Facilitation for Peace and Development - FAPAD

In 2004, in the middle of a ragging human rights crisis obtaining in northern Uganda, Eunice Apio sat down with her friends Joy Acen and Fred Ebil to form FAPAD. Their expectation was that by mobilizing local voices and investing in local solutions, impunity would be put to check and livelihoods improved. The first manifestation of those efforts was a high impact pilot project on land and property rights of women in Apac district in 2004, which mapped key realities that perpetually kept women in poverty. These included lack of spaces for decision-making within domestic and public spaces, lack of access to justice resources, and high levels of ignorance on rights. These features led to the setting of a legal aid desk at FAPAD that worked hand in hand to promote alternative dispute resolution mechanisms at the grassroots, spearheaded by 1,536 paralegals. Lessons learnt subsequently fed into new ideas and innovations for broader, more comprehensive redress mechanisms across the sub-region. Down the years, these innovations evolved to cut across thematic areas of food and income security, accountable governance, access to justice and child protection, women’s rights and climate change adaptation. An enumeration of the innovations and their accomplishments can be found in Appendix 1. These interventions reflect the ever-changing contextual environments, and the need to constantly reflect and innovate more responsive ways that address both stubborn and new challenges. We have also been cognizant of the new technological environment that continues to rapidly transform the development terrain, which any learning organization must tap into for relevance and impact.