USAID’s Supporting Access to Justice, Fostering Equity and Peace (SAFE) Program is a five-year initiative to improve citizen access to land-related justice and to strengthen peace building and conflict mitigation.
This Report is organized to track to the program’s progress under the objectives and intermediate results identified in the program’s Work Plan. The Report highlights progress towards planned achievement of milestones and performance management indicators. The Report details the programs contributions to access to justice and conflict mitigation in Uganda. The Report includes success stories and information on results, challenges, and next steps to be implemented in Quarter 1 of Year 2. Key documents produced in Year 1 are included in the Annex to this Report.
PROGRESS HIGHLIGHTS
During Year 1, the Supporting Access to Justice, Fostering Equity and Peace (SAFE) Program implemented activities to improve access to justice and peace and reconciliation in Uganda, with the deliberate aim of ensuring the sustainability of our activities even after Program end. SAFE is working closely with the Conflict Early Warning and Response Unit at the Ministry of Internal Affairs during implementation of conflict monitor training, conflict assessment reports and conflict mapping. SAFE’s first round of grants cover multiple districts in the North, addressing a range of issues in both Component I and Component II and all have components targeting women and youth. Illustrative progress highlights are described below:
IMPROVED ACCESS TO JUSTICE
- The Program finalized the Community Legal Volunteers Manual, to be used by SAFE grantees to promote legal aid in poorly served Districts.
ENHANCED PEACE & RECONCILIATION
- The Program finalized a Training Manual for Conflict Monitors and used it to train 14 selected Conflict Monitors.
- Conflict Monitors are supporting monthly conflict assessments in the districts of Moroto, Kibaale, Lira, Amuru and Gulu.
- The Program designed and implemented an innovative SMS-based conflict reporting and monitoring system. This is the first of its kind in Uganda. Conflict Monitors will text incidents to a toll-free hotline and the system will immediately generate questions prompting the conflict Monitor to add more information such as: location of incident, type of incident, parties involved, number of injuries or deaths, etc. The entire question-response, back and forth takes seconds.
SAFE GRANTS PORTFOLIO
- The Program issued a call for proposals for Year 1 on July 11, 2013 and received 199 proposals from 189 Civil Society Organisations. In the first group of evaluations, eight organisations were selected to implement activities under Components 1 and 2 in the districts of Gulu, Lira, Amuru, Nebbi and Moroto.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
- SAFE implemented the field research component of its baseline assessment from February 18 through March 1 2013. During the period, a consortium of research analysts completed 662 household surveys; 140 surveys of local government offices; 96 surveys of CSOs; 107 key informant interviews of local government officials; and 47 CSO key informant interviews in 20 districts.
- Exit Surveys for Magistrates Courts in 10 Districts carried out in Quarter 4 of Year 1 will provide information needed to measure results in Sub-Intermediate Result 2.3.1
- The Conflict Mapping Methodology, approved by USAID in Quarter 4 of Year 1, will provide information needed to measure results in Sub-Intermediate Result 2.3.2.