamwokya, Kampala City 29
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had nothing … but, if I earned something, I would give my disabled colleagues something to eat.”32 Although food vendors were allowed to operate and sleep in market places,33 the challenge was how to replenish their stock in the midst of a standing ban on public transport. “These things which we are selling, we don’t get them just here in the market … we go and buy them in markets near the border. But, when they closed the transport, it was hard for us to travel there and bring these items.”34 “You have seen the distance from my market, Driwala Market, to Arua town… sometimes we would hire a truck but because of the bad state of the bridge, the trucks could not travel here. If the trucks took the longer route to Driwala Market, the driver would charge the vendors (exorbitant fares).”35
Loss of income All the women interviewed belonged to cooperative societies that are members of SIHA Network, and had accumulated some savings. However, for women street vendors who had to routinely abandon their merchandise to security officers, these savings quickly dwindled to nothing. “We have a cooperative, Kawempe Women Vendors Cooperative Society. We save, give out loans, so I had my savings. I managed to get my all savings to use in my day-to-day life.”36 Asina Zawedde, street vendor, Wandegeya, Kampala City ‘Vendors opt to sleep in markets, walk to work’ (Daily Monitor, 2020) https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/ national/vendors-opt-to-sleep-in-markets-walk-to32 33
work-1882730 Accessed on 30 June 2022. 34 Mercy Onzizuyo, market vendor, Awindiri Market, Arua City 35 Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City 36 Mercy Wambi, street vendor, Kamwokya, Kampala City
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“Because SIHA has taught us how to save, we had been saving some money since 2018. However, we used all the savings. With time, our cooperatives collapsed. Now, we want to renew our certificates (renewal of the cooperative certificates with the government) but we do not have the money to start with.”37 Women market vendors, especially those who did not sell food items, also quickly went through their savings as they struggled to care for their families. “Personally, I had some savings. I had some stock (second-hand clothes). It took quite some time (for the savings to get finished) … Let me say an average of six months, because whatever I could get from the sales, I would buy food for my children. Even operating your small saving groups, you can’t even save. The only thing you do is, you want to get more from the saving groups where you are not even putting (saving).”38 Even when the food vendors in markets were allowed to work, clients were not buying as much as they did pre-Covid-19, and this meant merchandise perished at a faster rate. “Not many (customers) were coming, and those who came, had their people (market vendors of food items) who they had been buying from for a long time. As new person to the business of selling food items, it took me a long time to get clients of my own.”39 Replenishing stock meant pooling money with other vendors to hire delivery trucks to ferry the merchandise from larger markets. Those who transported their merchandise on boda boda40 motorcycles Asina Zawedde, street vendor, Wandegeya, Kampala City Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City 39 Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City 40 Motorcycle taxis 37
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had to pay a lot of money to pay for the fuel consumed over long distances. “Whenever we (market vendors) would want to go and buy things, we would send a motorcycle (boda boda rider) at a high price (fare) to the market at the border. The quality the person (boda boda rider) may bring for you would be the quality your customers may not like.”41 Hence the rejected merchandise was left to perish. With personal savings depleted, women market and street vendors emptied the cooperatives’ coffers. With no money being brought in, the cooperatives collapsed. To keep restocking their businesses, market vendors borrowed money – with interest – from family and friends.
Expectations of the government With the enforcement of a lockdown and curfew, the government instituted national and district Covid-19 task forces to implement and manage the Covid-19 pandemic containment and recovery measures. The president headed the National Taskforce, while resident district commissioners, who are the president’s representatives in districts, headed the district task forces. However, while representation on the district task forces was drawn from several sectors, women in the informal sector, especially female vendors and grassroots/communities were excluded. This points to the weakness in gender and governance at the local level, especially when it comes to including women in decision-making. Women market and street vendors expected the government to offer welfare – especially cash handouts and low interest credit – to carry them through Mercy Onzizuyo, market vendor, Awindiri Market, Arua City 41
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the lockdown period. However, none of the vendors interviewed received the food distributed to vulnerable people by the government in 2020 or the cash bailout in 2021. Women market vendors in Arua district expected the government to extend the food relief program that it launched in the central districts of Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono, to all the regions of the country. Unfortunately, their expectations were not met. “For me, I thought, since they are going to close these markets down, the government was going to give us some things, like … food. Some of us watched it on the TV, where they were giving some food to people in Kampala. We thought that it was going to happen to our region too, but all in all, we found that these things never happened here in our region.”42 “We just heard cash was coming. They (local authorities) got our contacts, our names … nothing. We didn’t get that money (cash bailout). Even in this area (Driwala Market), I didn’t hear of somebody getting (the money).”43 In order to continue working, market vendors in Kampala City were forced by presidential directive to sleep in the markets, as they would not be allowed to return to the market if they left it. By May 2020 one and a half months after the presidential directive, the Ministry of Health had only delivered 160 mosquito nets out of the 500 needed by market vendors.44 Sleeping in the markets required women vendors to be separated from their families45 and exposed them to risks, such Mercy Onzizuyo, market vendor, Awindiri Market, Arua City 43 Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City 44 ‘Vendors ask for more nets during lockdown’ (Daily Monitor, 2020) https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/ news/national/vendors-ask-for-more -nets- duringlockdown-1888256 Accessed on July 20, 2022 45 ‘Vendors opt to sleep in markets, walk to work’ (Daily 42
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as, violence, sexual violence and harassment, contracting malaria or other negative health impacts from living without proper shelter. 46 Women market vendors in other districts were not required to sleep in the markets and did not receive mosquito nets. This meant that they had to walk long distances everyday, to their places of work. “They had said vendors should sleep in the market. It wasn’t easy for us this side (Arua districts). We were seeing on TV they (Ministry of Health) were giving out mosquito nets. We never saw them. We never received them. So, when the government says we are giving to this category, let all of them receive.”47 However, the market vendors are grateful that the government did not completely close the markets, but set conditions for them to work, such as mandatory social distancing, which they tried to follow.
Rise in gender-based violence The Uganda Police Force’s Annual Crime Report 2021 reported 17,533 cases of domestic violence throughout the country, for the period of January to December 2020. Women leaders in the vendors’ cooperatives felt compelled to offer advice to their fellow vendors who were stuck with violent spouses. In many cases, violence arose out of financial difficulties and food shortages caused by the Covid-19 restrictions. Monitor, 2020) https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/ national/vendors-opt-to-sleep-in-markets-walk-towork-1882730 Accessed on 30 June 2022. 46 ‘Mukono vendors decline to sleep in markets citing family splits’ (The Independent, 2021) https://www.independent. co.ug/mukono-vendors-decline-to-sleep-in-marketsciting-family-splits/ Accessed on 30 June 2022. 47 Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City
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“Some fathers abandoned the home leaving the wife and children without food. While you were worrying about food, a woman who had been battered because there is no money or food in the home, would come for help. I was mediating twenty such cases of violence per day. I would also get cases of marital rape. Sometimes the children would witness this violation because they were not going to school. As a leader, I would talk to the couple and we would solve the problem.”48 These cases were never reported to the police. Instead, the leaders of the women vendors’ cooperatives became arbiters between the couples. The ban on transport and on public gatherings hindered the work of CSOs, which would have offered legal advice and assistance in accessing psychosocial, medical, and other support services to women suffering domestic and emotional violence at home. For grassroots women, land wrangles escalated because initially, legal services were not considered part of ‘essential services.’ “There is a custom here in Arua (district) they call Aruba. Aruba is a kind of belief, a mindset that a woman cannot report a case against a spouse or even against a close relative because when you report it, it’s going to backfire on the children. Now there are those women whose marriages were not stable. They had to walk out of these marriages without property.”49
and street vendors should not be allowed on the streets. On January 14, 2022 Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) evicted street vendors with the aim of restoring trade order in the city. This brought untold suffering to the women street vendors in Kampala. During the evictions, UPDF soldiers, whose methods of enforcement are brutal, were deployed. During the day the methods used for enforcement were mostly bribery and confiscation of the merchandise while in the evening UPDF soldiers chased vendors down. Many were rounded up and thrown into jail and tried without evidence or due process followed. The street vendors interviewed termed this “another pandemic” because the eviction was carried out at a time when they were just beginning to get back on their feet, economically. “It was another battle, maybe it is another Covid (pandemic) because we had started earning something and they chased us away. I have survived like this … I gave out my mobile number to my customers. They call me, “Molly, where are you? Bring me this and this and this.”50 In this way, the street vendor incurs high transport costs and also misses out on new clients.
Eviction of street vendors
“We are in a situation where we are making losses. We do not know what to do. We want Kampala to be clean, we want beautiful cities but government and KCCA need to work with us so that the vulnerable people are not affected by the directives on a smart city.”51
The Ministry of Security and the Office of the Kampala Resident City Commissioner, issued directives on the 23rd of December 2021 and 11th January 2022, that hawkers
Previously, the government had provided alternative options to help organize the street vendors through KCCA including the establishment of a Sunday market along
Asina Zawedde, street vendor, Wandegeya, Kampala City Judith Ayikoru, Legal Office, FIDA Uganda, Arua Field Office 48 49
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50 51
Molly Wambi, street vendor, Kamwokya, Kampala City Asina Zawedde, street vendor, Wandegeya, Kampala City
Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
Luwum Street at a daily rate of 10,000 UGX and a requirement for all street vendors to have uniforms for easy identification. The government had also provided alternative spaces/markets where all vendors are required to operate at a fee, including Wandegeya (about 1200 workspaces), USAFI market (about 2000 workspaces) and Busega (about 1400 workspaces). However, these are still not yet enough to accommodate all the over 10,000 vendors and the vendor fees are also too high for the average street vendor selling fruits or clothes to afford. To-date, women street vendors struggle to bring in sufficient income to meet basic survival needs. The majority have been denied licenses to operate including those who were previously eligible to have licenses, like the mobile money operators. Their small kiosks/shops were demolished and they were forced to find space within the designated market spaces, which are too expensive. Furthermore, the majority has been forced into the street because they lost their source of livelihoods during the lockdown and do not have any other alternative to earn a living. Selling things on the streets has enabled them to survive the serious economic crisis posed by the pandemic and it is their only source of livelihood.
Coping mechanisms and sources of resilience
food items.”52 At the beginning of the lockdown, the price of lemon, garlic, and ginger shot up as Ugandans self-medicated. Street vendors bought these items and tried to hawk them through the streets of Kampala. Others became itinerant laundresses, walking from home to home inquiring if the inhabitants had clothes to be washed. “So, I started washing clothes because the capital got finished. I could go door-todoor, asking, “Do you have some clothes? I need to have something to eat.” So, some people gave me, and I washed. That is how I managed. They would give me a big basin of clothes to wash, and pay me only UGX 5,000, which is not enough to buy food for a family of four.”53 After the initial months of hindrance by a ban on transportation and two lockdowns (2020 and 2021), CSOs supported vulnerable people with personal protective equipment (PPE) and food relief. With the gradual lifting of restrictions, CSOs have continued to support women in the informal sector by giving them knowledge on how to manage their businesses and homes. Others are empowering women market and street vendors by providing seed capital to their cooperatives, where women can get low-interest credit to revive their businesses.
Female vendors, whose merchandise was considered non-essential, found other means of survival during the lockdown. “I was actually dealing in secondhand clothes and also events management. So, when the lockdown came in, they stopped vending these secondhand clothes, events were stopped. So, we were actually … virtually I was stuck. I had to begin selling
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Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City Molly Wambi, street vendor, Kamwokya, Kampala City
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Opportunities to pursue for more gender-inclusive recovery
Vendors in Kasubi Market, Kampala City. Photography by Gillian Nantume
Government programs Before the pandemic struck, the Ugandan government had launched programs to empower women in the informal sector. Such programs include Uganda Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP), YLP, Presidential Initiative on Skilling the Girl Child, and the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE). Post-Covid-19, these programs continue to offer start-up capital and affordable credit to businesses in the informal sector. UWEP, a rolling program under the MGLSD, is aimed at improving access to financial services for women and
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equipping them with skills for enterprise growth, value addition and marketing of their products and services. The program is envisaged to increase participation of women in business development, increase their incomes, livelihood security and overall quality of life. To-date, through UWEP, over 110 billion Ugandan shillings has been disbursed to different women’s groups, benefiting 200,000 women directly. Information from the MGLSD indicates that the women enterprises that benefited from these funds kept running during the pandemic because they were dealing in agricultural produce and value addition. Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
“They kept growing their food, they kept running their produce buying and selling enterprises, they kept running their small retail shops, and this buttresses them from the effects of Covid-19. Up to today, they (the businesses) are still running very successfully. You can tell from the repayment pattern. Our recovery rate is over 72 percent. These are the businesses which have successfully used the credit given and fully repaid it … and therefore such avenues are very good to support women in entrepreneurship. So far, 17,366 women groups have received funds from UWEP.”54 The UWEP program is still open to women in the informal sector to revive their businesses, offering services such as, upgrading needs-based skills to enable women to start and manage their businesses, beneficiary groups receive interest-free credit on a revolving fund basis to build their businesses, and basic training to strengthen beneficiary groups in bookkeeping, teambuilding, enterprise planning and implementation, business skills, and group dynamics. The government has also launched the Parish Development Model (PDM), which is projected to provide socioeconomic protection to 30 percent of Ugandan women and youth. The goal of the PDM is to increase household incomes and improve quality of life for Ugandans with a specific focus on the total transformation of the subsistence household into the money economy as well as eradication of poverty and vulnerability in Uganda. The funds will be released through parishes and in the last financial year, the government budgeted for 17 million UGX per parish. However, the PDM has been bedeviled by challenges. It has since emerged that the government will delay the release of the first batch of funds due 54
Frank Mugabi, Communications Officer, MGLSD
Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
to delays in forming Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs) across the country.55 Although the goal was to have all the SACCOs formulated by the first quarter of the 2022/2023 Financial Year, currently, the formation of SACCOs stands at 83 percent. According to the PDM implementation guidelines, parish chiefs are the principal signatories to the bank accounts of all the groups in each parish and are also the chief coordinators. However, the government is also struggling to fill the positions of parish chiefs. Uganda has more than 10,000 parishes but half of them do not have a parish chief. Majority of the parish chiefs are men56 and this flaw in program design could compromise the PDM’s projection of providing socioeconomic protection to 30 percent of Ugandan women and youth.57 Placing women at the mercy of male parish chiefs, who have control over the funds and are responsible for the coordination of the PDM, leaves these women vulnerable to exploitation. The women vendors interviewed had heard about the PDM, but did not fully understand its requirements. “This Parish Model, you know, people have not understood it yet very well. But, it is trying to come up and we are thinking that this would be the better method for the vendors to benefit because (unlike other programs), the money will be accessed at the parishes and not at the districts.”58 55 ‘Govt delays release of PDM funds’ (Daily Monitor, 2022) https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/govtdelays-release-of-pdm-funds-3883458 Accessed on July 21, 2022 56 “Kilembe Sub-County Rejects Women Parish Chief Appointees” (Uganda Radio Network, 2008) https:// ugandaradionetwork.net/story/kilembe-sub-countyrejects-women-parish-chief-appointees Accessed on July 25, 2022. 57 Activists want women at the forefront of Parish Development Model (Independent, 2022) https://www. independent .co.ug/ac tivists-want-women-at- the forefront-of-parish-development-model/ Accessed on July 22, 2022. 58 Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City
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Another program instituted by the government to empower women in the informal sector is the Presidential Initiative on Wealth and Job Creation (Emyooga). In the Emyooga program, the MicroFinance Support Center (MSF) transfers a grant of between 30-50 million UGX directly into a SACCO account, which member associations can borrow from at an 8-12 percent interest rate for various enterprises in the informal sector. Each eligible member, depending on the constitution of the association, pays 20,000 UGX in two equal amounts for membership and annual subscription, and each association in turn buys shares from its SACCO at 150,000 UGX. By April 2021, Emyooga SACCOs’ savings had grossed 9.9 billion UGX, while the government’s grants amounted to a total of 200 billion UGX allocated to 6,394 constituencybased SACCOs in 347 constituencies of 146 districts and cities.59 Women market vendors in Arua district have benefited from the Emyooga program. “For us in our area (Driwala Market), the program of Emyooga, we have many groups around here (who are registered). They have benefited. However, the money is being got at the district (headquarters).”60 However, while these governmentsponsored programs are aimed at uplifting women in the informal sector, female market and street vendors were not directly consulted in the processes feeding into the development of these programs. This is closely linked with the programs’ inability to meet the social, and financial, needs of women market and street vendors. How Emyooga scheme works.’ (Daily Monitor, 2021) https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/howemyooga-scheme-works-3415992 Accessed on July 20, 2022 60 Jane Akwero, market vendor, Driwala Market, Arua City
For the street vendors who were evicted from the streets of Kampala City, a roadmap is being charted between the Kampala Vendors and Hawkers Association and KCCA to designate specific places where they can work. The roadmap will stipulate where a street vendor will be located, what he or she will sell, and what amount of tax he or she will have to pay to KCCA. The government has agreed to provide KCCA with funds to procure land in each of the five divisions of the city where street vendors will be hosted. So far, land has been procured in Kalerwe and Kibuye areas of the city. “We thank the government, because when the (Kampala Vendors and) Hawkers Association met with KCCA and the Minister for Kampala and introduced a roadmap and work plan (on how vendors should work in the city), they liked the plan. Now, we are seeing the fruits because hawkers will be allowed to work in the taxi parks. Although it has not yet been made official, we hope it will be operationalized soon.”61 “We have land. For our land in Kalerwe, the landlords have been paid. We are waiting for the contractors so that they can start the work. We have another piece of land in Kibuye, so we are struggling to see where we can put those vendors who were swept away from the streets.”62
What more needs to be done by the government? In order to help female market and street vendors get back on their feet, we urge the Government of Uganda take the following measures in these areas:
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Asina Zawedde, street vendor, Wandegeya, Kampala City Molly Wambi, street vendor, Kamwokya, Kampala City
Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
Economic Empowerment
rising cases of GBV. The leaders of the vendors associations should also be provided with training on how to de-escalate cases of GBV and assist survivors to report or access services.
The Government of Uganda should: ◊ Partner with women’s rights organisations, CSOs and conduct consultations with women vendors in order to develop programs to boost women vendors’ cooperatives’ capital. ◊ Work with banks to enable women vendors and their cooperatives to benefit from low-interest loans. ◊ Ensure that budgetary allocations and expenditure plans take into consideration the unequal impact of poverty on women vendors. ◊ In partnership with relevant CSOs, support women vendors through targeted capacity building and skills development to grow their businesses.
Health ◊ Create a safe and healthy environment for vendors, in line with ILO Convention 190.
Operating Environment ◊ Increased security at the markets and lighting on the streets. ◊ Improvement of rubbish management in markets and on the streets.
Policies
◊ Seek out women’s voices and representation in marketplace planning, management, and governance. ◊ Encourage them to join cooperatives to access low-interest credit to revive their businesses. ◊ Strengthen the capacity of the police and legal court system to handle the
◊ Implement the ‘KCCA Regulation of Street Trade Ordinance 2019’ including the translation of the law into different languages to enhance legal knowledge among the street vendors. ◊ Provide sensitization and educational platforms on just and fair regulations including license fees, designation of spaces, and time of operation for street vendors.
List of people interviewed No
Interviewee
Designation
Location
1.
Centenary Driciru
Community Development Officer
Ayivu Division, Arua City
2.
Mercy Onzizuyo
Market vendor
Awindiri Market, Arua City
3.
Jane Akwero
Market vendor
Driwala Market
4.
Judith Ayikoru
Legal Officer
FIDA Uganda, Arua Field Office
5.
Lillian Maturu
Outreach officer
SIHA Network
6.
Frank Mugabi
Communications Officer
MGLSD
7.
Dorothy Kisaka
Executive Director
KCCA
8.
Molly Wambi
Street vendor
Kawempe, Kampala City
9.
Asina Zawedde
Street vendor
Wandegeya, Kampala City
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Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
www.sihanet.org
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Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa
