This project aims at an empowered network engaging in policies, programmes and practices for the sustainable improvement of Uganda’s informal settlements in Uganda/ East Africa. The project is funded by We Effect (formerly Swedish Cooperative Center) as part of their Housing Programme titled: “The Right to Adequate Housing in East Africa”.

The purpose of the project is to raise awareness and conscious actions towards improved living conditions in informal settlements. The project is empowering communities with awareness to improve their situations and make a difference in their housing situation. The project aims to demonstrate to government that the support of communities that have recognized their roles and are willing to work under a self-help approach is sustainable and desirable for all.

The project will ensure the promotion of sustainable community approaches that can be replicated in different areas of Uganda and that address specific issues of informal settlements in the ten (10) districts that will be engaged in the project. The project is a right based project that aims at lobbying government to honor its obligations to communities, particularly those of informal settlements. This is done through increased awareness and demanding for accountability in the housing sector and by advocating for the right to adequate human settlements for all in Uganda.

Some of the key activities and strategies of the project include:

The project emphasizes past experiences of successful advocacy and capacity building to better serve the target population of the network. The project also seeks to maintain and develop regional partnerships that can increase cross border advocacy on housing issues in the region.

This project, funded by UN Fund for Gender Equality (UNWomen), is aimed at empowering urban poor Women groups in central and eastern Uganda’s urban communities to access property and adequate housing for economic development. The project targets the districts of Kampala and Jinja. The objectives are being achieved through three main strategies including:

Through these strategies, the project is empowering women with skills in property and housing development, paralegal skills for women to actualize their rights to property and fostering partnerships and coalitions towards promotion of women’s property and housing rights for economic empowerment.

The project also links the urban poor women groups to key stakeholders to ensure synergy in support of women’s rights to property as a means to better their economic status.

Furthermore, the project intends to develop resource tools that will guide sensitization and awareness of communities on benefits of asset development for women. The project aims to institute sustainable services that can be scaled up to other areas within the districts and subsequently to other districts and regions of Uganda.

The secondary focus of the project is to promote entrepreneurship and guarantee social protection for urban poor women. The logic is that by increasing access to property there will be increased businesses opportunities which translates into promotion of entrepreneurship.

This project promotes decent living within slum communities through integration and promotion of good practices on housing, water, sanitation and hygiene. The project aims at improving the lives of people living in slums in Kampala through improved housing, water and sanitation. It is fundedby The Swedish Postcode Lottery and implemented in collaboration with We Effect, WaterAid and Community Integrated Development Initiatives (CIDI).

The project objective is to improve the living conditions and contribute to a dignified life for people living in the slums of Kampala City by ensuring decent and safe housing as well as access to safe water and sanitation. The projects target areas include; Busega, Mutundwe (Rubaga Division), Kibuye and Ggaba (Makindye Division) as well as limited activities with groups and communities in Central Division. The project aim to:

This is being achieved through a number of strategies, including; partnerships, capacity building, lobbying and advocacy, mainstreaming, HRBA, service delivery/ construction of facilities and information sharing.

As a result the project will lead to; increased access to safe, healthy and decent housing and improved access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene for slum dwellers in Kampala, strengthened partnerships and coalitions influencing housing and WASH related policies programs and practices and enhanced good governance for sustainable and equitable WASH and housing service delivery.

SSA: UHSNET in partnership with the Sustainable Urban Development Organization (SUDA), the Faculty of the Built Environment at Uganda Martyr’s University and the Embassy of France in Uganda is implementing this one-year project, aimed at supporting community led initiatives to provide environmentally sustainable sanitation.

The goal of the project is to:

The project is being implemented with support from the French Embassy under the Social Development Fund. The benefit community groups will include Kanyogoga Women’s Association, Global Network Evangelistic Association, New Generation Women Group, Kwagalana Women’s Group and Namuwongo Community Development Organisation.

A number of strategies are used to reach the objectives. For example, the project promotes and trains community members in the use of Interlocking Soil Stabilized Brick making machines (ISSB) as an affordable and environmentally friendly technology, for construction of essential infrastructure; e.g. toilets and solid waste collection points.

The project takes on a “Learning by Doing” approach in which community participation plays a crucial role in the choice of sites, equipment, structures, and methodology. In addition, students of ‘built environment/architecture’ assist communities in construction design, sitting, and construction. This enables a learning culture that goes beyond the theoretical model of teaching and incorporates a ‘hands on’ approach. The project provides skills and raises awareness among communities on entrepreneurship, cooperatives, and management structures for sustainability.

The Participatory Housing Approaches towards Improved Informal Settlements’ project (PHATIIS) is implemented under the Kampala Slum Transformation Initiative (KASTI) and is funded by Comic Relief. The project focuses on empowering slum communities to enhance their participation in policy, practices and programs. It targets improving knowledge management in slums for sustainable planning and upgrading and improving access to secure land tenure and housing. The project seeks to empower slum communities in Kampala to have a clear understanding of their rights, and increased community involvement in approaches that improve their human settlements. PHATIIS is expected to lead to four key outcomes namely:

The three year project  includes activities such as public debates; dialogue meetings with parliamentarians, and ministries; involving of the media in policy briefs, reviews and campaigns, and participation in national, regional and international events to lobby the position of the network. With its strong focus on the cooperative model, the project also aim to mobilise and build capacity in cooperative management and document the perceptions, the impact and the successes of housing cooperatives in the project area.

In order to strengthen the capacity and profile of the network, the project includes stakeholder mapping and tailored-made capacity building for the network to effectively steer change in slum dweller communities.

The Rapid response to Epidemics project is an intervention supported by We Effect to contribute towards the effort of raising awareness on preventive control measures on disease epidemics such as Ebola and Marburg. SSA: UHSNET intends to carry out community led awareness creation and preventive measures to control the outbreak and spread of epidemics. The project will specifically target awareness creation in informal settlements and urban poor communities in Wakiso and Kampala district.

The expected outcomes include:

This six-month project aims at enhancing the capacity of the Network and its members to respond to epidemic outbreaks. In order to reach the outcomes of increased awareness among members on protection and control of epidemics, the activities implemented includes peer educations, school sensitization campaigns and dialogue meetings among others. The project takes place in Wakiso and Kampala, and is implemented in partnership with the Network member Chain Foundation, whose main work revolves around community outreach and health issues.