Terrewode

The Association for the Rehabilitation and Re-orientation of Women for Development (TERREWODE) has its headquarter in Soroti, Teso sub-region of eastern Uganda. It is a leading Ugandan non-profit organization (NGO), pioneering best practices to eliminate obstetric fistula in Uganda. It was founded in 1999 by Alice Emasu. They aim to build capacity for communities to transform conventional healthcare and economic systems to improve the status and livelihood of women and girls, with a focus on maternal and child health. They have driven the notion of obstetric fistula to become a domestic item in many households in Uganda. Despite this, statistics still indicate that 200,000 women and girl sufferers of fistula are in Uganda. Of these, there are 1,900 new cases yearly due to difficult childbirth. They however, support 600 affected women and girls for free surgeries countrywide annually. While obstetric fistula affects the family and communities, its effects on the victims are more pronounced in ostracism, trauma and stigma, often leading to absolute poverty. Surgeries alone do not empower them to fight the stigma and reverse the gender and social inequalities in which fistula thrive. Social reintegration therefore, helps the women to walk a new life of dignity. They support 450 women victims of both curable and incurable fistula into their holistic social reintegration program annually. Social reintegration is a process and requires better understanding of the needs of the affected women and girls. They know that treatment and social reintegration without unlocking the factors that cause obstetric fistula is not the solution. Their holistic approach addresses prevention in a number of innovative ways. MISSION Building community capacities to systematically empower women and girls to meaningfully participate in development activities to improve their livelihoods, families and communities. VISION Empowered women and girls embracing the world with improved livelihoods.