In Uganda, Saferworld has been developing action plans with 56 community action groups to address conflict drivers in four regions of the country – Northern Uganda, Karamoja, Western Region and West Nile. Among the issues addressed are human-wildlife conflicts, cattle raiding, cross-border conflicts in areas bordering South Sudan, and tensions over land ownership (including between host and refugee communities). Related to this work, the Uganda programme supported 77 community-level dispute resolution mechanisms to implement action plans. This entailed working with local authorities with mandates to work on dispute resolution, including the police, area land committees, sub-county court committees, refugee welfare committees, local government, religious leaders and parish chiefs.

Saferworld and partner Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO Uganda) have been working to support refugees who often carry trauma from their past experiences. This trauma can feed into tensions between refugee groups and between refugees and host communities. As part of a project funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, ‘Addressing drivers of conflict in Uganda’, Saferworld supports TPO to raise awareness of mental health issues. Saferworld and TPO conducted a community assessment to identify the conflict drivers that are affecting the mental well-being of both refugees and host communities.

Saferworld is also seeking to influence policymaking at the national level in Uganda. We are working with the National Land Coalition to contribute to the review of the National Land Policy, and with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the International Women’s Peace Center on a draft Peace Policy. Saferworld facilitated two national-level technical reviews of the draft Peace Policy as well as consultations with the Working Group on Sustainable Development Goal 16. Following the passing of the National Transitional Justice Policy in Uganda, Saferworld and partners have also been promoting awareness of – and a conversation on – how transitional justice can help to foster peacebuilding and national reconciliation and resolve conflicts at different levels.