Files

The year 2022 marked the conclusion of the Uganda Change Agent Association (UCAA) three-year Strategic Plan titled *“Promoting the Participation of Vulnerable Communities in Decision-Making, Control and Protection of Their Livelihoods for Sustainable Development”* for the period 2020–2022. Overall, 2022 was a successful year for UCAA, during which most of the planned activities were implemented, contributing significantly to the achievement of the organization’s mission of ensuring that poor rural communities in Uganda are empowered, self-reliant, and able to live in harmony with dignity.

UCAA seeks to increase local capacities and provide opportunities through the Change Agent process to promote self-reliance, improve incomes, and enhance access to basic services. This approach continued to guide all programmatic and institutional efforts during the year.

Activities aimed at stimulating economic empowerment enabled vulnerable youth, women, and men to work together in self-help development groups. Through these groups, members successfully operated their own savings and credit schemes, generating income for investment in micro-businesses and strengthening household livelihoods.

As a result of their participation in these groups, disadvantaged rural and urban women, youth, and men were supported to initiate, invest in, and manage viable income-generating activities, contributing to increased economic independence and resilience.

Activities intended to stimulate political development enabled poor rural men and women to become more aware of their social and economic conditions. Community members began questioning the factors shaping their realities and recognized the need to take responsibility for reversing negative trends affecting their livelihoods.

Members of self-help groups and other community members reached were able to actively participate in leadership and decision-making processes within their communities, strengthening local governance and accountability.

UCAA also implemented activities aimed at ending violence against women, children, and girls, while promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights. These interventions resulted in increased access to gender-based violence prevention services and improved sexual and reproductive health outcomes for vulnerable women and girls in the targeted communities

Throughout the year, UCAA continued to maintain and utilize its asset base in a prudent and cost-effective manner. These assets included full-time paid professional staff, volunteer Change Agents and development workers, financial resources, buildings and land, vehicles, training materials, and office equipment.

In terms of financial sustainability, UCAA generated internal income that contributed 5.1% of its total expenses in 2022. Funding partners continued to demonstrate confidence and trust in UCAA’s work through generous financial contributions, which accounted for 94.9% of the income used to cover UCAA’s expenses during the year.

UCAA is satisfied that its work, together with the efforts of trained Change Agents across the country, is positively impacting the lives of thousands of vulnerable children, youth, women, common-interest self-help groups, and communities throughout Uganda.

In 2023, the Uganda Change Agent Association (UCAA) began implementation of its new Strategic Plan titled “Promoting the Participation of Vulnerable Communities in the Decision-Making, Control and Protection of Their Livelihoods for Sustainable Development.” This plan is a continuation of the previous strategic framework and expands UCAA’s services to vulnerable communities among both host populations and refugees in Uganda. The strategy places strong emphasis on livelihoods enhancement, youth employment, women’s economic empowerment, and the self-reliance of refugee and host communities.

The annual report reflects a year of significant progress and impact in UCAA’s efforts to build an empowered and self-reliant society living in harmony with dignity. Through strategic initiatives and collaborative efforts, UCAA made notable strides toward achieving its mission.

UCAA’s activities were centered on stimulating economic, political, and social development in marginalized communities, engaging women, children, youth, and men. Interventions focused on empowering individuals and communities through awareness creation and support in areas such as child protection, food security, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, and sensitization on gender-based violence.

In addition, UCAA provided essential life skills, vocational training, and supported voluntary savings and loan associations. Beneficiaries were also equipped with tools, professional business skills, guidance, and resources necessary to initiate and sustain viable livelihood activities.

To build resilience in the face of climate change, environmental pressures, and economic constraints, UCAA implemented targeted interventions promoting adaptability, innovation, and disaster preparedness. These efforts emphasized grassroots community engagement and collaboration with civil society organizations, district authorities, and government officials, employing a bottom-up approach to strengthen community resilience.

UCAA’s collaboration and partnerships with donors and other stakeholders strengthened program implementation and expanded impact. These partnerships enabled UCAA to leverage resources effectively and reach a significant number of self-help groups and communities, contributing to success across various program areas.

Looking ahead, UCAA remains committed to promoting the participation of marginalized communities in decision-making processes and in the promotion and protection of their rights for sustainable development. The organization aims to build on its successes, address challenges through lessons learned, and explore new opportunities to create lasting positive change in the lives of marginalized communities in Uganda.

Despite prevailing challenges, UCAA continued to effectively manage its assets, including human resources supported by a trained nationwide Change Agent network, financial resources, buildings, vehicles, and other office equipment.

UCAA extends its sincere gratitude to all individuals and institutions that directly and indirectly contributed to the success of its programs and projects, and looks forward to continued collaboration in the future.

The Uganda Change Agent Association (UCAA) Annual Report for 2024 highlights a year of remarkable progress, resilience, and impactful interventions in empowering marginalized communities across Uganda. As UCAA continues to implement its 2023-2027 strategic plan, we remain committed to promoting sustainable livelihoods, human rights, education, youth empowerment, and gender equality, among other key areas.

Throughout the year, UCAA made significant strides in strengthening community resilience, improving economic opportunities, and enhancing advocacy and lobbying capabilities among vulnerable communities for improved provision and access to essential services. Our programs focused on:

Economic Empowerment & Livelihoods: Supporting self-help groups, expanding vocational training, and promoting entrepreneurship for sustainable income generation.

Child Protection, Education & Life Skills Development: Advocating for children's rights, enhancing access to quality education, and providing life skills training.

Human Rights & Gender Equality: Advancing awareness and advocacy on climate change, education, gender transformation, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), gender-based violence prevention, and social inclusion.

Youth Employment & Skilling: Providing technical and vocational skills to increase employability and economic independence among young people.

Humanitarian Aid & Community Development: contributing to the uptake of innovation solutions to improve food production and income generation in land poor communities as well as utilization of valley dams of host and refugee communities, ensuring access to critical resources and social support systems.

Institutional Development & Governance: Strengthening UCAA‟s capacity through effective governance, transparent financial management, capacity development and stakeholder collaboration.

Despite challenges such as economic constraints, climate change effects, and resource limitations, UCAA has leveraged strong partnerships, innovative solutions, and community-driven approaches to achieve its objectives. The success of our programs is attributed to effective leadership, collaborative engagement with donors and stakeholders, strategic fundraising, and continuous monitoring and evaluation.

As we move forward, UCAA remains dedicated to expanding its reach, creating networks and partnerships for enhancing program sustainability, and deepening its impact in the communities we serve. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to all the stakeholders we collaborated with in the year 2024, the unwavering support technically and financially. Together, we will continue transforming lives, fostering resilience, and driving sustainable development in Uganda.

The UCAA Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) Project was implemented in Lorengecora Sub-county, Napak District, targeting 200 households in Cholichol, Lobok, and Kochito villages. The project aimed to strengthen sustainable livelihoods, improve food security, and enhance climate resilience through land restoration and community empowerment.

Key interventions included FMNR training, the establishment of six acres of demonstration sites, and the promotion of agroforestry practices using fruit trees and Super Napier grass. The project also supported conservation agriculture, the use of energy-efficient cooking stoves, and alternative livelihood activities such as poultry rearing and green gram production to diversify household incomes.

To ensure sustainability and local ownership, 60 local leaders were supported to develop and implement community bylaws that promote the protection and sustainable management of natural resources.

The project directly engaged approximately 335 participants, including community members, local leaders, and district stakeholders, and indirectly benefited about 1,675 people. Immediate impact was observed among 1,040 individuals through the distribution of livelihood inputs such as vegetable seeds, poultry, and green gram, which led to improved food production and increased household incomes.

Both short- and long-term outcomes of the project included improved soil fertility, diversified income sources, enhanced food and nutrition security, reduced dependence on firewood, and stronger resilience to climate change. By integrating FMNR, sustainable agriculture, and clean energy solutions, the project has established a replicable model for environmental restoration and socio-economic development in Karamoja communities.

The Uganda Change Agent Association (UCAA) Long-Range Strategic Plan 2023–2027 provides a clear framework to guide the implementation of UCAA programmes over the next five years.

The strategy was developed through a highly participatory and inclusive planning process involving staff, change agents, self-help groups, Board members, and other key stakeholders. This collective approach ensured that the plan reflects shared priorities, lessons learned, and a common vision for sustainable development.

UCAA is a nationwide membership organization committed to promoting grassroots rural and urban development through the Self-Reliant Participatory Development (SRPD) methodology.

Over the years, UCAA has registered significant achievements in empowering vulnerable women, youth, and men. Building on this strong foundation, the 2023–2027 Strategic Plan defines the organization’s future direction and reaffirms its commitment to advancing inclusive, people-centered development guided by the Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA).

The strategy places special emphasis on children, women, and youth as priority target groups. In addition, women and youth living in refugee settlements have been identified as a key focus during this strategic period.

This prioritization is informed by UCAA’s sustained contribution to economic empowerment and community development through the SRPD approach, which has proven effective in fostering critical awareness, collective action, and self-reliance among rural and urban communities.

The SRPD approach has evolved into UCAA’s flagship institutional model and is widely recognized by community groups, civil society organizations, district local governments, media, and development partnersIts application has led to sustainable outcomes in promoting self-reliance through gender-responsive governance, women’s empowerment, child protection, financial literacy, youth skills development, and improved livelihoods.

This strategic plan emerges from UCAA’s collective desire to respond more meaningfully, efficiently, and effectively to emerging development challenges. It reflects a renewed commitment to relevance, collaboration, and innovation in an increasingly complex operating environment. The strategy draws on lessons learned and best practices to strengthen UCAA’s role in supporting communities to analyze the root causes of poverty and identify sustainable, self-driven solutions.

Through the Human Rights-Based Approach, UCAA will empower communities to actively participate in decision-making processes that uphold their dignity and rights. Self-reliance will be strengthened by enhancing community control, access, and ownership of livelihood resources, enabling communities to claim, protect, and sustain their rights to equitable and inclusive development.

The Children at Risk (CaR) Program Baseline Survey 2025 was conducted in Napak District, Karamoja sub-Region, to establish the current situation of vulnerable children, adolescents, and their families. The study provides a reference point for measuring the impact of project interventions aimed at reducing unsafe child outmigration and improving child protection, education, and livelihoods over the 2025–2027 implementation period. The survey employed a mixed-method approach (quantitative and qualitative), reaching 246 participants across five sub-counties- Lopeei, Lokopo, Lorengechora, Matany, and Ngoleriet. Data was collected through household interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions with children, youth, and local leaders.

Key Findings

 Living Conditions:

Most households (85.4%) are slightly vulnerable, characterized by poverty, food insecurity, and dependence on casual labor or small-scale farming. Only 11.4% are ready to graduate from vulnerability.

Food Security:

About 62% of households consume only one meal per day. Food access largely depends on markets (38%) and homegrown sources (36%), indicating widespread poverty and limited livelihood diversification.

 Child Protection and Migration:

Around 35% of households reported children not living at home within the past six months, mainly due to poverty, hunger, violence, and peer influence. Children migrate in search of jobs and better living conditions, facing high risks of abuse, trafficking, and exploitation.

Awareness of Child Rights:

Awareness remains moderate — only 57.7% of respondents know about child rights, with gaps in Matany and Lorengechora. While 73% of households have birth certificates for their children, harsh disciplinary practices such as verbal abuse and physical punishment persist.

 Gender and GBV:

Up to 96% of respondents reported discriminatory practices against women and children, including asset ownership restrictions, domestic violence, and early marriage. Cultural barriers continue to limit women’s control over land and resources.

 Education and Vocational  Training:

The leading barriers to education include lack of school fees and materials (35%), poverty/food insecurity (20%), and poor infrastructure (13%). Children’s perception of education is largely negative (86%), citing limited relevance and poor quality. Youth livelihood engagement is high in small businesses (48%) and agriculture (25%), but most opportunities remain informal. The most demanded vocational skills are tailoring, carpentry, construction, and hairdressing.

Conclusion;

The baseline establishes that while progress has been made in child rescue and reintegration, deep-rooted poverty, weak education systems, limited livelihood options, and low awareness of child rights remain major challenges in Napak. Addressing these will require a holistic, multi-sectoral approach focusing on livelihood strengthening, education access, and community-based child protection.

This is the Final Evaluation Report of the Children at Risk (CaR) Program, implemented by three NGO partners. Namely; Dwelling Places (DP), Institute for International Cooperation and Development (C&D) and UCAA, with grant funding from Kerk-in-Actie (KiA). It was commissioned by the UCAA and examined the project the last three year phase from January 2022 to December 2024.

Objectives of the Evaluation:

The methodology included both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative approach included a survey that covered 147 project participants. Under the qualitative approach, the key informant interviews were conducted with District Local Government (DLG) representatives, Community Development Officers (CDOs), Independent community members, Uganda Change Agent Association Staff and CaR partner staff. Case studies were used to document most significant changes based on the perspectives of the beneficiaries.

Relevance;

The relevance of the project was examined in regard to the project design, methodology and whether the actions or activities undertaken were appropriate to counter, mitigate, minimise or eliminate child outmigration. The project was designed to and managed to intercept, rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate children, either from the base in Napak or from Kampala. It also drew local and national attention to the plight of the street-children, with the majority originating from Napak in Karamoja. In terms of the approach and methodology, the consortium in itself, was both an effective strategy which provided a broader team suited to the complexity of the task at hand. Lastly both the actions and the actors in themselves were judged to be quite relevant to the process of addressing the complexity of championing efforts to curtail street-connected children exodus from Napak district, Karamoja.

Effectiveness;

The project activities that were planned and implemented was assessed and found to be 89% effective. The evaluators reviewed the activities carried out and the numbers of targeted participants that the partners had intercepted, rescued, rehabilitated and resettled. It also analyzed the level or extent of engagement of all key stakeholders. Although the project design had placed more emphasis on preventing outmigration rather than working on the symptomatic activities out of homes, there was delay in receiving initial funding. By the time the funds were received by the KiA partners, they were being faced with receiving over 1000 children who had already moved outside Napak. These were rounded up by Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) in Kampala, in the unplanned form of arresting street-children. These had not yet been controlled by the project before leaving Napak. Thus it falls outside the planned phase of outmigration and does not constitute a limitation of the project.

Efficiency;

The project objectives were achieved with over 75% efficiency, through delivery of outputs. Moreover, this was remarkable despite several constraints at the onset of implementation. It was highlighted by key informants’ respondents that covid-19 was a huge limiting factor and some adjustments in prioritization were necessary to ensure efficiency. In particular, there was an extension of limited time and constraints to properly reach the target beneficiaries which put pressure on implementers to deliver results within the available means. This did not guarantee efficient priorities at the onset. It was evident that with more prioritization and the human resources readjustments, the objectives were met in a timely and efficient manner.

Recommendations

From the lessons learnt and the above conclusions, the evaluation recommends as follows:

1.  The list of activities under evaluation was so long. We recommend reduction in the number of actions to critical ones that directly help to achieve the objectives that are quite strong and relevant to the community’.
2.  Although the stakeholder engagement greatly improved as a result of closer coordination and regular community sensitization, there widespread demand to push the Napak leadership to look beyond short-term actions such as rescue and resettlement. This includes the need for families to commit themselves to send their own children back to school.
3.  There is need to strengthen the good relations and maintain continuous communication and between CaR partners and the Napak government and local authorities.
4.  Child protection requires more reliable data. Thus the need to undertake Gender-based research on numbers, disparities to determine the fresh situation on ground with more up-to-date date on street-related children.
5.  To sustainably reduce the rate of out outmigration the livelihood component should take care of the harsh climatic reality of Karamoja. This means, there is urgent need to strengthen climate change resilience as a project component for sustainability.
6.  The project needs more adaptation based on the current experience of all stakeholders whereby partners need to aim at improving service delivery to the community, in general.
7. The rehabilitation component should address issues of mindset change. Project experience demonstrated that children were empowered to freely give positive feedback.