Female prison inmates continue to face double vulnerability; first as women and mothers given how society perceives and treats them and secondly as youths who are excluded and so cannot have equitable access to economic and social opportunities. It is for this among others that women have fallen victims to acts of crime especially “crimes of passion” like murder, manslaughter and assault either in self-defense or as an act to fight back unfairness. The Socio-economic Empowerment of Female Inmates in West Nile (SEFI) project was a pilot intervention by Advance Afrika in partnership with Uganda Prisons Service with support from Caritas Switzerland and TechnoServe. The overall goal of the project was to contribute to economic development and prevention of re-offending through economic opportunities for sustainable livelihoods of vulnerable female prison inmates.

This pilot intervention led to a new two year and six months action known as the Empowering Local Communities to Prevent Violence against Women and Children in West Nile (ELVWC) project which is supported by European Union and implemented in partnership with Partners in Community Transformation (PICOT) and Uganda Prisons Service.