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Under the Supporting Access to Justice, Fostering Equity and Peace (SAFE) Program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), NCSC is promoting peaceful dispute resolution in Uganda.
Recently, NCSC local partner Action for Behavioral Change (ABC) helped resolve a land-related inheritance dispute involving an elderly women who had passed away in the Tororo District, and had bequeathed three plots of land: one to her own daughter, one to her two grandchildren, with the remaining plot to be sold to cover her funeral expenses.
Conflict arose when her daughter refused to cede the other plots of land as stipulated in the will, claiming that the grandchildren had no interest in the land. A police officer, who had been trained by the SAFE Program in conflict mitigation and resolution with an emphasis on land-related issues, approached both parties and invited them to discuss the conflict’s underlying issues. A resolution was reached in terms of which the deceased’s grandchildren were compensated for the land and the remaining plot was sold to cover the funeral expenses as per the terms of the will. A team of conflict monitors from the SAFE Program and ABC visited the district to share experiences and offer strategies on resolving similar land-related disputes.
The SAFE Program is a five-year initiative to improve the Government of Uganda’s capacity to mitigate conflict and promote peace-building, particularly in areas that were affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in northern Uganda. The SAFE Program awards grants to Ugandan Civil Society Organizations to implement activities that further this objective. SAFE also provides technical assistance, training and capacity-building for local governmental institutions and helps establish traditional and community-based dispute resolution mechanisms by taking into account thematic areas such as youth, gender, anti-corruption and issues related to oil production. For more information, please visit www.safeprogram.ug.