Location
Kampala
Uganda
Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) is an independent public policy research and advocacy think tank based in Uganda working in East and Southern Africa. ACODE was first registered in 1999 as a Non-governmental organization (NGO). In 2004, the organization was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and without having a share capital. ACODE is one of the most dynamic and robust regional leaders in cutting-edge public policy research and analysis in a range of areas including governance, trade, environment, and science and technology. ACODE has, for the last four consecutive years, been ranked in the Global Go To Think Tank Index as one of the best think tanks in Uganda and one of the top think tanks in the world. Think Tanks in Africa continue to play a major role in policy development and implementation. The Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) has been ranked 23 out of 92 Top Think Tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa and 29 out of 90 globally with Best Advocacy Campaign in the 2015 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (TTI), led by the University of Pennsylvania through its Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP).
ACODE is non-partisan and independent and therefore does not align with any political party or political organisation. However, given the direct relationship between development policy and politics, we believe that our work is political and it must stand for certain political causes of a bi-partisan nature. Such causes are legitimate issues of research interest so long as they are defined on the basis of constitutionalism, the rule of law as well as national and regional interests as expressed in the relevant treaties, strategy documents and declarations. ACODE's work is based on three broad programmes areas: Environmental Democracy, Peace and Democracy, and Innovation and Biotechnology Policy. Our core business is to undertake advocacy-driven public policy research and analysis on contemporary and emerging public policy and governance issues that have a significant impact on national development.
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Resources
Displaying 31 - 35 of 51Does customary tenure have a role in modern economic development?
Over 80% of all land in Uganda is held under unregistered ‘customary tenure’. This means that it is private property, but the owners need no documents to prove ownership. Their claims to the land, and the boundaries of the land, are locally recognised, and this recognition is given the full protection of State law.
Land or Else
Northern Uganda is the scene of one of the world’s most volatile and spontaneous processes of reintegration. There are approximately 1.1 to 1.4 million people in the Acholi sub-region at the time of writing3 ; 295,000 internally-displaced persons (IDPs) remain displaced either in IDP camps or transit sites. Approximately 800,000 Acholis have already left the camps and spontaneously returned home over the last three years.
TENURE IN MYSTERY
Tenure in Mystery collates information on land under conservation, forestry and mining in the Karamoja region. Whereas significant changes in the status of land tenure took place with the Parliamentary approval for degazettement of approximately 54% of the land area under wildlife conservation in 2002, little else happened to deliver this update to the beneficiary communities in the region. Instead enclaves of information emerged within the elite and political leadership, by means of which personal interests and rewards were being secured and protected.
Property Rights and Gender in Uganda
Property rights economically empower women by creating opportunities for earning income, securing their place in the community and ensuring their livelihoods. When women are economically empowered, it spurs development for their families and communities. Property Rights and Gender in Uganda: A Training Toolkit seeks to strengthen understanding of property rights for women and men as equal citizens.
Why is customary protection failing to prevent land grabbing?
The protection given to the land rights of women, orphans and any other vulnerable groups in Northern and Eastern Uganda is probably as good as can be found anywhere in the world. Customary land law is based on three main principles. First, everyone is entitled to land, and no-one can ever be denied land rights. A second principle is that all inherited land is family land, never individual property.