Uganda’s population currently exceeds 40 million and continues to grow rapidly. With 56% of Uganda’s population under the age of 18, Uganda is experiencing a youth bulge, with one of the youngest populations in the world. Many of these youth are faced with acute challenges: nearly 15% of children are orphans, one in four households supports an orphaned child, and 51% (8 million) of children are moderately or critically vulnerable.
We build capacity, coordination, and advocacy at all levels in Uganda—from children and households to community responses to district and national mechanisms—to address service delivery gaps, expand access, and improve service quality. Our efforts complement and strengthen existing local government systems and initiatives.
The Uganda team is innovating several new approaches – strengthening the child protection response through Closed User Groups (using mobile phones) to enhance networks and link together community and government actors; equipping out of school adolescent youth with proven alternative skills to enable them to earn money and pursue long term goals; and, addressing sexual and gender-based violence through social norms change approaches that engage girls, boys, women and men