Uganda

From 2003 to 2006, the Civil Society Index was implemented in Uganda by the Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA), with the international coordination of CIVICUS. This implementation led to the publication of an analytical country report, presenting the results of the CSI initiative in the country.

Civil Society in Uganda: At the Crossroads?

Over that period, the report provides a rich description of the current state of Ugandan civil society and stresses its most interesting features. Civil society in Uganda is very diverse and comprises national-level organisations as well as a myriad of community associations and groups. Interestingly, high levels of participation in civil society activities (both in urban and rural areas) go hand in hand with limited political involvement. Uganda’s civil society promotes many important values (particularly, poverty eradication), although it does not always practice them as wholeheartedly.

CSOs overwhelmingly focus on service delivery and often refrain from getting involved in the more political terrain of advocacy, while limited dialogue with government and scant popular base for those CSOs that engage in advocacy tend to deepen a divide between service delivery and advocacy work and thus reduce civil society’s impact on society at large. In the conclusive remarks, the authors of the report pose a crucial question: Will civil society in Uganda confine itself to a somewhat docile role, focusing on service delivery and sub-contracting from government? Or will it further develop its capacity to question the socio-political make-up of Uganda, striving to augment its autonomy, its sense of independent identity, its cohesion and its local ownership?

CSI Country Reports in Uganda

From 2008 to 2010, the Civil Society Index is being implemented by the Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA).