Uganda
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Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Catalyze change-makers to promote economic growth, increase government accountability, and improve health and nutrition for vulnerable communities.
The context
In the aftermath of a generation-long civil war that claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions more, Uganda is finally healing. But population growth is straining resources and services in a country that still has a long way to go. The economy is relatively stable, but conflicts over land threaten agricultural livelihoods, upon which 80 percent of the population depends. The challenges include fragmented markets, low productivity, stubbornly poor child health indicators and weak infrastructure that impedes rapid growth and makes it difficult to achieve a sustained improvement in living conditions.
Our work
- Agriculture & Food: Training farmer groups in business skills to grow subsistence plots to small-scale commercial farming operations
- Economic development: Providing jobs building roads that link farms to markets
- Conflict & Governance: Working with elder councils to promote peacebuilding efforts and lead events to foster trust between tribes
All stories about Uganda
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Indonesia, Uganda, Zimbabwe: Agri-Fin Mobile program provides big benefits on small phones May 17, 2013
[Adapted from an article originally published on Global Envision, Mercy Corps' blog exploring market-driven solutions to poverty.]
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Uganda: Finding forgiveness after Charles Taylor May 22, 2012
The spectacle that was Charles Taylor's trial made it easy to forget what it was really about: thousands of people like me, and the forgiveness that makes life bearable.
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Uganda: Acting up for healthier communities February 27, 2012
There’s been a lot of action in northern Uganda lately. But in an area still recovering from the government’s 21-year war with the Lord’ Resistance Army, this is, for once, a welcome kind of drama.
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Uganda: Solar energy reaches northern Uganda February 20, 2012
In an effort to provide sustainable energy and invigorate small business, Mercy Corps teams worked over the last year to connect large-scale solar power companies in Uganda's capital of Kampala with merchants in rural northern Pader to offer affordable solar power equipment to residents.
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Uganda: Peacebuilding impact in Karamoja May 18, 2011
Without a doubt, the region of Karamoja in northeastern Uganda qualifies as one of the most fascinating and intriguing places I have ever visited, or studied.
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Uganda: Small farm, nutritious food, healthy pregnancy December 20, 2010
The Dwog-Paco women’s group is located 44 kilometers from Kitgum, one of northern Uganda’s largest towns, along a muddy terrain road deep inside the Acholi ethnic group's homeland.
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Uganda: ‘Staying lonely is not easy’ December 8, 2010
In a place for the displaced, two women share a common bond; one wisened and weathered, the other young, ambitious and full of ideas.
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Uganda: ‘An Ik is born with peace’ October 22, 2010
Under the shade of a sprawling acacia tree — encircled by a small crowd of elders and local leaders — the man stands, speaking passionately about his people and the situation they find themselves in these days.
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Uganda: Nineteen reasons to come home October 8, 2010
Even while she still lived in a displacement camp, Lalam Sande had 19 reminders of where she’d come from.
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Uganda: Bridging gaps from the inside out September 29, 2010
The people of Northern Uganda have been pummeled by the blows of conflict for so many years, they’re somewhat used to violence as a way of resolving disputes.