Lira Rural Women & Children Development Initiative Shelter (LIRWOCDI), Uganda
Lira Rural Women & Children Development Initiative Transit Shelter, known as Hellen’s Shelter, was founded in 2003 by a group of women survivors of multiple cases of rape, domestic violence, and forced marriages as young girls. The aim of LIRWOCDI is to protect women and children against violence, to provide a safe place for survivors to take refuge from further harm, and for justice to be sought. Twenty years of insurgency in Northern Uganda has caused much conflict, and as a result people have been forced to stay in Internally Displace Persons Camps (IDP), where women are vulnerable. This situation sparked the devising of a strategy to protect themselves against violence. Main activities are in line with implementation of UN Resolution 1325 and 1820, and include providing psychosocial support/counseling for survivors at the shelter, dialogues, meetings with local leaders on the prevention of violence against women and children in the community, and awareness raising among women on their rights.
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