Elijah

Elijah Kibet is a student from the National Instructors College Abilonino who is about to graduate. He has taken part in the gender training of the OKP project.

'I had heard about the OKP projects many times and the impact it had on our agriculture department. I became actively involved later on and joined the gender programme and trainings. My expectation was to learn more about gender and for us here in Uganda there have been some issues regarding this topic. I used to see in institutions and the community that both man and women specialise in certain matters. It has always been in their brain that certain tasks belong to them specifically, this is how they grew up. If women want to do A, B, C, D, they can’t if it is known to be a task for man.'

'I want to really appreciate the gender training, that is part of the OKP project because it has helped us. We now know the difference between gender equality and gender equity. I believe I am now able to makes a change and open the minds of others concerning gender issues.'

'The gender workshops have helped the school a lot. The policy has changed and we give presentations to the students that changed their behaviour. In my automotive class we only had one girl who was very shy and she did not fit in the school either because students felt automotive was a study for boys. By the end of the presentations we saw her behaviour change and become more open. She even told me that she now realises that automotive is not only for men but everybody is able to do their thing. The same goes for the men, they do the typical female tasks like cooking and cleaning.'