About SIHA Network

which has at times ended in death. One such case is the death of Olivia Basemera, a single mother of three, who drowned in Nakivubo Channel in August 2018 as she attempted to run away from city authority’s officers. In another case in 2014, a woman street vendor was arrested by law enforcement, not allowing the woman to make arrangements for someone to watch her two-year old child – unattended, the child was run over by a KCCA car later that same day. In 2016, a video circulated depicting the brutality meted out against a woman street vendor by the same city authority law enforcement.

Based on this pattern of violence and negligence, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network in Uganda seeks to facilitate spaces where women street vendors and government can dialogue to find alternatives to co-exist peacefully and productively.

The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network) is a network of civil society organizations from Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Uganda, and Kenya. SIHA Network was established in 1995 by a coalition of women’s rights activists, as a regional network to undertake research, capacity-building, exchanging experiences and lessons learned, negotiating spaces with men, all to build advocacy on women’s rights as a sustainable force for change.

In partnership with her members, SIHA addresses sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls in the Greater Horn of Africa with the aim of amplifying the voices of the urban poor women living on the peripheries of major urban centres. SIHA aims to contribute to unlocking the massive potential of the women’s rights movement in the Greater Horn of Africa, by strengthening the learning of civil society organizations to build a strong collective that advocates for systemic change. In this way, SIHA works through, and in support of broad coalitions of grassroots members to campaign and advocate for women rights and equality.

SIHA envisions women and girls in the Greater Horn of Africa with the right to live in a peaceful, just environment and the ability to exercise their equal rights as human beings. As a sub-regional network of women’s human rights and gender equality activists, SIHA is in a unique position to move this vision forward as one of very few indigenous coalitions born and nurtured inside the Horn. Strong ties and connections with women and their communities drive SIHA’s work across the region. After more than 20 years of working to advance women’s human rights in highly patriarchal contexts frequently characterized by insecurity, SIHA’s expertise is rooted in its familiarity with the socio-political situations around the Horn and the grassroots work of its members. SIHA’s membership continues to grow steadily, evidencing SIHA’s enduring relevance and effectiveness, and the ongoing urgency of advancing women’s human rights in the region.9

9  https://sihanet.org/our-story/