A few words about

What We Do

Our Porfolio

ADOL is implements progams across Karamoja, Acholi and West Nile Sub-regions. Our Programs include; Economic empowerment, Capacity Building for sustainable development, Human rights and peace building (observance, protection and promotion of human rights, land rights, land conflict management etc.)

Kampala | Napak | Abim

— COVID 19 Response

Since the first case of Coronavirus was detected in Uganda on 21st March 2020, the Government responded through drastic steps to protect its citizens from COVID 19 infections. There was a total lockdown from 18th March up to 21st April 2020 and again extended to 5th May 2020. More partial lockdown followed thereafter. Schools, universities, and weekly markets were closed. Only food sales were allowed in traditional markets. The first lockdown had closure of shopping malls, shops except shops selling foodstuff and supermarkets; All public transport of passengers suspended except cargo; Bars, discotheques, clubs, and saloons closed; Public prayers stooped; All international borders were closed; curfew imposed from 7 pm to 6:30 am every night. People were advised to wash hands with sanitizer or water and soap frequently, keep social distances of more than four meters all the time and avoid touching the eyes, nose, and mouth; People also advised to self-report or be reported suspicious cases to authorities; People breaking the Presidential directives will be arrested and prosecuted for defying lawful orders.

 

As a result, there was a Loss of jobs and incomes; families especially girls developed negative coping strategies like sex work for money, which undermines their morals and exposes them to drugs, alcohol, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS. Some youth started surviving through theft. There was Gender-Based Violence in most families. Consultations with families revealed an increase in gender-based violence in the homes according to local authorities because men are staying at home all day and financial constraints have strained family relations as the men can’t provide for their families. There was also stigma and discrimination as Abim people discriminated against other tribes as the locals say that they will bring COVID-19.

 

ADOL intervened through support from GIZ-CUSP as follows:
Printed and distributed banners on COVID 19. Banners contained messages on how one can acquire COVID 19, can infect others and how to control spread. The banner was translated into local language; Supported District Task Force with fuel for surveillance; Provided District Task Force with Facemasks, sanitizers; Provided airtime for radio talk shows for community awareness on COVID 19; Addressed Gender-Based Violence through its advocacy programs on human rights and good governance. As a result, over 15 COVID 19 cases were referred from Abim to Moroto and Many Referral Hospitals, 56 Frontline medical staff were protected through facemasks; ADOL staff and Frontline Medical workers had sanitizers throughout their community work thus protecting and motivating them to save more lives. The banners, which were pinned in all institutions educated the communities on COVID 19 and minimized its spread.

Abim

— Promoting the rights of Women, Youth and Children, 2004-22

Gender based violence is very common among the communities of northern Uganda as husbands use domestic violence to assert authority on their wives in homesteads. The rights of women are abused because of high bride price paid to seal a marriage and also because women are ignorant of their rights and survival strategies. Women are discriminated against in terms of education and equal share of household resources like land, harvest and sharing of incomes generated from crop production and other domestic activities. And yet they contribute over 95% of the labour force in garden work.


ADOL has been empowering women in the observance, protection and promotion of their rights. Some of the rights include: Right to ownership of property; Right to Education & health; Sexual Reproductive Health Rights; Right to safe and clean water, among others. This is done through training.


Four-(4) different projects were implemented under this component. USAID/REDSO Nairobi (2004-2006); American Embassy-Kampala (2008), Oxfam-VOICE (2018-2019) and DINU (2020-2022) supported these initiatives.

Nakapiripirit | Abim

— Enhancing Community Participation in Local Government Planning and Budget Process. Jan. 2020-22

Communities of northern Uganda have been experiencing very poor service delivery by their respective district local governments. Overtime, the communities could not hold these duty bearers accountable for better service delivery because they don’t know their roles as rights holders. In order to realise improved service delivery, ADOL is training service delivery User-Committees (water-user-committee, Area Land Committees, Roads-User-Committees, Health Boards, School Management Committees, District Public Accounts Committees, Parish Development Committees, Women and Child Rights Activists) on their roles. As a result, there is now increased participation of the communities in the Local Government Planning, Budget processes and budget performance monitoring. There are organised community’s open accountability fora (score-cards) for each service delivery/project where any responsible duty bearer is tasked to account for. This project was implemented from January 2020 to April, 2022 with the support from European Union and Government of Uganda under Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU).
Abim | Kotido | Nakapiripirit

— Improving Food Security. 2010-22

Farmers in northern Uganda have continuously experienced low agricultural production due to poor farming practices. Poor farming practices have caused low agriculture productivity/outputs hence food insecurity, poverty and environmental degradation. The Government extension services machinery are very weak and highly un-reliable, and this leaves the farmers with no alternative but rather to continue with the traditional farming methods which are quite inefficient and destructive to the environment. The problem of environmental degradation is exacerbated by increased pressure on trees for firewood and charcoal. ADOL is introducing farmers to modern climate smart agriculture and post-harvest handling techniques for increased production and productivity. Farmers are also being introduced to wood energy saving stoves to alleviate environmental destruction. These farmers are being organized into groups and involved in micro-finance Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) to enable them raise business start-up capital and also promote diversification of their agricultural products. Three projects have been implemented under this component. Royal Netherlands Embassy supported two projects (2010-2012 and 2013-2014); World Wide Fund for Nature (2013-2015); UNDP (2020-2021); and Cooperation and Development (2022-ongoing).
Abim

— Capacity building for Continuity & Sustainability, 2019-to-date

Most community groups are still operating with loose structures not recognized either by the district local governments or even by farmers associations and funding agencies. They have often missed out from obtaining support from other development agencies because first, they are not registered and secondly, they lack organizational leadership and managerial skills and capabilities to voice out their concerns. Even within themselves, the group leaders do not know their roles for them to steer the groups towards more productive directions. ADOL is training these groups in leadership and managerial skills for cohesion and sustainability of their mandate and continuity beyond any support. With support from GIZ-CUSP, ADOL has reviewed its Strategic Plan, developed its Resource Mobilisation Strategy, Developed Board Manual and now developing its Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) System. Staff have been trained on various aspects to manage and utilize those skills. Infrastructure equipment including computers, solar system and website have been installed. These support started from 2019 and still ongoing.
Napak

— Responding to COVID 19 and Human Trafficking, 2020-22

There are an estimated 10,000 street children in Uganda and 6,000 street children in Kampala City and Wakiso alone of which 80% are from Karamoja, according to UNICEF. Interestingly, 80% of Karamojong street children are from Napak district in Karamoja. These children are trafficked by a network of traffickers nick named ‘begging entrepreneurs’ who facilitate the process. These are adults, mostly women, who have specialized in trafficking children to the cities for begging as an enterprise. Some of these children are being trafficked to Nairobi-Kenya and beyond to Somalia. They face all forms of exploitation including; sexual exploitation, forced labour and forced begging. ADOL is rescuing the trafficked girls and teenage mothers and integrating them with their families. They are provided with social protection, legal aid, and economic livelihood. As response to COVID 19, the trafficked children are provided with Face-masks, sanitizers, washing facilities including soap, clothing, food and shelter. All the two projects are supported by United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2020-2022.
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