Uganda has a fairly vibrant civil society comprised of around 14,000 registered non-governmental organizations involved in a range of sectors. Over decades of winding political and economic developments, Uganda's civil society sector remains an irreplaceable actor in providing services to citizens, monitoring public institutions, and pushing for laws, polices, and programs that address the country's ills. 

On September 1, 2020, EWMI began the implementation of Uganda Civil Society Strengthening Activity (CSSA), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented in partnership with International Center for Nonprofit Law (ICNL), Uganda’s Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA), Common Ground Consulting (CGC), and a number of other Ugandan civil society organizations and small businesses. 

USAID/Uganda CSSA is a five-year project that will support the capacity strengthening of Ugandan CSOs to influence and contribute to improved development outcomes in four thematic areas: (1) health, with particular attention paid to achieving Uganda’s HIV/AIDS’ reduction goals; (2) education, youth, and child development; (3) agriculture and food security; and (4) democracy, rights, and governance. During CCSA’s Inception Phase, EWMI will commission a political economy analysis focused on CSSA’s thematic areas, which will inform EWMI’s joint stakeholder engagement approach and the selection of the particular issues within each thematic area that CSSA support will focus on.