330 PEACE AMBASSADORS PREPARE TO ADVANCE COMMUNITIES

Foot Peace Ambassador(TOT) Training his fellow CBO Members in Bigando,Kitswamba Sub county

April 20^th-26^th, 2017 was a period of skilling Foot Peace ambassadors in Kasese District by Good Hope Foundation for Rural Development to be able to analyse community conflicts, prevent and manage them as well as promoting human rights. 225 Females and 105 Males were trained and among other topics covered were; understanding conflict and Human Rights, Basic Laws and policies in relation to conflict and human rights and Conflict Mapping and Reporting.

Foot Peace Ambassadors during group work

Ten community based organizations from Kitswamba, Munkunyu, L.Katwe, Karusandara sub counties and Katwe Kabatoro town council that included; Karusandara Human Rights Advocacy Forum and Karusandara youth united Devevolpment association(Karusandara sub county), Kikorongo Service Centre and Katunguru Women’s resource users Foundation(L.Katwe sub county), Katwe Kabatoro association for PWDs and Kakone Mwemukye Tufanye Youth(Katwe Kabatoro Town Council),Mother Care Women Group and Kitsutsu Youth(Munkunyu subcounty), and Bigando Youth United group and Bigando Farmers cooperative( Kitswamba subcounty) produced the above participants.

During the trainings, it was discovered that the most prevalent conflicts occurring in the above sub counties and Kasese District at large are;

·        Land conflicts

·        Domestic violence

·        Cultural tensions

·        Political conflicts

·        Violence against children / child abuse

·        Cattle keepers and cultivators conflicts

·        Wild animal problem / Protected areas to community conflicts

And it was further brought to our notice that the above conflicts are caused/triggered by;

·        Poverty among community members

·        Adultery

·        Laziness

·        Ignorance of the law by local people

·        Inadequate land for settlement

·        Limited knowledge about multi-party politics by local people

The following recommendations were made by participants as a way of bringing and sustaining peace in Kasese;

·        There is need of education about multi-partism among local people because some conflicts have been triggered by failure to understand how multi-party politics works. Citizens lack knowledge on conduct of multi-party politics.

·        Engaging Uganda Wild life Authorities on clarities about community and gazzated land a case of Katunguru in L.Katwe Sub County. This is a potential conflict trigger

·        Investing heavily in economic empowerment of local people. Poor people are easily mobilized into conflict actions.

·        Mobilizing communities to secure titles for their land and if possible, ask government to do it on zero cost.

·        Organizing massive community sensitization on conflicts prevention, management and human rights in Kasese District.

Facilitator guiding members during group work discussion 

The trainings were facilitated by TOTs referred to as Foot Peace Ambassadors who had just been refreshed by Good Hope Foundation Staff. These trainings were also attended by Local council three chairpersons, Sub county Chiefs, Security agents and Community Development Officers of the above respective sub counties.