Countering Election Violence
At the beginning of the year in January, Uganda was set to vote for its new government officials. Given the country’s history, such times have proven to be very unstable and violent with people from opposing political parties attacking each other and therefore leading to division of people in the country along political lines. This was evident on 18th November 2020, when more than 50 lives were lost during widespread protests following the arrest of new opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine. To ensure we did not have similar situation, in the January 2021, Presidential, Parliamentary and local government elections, Uganda Unites, continued with #SayNoToViolence campaign on social media and in communities, through its peace clubs. In an effort to reach out to a the youthful population, Uganda Unites partnered with WAKE a poetry to create, #HEREIAM. We continued to work in partnership with Dialogue and Democracy Training Centre to educate the candidates and the voters on their role in ensuring a violence free election.
Stepping in the Gap
Owing to the COVID pandemic, many teachers suffered the loss of their jobs and so we provided aid to them through giving them food during the Christmas period. We ran a fundraiser activity in the month of December 2020, where we raised USD 1,370. With this we were able to distribute food relief Christmas packages to one hundred and twenty-seven (127) teacher-headed families which is more than six hundred (600) people.
“We have gone, 10 months without salary, despite the promise of phased school reopening that doesn’t address the challenges teachers are currently face, many of us have been kicked out of their homes to the streets, and now survive on a meal a day, so it is really encouraging to see Uganda Unites thinking about us at a time when we everyone has forgotten, about us. You cannot imagine what this means to me and my family. “– Sara Mukalazi Teacher (Bunamwaya)
Grassroots engagement
Despite the challenges experience due to the internet shut down, in January, we were able to conduct in person engagements with 226 youth will observing the COVID -19 SOPs in both central and western region. We engaged thirty-eight (38) youth in the Central region. Twenty-eight (28) of them signed up to be members and five (5) offered themselves as volunteers. We also had three (3) new peace clubs formed in this region in the areas of Kyanamukaka and Masaka.
In the Western region, we engaged one hundred and eighty-eight (188) people with one hundred and twenty-two (122) signing up to be new members. We took on two (2) volunteers from this region and formed one (1) peace club.