Helping Form Communal Land Associations in Uganda

Chris Paul, class of 2005 | Robertson Scholar | Major: Environmental Sciences (B.S.) | Minor: Chinese Language and Documentary Studies | Extracurricular: social activism (labor and environment), Plan V (Duke Vegetarian Club), canoeing, caving | Home: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

In Chris’s Words:
Africa is a fascinating, diverse, vibrant and dynamic place. Every experience I have had in Africa has been adventurous and enriching. After working for a development research organization in Cape Town, South Africa last year, I asked my former mentor to help me find an internship with development elsewhere in Africa. I ended up at Associates for Development in Kampala, Uganda, a perfect fit for me. What I found most attractive about my work this summer is that it blended academic research and field-based studies with an immediate goal of making a difference for the communities.

Throughout the developing world, land is often the central asset for the poor, and their only source of subsistence. One of the most serious aftereffects of colonialism in Uganda, as throughout Africa, is the way that land was controlled and redistributed, a process that to the present day continues to affect livelihoods and ultimately the extent of poverty.

Modern governments and new constitutions are providing new and innovative ways for communities to redevelop systems of control and management so that the communities’ needs are met and the resource is protected. In Uganda, the new constitution of 1995 and subsequent Land Act of 1998 allow communities to form Communal Land Associations (CLAs) to own and manage land, including forests, as a community.

Such organizations are just starting to be formed, and this was the focus of my research. I took a long four-wheel drive ride up to Masindi District in the Northwest from Kampala, home to the Budongo forests, whose name means “place of mud.” This former rainforest is still a beautiful place, even though so much of the forest has been converted to agricultural lands. It was immediately clear why the communities want to protect their forests, not only for their beauty but also for the central role they play in livelihoods and daily needs such as fuelwood and water.

We met with a number of the communities, speaking in a combination of Swahili, Luganda, English, and Bunyoro, and managed to gather some very interesting information about the formation process. Our goal was to analyze the role that tenure plays in the process; that is, the way the communities both conceptualize and exercise their rights to the resource and land. We also met with a number of local officials and national policy makers to discuss this process, which is still in its infancy. In fact, there are only six operational (but still not official) CLA forests in Uganda.

Our product is a forty-page paper that we have published in Uganda as part of a larger paper series for Associates for Development. It’s exciting to come out of a summer internship with an already-completed product, and it’s also very nice to be able to share the outcome of my work with people it is meant to impact.

However, I’m not done yet. I will be expanding the work further this fall as part of an independent study for a senior thesis, and I’ll be taking a number of courses relating to my research here. Ultimately, I’m already designing a proposal that would bring me back to Uganda for two years after graduation to continue this work!