Uganda

FPP has been working with the Batwa people in Uganda since 2000. The Batwa were eviction from their ancestral land to make way for national parks, and FPP are supporting them to have their rights recognised by the state and their lands returned to them.

Widely regarded as the first inhabitants of the forests of south-west Uganda, the Batwa now exist as a minority ethnic group. They experience ongoing erosion of their cultural, spiritual, and social traditions, along with widespread social, political, and economic marginalization. 

In 1991, two Ugandan National Parks were created for the conservation of mountain gorillas, but this resulted in the eviction of the Batwa from their ancestral territories. To date, the revenues and employment opportunities arising from governmental exploitation of protected areas and tourism activities have not benefited the Batwa.

The Batwa’s customary rights to land have not been recognized in Uganda and they have received little or no compensation for their losses, resulting in a situation where almost half of Batwa remain landless and virtually all live in absolute poverty. 

In 2000, the Batwa formed their own organisation, United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) governed by a board drawn exclusively from members of the Batwa people.

FPP has been working in solidarity with UOBDU ever since then, primarily in support of Batwa efforts to address their exclusion from their ancestral lands from which they were evicted to make way for the Bwindi, Mgahinga and Echuya conservation areas.

Main activities and current work

Alongside UOBDU, our work focuses on:

• Securing land rights
• Education and literacy
• Sustainable livelihoods
• Improved healthcare
• Institutional development
• Exclusionary conservation projects

This work takes multiple different forms, including activities such as:

• Providing a space for discussion
• Developing advocacy strategies
• Supporting government lobbying
• Raising awareness within NGO and donor programmes to include Batwa
• Supporting mapping strategies

Our current work:

• Supporting national level advocacy to increase Batwa targeted policies.
• Promoting the inclusion of youth and elders in intergenerational learning and advocacy spaces
• Helping conservation affected communities to defend and sustain their rights