UgANdA - International Alert · 2014-02-05 · built the capacity of Ugandans to address conflict without resorting to violence and provided neutral spaces for active multi-stakeholder

Understanding conflict. Building peace.

2011 ANNUAL OverviewUgANdA

About international Alert International Alert is a 26-year-old independent peacebuilding organisation. We work with people who are directly affected by violent conflict to improve their prospects of peace. And we seek to influence the policies and ways of working of governments, international organisations like the UN and multinational companies, to reduce conflict risk and increase the prospects of peace. We work in Africa, several parts of Asia, the South Caucasus, the Middle East and Latin America and have recently started work in the UK. Our policy work focuses on several key themes that influence prospects for peace and security – the economy, climate change, gender, the role of international institutions, the impact of development aid, and the effect of good and bad governance. We are one of the world’s leading peacebuilding NGOs with more than 159 staff based in London and 14 field offices. To learn more about how and where we work, visit www.international-alert.org.

© International Alert 2012All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without full attribution.

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2011 ANNUAL OverviewUgANdA

2 International Alert

FOREWORD 3

INTRODUCTION 4

Our work: Understanding conflict… 4

…Building peace 5

Area of operation 6

CONTExT 7

HIGHLIGHTS OF ALERT’S WORK IN 2011 8

Harnessing the potential of oil to contribute to peace and development in Uganda 8

Strengthening civil society 10

Work with parliament 10

Business for peace 11

Business community contributing to peacebuilding 11

Northern Uganda Business Forum for Peace 12

Bringing hope to women in small-scale cross-border trade 13

Northern Uganda recovery 15

Unlocking opportunities for war-affected youth in northern Uganda 15

Measuring the impact of peacebuilding initiatives in post-conflict northern Uganda 16

FINANCE, HR AND ADMIN 19

SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS 2011 20

CONteNts

3UGANDA 2011 Annual Overview

It is my pleasure to present to you International Alert Uganda’s Annual Overview for 2011.

In the last five years of International Alert’s presence in Uganda, we have undertaken different interventions aimed at understanding conflict and building peace. We have provided analysis of topical conflict issues and trends, built the capacity of Ugandans to address conflict without resorting to violence and provided neutral spaces for active multi-stakeholder dialogue and engagement to prevent and address conflicts.

In 2011, we worked with the Ugandan business community to advocate for peaceful general elections, supported the peace and recovery process in northern Uganda, and promoted active engagement from key stakeholders in Uganda’s budding oil and gas industry.

We remain committed to broadening and deepening our partnerships, working with multiple stakeholders to find innovative ways of preventing new conflicts from escalating into violence and addressing previously unresolved conflicts to build lasting peace in Uganda.

During the year, we started to work with other civil society organisations engaged in oil-related activities, engaged with the Ministry of Energy and supported members of parliament, and continued to provide support to oil information centres (OICs) in Bunyoro, Rwenzori and West Nile sub-regions. We also continued undertaking different studies to help to understand current and potential conflicts, especially in oil-producing areas and northern Uganda, as it continues its recovery from almost two decades of war.

The fundamental premise of Alert’s programme in Uganda has been that the links between economy and conflict have, to date, been overlooked too often in peacebuilding efforts. This document is intended to share information about our work in engaging economic issues and actors in promoting sustainable peace in Uganda. We welcome feedback, ideas and suggestions, and look forward to ongoing collaborations.

Richard BusingeCountry Manager

We remain committed (with multiple stakeholders) to finding innovative ways of preventing new conflicts from escalating into violence and addressing unresolved conflicts to build lasting peace in Uganda.

FOrewOrd


Our work:

Understanding conflict…

International Alert is a knowledge-based institution, the main mandate of which is to understand conflict and build peace. Since 2007, Alert Uganda has maintained its political economy approach to conflict as the core of its peacebuilding strategy. This political economy focus has enabled Alert to carve out a distinctive niche in a crowded peacebuilding landscape, in which no other agencies offer such expertise. A central achievement has been the publication of Alert’s Investing in Peace briefing paper series, which, through follow-up advocacy, has significantly influenced policy discussions on the recovery of northern Uganda, oil discoveries, and identity and reconciliation.

Issue number one focused on Building a Peace Economy in Northern Uganda: Conflict-Sensitive Approaches to Recovery and Growth. The report presents an overview of the political economy of war in northern Uganda, before reviewing the different interventions being made or proposed for the region’s economic recovery. This first issue of Investing in Peace examines proposals to promote economic recovery in northern Uganda. In so doing it seeks to inform policymakers and practitioners from government, development partners and the private sector about opportunities to ensure these initiatives are conflict sensitive.

Issue number two, Harnessing the Potential of Oil to Contribute to Peace and Development in Uganda, examines the potential of Uganda’s newly discovered oil reserves. It recommends increased

iNtrOdUCtiON


Investing in PeaceIssue No. 2September 2009

Harnessing Oil for Peace and Development in Uganda

Building a Peace Economyin Northern Uganda


Understanding conflict. Building peace

Changing Fortunes: Women’s Economic Opportunities in Post-War Northern Uganda



Our political economy focus has enabled Alert to carve out a distinctive niche in a crowded peacebuilding landscape, in which no other agencies offer such expertise.


transparency and principled leadership to promote broad economic opportunities provided by the discovery of oil for peace and development in Uganda. Its focus is on the potential for oil to trigger or exacerbate violent conflict in Uganda at the national, local and cross-border level. Alert’s research suggests that conflict risks associated with oil have so far been overlooked. In order to contribute to the broader effort to harness Uganda’s oil for peace and development, this report promotes greater understanding of such conflict risks as an essential first step towards mitigation.

Issue number three, Changing Fortunes: Women in Northern Uganda’s Peace Economy, focuses again on the post-conflict period in northern Uganda, but through a gender lens. Five years of relative peace in northern Uganda has enabled the majority of former internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their areas of origin and to begin rebuilding their lives. Women have emerged as critical economic actors, taking advantage of economic opportunities to secure their families’ livelihoods, security and advancement. This report explores gender dynamics in the peace economy, with a particular focus on women’s economic and political status, and the extent to which government and development partner recovery interventions are sensitive to these issues.

Issue number four, Building a Harmonious Society: Youth Identity and National Reconciliation, will be published in 2012. Youth is directly confronted by the legacies of civil conflicts, land conflicts, corruption, problematic educational systems, unemployment, HIV/AIDS, rapid population growth and abject poverty. This report seeks to shed light on young people’s perspectives across the country on identity and how this is linked to their concerns about security and economic opportunities in the future. Alert believes that reconciliation is important in conflict prevention, coexistence and nation-building; this report will provide baseline data for understanding future conflict faultlines in Uganda. Understanding each other’s needs, fears and aspirations is a first step towards preventing the re-establishment of division and a possible return to violence.

…Building peace

Alert has undertaken advocacy and engagement programmes based on the key recommendations which have emerged from the Investing in Peace series, as well as other related papers which will be published this year. These strategies continue to influence policy, with a view to shaping the Ugandan economy to be more conducive to long-term peace, prosperity and stability, alongside the intention to create greater understanding and involvement in peace activism from the grassroots to the national level.

To promote the agenda of issue number one, Alert has worked to improve conflict-sensitivity and peace impacts of the government’s Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for northern Uganda, as well as subsequent development plans, through monitoring and advocacy as a member of the Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity (ACCS) with Saferworld and Refugee Law Project. In addition, our dialogue programme has contributed to improved information flows and confidence-building, using multi-stakeholder dialogue on recovery interventions and government, donor and investor activities in the north. Alert has also supported the emergence of the Northern Uganda Business Forum for Peace – a committed group of business leaders who are actively promoting sustainable peace in Acholi and Lango sub-regions.

Regarding the oil and gas sectors, we have sought to minimise the risk of violent conflict by improving information flows and capacity to engage at the sub-regional level, promoting strong and informed networks of civil society and parliament to work consistently to promote higher performance and accountability standards. We have encouraged oil companies to incorporate conflict-sensitive business practices and begun to strengthen channels of cross-border exchange and solidarity on oil between Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ugandan stakeholders.

Our strategies continue to influence policy, with a view to shaping the Ugandan economy to be more conducive to long-term peace, prosperity and stability, alongside the intention to create greater understanding and involvement in peace activism from the grassroots to the national level.


Area of operation

With an overall purpose to mobilise key stakeholders to actively collaborate on initiatives to align the economy with peace in Uganda, Alert will continue to focus on the following strategic areas in 2012-14:

1. Provide analytical leadership on the links between the economy and conflict/peace in Uganda.

Alert has a strong reputation for producing innovative and quality policy research into topical issues, and will explore the different economic dimensions of conflict dynamics in Uganda through its Investing in Peace briefing paper series. One major policy report will be published per year.

2. Foster business champions for peace.

Alert will continue to engage with business networks to foster “business champions for peace”, both in northern Uganda and at the national level. We will work with women business leaders from across the country, as well as with traders across Uganda’s borders with DRC and South Sudan.

3. Harness the potential for oil to contribute to the peaceful development of Uganda.

Alert will deepen its work at the national level, supporting the Civil Society Coalition for Oil in Uganda (CSCO) and parliamentarians. We will provide support to partners in five sub-regions to establish oil information centres (OICs), which will act as hubs for improved information flows on oil in Uganda.

4. Facilitate efforts to build a peace economy in northern Uganda.

Alert will continue to focus on improving the impact of the government’s Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) and subsequent recovery initiatives for Northern Uganda by monitoring the peace and conflict impacts of major policy intervention through the Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity (ACCS). Responding to the critical need for confidence-building and improved information flows on recovery between different stakeholders in the region, we are also working to create spaces for diverse stakeholders at the district and sub-county level within northern Uganda to explore challenging issues related to economic recovery, including the PRDP, land conflicts and investment.


In northern Uganda, since the ceasefire brokered between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in 2006, the focus of peacebuilding activity has been on “recovery” under the auspices of the government-led PRDP as a means to consolidate peace, tackle the root causes of conflict and improve the welfare of Ugandans. The birth of the Republic of South Sudan in 2011 opened economic opportunities in northern Uganda, as South Sudan became a major export destination for Ugandan goods. Despite a visible reduction in poverty nationally, northern Uganda, especially those districts most directly affected by armed conflict, still faces critical obstacles in access to basic services; people remain particularly poor. The post-conflict resettlement period is marred by land conflicts, inadequate social services and problems emanating from the disarmament programme in Karamoja.

At the national level, the enormous strides made since 1986 towards creating a peaceful and prosperous Uganda have been threatened. These are marked by acute land pressures, widening economic divides, deepening socio-political cleavages and corruption. Inflation in 2011 reached unprecedented levels and the cost of living exerted enormous pressure on Ugandans, leading to public protests like the “walk to work” and industrial action on the part of professional groups.

An unexpected result of this outcome, however, has been an unusual robustness in parliamentary debate towards the end of the year, as a new generation of young MPs has sought to assert themselves in debates on oil and corruption; this dynamic will continue to introduce an unpredictable note into Ugandan politics in 2012. Alert’s interventions are designed to contribute positively to this new phase of uncertainty and turbulence which confronts Uganda, deploying its international experience and Uganda-based expertise, which has been developed over the past five years through analysis, partnership and constructive dialogue with all stakeholders.

CONtext

Alert’s interventions are designed to contribute positively to the phase of uncertainty and turbulence which confronts Uganda, deploying its international and Uganda-based expertise, which has been developed over the past five years.


Harnessing the potential of oil to contribute to peace and development in UgandaAlert has begun to establish OICs in the Albertine rift. The first centre was established in 2010 in Hoima under the auspices of the Kitara Heritage Development Agency (KHEDA). Since then, two more OICs have been established in Arua under

the auspices of the Rural Initiative for Community Empowerment-West Nile (RICE-WN) for the West Nile region and in Fort-Portal under the aegis of the Kabarole Research and Resource Centre (KRC) for the Rwenzori region. During the first year of the project, Alert has enriched the strategy of working with partners to set up OICs, which include community outreach to transmit information to communities through community

HigHLigHts OF ALert’s wOrk iN 2011


kABArOLe reseArCH ANd resOUrCe CeNtre (krC)

KRC is an NGO which operates in seven districts of the Rwenzori sub-region. Founded with a research mandate, the organisation implements development actions anchored by two strands: research communication and information sharing among local communities, academia and policymakers.

In partnership with Alert, KRC has adopted the concept of “space and place” to disseminate and stimulate community- and regional-level discussions on oil and gas.

KRC has disseminated leaflets communicating various aspects about the emerging oil and gas sector. It has also facilitated the formation and orientation of three information points within communities, as well as four district core teams on oil and gas, which regularly share and answer questions on the sector. In addition, the organisation also provides the opportunity, through dialogue for community members, leaders, policymakers and academia, to freely debate and discuss oil and gas issues in the sub-region.

To achieve this, KRC has sourced, analysed and repackaged information about the oil and gas sector in the form of brochures, as well as disseminated information at the village level and among members of parliament during the annual regional leaders’ retreat, held in October 2011.

Project activities have directly reached over 2,000 people in the region, particularly in the districts of Ntoroko, Kabarole, Bundibugyo and Kasese. In addition, KRC has established an oil and information desk, as well as SMS tools to regularly respond to community information needs about the sector. To do this they used community drama, 25 radio talk shows, a radio listeners’ club, and regional leaders’1 workshops, which gave the opportunity to district-based technocrats, practitioners, and cultural and civil society leaders to improve dissemination of and access to oil and gas information, especially among stakeholders in rural communities and local leaders who were previously unable to access the OICs.

1 In Rwenzori, KRC held a regional leaders’ retreat in which local government leaders and area members discussed critical issues relating to oil and gas.

theatre, radio listeners’ clubs and community dialogue, among other approaches. OICs have thus operated using two approaches: creating space for information sharing in the form of community dialogue; and providing spaces for researching oil and gas, despite low literacy among the rural population.

OICs and their associated members receive and respond to queries on a regular basis related to oil royalties, local content, and the benefits people should expect from the sector. In addition to local capacity-building, awareness about the oil and gas

sector has been raised along the Albertine rift in the districts of Hoima, Buliisa, Nebbi, Arua, Moyo, Ntoroko, Kasese and Bundibugyo, where OICs currently operate. OIC operations have resulted in an improved understanding of oil and gas issues in the regions, as well as increased participation of community members in issues related to oil and gas. Other notable results include local content promoted by oil companies, where local business communities and other suppliers, for example in Hoima and Bulisa districts, have been given the opportunity to supply oil companies with locally available products such as fish and vegetables.


strengthening civil society

When oil was officially discovered in 2006, a number of CSOs concentrated on oil issues and directed their focus on the petroleum industry. However, the low capacity of civil society actors to adequately diagnose and communicate issues was noted. Other organisations simultaneously worked on oil issues, but sent out uncoordinated messages.

Alert cooperated with different CSOs to form CSCO. This coalition was regarded as a strategy to improve information sharing and stakeholder mobilisation, while at the same time building required critical mass to engage government and oil companies. CSCO therefore brought members together to provide a sector-wide platform for networking, information sharing and coordinated CSO interventions in the oil and gas sector. Alert currently plays the role of coalition secretary and steers a host of committee meetings. Alert has provided funding for several training sessions and organisational retreats – including one which primarily dealt with laws on oil. Comments recorded during the retreats were welcomed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, which subsequently invited further inputs.

Alert’s global thematic areas include strengthening peacebuilding sectors through building civil society capacity. In the same spirit, Alert Uganda found it important, alongside other intervention work, to strengthen the civil society working in the oil and gas sector by offering training sessions on topics such as: a technical overview of the oil industry and governance issues; a study of legislative frameworks for governing oil in other countries; budget and revenue monitoring; conflict-sensitive business practice/oil company practice; and conflict resolution, mediation and peacebuilding skills.

Training organised and facilitated by Alert, in which information was shared and views exchanged between actors in civil society and other stakeholders including the media, members of parliament and the private sector, included meetings such as the one organised in November 2011 on oil governance, in which over 22 participants from CSOs were involved.

Alert has extended support to CSOs for capacity-building as well as facilitating efforts towards community outreach programmes in oil communities. Beyond support to CSCO as an umbrella, some of the organisations supported during the year included KHEDA, KRC and RICE-WN.

Alert has also sponsored exchange visits for CSO members to Ghana to learn from the Ghana Oil industry, including their approaches and advocacy practices in the sector. The CSCO strategic plan played a key role in coordinating civil society interventions in the Ugandan oil and gas sector. It also managed to unite normally disjointed civil society actions during the year. This portrayed civil society as a strong force and as a key stakeholder in the oil and gas sector. For instance, the Ministry of Energy invited CSCO to make an input to proposed oil and gas bills, as well as communications strategies. CSCO CSOs were able to gauge their performance, identify loopholes and compare approaches through exchange visits.

KHEDA and Alert have contributed to the improved coordination of civil society at the regional level, for example by advising on the formation of the Bunyoro Civil Society Coalition. Comprising of 47 CSOs in Bunyoro region, it has enabled a platform for a common voice on key issues on oil in the region.

Alert’s participation in CSCO in 2011 has enabled the dissemination of coordinated messages from civil society on oil and gas issues. Alert participated in a number of joint planning meetings to respond to emerging issues in the sector. As a result, civil society issued positions, published joint press statements and communiqués, and held joint press conferences, to voice concerns on the oil and gas sector.

work with parliament

As the petroleum industry has progressed in Uganda, several issues have generated debate amongst Ugandans, particularly transparency, licensing, laws, and the benefits expected from the oil industry. However, a closer look at these debates has exposed a lack of knowledge and appreciation on the part of MPs with regard to oil-related information and data. This gap has


impacted negatively on the ability of legislators to deliver on their key constitutional legislative, representation and oversight mandates.

Therefore, Alert found it prudent to engage MPs on oil governance and to put legislators in a more strategic position to meaningfully debate oil and gas issues, as well as work with other civil society partners, to engage legislators on training on contract transparency, contract negotiation and production sharing agreements.

In addition, Alert reviewed oil and gas laws with an aim to produce a guide for legislators to formulate policies and debate oil laws in Uganda. The result was a publication entitled Oil and Gas Laws in Uganda: A Legislators’ Guide. This publication has been widely referred to by both legislators and members of civil society.

There has been increased participation in oil debates by parliamentarians. This has gone from being an area left to those whose professional training is related to oil and gas, to a subject with which MPs closely involve themselves. The process of demystifying oil and gas issues to MPs has led to an improved level of interest beyond those MPs from prospective oil regions.

The Parliamentary Forum on Oil and Gas (PFOG) has opened up a space for enhanced interaction between civil society and parliament. For example, during the October 2011 debates on oil, MPs invited members of civil society to witness deliberations and requested information from CSOs to back up their arguments. During the year, MPs also participated more in meetings and training sessions organised by CSOs.

During debates on oil and gas, Alert publications were frequently cited. Oil and Gas Laws in Uganda: a Legislators’ Guide became a useful resource for legislators to understand how legislating for oil in other jurisdictions could inform practice in Uganda.

A well-attended high-level policy dialogue on oil governance, organised in November 2011 for MPs from Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania, culminated in a joint communiqué of legislators’ and civil society commitments for transparency and good governance in the oil and gas sector.

Business for peace

Business community contributing to peacebuilding

Alert’s work with the business community in promoting peacebuilding is premised on the argument that business has a particular interest in ensuring a peaceful society. If the character of business reflects and influences a society’s economic structure, it can also be instrumental in transforming that structure from one which drives and sustains conflict into one which builds and supports stability.2

Alert has identified new opportunities to promote greater awareness-raising and engagement in peacebuilding for the private sector at the national level, primarily as a result of mounting recognition of conflict emerging over issues such as land and ethnicity, as well as political factionalism across the country as attention recedes from northern Uganda. This recognition brought violence into sharp focus in the minds of many business leaders ahead of the 2011 general elections, conscious of the experience of neighbouring Kenya in 2007.

Following a round of bilateral meetings with key businesspeople in Kampala, Alert proceeded to convene a workshop in August 2010, during which a panel of Sri Lankan and Kenyan business representatives spoke of their experiences in promoting peace. Input was also made by the Deepening Democracy Programme, which had recently published a report on the likelihood of violence during the 2011 Ugandan general elections. Alert worked to ensure close links with the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI) in hosting this event, where the UNCCI president in her keynote speech urged business leaders to adopt an agenda of peaceful elections. Attended by representatives of the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA), the Uganda Women Entrepreneurs’ Association Limited (UWEAL), the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA), the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), regional chambers of commerce and private companies, discussions stressed the need for follow-up work to assist business leaders to devise strategies for peaceful elections.

2 International Alert (2006). Local Business, Local Peace: The Peacebuilding Potential of the Domestic Private Sector. London.


Northern Uganda Business Forum for Peace

Northern Uganda experienced civil war for over two decades between 1986 and 2006, which forced more than a million people from their original homes to live in camps. Many businesspeople also suffered from the effect of the war through losses of merchandise and sales, due to the reduced purchasing power of customers.

Alert’s engagement with business leaders from northern Uganda, following the publication of the booklet Contributing to a Peace Economy in Northern Uganda: A Guide for Investors, was given new impetus in 2010 by shared concern for the 2011 general elections in Uganda. Following on from previous national-level meetings with

business leaders, Alert convened a meeting where representatives of private-sector peace initiatives from both Sri Lanka and Kenya spoke of their experiences, which inspired the group to take action. The network took the initiative by adopting the name Northern Ugandan Business Forum for Peace (NUBFP). Formed in November 2010, this comprised a loose coalition of businesspeople from Acholi and Lango regions, including UNCCI representatives, chambers of commerce members and individual businesswomen and -men in northern Uganda, bound by a common interest in peace and the economic recovery of northern Uganda. Today the forum has sixty members.

The forum issued a strong communiqué to various stakeholders concerning the importance of peaceful elections: ‘We urge you not to become


involved in violent or aggressive acts against another party’s membership at any price, and to respect law and order at all times.’ The communiqué provided a framework for intense media campaigns which took place during December 2010 and January 2011. This was principally done through press releases in national newspapers and through participation in radio talk shows during the period leading up to the elections.

In an effort to share the NUBFP initiative, Alert and UNCCI mobilised over 100 of their members, drawn from all over the country, to participate in a meeting in January 2011 in Kampala, which was also attended by the UNCCI president, the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, the police political commissar, and a prominent religious figure, where the objective and importance of the NUBFP model in peacebuilding was shared. Participants were impressed with the initiative and made a commitment to replicate the NUBFP model in their areas of operation.

While other factors contributed to the relatively peaceful conclusion of elections in February 2011, it was evident that NUBFP played an important role in harmonising and emphasising the supremacy of the economic interests of Ugandans above divisive politics, thus achieving its peacebuilding objective. Consequently, this success has necessitated the need to broaden the membership and effectiveness of the group, without necessarily encouraging it to be a permanent structure, but rather one able to effectively assist in the recovery process through increased peace initiatives and the provision of overall “voice” on the part of the Acholi and Lango business communities. Efforts have been made to improve NUBFP work by developing a work plan which specifically identifies key priorities, creates a clear understanding of the form and function of NUBFP, and defines the relationship between Alert and NUBFP through a memorandum of understanding.

In November 2011 a two-day advocacy workshop for NUBFP was held in Gulu, which focused on understanding advocacy, key issues to be included in advocacy messaging, the basics of developing advocacy messages, identification of conflict issues, and ranking them. Messages for introducing NUBFP in Acholi and Lango were developed, and four pilot districts to introduce

NUBFP were selected, as well as two radio stations for talk shows and their respective teams.

Introductory meetings between the NUBFP steering committee, Alert staff and district officials from Lira, Gulu, Kitgum and Apach were held, with other districts set to follow. NUBFP has also held radio talk shows to create awareness about NUBFP among the wider audience in the region, to get feedback on this initiative and to kick start a membership recruitment drive. In the introductory meeting with Apach district officials, the district chairperson, Okae Bob, expressed his gratitude to NUBFP for its good work, and pledged to introduce the forum during the next district council meeting.

Bringing hope to women in small-scale cross-border trade

Rose (not her real name) is a small-scale trader in Arua but conducts most of her business in DRC, thereby commuting across the Ugandan and Congolese boundaries regularly. In November 2011, she lost her soda stock during a cross-border stand-off between Ugandan and Congolese soldiers. ‘I had twenty cartons of soda which were all confiscated. I borrowed money to buy these sodas and now I don’t know how to pay it back. Other money was used to bribe my way across the border. I am really confused,’ she says.

Weak law enforcement at border points subjects hundreds of women, some of them with less merchandise than Rose, to unclear charges and taxes which eat into their profits. This security situation is not conducive for business.

In 2009 Alert developed the “Inclusive dialogue: working against structural violence in the Great Lakes” initiative. The programme’s aim was to help women who face discrimination in cross-border trade across the region, particularly along those border points with DRC which experience a high frequency of small traders who cross every day. Most of these women have stocks worth less than US$100. Their business is difficult and puts their livelihood in danger due to the potential for violence to be perpetrated against them, a lack of information about trade and taxes, and a volatile environment emerging from many years of political violence.


Alert and a Goma-based NGO, APIBA, carried out cross-border research and networking/advocacy in 2009-2010 on small-scale cross-border trade between Goma (DRC) and Gisenyi (Rwanda). As a result of earlier research, a platform of cross-border traders was established in DRC to defend small-scale traders’ interests, facilitate dialogue with local authorities and to provide traders with information. In addition, Alert contracted two senior researchers to design and oversee the quantitative survey process, which was implemented by border research teams. In Uganda, Alert contracted RICE-WN as a local partner to implement the research and conduct all follow-up advocacy activities. This study will be published, and a draft report is expected to be released by the end of February 2013.

After collecting the data, a mapping exercise was conducted to ascertain the number of trade associations operating on both the Uganda and DRC borders. This information will inform the advocacy strategy which Alert will conduct across the border. The study will also foster cross-border women traders’ empowerment by providing knowledge about small-scale cross-border trade, as well as traders’ needs and interests.

As a follow up to the research, study participants convened in Goma in December 2011 to reflect on the findings and develop a monitoring strategy to follow the study. With a focus on the economic empowerment of women traders, this strategy is aimed at enhancing the business environment for women and creating opportunities for dialogue


between traders and the authorities, as well as among traders themselves.

To transform this situation, a platform of cross-border traders will be established to enable traders to defend their interests, to facilitate dialogue with local authorities and to provide information to other traders. A dialogue meeting has already been conducted in Ariwara, which led to progressive ideas such as traders vowing to be more united, and government officials acknowledge their responsibility to protect and support traders, stop illegal taxes and respect women traders.

Similar platforms will be established across all the regions with a high number of women traders, including Goma-Gisenyi (DRC-Rwanda), Bukavu-Cyangugu (DRC-Rwanda), Uvira-Gatumba (DRC-Burundi) and Ariwara-Arua (DRC-Uganda). These will be shared with women traders, political authorities and regional institutions.

Northern Uganda recovery

Unlocking opportunities for war-affected youth in northern Uganda

Generations of youth have grown up in IDP camps amidst poverty, insecurity and without access to reliable services. In addition to widespread exposure to violence, the majority of youth face the challenge of securing a livelihood with little or no formal education or training. Returnees face significant problems such as high levels of unemployment, lack of economic opportunities, and lack of access to social services and land. Such disillusionment can create an environment in which violence and conflict can thrive.

To understand these issues better, Alert, as part of ACCS – the purpose of which is to monitor the impact of the PRDP for northern Uganda – commissioned a study entitled Unlocking opportunities for war-affected youth in northern Uganda. The study focused particularly on the socio-economic livelihoods of young women and men in Acholi and Lango districts, concentrating on youth affected in one way or another by the two-decade-long civil conflict. Three broad groups of youth facing particular challenges to attaining economic livelihoods were identified: i) youth resettling from IDP camps, ii) formerly

abducted youth and youth born in captivity, iii) urban IDP youth. Most of these three categories lack formal education, vocational skills and socio-cultural values which would make them attractive in a competitive labour market, thereby inhibiting return, reintegration and resettlement programming.

This study established that there were vocational training centres offering training skills in tailoring, carpentry and mechanics for youth in Acholi and Lango. However, this training is not informed by any labour market analysis, which results in limited demand for the large supply of skilled labour within these fields. Furthermore, there is little coordination among the NGOs providing these training programmes, which results in overlap. Nevertheless, these programmes contribute to stability because they represent an idea and a plan for the future. The study also revealed that youth in northern Uganda constitutes an important force for socio-economic transformation of the war-ravaged region. The traditional role of youth is to be net contributor to the kin network and family – social and community status is closely tied to the ability to provide economically.

Alert believes that the consolidation of peace following violent conflict has very little chance of success unless jobs for youth are created and the economy quickly stabilised, encouraging investment and growth alongside low inflation. Creating opportunities for employment in the short term is critical, as this will facilitate the long, complex and expensive process of reintegrating war-affected youth, returnees and IDPs into society. Economic recovery is essential in order to maintain peace on a sustained basis and should provide the resources to rebuild the local market, secure basic social services and facilitate income-generating activities. In particular, recovery assistance should promote food production as quickly as possible to relieve dependence on food aid.

Creating sustainable economic opportunities for war-affected youth requires a coherent and integrated response from government, civil society, local government and youth representatives. Income generation and economic productivity are critical to the psychological and social reintegration of war-affected youth and their communities.


Therefore, education and economic activity should be incorporated into broader return, resettlement, rehabilitation and development programmes. Such programmes need to be sensitive to community and family livelihood needs and existing socio-economic opportunities such as land, capital, labour, employment and market information. Depending on the availability of funds, Alert intends to design programmes for war-affected youth in northern Uganda based on the recommendations made in the study.

Measuring the impact of peacebuilding initiatives in post-conflict northern Uganda

Northern Uganda is emerging from two decades of armed, violent conflict. Most infrastructure has been destroyed; many lives were lost; people live in appalling conditions with limited access to basic needs. Despite a visible reduction in poverty, there remains, according to most indicators, a significant divide between northern and southern


Uganda, especially in those districts most directly affected by armed conflict – economic growth is uneven and access to basic services remains particularly poor. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics’ poverty statistics for 2009-2010 show that poverty in northern Uganda stands at 46.2 percent, compared to the national average of 24.5 percent.

With the commencement of the Juba peace talks in July 2006, peace returned to most parts of northern Uganda and numerous reconstruction efforts began. As a direct response to this positive development, the government of Uganda expressed its firm commitment to promoting recovery across the northern region. Through the PRDP for northern Uganda, the government has set out a clear and coherent policy framework to reverse economic stagnation and dependency on humanitarian assistance across the region.

This plan is also being supported by development partners, such as DFID under its PCDP programme. This programme aims to build a peaceful, vibrant northern Uganda, with increased opportunities and reduced poverty through creating economic, social and political opportunities to improve the basic lives of people affected by conflict. The programme will: improve access to key basic services, especially in health and education; reverse economic stagnation; tackle youth unemployment; tackle extreme poverty and vulnerability; and support national reconciliation and conflict-resolution processes.

In achieving the aims and objectives of the programme, DFID has supported a number of interventions within the PRDP framework. Some of the most important have been enhancing local government capacity for equitable service delivery through construction work and the provision of incentive packages to attract and retain public sector staff; fostering private sector-led growth and employment opportunities through economic recovery analysis; supporting youth centres to provide vocational, literacy and life skills to young people; and supporting national reconciliation and extremely vulnerable individuals.

To measure the impact of PCDP interventions, ACCS was contracted to focus on the conflict-sensitivity and peacebuilding impacts of the recovery process in northern Uganda, given the long and entrenched conflict dynamics present across the region and the lack of a final peace agreement to the LRA conflict.

With its mandate to monitor the extent to which PRDP interventions, particularly those funded by DFID, succeed or fail in achieving peacebuilding aims, Alert developed perception indicators which were adopted in the ACCS/DFID logframe to help guide the monitoring process.3 With the monitoring framework in place as a guiding tool, Alert conducted a baseline study in Acholi and Lango sub-regions, covering the districts of Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum, Lamwo, Lira and Otuke, to measure people’s responses with regard to the indicators.

In assessing the impact of these interventions, the baseline discovered that:

- The community felt that service delivery was inadequate in the region. Local government responses to people’s needs were poor. This was coupled by the fact that people were less involved in the planning process of the many interventions which affect their lives. People said that they would appreciate it if local government responses to their needs were tailored towards: income-generating activities; agricultural extension services; and opening gardens under the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF-2) to boost agricultural productivity. Generally, the community expressed a lukewarm attitude toward commitments made by local government to improving service delivery in their communities.

- In responding to issues of peace and security, members felt threats of external aggression, particularly related to LRA activities. The most common type of conflicts in communities was linked to boundary disputes between

3 These perception indicators are perceptions of peace and security; perceptions of responsiveness of local government to community needs; perceptions of community level security and incidence of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV); perceptions of economic opportunity among selected groups; perceptions of competition and grievance between different PRDP regions and northern and southern Uganda.


neighbours; family or household-level land problems; evictions; inter-clan land problems; gender-based violence; and theft. Other fears cited were walking at night and meeting ex-LRA commanders and strangers. In terms of community mechanisms, these community-level conflicts were being handled at the LC 1, clan and traditional leader level.

- The community felt that the government was responding well to economic opportunity through ongoing government programmes like NUSAF-2, National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) and road construction. The most commonly cited reasons for limited economic opportunities in communities were a lack of employment opportunities; discrimination; bad leadership; and the lack of proper training. Half of the respondents had access to financial resources, the most common sources of which were village saving and loan associations (VSLA), banks, savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) and micro-finance institutions. These helped to complement savings, which were identified as one source of financing recovery in the region.

- By focusing on infrastructural development in the region, a large percentage of respondents felt that the government was addressing the imbalances within the communities, but that it related more to those respondents who had not moved out of Acholi and Lango. However, there was still a general feeling of marginalisation within communities from government efforts to address growth disparities between northern and southern Uganda. Respondents called for investment to address regional disparities, as limited investment could be a potential risk factor if not properly addressed in the long term.

In conclusion, achieving peace and stability through this programme will require continuous engagement and dialogue with the political leadership, as well as technical support on skills such as conflict analysis. These perception indicators will be run on an annual basis to assess results incrementally at the end of the project. It is hoped that they will help to overcome the challenges and to fulfil the peacebuilding potential for which they are destined.


FiNANCe, Hr ANd AdMiN

2011 was a year of growth, with more activities and an increased budget. Therefore, support functions have had to change in order to support the increased responsibilities, with more emphasis on implementing policies and systems to streamline and better support programme operations.

Financially, there was a slight increase in expenditure from £630,000 in 2010 to £680,000. Most of that spend occurred in the second half of 2011 after the approval of the “Promoting National Reconciliation using Economic and Private Sector Approaches” project. This was a follow-on project from the first phase; the new phase has a total budget of £1,245,885. The project “Harnessing the Potential of Oil to Contribute to Uganda’s Peaceful Development”, funded by DFID and Irish Aid, received an extra £700,000 allocation of funding from Irish Aid. Therefore, we are now undertaking three projects:

•Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity 2010-2015 (£864,825)

•Harnessing the Potential of Oil to Contribute to Uganda’s Peaceful Development 2010-2013 (£1,872,167)

•Promoting National Reconciliation using Economic and Private Sector Approaches 2011-2014 (£1,245,885)

Alert Uganda is moving into a new phase of working with partners, and had three new partners in 2011. Although working with partners can take away the responsibility of direct implementation, it creates new challenges in the form of close monitoring and capacity-building of local partners. The support department therefore had to devote considerable resources and time to support this process.

Staff numbers also increased from 12 in 2010 to 16 in 2011, with more staff recruited into senior positions. The replacement of the international country manager by a Ugandan means that the Alert office in Uganda is now comprised entirely of Ugandan staff. The increase in staff numbers has meant that we need to allow more time and resources for human resources support and development, a key area to be undertaken in 2012.

Alert Uganda is continuing to look for new opportunities in the peacebuilding sector and continues to be a key player sought after for partnerships. We have built a long-term relationship with our current donors, and the support department is being restructured to be more flexible and support a diverse portfolio of donors and provide support for a diverse range of projects.


Alert Uganda is grateful to all its donors and partners in 2011. The continued support of our core donors remains crucial to the long-term success and impact of our work, allowing us to leverage more restricted funds and continue with our commitments. Collaboration with partners is key to meeting our objectives.

Core donors

department of Foreign Affairs of ireland – irish Aid

swedish international development Cooperation Agency (sida)

Uk department for international development (dFid)

Partners

Civil society Coalition on Oil (CsCO)

kabarole research and resource Centre (krC)

kitara Heritage development Agency (kHedA)

Parliamentary Forum on Oil and gas (PFOg)

refugee Law Project

rural initiative for Community empowerment (riCe-wN)

saferworld

sUPPOrters ANd PArtNers 2011

international Alert. 346 Clapham Road, London SW9 9AP, United Kingdomtel +44 (0)20 7627 6800, Fax +44 (0)20 7627 [email protected]

international Alert Uganda.PO Box 70641, Ruth Towers Plot 15A,Clement Hill Road, Kampala, Ugandatel +256 (0)414 347 200, Fax +256 (0)414 347 [email protected]

ISBN: 978-1-906677-95-4

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UgANdA - International Alert · 2014-02-05 · built the capacity of Ugandans to address conflict without resorting to violence and provided neutral spaces for active multi-stakeholder