Description
This presentation explain re examining peace and economic recovery in northern uganda.
CONFLICT WATCH
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Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity
(ACCS)
“RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC
RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA”
Funded by
September Issue #6
Introduction
The September 2012 issue on Confict Watch represents and provides the Advisory
Consortium on Confict Sensitivity (ACCS) – Refugee Law Project (RLP) contextual analysis
and situational updates relating to peace and economic recovery in Northern Uganda.
This issue emphasizes that, despite economic and political interest dictating physical
reconstruction of infrastructures and service delivery, it is also imperative that human
consequences of violence – the memories and experiences of the people involved
are attended to, and that ownerships of actions taken to address the consequence of
confict should be embedded in the communities working for peace and development.
ACCS makes concerted efort towards fagging confict causes, triggers, actors as well
as early warnings.
Key titles in the issue include:
1) How can Northern Uganda sustain the hard earned peace: A refection on the
International Peace Day celebration
2) BUDS project making recovery a possibility in northern Uganda
3) Social entrepreneurship: a missing link in post confict recovery process
4) Psychological reconstruction and post confict recovery: Anger management
and dealing with the past in northern Uganda.
HOW CAN NORTHERN UGANDA SUSTAIN THE HARD EARNED PEACE: A REFLECTION
ON THE INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY CELEBRATION
In China there is a saying that “if you have not fought with each other, you do not know
each other”. This saying should inform our conscience in understanding the nexus
between peace and confict, in this case no matter what comes frst, whether peace
www.refugeelawproject.org
1
Compiled by Otim Denis Barnabas & Okot Benard Kasozi
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
or confict, they all impact on the community and
humanity. Rather, like seeing images in a picture,
many diferent individuals had difering viewpoint
about northern Uganda, and in particular the
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebellion. Various
assumptions and theoretical causations were
raised as subject of discussion whether perceived
or real they were useful in understanding the
reason behind the LRA rebellion.
Peace has become essential to recovery and
development of Northern Uganda, a region which
is emerging from over two decades of confict
waged between the Government of Uganda and
the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
The civil war which started in 1986 had disastrous
impact on the population of entire Northern
Uganda, with spillover efects to West Nile and
Eastern Districts of Uganda. Between 35,000
children were abducted by the LRA, and over
1.8 million people were displaced and forced to
live in squalid conditions in internally Displaced
Camps (IDP).
Following a period of intense confict and violence,
eforts were instituted by the Government of
Uganda and Civil Society Organisations to resolve
the confict through facilitated negotiations and
mediations, key amongst this was the Juba peace
talks of 2006 which resulted into consequential
signing of numerous agreements between the
conficting parties. Rather, most signifcantly was
the Cessation of Hostility Agreement. This was a
platform which sowed peace and marked reduction
in violence in Northern Uganda and paved way
for peace, recovery and development process of
Northern Uganda.
In commemoration of the International Day of
Peace situated for September 21st 2012, various
agencies and institution took part in Gulu district.
The Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre
(NUYDC) in collaboration with the Ofce of the
Prime Minister and the UK – Department for
International Development (DFID) commemorated
the day by highlighting the impact of peace to the
youth of Northern Uganda. The commemoration
was situated to acknowledge the benefts derived
from the just achieved peace and in particular
re-engaging youth into a productive force, a role
which NUYDC is undertaking with funding support
from UK-DFID. The NUYDC has embarked on a post
confict training support programme of providing
youth with business skills and mentorship. This bid
is to increase and improve on human capital and
employment opportunities.
At the district level, the International Day of Peace
was celebrated on the 19th September, 2012
at Kaunda Ground, Gulu Municipality. Various
dignitaries were present and of importance was the
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RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
The crowd that gathered to commemorate the celebration of
International Day of Peace, at Kaunda Ground in Gulu District
In the picture are Refugee Law Project stafs, other dignitaries and
the Archbishop John Baptist Odama receiving publications and
video documentaries from Refugee Law Project.
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
Archbishop John Baptist Odama and the winner
of the International Peace Price Award. The World
Vision International Peacemaking price was in
recognition of the role played by the Archbishop
in peacemaking in Northern Uganda. The theme
of the day was “Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable
Future”. This illustrates and confrms a shift from
peacemaking to peace-building. In the words of the
Chairman Gulu District Local Government “we are
now in the peace-building phase of our long journey
from confict. The ofcers and men of the Uganda
People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) took the lead in the
peace making phase of our journey; our religious
leaders and elected politicians took the lead in the
peace making phase. The question now before us is:
who will take the lead in this peace-building phase?
Who will be our peace-builders?”
The questions relay directly to the issue of sustainable
peace in post confict northern Uganda and what
should be done to avoid reversion to violent confict.
Implying that we need to understand with entirety
what to do as peace-builders. At this point the peace-
building approach to be adopted in the north should
aim at not only addressing confict behaviors, but also
the underlying context and attitudes that give rise
to violence, such as unequal access to employment,
discrimination and exclusion, unacknowledged and
unforgiven responsibility for the past crimes, and so
on. These are national issues that the state should
pick it up. Implying peace building is a process, that
3
is holistic and aim at transforming violence.
The danger is that many societies and communities
in the north are excluded from a range of economic,
political and social factors. Peace is often compared
to health, in that it is more easily recognized by its
absence. Like health, all have to access it. However,
unlike health it is contested: people disagree over
what a peaceful society is. Many people in the
north understand peace to be the absence of war,
as this is of course important, others see it as a step
towards peace – building. The north as it is now is
just relatively peaceful, the reasons are obvious and
some of these reasons includes; land disputes and
confict in the entire northern Uganda including
some West Nile districts; youth unemployment;
the “nodding” disease and poor health services
in Kitgum, Pader, Lamwo and Gulu district. Other
general problems includes; increasing school
dropout in particular in Lamwo, armed robbery,
witchcraft, unattended plight of teachers, health
workers and army veterans.
In other words, dealing with consequences of
violence requires refection, analysis and time of the
past and what the present and the future should be.
There are no quick fx solutions, and each and every
one must fnd the necessary tools and processes
most suitable to each and single confict contexts,
violence and involve others in pursuing a resolution
or solution.
Refugee Law Project contribution towards
sustainable peace and peace-building has been
through ongoing contextual analysis of the overall
recovery process of Northern Uganda (focusing on
confict indicators, issues and dynamics), and early
warning as and when necessary. It is within this
context that Refugee Law Project fashes out key
post confict recovery challenges and early warnings
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Archbishop John Baptish Odama the winner of the International
Peace Price Award
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
to various stakeholders. We recommend that; the
Government of Uganda should urgently improve
the functionality of existing health facilities and
where necessary establish new ones; strengthen
and support land administration authorities
through trainings on land management and
dispute resolution as well increasing stafng in
particular the judiciary (magistrates) to resolve
land matters and other pressing recovery
challenges.
BUDS PROJECT MAKING RECOVERY A POSSIBILITY
IN NORTHERN UGANDA
“This money is honestly free, I must get my share
before it is done”, says a male adult in a meeting
hosted by PSFU in Bomah, Gulu.
A highly anomalous situation occurred on the
18th of September, 2012, when the Private Sector
Foundation Uganda (PSFU) held a dissemination
session at Bomah Hotel in Gulu district. The session
was motivated by the need to clarify on the alleged
challenges that locals face in accessing Business
Uganda Development Scheme (BUDS) fund. The
session was attended by a number of individuals
with varied business interest, what was surprising
was that there were just a handful of youth. The
BUDS cumulative grant
support is a maximum
of Two Hundred and
Fifty Thousand Pounds
Sterling (£250,000) per
qualifying enterprise;
unfortunately, many
individuals are not
taking advantage of
utilizing this grant says
the Executive Director
of PSFU.
This piece relay issues relating to economic
revitalization of communities in post confict
environment and how it is being done through
the BUDS grant, and why it has the potential of
succeeding and transforming lives. Historically,
post –confict recovery in Northern Uganda has
not been impressive because most programmes
have not been sustainable and able to transform
the lives of the people. This as alleged has been
due to mismanagement of project funds and the
technicality involved in applying for funding by
benefciaries, a case in point has been the Northern
Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF 1).
Previous experiences and failures have resulted into
what can now be called as a turnaround strategy
aimed at minimizing mismanagement of funds.
This strategy to which many locals concur with to
be efective is being applied by the Private Sector
Foundation Uganda (PSFU), Business Uganda
Development Scheme (BUDS). The PSFU – BUDS
modality is that; it only advances 50% advance
payment for all business development services and
skills development activities, and another 50% on
completion of the activity to service provider(s); for
all capital investment related
activities, the scheme advances
its contribution directly to the
client’s chosen suppliers; in doing
so some level of commitment,
efectiveness and efciency is
achieved, most importantly and
what provides assurance is the
willing of the human resource at
PSFU to help guide an individual
through the entire process of
accessing the grant.
4
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
BUDS-DFID gave out 21 tractors and farming implements to 13
farmer groups in Northern Uganda recently
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
Despite the opportunity being provided by the
UK- Department for International Development
(DFID) - BUDS funded project and grant, millions of
people in Northern Uganda still lavish in poverty.
How do we then give hope to these millions of
people living in a post confict recovery context
with the need for sustainable peace and economic
deliverance? Rather, to respond to this, enlightened
compassion and directed self interest has been
the core in directing infuences and the need to
contribute towards the recovery of northern Uganda
by numerous international donor agencies. The UK –
through the Post Confict Development Programme
(PCDP) strongly rally behind the Peace Recovery
Development Programme (PRDP) and the Poverty
Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).
The UK PCDP supports the Government of Uganda
to deliver immediate benefts of peace and promote
the long-term transformation of northern Uganda
through; enhancing local government (LG) capacity
for equitable service delivery; promoting private
sector-led growth, investment and employment;
providing basic literacy to youth, and skills
training; delivering targeted social protection; and
establishing Government of Uganda structures
to support national reconciliation. All these have
been intended to reverse and address the shocks of
the efects of the two decade war that afected the
region. The question is why does the north still lag
behind, the rest of the country?
Contextually, the conventional approach and it
consequential dilemma can best explain poor
performances of recovery programmes in the north.
One of these challenges is the issue of acceptance of
development programmes and the political question,
in other words it is politics that infuences how
projects and programmes are received. This dilemma
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afected the implementation of Peace Recovery
and Development Programme (PRDP) Phase I
which was said to have been highly politicised. To
some proponents it turns out that laziness and lack
of access to information is a huge challenge to post
confict recovery and development.
The BUDS fund is equally accessible to all, including
the youth and this has the potential to increase
the number of rural enterprises and employment
opportunities in northern Uganda. Unfortunately,
community participation and involvement has
been ear-marked as minimal, and for a number
of reasons it is linked to dependency and the
perception that many locals prefer to have quick
fx solutions to their problems. Wider and broader
information dissemination as was conducted by
PSFU provides a forum through which people from
the north can beneft and acquire the pre-requisite
information necessary to enable them beneft from
BUDS grant projects. The challenge has been that
many individuals do not turn up for such forums
and end up being excluded, yet they cannot be
coerced to attend.
In essence, attitudes, behavior and systems play
a critical role in the successful engagement of the
locals in any post confict recovery programme.
Failure of the individuals penetrating through the
systems and becoming part of the system, presents
a risk of developing discontent and confict
regardless of the political motivations. The reality is
to reverse the sequence. In this case, PSFU should be
highly recommended and supported in information
dissemination, as the locals are encouraged to take
initiatives to become benefciaries.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE MISSING LINK IN
POST CONFLICT RECOVERY PROCESS.
Despite the fully blown implementation of
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP),
signifcant number of individuals and section of
Ugandans are still concerned about the recovery
and development terrain of Northern Uganda.
Much as the implementation of PRDP has its own
challenges, it ofers great remedial and progress
opportunity to the victimized population
within the afected districts/regions of Northern
Uganda. With the evolution of entrepreneurship
development in Uganda, PRDP may be looked
at as a post confict governmental enterprise
designed to revamp the economy and human
capital of the districts that were afected by the
Lord’s resistance army confict.
Over time, PRDP has been criticized for
putting strong emphasis on ‘hardware’, such as
rehabilitating infrastructures more than focusing
on ‘softwares’, such as psychological rehabilitation
and reconciliation amongst others. Looking at
some daunting confict drivers in Uganda as a
whole, specifcally youth unemployment, that
pose a security threat, the government of Uganda
continued to develop and implement turnaround
plan by for example initiating the Youth Venture
Capital, with strict and complicated guideline/
criteria the scheme ofers very little window of
opportunity for the overwhelming number of the
ever growing unemployed youth attempting to
access the funds.
For the case of Gulu district, it is alleged that only
one person managed to access the youth venture
fund since it was initiated and this has brought
overwhelming outcry on this relevant project that
pose irrelevant to the many desperate youth. The
repercussion is great, resulting into involvement
of youths in dubious acts and confict with the law,
and distrust of the state by the youth who feel that
their plight is not being attended to. Analytically, the
youth venture fund is not very far from PRDP, though
a clear diference is that the economic component of
this project would support engagement in business
for the purpose of earning income and proft that can
easily transform one’s life. These two projects seems
to be failing in appreciating the social niche of the
communities disintegrated by wars and other social
problems in the north thereby making the locals to
operate in unfriendly environment, with high risk
potentials of incurring losses and failures.
With such background, it is imperative for the
government of Uganda and other stakeholders
to initiate and embark social entrepreneurship
to support individuals deeply fractured by wars
to value collective productivity in post confict
situations. Social entrepreneurship is the exercise
of creativity, innovation and taking responsibility
to recognize daunting social problems/issues
afecting the society/community and application of
entrepreneurial principles and values to organize,
create, manage and develop social venture to
achieve desired social changes whose benefts to the
society can be measured.
It is important to recognise the increasing
government support to entrepreneurship as a
means of helping citizens confront social ills like
unemployment, and abating security concerns that
potentially can destabilize peace. The dilemma is
that such initiatives may not achieve its desired goals
if the emphasis is on supporting the proft-making
ventures and infrastructural refurbishment, without
bolt emphasis on subjects that unite people to join
hands in the peace and development process.
For the case of northern Uganda, many people have
not yet gotten to terms with their violent past and
the alleged/actual perpetrators have not yet fully
6
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
reconciled with one another to ensure harmonious
support and co-existence. The unhealed post war
challenges such as land conficts, fears, traumas,
armed robbery, theft and burglary, and arson, to
mention but a few, have huge impact and potentials
of impeding business growth and development of
business enterprises in the region.
It is then imperative to understand the status of
peace in the region and whether or not the confict
afected persons in northern Uganda are prepared
to engage in productive sustainable business. Thus,
social entrepreneurship is key for supporting the
growth and development of business enterprises, as
well as peace and recovery processes in the north.
It’s also relevant for supporting the community
members reconcile and learn to engage or transact
in productive life saving and developmental
ventures that are paramount for prosperity and
peace building. Rather, social entrepreneurs are
change agents who can seize missed opportunities,
improve on systems functionality and productivity
by developing creative approaches to change and
social transformation.
Stakeholders should learn to appreciate and
venture into social enterprise development and
provide solutions to social problems with improved
socialization, re-integration of war victims and
survivors, communal engagement and support,
sharing resources, prosperity for all, tolerance, unity,
attitude for belonging, ownership, peace, recovery
and development by and for all. This will help address
the confict drivers that pose detrimental to PRDP
and other sustainable peace building processes. All
in all, the government and other stakeholders should
appreciate and venture into social entrepreneurship
to support economic enterprise development in
confict afected communities and Uganda as a
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whole.
PSYCHOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION AND POST
CONFLICT RECOVERY: ANGER MANAGEMENT AND
DEALING WITH THE PAST IN NORTHERN UGANDA.
The bitter heart eats its owners – Xhosa saying in South Africa
For about 5 years Benard has been engaging
in research on forced migration, and my recent
engagement and analogy of confict drivers,
triggers and developmental challenges. Previously,
in engaged in a comprehensive comparative
study on National Reconciliation and Transitional
Justice in 10 districts across Uganda. During the
study, I established that there is a very particular
and indispensable aspect of humanity that
shapes peaceful coexistence amongst individuals
in a society has been left unattended to by the
government and Civil Society Organizations. That
element is anger.
Anger is a basic human emotion that is experienced
by all mankind and is always triggered by emotional
hurt that can either boil up instantly or emanate from
memory of dark past retrieved. This is psychological
and helping individuals or masses appropriately
deal with anger and emotions after violence is a
major challenge given the inadequacy and huge
lack of services along that spectrum in the country.
The confict-sensitive approach is therefore how to
manage anger at individual and collective levels
to support dialogue, reconciliation processes,
tolerance, forgiveness, unity, love, harmonious
co-existence and peace building processes in this
nation bedevilled by enduring legacies of conficts.
The fact that a human being is an emotional being
does not mean that diferences must be solved
through the exercise of masculinity and power, or
that humans are completely unable to come to
terms with extreme negative emotions that propel
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
them to rebel against others (or the government),
wage wars, incite violence, preach revolutionary
gospels or even commit suicide or other self-
aficting behaviours. However, addressing
such dynamics in culture and context specifc,
it is therefore important like any other area of
development and recovery spheres.
In Uganda’s history, we have seen instances where
anger has been manifested in manners that
caused national anarchy and insecurity. Consider
the storming of the Kabaka’s Palace in 1966, post-
independence violent regime changes, armed
rebellions, violent riots, land wrangles in Northern
Uganda (for example, in Apaa, Lakang and Elegu),
mob justice, revenge after conficts, clan conficts
and domestic violence in Uganda. One realises
that anger and the expression of related emotions
has had a great impact in disintegrating people
and destabilizing peace at all levels in Uganda.
Ugandan leaders and politicians, who should be
role models to the people they lead, have often
been caught in emotional tantrums that caused
shock and anxiety and eventually dragged their
followers into their anger pool, sparking chaos,
violence and mass resistance. Also, on the
grassroots level, unexamined anger is an obstacle
for properly rehabilitating and reintegrating
formerly abducted persons and afected
communities. These examples demonstrate the
need to understand further the energy of anger
and the challenge of addressing its impacts.
Clearly, anger management is vital in the quest for
promoting sustainable peace and development,
and it should be viewed beyond just controlling
emotions but also in terms of developing positive
attitudes, resilience and skills that can efectively
improve relationships. At a personal level, learning
simple anger management skills such as breathing
and relaxation exercises, reducing the amount of
stress, recognizing anger triggers, taking time to cool
down, taking time to react, evaluating consequences
of decisions and actions, counselling, discussions,
acknowledgement and apology amongst others can
provide support as one copes and deals with anger.
The major challenge for Uganda has been how to
address collective grievances that emanate from
politics, tribalism, social and economic exclusion,
corruption all of which are - governance defcits,
unresolved past wrongs and ignorance about using
self-help skills to peacefully resolve anger and
address diferences amicably. Negative attitudes
toward counselling cause many people to view it
as an activity for only mad or mentally sick people;
others feel that dialoguing with people in confict is
a weakness or failure which is fallacious.
As a country, we need to develop models and
practical approaches to address and manage anger
based on our history, experience, emerging and
current issues, and context as we seek towards
recovery. However, given the current Ugandan
journey to innovation and creativity, it becomes
strategically imperative to stimulate the citizens
to generate ideas, debates, pragmatic studies and
practices on anger management and analyse its
implication on peace, recovery and development
processes in northern Uganda.
In a nutshell, a holistic nationwide campaign on
anger management is needed, targeting all sections
of the Ugandan population. The Ministry of Ethics
and Integrity and other relevant ministries should
initiate programs and policies geared towards
understanding and shaping human emotions/anger.
National curriculum design needs to integrate anger
management modules in school/institution syllabi.
8
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Funded by
Decisions that afect citizens should not be made out of emotion, but through impartial processes involving
clear minds and clear intentions. This requires a review of decision-making at all levels. Masculinity and
femininity programs should be initiated to address gender-related anger.
9
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
About Refugee Law Project (RLP)
The Refugee Law Project (RLP) seeks to ensure fundamental human rights for all, including;
asylum seekers, refugees, and internally displaced persons within Uganda. RLP envision a
country that treats all people within its borders with the same standards of respect and social
justice.
About Advisory Consortium on Confict Sensitivity (ACCS)
The Advisory Consortium on Confict Sensitivity (ACCS) is a three member consortium that
brings together, Refugee Law Project, International Alert and Saferworld. The overall aim of
ACCS is assisting DFID and partners in strengthening the potential of the PCDP and recovery
process to address the causes of confict and contribute to sustainable peace and stability.
Under ACCS, RLP is leading on contextual analysis of the overall recovery process (focusing on
confict indicators, issues and dynamics), and early warning as and when necessary.
Acknowledgement:
This briefng note is authored for early warning and advocacy purposes. The brief was au-
thored by Otim Denis Barnabas – ACCS Project Ofcer, and Okot Benard Kasozi – Senior Re-
search and Advocacy Ofcer, with valuable input from Dr. Chris Dolan – Director, Stephen
Oola – ACCS Coordinator, Jackson Odong – Research and Advocacy Ofcer, Jessica Shewan –
Research Intern, Onen David Ongwech (Personal Assistant to the Director). The confict analy-
sis and early warning was made possible by UK-DFID fnancial support.
For comments contact:[email protected]
REFUGEE LAW PROJECT
“A Centre for Justice and Forced Migrants”
School of Law, Makerere University
Plot 5 & 9 Perryman Gardens, Old kampala,
(opp. Old Kampala Primary School)
P.o.Box 33903, Tel: +256 414 343 556
[email protected]
www.refugeelawproject.org
www.accsuganda.org
Designed by Opiny shaffc with valuable input from
Otim Denis Barnabas & Dr. Chris Dolan.
doc_301011055.pdf
This presentation explain re examining peace and economic recovery in northern uganda.
CONFLICT WATCH
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Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity
(ACCS)
“RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC
RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA”
Funded by
September Issue #6
Introduction
The September 2012 issue on Confict Watch represents and provides the Advisory
Consortium on Confict Sensitivity (ACCS) – Refugee Law Project (RLP) contextual analysis
and situational updates relating to peace and economic recovery in Northern Uganda.
This issue emphasizes that, despite economic and political interest dictating physical
reconstruction of infrastructures and service delivery, it is also imperative that human
consequences of violence – the memories and experiences of the people involved
are attended to, and that ownerships of actions taken to address the consequence of
confict should be embedded in the communities working for peace and development.
ACCS makes concerted efort towards fagging confict causes, triggers, actors as well
as early warnings.
Key titles in the issue include:
1) How can Northern Uganda sustain the hard earned peace: A refection on the
International Peace Day celebration
2) BUDS project making recovery a possibility in northern Uganda
3) Social entrepreneurship: a missing link in post confict recovery process
4) Psychological reconstruction and post confict recovery: Anger management
and dealing with the past in northern Uganda.
HOW CAN NORTHERN UGANDA SUSTAIN THE HARD EARNED PEACE: A REFLECTION
ON THE INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY CELEBRATION
In China there is a saying that “if you have not fought with each other, you do not know
each other”. This saying should inform our conscience in understanding the nexus
between peace and confict, in this case no matter what comes frst, whether peace
www.refugeelawproject.org
1
Compiled by Otim Denis Barnabas & Okot Benard Kasozi
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
or confict, they all impact on the community and
humanity. Rather, like seeing images in a picture,
many diferent individuals had difering viewpoint
about northern Uganda, and in particular the
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebellion. Various
assumptions and theoretical causations were
raised as subject of discussion whether perceived
or real they were useful in understanding the
reason behind the LRA rebellion.
Peace has become essential to recovery and
development of Northern Uganda, a region which
is emerging from over two decades of confict
waged between the Government of Uganda and
the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
The civil war which started in 1986 had disastrous
impact on the population of entire Northern
Uganda, with spillover efects to West Nile and
Eastern Districts of Uganda. Between 35,000
children were abducted by the LRA, and over
1.8 million people were displaced and forced to
live in squalid conditions in internally Displaced
Camps (IDP).
Following a period of intense confict and violence,
eforts were instituted by the Government of
Uganda and Civil Society Organisations to resolve
the confict through facilitated negotiations and
mediations, key amongst this was the Juba peace
talks of 2006 which resulted into consequential
signing of numerous agreements between the
conficting parties. Rather, most signifcantly was
the Cessation of Hostility Agreement. This was a
platform which sowed peace and marked reduction
in violence in Northern Uganda and paved way
for peace, recovery and development process of
Northern Uganda.
In commemoration of the International Day of
Peace situated for September 21st 2012, various
agencies and institution took part in Gulu district.
The Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre
(NUYDC) in collaboration with the Ofce of the
Prime Minister and the UK – Department for
International Development (DFID) commemorated
the day by highlighting the impact of peace to the
youth of Northern Uganda. The commemoration
was situated to acknowledge the benefts derived
from the just achieved peace and in particular
re-engaging youth into a productive force, a role
which NUYDC is undertaking with funding support
from UK-DFID. The NUYDC has embarked on a post
confict training support programme of providing
youth with business skills and mentorship. This bid
is to increase and improve on human capital and
employment opportunities.
At the district level, the International Day of Peace
was celebrated on the 19th September, 2012
at Kaunda Ground, Gulu Municipality. Various
dignitaries were present and of importance was the
2
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
The crowd that gathered to commemorate the celebration of
International Day of Peace, at Kaunda Ground in Gulu District
In the picture are Refugee Law Project stafs, other dignitaries and
the Archbishop John Baptist Odama receiving publications and
video documentaries from Refugee Law Project.
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
Archbishop John Baptist Odama and the winner
of the International Peace Price Award. The World
Vision International Peacemaking price was in
recognition of the role played by the Archbishop
in peacemaking in Northern Uganda. The theme
of the day was “Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable
Future”. This illustrates and confrms a shift from
peacemaking to peace-building. In the words of the
Chairman Gulu District Local Government “we are
now in the peace-building phase of our long journey
from confict. The ofcers and men of the Uganda
People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) took the lead in the
peace making phase of our journey; our religious
leaders and elected politicians took the lead in the
peace making phase. The question now before us is:
who will take the lead in this peace-building phase?
Who will be our peace-builders?”
The questions relay directly to the issue of sustainable
peace in post confict northern Uganda and what
should be done to avoid reversion to violent confict.
Implying that we need to understand with entirety
what to do as peace-builders. At this point the peace-
building approach to be adopted in the north should
aim at not only addressing confict behaviors, but also
the underlying context and attitudes that give rise
to violence, such as unequal access to employment,
discrimination and exclusion, unacknowledged and
unforgiven responsibility for the past crimes, and so
on. These are national issues that the state should
pick it up. Implying peace building is a process, that
3
is holistic and aim at transforming violence.
The danger is that many societies and communities
in the north are excluded from a range of economic,
political and social factors. Peace is often compared
to health, in that it is more easily recognized by its
absence. Like health, all have to access it. However,
unlike health it is contested: people disagree over
what a peaceful society is. Many people in the
north understand peace to be the absence of war,
as this is of course important, others see it as a step
towards peace – building. The north as it is now is
just relatively peaceful, the reasons are obvious and
some of these reasons includes; land disputes and
confict in the entire northern Uganda including
some West Nile districts; youth unemployment;
the “nodding” disease and poor health services
in Kitgum, Pader, Lamwo and Gulu district. Other
general problems includes; increasing school
dropout in particular in Lamwo, armed robbery,
witchcraft, unattended plight of teachers, health
workers and army veterans.
In other words, dealing with consequences of
violence requires refection, analysis and time of the
past and what the present and the future should be.
There are no quick fx solutions, and each and every
one must fnd the necessary tools and processes
most suitable to each and single confict contexts,
violence and involve others in pursuing a resolution
or solution.
Refugee Law Project contribution towards
sustainable peace and peace-building has been
through ongoing contextual analysis of the overall
recovery process of Northern Uganda (focusing on
confict indicators, issues and dynamics), and early
warning as and when necessary. It is within this
context that Refugee Law Project fashes out key
post confict recovery challenges and early warnings
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Archbishop John Baptish Odama the winner of the International
Peace Price Award
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
to various stakeholders. We recommend that; the
Government of Uganda should urgently improve
the functionality of existing health facilities and
where necessary establish new ones; strengthen
and support land administration authorities
through trainings on land management and
dispute resolution as well increasing stafng in
particular the judiciary (magistrates) to resolve
land matters and other pressing recovery
challenges.
BUDS PROJECT MAKING RECOVERY A POSSIBILITY
IN NORTHERN UGANDA
“This money is honestly free, I must get my share
before it is done”, says a male adult in a meeting
hosted by PSFU in Bomah, Gulu.
A highly anomalous situation occurred on the
18th of September, 2012, when the Private Sector
Foundation Uganda (PSFU) held a dissemination
session at Bomah Hotel in Gulu district. The session
was motivated by the need to clarify on the alleged
challenges that locals face in accessing Business
Uganda Development Scheme (BUDS) fund. The
session was attended by a number of individuals
with varied business interest, what was surprising
was that there were just a handful of youth. The
BUDS cumulative grant
support is a maximum
of Two Hundred and
Fifty Thousand Pounds
Sterling (£250,000) per
qualifying enterprise;
unfortunately, many
individuals are not
taking advantage of
utilizing this grant says
the Executive Director
of PSFU.
This piece relay issues relating to economic
revitalization of communities in post confict
environment and how it is being done through
the BUDS grant, and why it has the potential of
succeeding and transforming lives. Historically,
post –confict recovery in Northern Uganda has
not been impressive because most programmes
have not been sustainable and able to transform
the lives of the people. This as alleged has been
due to mismanagement of project funds and the
technicality involved in applying for funding by
benefciaries, a case in point has been the Northern
Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF 1).
Previous experiences and failures have resulted into
what can now be called as a turnaround strategy
aimed at minimizing mismanagement of funds.
This strategy to which many locals concur with to
be efective is being applied by the Private Sector
Foundation Uganda (PSFU), Business Uganda
Development Scheme (BUDS). The PSFU – BUDS
modality is that; it only advances 50% advance
payment for all business development services and
skills development activities, and another 50% on
completion of the activity to service provider(s); for
all capital investment related
activities, the scheme advances
its contribution directly to the
client’s chosen suppliers; in doing
so some level of commitment,
efectiveness and efciency is
achieved, most importantly and
what provides assurance is the
willing of the human resource at
PSFU to help guide an individual
through the entire process of
accessing the grant.
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RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
BUDS-DFID gave out 21 tractors and farming implements to 13
farmer groups in Northern Uganda recently
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
Despite the opportunity being provided by the
UK- Department for International Development
(DFID) - BUDS funded project and grant, millions of
people in Northern Uganda still lavish in poverty.
How do we then give hope to these millions of
people living in a post confict recovery context
with the need for sustainable peace and economic
deliverance? Rather, to respond to this, enlightened
compassion and directed self interest has been
the core in directing infuences and the need to
contribute towards the recovery of northern Uganda
by numerous international donor agencies. The UK –
through the Post Confict Development Programme
(PCDP) strongly rally behind the Peace Recovery
Development Programme (PRDP) and the Poverty
Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).
The UK PCDP supports the Government of Uganda
to deliver immediate benefts of peace and promote
the long-term transformation of northern Uganda
through; enhancing local government (LG) capacity
for equitable service delivery; promoting private
sector-led growth, investment and employment;
providing basic literacy to youth, and skills
training; delivering targeted social protection; and
establishing Government of Uganda structures
to support national reconciliation. All these have
been intended to reverse and address the shocks of
the efects of the two decade war that afected the
region. The question is why does the north still lag
behind, the rest of the country?
Contextually, the conventional approach and it
consequential dilemma can best explain poor
performances of recovery programmes in the north.
One of these challenges is the issue of acceptance of
development programmes and the political question,
in other words it is politics that infuences how
projects and programmes are received. This dilemma
5
afected the implementation of Peace Recovery
and Development Programme (PRDP) Phase I
which was said to have been highly politicised. To
some proponents it turns out that laziness and lack
of access to information is a huge challenge to post
confict recovery and development.
The BUDS fund is equally accessible to all, including
the youth and this has the potential to increase
the number of rural enterprises and employment
opportunities in northern Uganda. Unfortunately,
community participation and involvement has
been ear-marked as minimal, and for a number
of reasons it is linked to dependency and the
perception that many locals prefer to have quick
fx solutions to their problems. Wider and broader
information dissemination as was conducted by
PSFU provides a forum through which people from
the north can beneft and acquire the pre-requisite
information necessary to enable them beneft from
BUDS grant projects. The challenge has been that
many individuals do not turn up for such forums
and end up being excluded, yet they cannot be
coerced to attend.
In essence, attitudes, behavior and systems play
a critical role in the successful engagement of the
locals in any post confict recovery programme.
Failure of the individuals penetrating through the
systems and becoming part of the system, presents
a risk of developing discontent and confict
regardless of the political motivations. The reality is
to reverse the sequence. In this case, PSFU should be
highly recommended and supported in information
dissemination, as the locals are encouraged to take
initiatives to become benefciaries.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE MISSING LINK IN
POST CONFLICT RECOVERY PROCESS.
Despite the fully blown implementation of
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP),
signifcant number of individuals and section of
Ugandans are still concerned about the recovery
and development terrain of Northern Uganda.
Much as the implementation of PRDP has its own
challenges, it ofers great remedial and progress
opportunity to the victimized population
within the afected districts/regions of Northern
Uganda. With the evolution of entrepreneurship
development in Uganda, PRDP may be looked
at as a post confict governmental enterprise
designed to revamp the economy and human
capital of the districts that were afected by the
Lord’s resistance army confict.
Over time, PRDP has been criticized for
putting strong emphasis on ‘hardware’, such as
rehabilitating infrastructures more than focusing
on ‘softwares’, such as psychological rehabilitation
and reconciliation amongst others. Looking at
some daunting confict drivers in Uganda as a
whole, specifcally youth unemployment, that
pose a security threat, the government of Uganda
continued to develop and implement turnaround
plan by for example initiating the Youth Venture
Capital, with strict and complicated guideline/
criteria the scheme ofers very little window of
opportunity for the overwhelming number of the
ever growing unemployed youth attempting to
access the funds.
For the case of Gulu district, it is alleged that only
one person managed to access the youth venture
fund since it was initiated and this has brought
overwhelming outcry on this relevant project that
pose irrelevant to the many desperate youth. The
repercussion is great, resulting into involvement
of youths in dubious acts and confict with the law,
and distrust of the state by the youth who feel that
their plight is not being attended to. Analytically, the
youth venture fund is not very far from PRDP, though
a clear diference is that the economic component of
this project would support engagement in business
for the purpose of earning income and proft that can
easily transform one’s life. These two projects seems
to be failing in appreciating the social niche of the
communities disintegrated by wars and other social
problems in the north thereby making the locals to
operate in unfriendly environment, with high risk
potentials of incurring losses and failures.
With such background, it is imperative for the
government of Uganda and other stakeholders
to initiate and embark social entrepreneurship
to support individuals deeply fractured by wars
to value collective productivity in post confict
situations. Social entrepreneurship is the exercise
of creativity, innovation and taking responsibility
to recognize daunting social problems/issues
afecting the society/community and application of
entrepreneurial principles and values to organize,
create, manage and develop social venture to
achieve desired social changes whose benefts to the
society can be measured.
It is important to recognise the increasing
government support to entrepreneurship as a
means of helping citizens confront social ills like
unemployment, and abating security concerns that
potentially can destabilize peace. The dilemma is
that such initiatives may not achieve its desired goals
if the emphasis is on supporting the proft-making
ventures and infrastructural refurbishment, without
bolt emphasis on subjects that unite people to join
hands in the peace and development process.
For the case of northern Uganda, many people have
not yet gotten to terms with their violent past and
the alleged/actual perpetrators have not yet fully
6
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
reconciled with one another to ensure harmonious
support and co-existence. The unhealed post war
challenges such as land conficts, fears, traumas,
armed robbery, theft and burglary, and arson, to
mention but a few, have huge impact and potentials
of impeding business growth and development of
business enterprises in the region.
It is then imperative to understand the status of
peace in the region and whether or not the confict
afected persons in northern Uganda are prepared
to engage in productive sustainable business. Thus,
social entrepreneurship is key for supporting the
growth and development of business enterprises, as
well as peace and recovery processes in the north.
It’s also relevant for supporting the community
members reconcile and learn to engage or transact
in productive life saving and developmental
ventures that are paramount for prosperity and
peace building. Rather, social entrepreneurs are
change agents who can seize missed opportunities,
improve on systems functionality and productivity
by developing creative approaches to change and
social transformation.
Stakeholders should learn to appreciate and
venture into social enterprise development and
provide solutions to social problems with improved
socialization, re-integration of war victims and
survivors, communal engagement and support,
sharing resources, prosperity for all, tolerance, unity,
attitude for belonging, ownership, peace, recovery
and development by and for all. This will help address
the confict drivers that pose detrimental to PRDP
and other sustainable peace building processes. All
in all, the government and other stakeholders should
appreciate and venture into social entrepreneurship
to support economic enterprise development in
confict afected communities and Uganda as a
7
whole.
PSYCHOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION AND POST
CONFLICT RECOVERY: ANGER MANAGEMENT AND
DEALING WITH THE PAST IN NORTHERN UGANDA.
The bitter heart eats its owners – Xhosa saying in South Africa
For about 5 years Benard has been engaging
in research on forced migration, and my recent
engagement and analogy of confict drivers,
triggers and developmental challenges. Previously,
in engaged in a comprehensive comparative
study on National Reconciliation and Transitional
Justice in 10 districts across Uganda. During the
study, I established that there is a very particular
and indispensable aspect of humanity that
shapes peaceful coexistence amongst individuals
in a society has been left unattended to by the
government and Civil Society Organizations. That
element is anger.
Anger is a basic human emotion that is experienced
by all mankind and is always triggered by emotional
hurt that can either boil up instantly or emanate from
memory of dark past retrieved. This is psychological
and helping individuals or masses appropriately
deal with anger and emotions after violence is a
major challenge given the inadequacy and huge
lack of services along that spectrum in the country.
The confict-sensitive approach is therefore how to
manage anger at individual and collective levels
to support dialogue, reconciliation processes,
tolerance, forgiveness, unity, love, harmonious
co-existence and peace building processes in this
nation bedevilled by enduring legacies of conficts.
The fact that a human being is an emotional being
does not mean that diferences must be solved
through the exercise of masculinity and power, or
that humans are completely unable to come to
terms with extreme negative emotions that propel
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org
them to rebel against others (or the government),
wage wars, incite violence, preach revolutionary
gospels or even commit suicide or other self-
aficting behaviours. However, addressing
such dynamics in culture and context specifc,
it is therefore important like any other area of
development and recovery spheres.
In Uganda’s history, we have seen instances where
anger has been manifested in manners that
caused national anarchy and insecurity. Consider
the storming of the Kabaka’s Palace in 1966, post-
independence violent regime changes, armed
rebellions, violent riots, land wrangles in Northern
Uganda (for example, in Apaa, Lakang and Elegu),
mob justice, revenge after conficts, clan conficts
and domestic violence in Uganda. One realises
that anger and the expression of related emotions
has had a great impact in disintegrating people
and destabilizing peace at all levels in Uganda.
Ugandan leaders and politicians, who should be
role models to the people they lead, have often
been caught in emotional tantrums that caused
shock and anxiety and eventually dragged their
followers into their anger pool, sparking chaos,
violence and mass resistance. Also, on the
grassroots level, unexamined anger is an obstacle
for properly rehabilitating and reintegrating
formerly abducted persons and afected
communities. These examples demonstrate the
need to understand further the energy of anger
and the challenge of addressing its impacts.
Clearly, anger management is vital in the quest for
promoting sustainable peace and development,
and it should be viewed beyond just controlling
emotions but also in terms of developing positive
attitudes, resilience and skills that can efectively
improve relationships. At a personal level, learning
simple anger management skills such as breathing
and relaxation exercises, reducing the amount of
stress, recognizing anger triggers, taking time to cool
down, taking time to react, evaluating consequences
of decisions and actions, counselling, discussions,
acknowledgement and apology amongst others can
provide support as one copes and deals with anger.
The major challenge for Uganda has been how to
address collective grievances that emanate from
politics, tribalism, social and economic exclusion,
corruption all of which are - governance defcits,
unresolved past wrongs and ignorance about using
self-help skills to peacefully resolve anger and
address diferences amicably. Negative attitudes
toward counselling cause many people to view it
as an activity for only mad or mentally sick people;
others feel that dialoguing with people in confict is
a weakness or failure which is fallacious.
As a country, we need to develop models and
practical approaches to address and manage anger
based on our history, experience, emerging and
current issues, and context as we seek towards
recovery. However, given the current Ugandan
journey to innovation and creativity, it becomes
strategically imperative to stimulate the citizens
to generate ideas, debates, pragmatic studies and
practices on anger management and analyse its
implication on peace, recovery and development
processes in northern Uganda.
In a nutshell, a holistic nationwide campaign on
anger management is needed, targeting all sections
of the Ugandan population. The Ministry of Ethics
and Integrity and other relevant ministries should
initiate programs and policies geared towards
understanding and shaping human emotions/anger.
National curriculum design needs to integrate anger
management modules in school/institution syllabi.
8
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Funded by
Decisions that afect citizens should not be made out of emotion, but through impartial processes involving
clear minds and clear intentions. This requires a review of decision-making at all levels. Masculinity and
femininity programs should be initiated to address gender-related anger.
9
RE-EXAMINING PEACE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTHERN UGANDA
About Refugee Law Project (RLP)
The Refugee Law Project (RLP) seeks to ensure fundamental human rights for all, including;
asylum seekers, refugees, and internally displaced persons within Uganda. RLP envision a
country that treats all people within its borders with the same standards of respect and social
justice.
About Advisory Consortium on Confict Sensitivity (ACCS)
The Advisory Consortium on Confict Sensitivity (ACCS) is a three member consortium that
brings together, Refugee Law Project, International Alert and Saferworld. The overall aim of
ACCS is assisting DFID and partners in strengthening the potential of the PCDP and recovery
process to address the causes of confict and contribute to sustainable peace and stability.
Under ACCS, RLP is leading on contextual analysis of the overall recovery process (focusing on
confict indicators, issues and dynamics), and early warning as and when necessary.
Acknowledgement:
This briefng note is authored for early warning and advocacy purposes. The brief was au-
thored by Otim Denis Barnabas – ACCS Project Ofcer, and Okot Benard Kasozi – Senior Re-
search and Advocacy Ofcer, with valuable input from Dr. Chris Dolan – Director, Stephen
Oola – ACCS Coordinator, Jackson Odong – Research and Advocacy Ofcer, Jessica Shewan –
Research Intern, Onen David Ongwech (Personal Assistant to the Director). The confict analy-
sis and early warning was made possible by UK-DFID fnancial support.
For comments contact:[email protected]
REFUGEE LAW PROJECT
“A Centre for Justice and Forced Migrants”
School of Law, Makerere University
Plot 5 & 9 Perryman Gardens, Old kampala,
(opp. Old Kampala Primary School)
P.o.Box 33903, Tel: +256 414 343 556
[email protected]
www.refugeelawproject.org
www.accsuganda.org
Designed by Opiny shaffc with valuable input from
Otim Denis Barnabas & Dr. Chris Dolan.
doc_301011055.pdf