United Nations
Development Programme

Plot 15B Clement Hill Road

P.O Box 7184

Kampala, Uganda

Tel: (256) 414-233440/1/2/5

Fax: (256) 414-344801

Email: registry.ug@undp.org

Background

Uganda has had natural and human induced disasters, including conflict, over an extended period of time. The armed conflict that has affected Northern Uganda for nearly two decades has led to loss of human security, life and assets, and has caused social upheaval, including dismantling of social safety nets, a marked drop in productivity and the destruction of vital infrastructure such as health centers and schools. A combination of armed conflicts and other forms of disasters have weakened communities and institutions in the northern and north-eastern regions - as well as some areas in the western region - of Uganda.

The overall aim of the Recovery Disaster Risk Reduction Programme is to support recovery of communities in Uganda that have been affected by disaster, within the context of the government’s anti-poverty policy framework - the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP). The beneficiaries are women, men, youth, persons living with disabilities, persons living with HIV/AIDS, and the elderly, in disaster affected areas of Uganda. The programme will build on the Transition to Recovery Programme (TRP) with the aim of strengthening the capacity of state and non-state actors to effectively and efficiently undertake and coordinate recovery, peace building, and disaster risk reduction and management programmes at the local, district, and national levels.

Development objectives

The overall objective of this programme is to support the recovery of disaster affected communities in Uganda for the advancement of integrated sustainable development within the context of the policy framework of the Poverty Eradication Action Plan.

To achieve this overall objective, the programme has four components:

(1) recovery

(2) peace building and conflict prevention

(3) disaster risk reduction and management

(4) institutional strengthening

These four components are interlinked, since peace cannot thrive without deliberate and concerted community recovery interventions and disaster risk management, and recovery cannot occur without peace and functioning conflict prevention mechanisms in place.

Key activities & expected results

The programme aims to achieve its overall objective through:

• empowering women and men to participate in inclusive decision-making processes, at all levels, that affect their lives
• building resilience of women, men, and youth to conflicts and other disasters through skills training, improvement in welfare, household incomes, and access to land
• empowerment of women, men, and youth through building of their asset base
• strengthening of capacity to promote the integration of peace-building and conflict prevention initiatives in development programming
• strengthening of the culture of peaceful co-existence and settlement of conflicts within and between communities
• strengthening of local community mechanisms for conflict prevention and management
• enhancement of government and community capacity to effectively predict, prevent, respond and mitigate the occurrence of disasters
• strengthening of disaster risk reduction management information systems

Implementation phase

The programme has only recently succeeded the TRP and will be implemented over three years (2007 to 2010).

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UNDP TRAC Resources: 690,000

The Programme is implemented through a National Execution (NEX) modality, the Office of the Prime Minister (Dept. of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees) in partnership with other government and non-government actors involved in peace building, recovery and disaster risk reduction and management