Empowering Rural Communities Through UNDROP – the actions of ESAFF-Uganda

We are presenting here the work of the peasants organization ESAFF (Eastern and Southern Africa Small-Scale Farmers Forum) Uganda on the UNDROP. ESAFF-Uganda is a member organization of La Via Campesina.

Call to domesticate UNDROP

ESAFF-Uganda has been commited to the promotion and implementation of UNDROP for many years. Right after the adoption of the UNDROP by the UN General Assembly in December 2018, ESAFF Uganda published and dissiminated an UNDROP version with photos and titles on each rights. In 2023, they published a call to domesticate the UNDROP in Uganda. In this call, they explained the background of UNDROP, its main content and how it is linked to agroecology. They called for an urgent implementation of the peasants rights.

A podcast on the relevance of UNDROP

For International Peasants day, April 17th, this year, they have dedicated an episode of their podcast to the UNDROP. The episode is called Justifying the relevance of the UNDROP, it is an interview of Christine Nabwami, a small scale farmer and facilitator on the UNDROP. In the podcast she shares how the UNDROP is relevant to improves the lives of small-scale farmers. You can listen to the podcast HERE.

Awarness raising at the local level

Also for April 17th, 2024, members of the organization participated in a special council in Ttamu division, Mityana district. The Council was dedicated to present and discuss UNDROP, its importance and the need for its implementation. This is one example of actions the ESAFF-Uganda is undertaking to promote UNDROP at the local level. The organization aims to inform the local authorities about the rights enshrined in the UNDROP and how they should be implemented them at the local level. ESAFF-Uganda reports that, at the end of the special council, “Council members collectively agreed to adopt the UNDROP declaration and further spread awareness about the key rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas“, demonstrating how necessary the awarness raising work at the local level is, but also how very efficient it can be to advance peasants rights! You can read the full report on ESAFF-Uganda website HERE.