A small Ugandan civil society organization working on voter education was forced to let go three staff members and two volunteers. The NGO's program manager noted, “Public dialogues between the community members and the candidates stopped, [then] going into communities encouraging people to register to vote and renew their registration so they can decide who their leader would be stopped, educating voters and candidates about their mandate stopped, engaging media stopped.”

Date: 12/25

Region: Africa

Country: Uganda

Topic: Governance & Rights

Policy Lens: Democracy & Governance

Additional Context: This information was collected as part of The Aid Report's original reporting, "US aid cuts shrink Uganda’s civic space ahead of 2026 elections," published by Devex. Our contributor looked into the termination of USAID governance programs that promoted civic education networks to reach rural and first-time voters. These changes threaten public trust and could undermine the U.S.’s strategic interest in the region.

This information comes from Peter Byakuyamba, programs manager at Tooronet, a rural NGO that had been implementing the five-year USAID-funded Strengthening Citizens’ Engagement in Elections, or SCENE, initiative under the Uganda National NGO Forum.

Source: Devex