Civil Society Participation in Uganda’s APRM Process

This research paper by Juliet Nakato Odoi examines the challenges and strategies for civil society participation in Uganda's African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) process. It highlights the limitations of relying on umbrella organisations, the lack of transparency regarding draft documents, and the efforts of Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and Care International in Uganda to ensure the needs of ethnic minorities were represented in the Country Self-Assessment Report and the subsequent Programme of Action.

• The Ugandan government established a National APRM Commission to drive the process, which was formally inaugurated on 19 February 2007. The Commission consisted of 21 members, including nine civil society representatives, four government officials, three statutory bodies, one private sector representative, one trade unionist, and three members of Parliament.
• The selection of civil society representatives for the National APRM Commission was not consultative, and the process of choosing members was poorly documented. While umbrella organisations like the NGO Forum and Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (Deniva) were selected based on assumed wide outreach, some did not actually represent a broad range of civil society organisations.
• Public participation in the APRM process was hindered by several factors: limited information available in languages other than English, poor publicity for meetings, and the high cost and distance for marginalised groups to attend regional events. Additionally, some stakeholders perceived the government as prioritizing the November 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) over the APRM.
• The APRM process suffered from a lack of transparency regarding key documents. The draft desk review was treated as confidential, and the draft Country Self-Assessment was not shared with civil society before validation meetings. At these meetings, participants were only shown brief power-point presentations, making it impossible to verify if their contributions were included.
• Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and Care International in Uganda formed a partnership to address the 'Herculean task' of the APRM questionnaire and to ensure ethnic minority issues were not lost in general civil society reports. They developed a separate position paper, expanded it through a validation meeting with five additional partners, and submitted it to the APRM Secretariat in Kampala and headquarters in South Africa in December 2007.
• During the visit of the Country Review Mission (CRM) from 3 to 24 February 2008, MRG and its partners advocated for three specific priorities to be included in the Programme of Action: a policy on ethnic minorities, affirmative action for minority participation in decision-making, and restitution for communities affected by land alienation.
• The author recommends that civil society organisations (CSOs) should not rely solely on umbrella organisations, as these may lack sufficient reach or be overstretched. CSOs are advised to form coalitions to pool resources and to explicitly include APRM participation in their own work plans and budgets to avoid the burden of diverting staff from regular tasks.

APA

Odoi, J. N. (2008). Civil Society Participation in Uganda’s APRM Process. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Occasional-Paper-2.pdf

Chicago

Odoi, Juliet Nakato. Civil Society Participation in Uganda’s APRM Process. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2008. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Occasional-Paper-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Odoi |first1=Juliet Nakato |title=Civil Society Participation in Uganda’s APRM Process |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=June 2008 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Occasional-Paper-2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{odoi2008civil, author = {Odoi, Juliet Nakato}, title = {{Civil Society Participation in Uganda’s APRM Process}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2008}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Occasional-Paper-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }