COVID-19 as an urgent call for commitment to women's resilience and empowerment: A participatory action research project with vulnerable women in Uganda

Dr. Shelley Jones received an RRU SSHRC Institutional Grant to co-create tools with and for women that will help them identify their own assets, connect with resources, and expand their capabilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an “unexpected reckoning” of the neoliberal global capitalist system: the economic fall-out has been staggering, particularly for women with precarious work in Low Income Countries, such as Uganda. However, this moment can be utilized as a key opportunity to reclaim and work towards authentic empowerment.
This highly participatory, dialogic, and iterative project will provide women with opportunities, through the co-creation of Resiliency and Empowerment Framework (REF) and individual Resiliency and Empowerment Plans (REPs), to identify and attribute value to their skills, knowledge, abilities, and experiences; research and connect with resources that can support their increased empowerment; and create and implement their own, personal multi-stage REPs to expand their capabilities.