Uganda Committee : Our Work Group

The Uganda Committee was founded in 2002 and is now a part of Twiga, a non-profit organisation that implements and supports development projects in East Africa and India/Bangladesh. The Uganda Committee is based in Lund, Sweden.

Despite its name, the Uganda Committee does not focus on the entire country of Uganda. We initially concentrated on the reagion of Mbale but chose to relocate its efforts to the poverty and conflict-striken region of Gulu in northern Uganda. The first trip to this area was undertaken in 2004 and created many positive encounters and contacts. Our first project was a web project, www.humanrightsuganda.org. The idea was to give NGOs who were actively working in the region a chance to publish their material on a non-censored webpage and therefore enable them to spread information about the conflict. The participating organizations are HURIFO, Gulu District NGO Forum and GUSCO. Read more about them in their own section.(Since publishing the webpage, one organisation has chossen to leave the cooperation. We have instrad invited our new partner Health Alert Uganda do join in.)

Since this first project, the Uganda Committee has successfully carried on their work in Gulu. An evaluation carried out by representatives from the Uganda Committee in 2005 showed that our partner organizations were willing to start more projects and they also contributed with valuable ideas. We in the Uganda Committee wanted to focus on the youth; especially the youth living in internally displaced people (IDP) camps. Our policy is to support vulnerable and marginalized groups and to give help to self-help; we do not want to create projects were our partners become dependent on us.

Together with Gulu District NGO Forum we finally decided on giving health courses for youths in the IDP camps. The Uganda Committee received funding in 2006 and the courses were carried out in early 2007; with the addition of offering youth groups training in how to build houses with an environmental friendly technique. This is due to the fact that the situation in northern Uganda changed in-between the Uganda Committee applying for funds and the funds finally being used. A cease-fire encouraged the population living in the IDP camps to move back to their homesteads; knowledge about house building was essential at this point. A positive side effect of the building courses is that the youth actually constructed two houses for their own purposes. They are currently being finished and will then be operated by the youth themselves.

Working with Gulu, IDPs and development projects also brought out the fact that we need to keep our own group well informed. In order to maintain a high level of knowledge and educate new members we have been holding a study circle in spring 2007 with various themes and issues, targeting Uganda, Gulu, the conflict, hiv/aids and history. More of these are to come, as they have proven to be a very effective tool. The study group is open for all, not only the members in the Uganda Committee. Let us know if you want to participate! You can reach us at ugandacirkeln [at] twiga [dot] se.

In 2009 we carried out another evaluation trip. We also visited new partners and established new cooperations. Two of our new contacts were Health Alert Uganda (HAU) and Gulu Youth for Wealth Creation Assocation (GYWCA). We had long discussions and laid a firm foundation for our cooperation.

With the help of Forum Syd, they were able to send represantative to Sweden in the autumn of 2009. We discussed upcoming projects and established good personal contacts. 

These good preparations resulted in project were HAU held a couse in basic health education for GYWCA in the beginning of 2010. 

You are welcome to contact us, with specific or general inquiries, at: ugandagruppen [at] twiga [dot] se.