Kot Omor, AGAGO-In the heart of Kot Omor, a remote village in Agago District, Paska Alobo, 35, is rewriting the story of resilience, survival and transformation. Alobo is a force—one who refuses to let pain define her; one who refuses to let history of violence repeat itself for the next generation of girls.
At the tender age of 14 years in 2000, Alobo’s childhood was stolen. She had dreams; dreams of completing school. But that year, she became pregnant.
“I was only in Primary Five when it happened,” she recalls, her voice steady but heavy with memory. “I didn’t choose this path. It was forced upon me.”
Alobo had no choice but to drop out of school, with the man responsible walking away, unpunished. Alobo was left to bear the weight of motherhood in childhood.
“I could not continue with my education. I gave birth to a baby girl. It was a difficult time of my life as an adolescent mother,” Alobo painfully recalls.
As a teenage mother, she faced stigma, discrimination and emotional abuse.
“I tried to go back to school. But I couldn’t. I had no way to raise my child without my mother’s support. I felt trapped.”
Nevertheless, Alobo refused to let her story end in tragedy. With the support of her parents, she made the bold choice to return to school in 2002 where she sat for her Primary Leaving Examinations, but financial struggles made it impossible to go further. The stigma of being a teenage mother clung to her. Survival became her daily battle.
The Runaway: A life shaped by violence
Alobo’s story is not an isolated one—it reflects the reality for thousands of women in the Acholi sub-region. According to reports, intimate partner physical violence in this region stands at a staggering 78%, nearly double the national prevalence of 45% (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2021). Even more alarming, 64% of women in the region report sexual abuse and 61% engage in sex out of fear of their partner’s actions (Uganda Demographic Health Survey, 2022).
According to the 2022 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), one in four Ugandan girls is either pregnant or has had a first child by the age of 19. Every month, more than 31,500 teenage pregnancies are recorded (UDHS, 2022). Behind these numbers are young girls—girls with names, dreams and futures suddenly derailed.
From survivor to changemaker
Paska Alobo (red outfit) happily interacts with some of the young women at Kot Omor, Agago district. PHOTO: UNFPA/Cinderella Anena
But even as a married mother of five, with the youngest just seven years old, Alobo’s struggles did not end. Poverty and a lack of economic opportunities made raising her family even harder. To survive, she juggled small-scale businesses and farming to support her family.
“In our communities, there are deeply rooted patriarchal systems that recognize, encourage and reproduce harmful and discriminatory gender norms,” Alobo says.
“Social tolerance of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) is high. It is accepted, it is expected and it is destroying lives.”
Determined to provide for her children, Alobo started small businesses—selling produce, farming and doing whatever it took to keep going.
“In our communities, patriarchal systems feed into the culture of violence,” she explains. “Social tolerance of abuse is high. Girls and women continue to suffer in silence.”
A violence-free future
Paska Alobo holding a poster message of giving support to the survivors of SGBV and other communities in need of assistance. PHOTO: UNFPA/Cinderella Anena.
In 2020, Alobo decided to fight back—not just for herself, but for every girl who would come after her.
Alobo became a Community Activist under a UNFPA-supported Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention programme.
“I chose to be an activist because I wanted to rebuild my courage,” she says. “I wanted to make sure what happened to me wouldn’t happen to another girl.”
The SASA! approach scaled by UNFPA and partners has trained a network of 320 Community Activists like Alobo in Agago District alone and over 800 in other locations. It equipped them with tools to shift power imbalances and prevent GBV at the household and community levels.
Through door-to-door engagements, community dialogues and men’s involvement sessions, these activists:
✔ ️ Reached over 15,000 community members (7,800 women, 5,600 men and 1,600 adolescents) with information on GBV prevention, women’s rights and positive masculinity.
✔ ️ Identified and referred over 450 survivors of SGBV, linking them to medical care and providing legal aid services.
✔ ️ Contributed to a 30% decrease in intimate partner violence cases reported in intervention areas, compared to neighbouring non-intervention communities, as well as the increase in the number of girls and young mothers returning to school.
Additionally, the SASA! approach empowered 214,774 community members, including 4,657 refugees, to become activists against GBV. This involved training and ongoing support for SASA! Activists, contributing to attitudinal changes and community dialogues on gender dynamics.
“The SASA! information sessions helped us see life differently. We now support each other,” says Pamela Akello, 25, a member of the group.
Today, Alobo is part of a growing network of over 800 activists leading a grassroots movement to break the cycle of violence. Seeing how financial dependence traps women in abusive relationships, she founded the Kot Omor Young Grandmothers’ Group, a support network for young women who, like her, became grandmothers too soon.
Re-defining the odds: A new chapter for young grandmothers
Young grandmothers chat with the technical team from the community development office at a recent visit to Kot Omor sub-county, Agago district. PHOTO: UNFPA/ Cinderella Anena
Under Alobo’s leadership, more than ten young grandmothers—all survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)—are holding each other’s hands, forging a path toward independence and dignity with support from the district community development office.
Through their Kot Omor Young Grandmothers’ Group, these women applied for and received funding from the Uganda Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP), a government-funded initiative aimed at boosting women’s financial independence. The local government has also stepped in.
“Agago District supported the young grandmothers with an economic empowerment grant to help them achieve financial independence,” says Paska Adong, the Senior Community Development Officer. “We’ve seen a significant improvement in the agency of women and girls.”
Breaking chains for the next generation
Moreover, for Alobo, this fight is deeply personal. Her daughter was also a survivor of sexual violence, becoming a mother at the tender age of 15 years. The cycle threatened to repeat itself. But Alobo was not going to let it.
“My daughter had a child at 15 years due to sexual violence. (But) I told myself, no, this will not happen again. My daughter will have a future.”
So she made sure her daughter went back to school to learn a vocational skill. Today, at 20 years old, her daughter is studying tailoring, reclaiming the dreams that once seemed lost.
Now, through awareness campaigns, education and economic empowerment, Alobo is shifting mindsets. More women are speaking out. More girls are staying in school. More survivors are accessing support.
“I dream of a future where no girl suffers what I did,” she says. “A future where girls live their dreams.”
Written by Cinderella Anena
