KAMPALA – The USAID/Uganda Civil Society Strengthening Activity (CSSA), has convened its annual in-person, 3rd National Conference to enhance civil society’s contributions to Uganda’s democracy and development.
Happening from July 26-28, 2023 at Golf Course Hotel in Kampala, the conference brings together a diverse range of civil society stakeholders to reflect on how to strengthen civil contributions within the evolving socio-political environment in Uganda.
The conference is intended to provide a platform for knowledge and experience-sharing among civil society stakeholders on how to optimize activities to respond to restrictions in civic space.
It is also aimed at optimizing the impact of the CSSA and broader Ugandan civil society’s activities related to building an enabling environment through strengthening their capacity to engage in self-assessment and enhance the impact of their works.
It is also driven to enhance civil society’s ability to navigate existing restrictions on their work and increase the sustainability of the sector, including through strengthening collaboration among public and private stakeholders to promote an enabling environment.
Ms. Margaret Sekaggya – Executive Director, The Human Rights Centre Uganda noted that such platforms give them an opportunity to interact with each other and realize areas of improvement in their works.
She challenged her colleagues to be professional when running organizations and comply with the regulations which will improve their working relationship with the government.
She urged the government and civil society players to talk to each other and appreciate each other’s role instead of fighting all the time.
“So the government needs to appreciate the role of civil society. We complement the government, it can’t do all these programs alone and really be able to be effective.”
“……like any of the other organizations in the country, they’re made up of people. There might be lacunas in some areas, but we’ve also tried to comply. We are being checked a lot by the NGO Bureau and we have to comply they have to meet the standards and all that. So civil society is trying very hard to do that but there might be some, some challenges sometimes,” she told the press.
Ms. Sekaggya refuted claims that CSOs are funding terrorism and opposition to fight the government but said it is their duty to work with everyone for a common goal of developing the country.
“The government has all the mechanisms to ensure that they can investigate and arrest people who do that. Have you ever seen a civil society being brought to court for terrorism or finding opposition?”
“We work with everyone in the country. You can’t be partisan [but] you can’t say I only work with government, I won’t work with political parties, we work with every citizen of this country because we want them to understand human rights.”
Mr. Robert Kirenga – Executive Director, National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders in Uganda credited the forum of brings different voices from all over the country on how they have been able to maneuver the space in terms of addressing human rights issues.
He says that through the gathering, they are able to advocate for a better working environment with evidence-based information because whoever brings up the information has to back it with evidence.
He notes that the civil society sector has something to contribute to the social economic environment of this country in terms of taxes, and employment, noting that they are the second employer after government.
Commenting on professionalism, Kirenga admitted that some of their colleagues might use unacceptable language while advocating for something which needs to be improved.
“So we are all at different levels of understanding. We need to scale up and see how to train our people on how to advocate for things, on how to engage in civic engagement without using abusive language, without using language that is not acceptable.”
On their clashes with the government, he noted that there is a lack of understanding of the role of civil society.
“Sometimes they mistake our work to be the work of opposition political parties because they think we have no right to question government policies, yet it is our constitutional mandate.”
“But also I must say that some state actors think they are not supposed to be accountable,” he noted.
Mr. Kirenga decried the processes they are taken through when they seek to register their organizations including going through Uganda Registration Services Bureau, NGO Bureau, National Information Technology Authority, Financial Intelligence Authority, among others.
“I would have preferred one office like the NGO Bureau to be the one to start and end the process.”
Ms. Monica Azimi, Director, Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, USAID noted that civil society plays a vital role in a country’s development but also CSOs help the government to improve laws and policies, extend services to citizens, foster political pluralism and dialogue, and increase access to health and education – especially for marginalized sections of the population.
“Unfortunately, today, CSOs in Uganda and the world over must justify their existence and must continuously navigate an increasingly difficult and complex operating environment. Restrictions limit the ability of CSOs to deliver and contribute to development.”
She said that if Uganda is to achieve her Vision 2040 and National Development Plan 3 objectives, it has to expansively involve civil society.
“We are very concerned that the State is controlling the operating environment with the aim of limiting the for citizens to convene, advocate, and express their needs and desires. We will continue to encourage a positive working relationship between the government, CSOs, and the private sector to work together to build a more inclusive and sustainable democracy.”
Ms. Azimi re-echoed USAID’s pledge to continue to strengthen CSOs’ capacity to contribute to the development of Uganda and lift Ugandans out of poverty.
The third national conference will build on conversations from prior years to lessons to take forward in future civil society sector initiatives to enhance and sustain their impact. The participants will consolidate their discussions from the conference into an outcome document that shares successful approaches to strengthening the environment for civil society, lessons from prior civil society initiatives that may enhance civil society actions moving forward, and actions required of different stakeholders to build an enabling environment for civil society in the coming years. This outcome document will inform upcoming activities of the CSSA and serve as a context-specific learning document for other civil society partners as they plan and implement their activities.
The conference will convene about 50 representatives from a diverse range of CSOs, service-delivery organizations, academia, media, and other stakeholders to collectively address how to enhance civil society’s contributions in Uganda. Regional CSO peers and representatives of multilateral institutions may also share their experiences on related issues.
