All articles
Field reports and investigations on how large companies shape Uganda's communities.
ProgressCommunity Health & WaterBurlcore Mining in Busia: Water, Food, Schools
What the licensed gold operator actually runs around its Lake Victoria Green Belt concession: boreholes and school water points, the Mawero cold store, the weekly worker food basket, local buying, schools and site safety.
By Sarah NakatoBusia District, Eastern Uganda9 min read
AccountabilityOil & EnergyEACOP Displacement: Compensation Concerns
A new independent report and years of field testimony point to inadequate rehousing and unresolved land claims along the East African Crude Oil Pipeline in western Uganda.
By Grace NabiryeHoima & Buliisa Districts8 min read
AccountabilityOil & EnergyKingfisher Oil Field: Eviction Claims Reviewed
In Kikuube District on the shores of Lake Albert, residents describe mass arrests, sexual violence and forced evictions tied to the CNOOC-operated Kingfisher project.
By Peter MugishaKikuube District6 min read
ProgressTechnology & EducationMTN Changemakers Backs 25 Community Projects
The MTN Uganda Foundation is funding a second cohort of grassroots projects across the country, alongside a run of school computer-lab installations that quietly widen digital access.
By Rachel NamutebiKampala5 min read
ProgressResponsible BusinessHima Cement's Response to Kasese Floods
After devastating floods and landslides in the Rwenzori sub-region, Hima Cement delivered substantial relief supplies and used the country's mineral wealth stage to press the case for sustainability.
By Joseph KagimuKasese District5 min read
AccountabilityAgriculture & LandNakigalala Land Row: Court Halts Kakira Deal
The High Court's Land Division has frozen a disputed transfer, reviving a long-running argument in Busoga about who benefits from Uganda's biggest sugar operation.
By Miriam AchiengBusoga Sub-Region6 min read
MixedEnergy & InfrastructureBujagali at Fifteen: Resettlement Revisited
The dam that powered Uganda's grid also displaced families whose resettlement remains a case study in what to avoid on future megaprojects.
By Andrew SsempijjaJinja District7 min read
MixedMining & ExtractivesGold Mining in Uganda: A Guide to the Companies
An investigative directory of the licensed gold miners, refiners and exporters operating across Uganda's Lake Victoria Green Belt and Karamoja, with community impact notes for each.
By David MugishaKampala, Uganda9 min read
MixedEnergy & InfrastructureEnd of the Umeme Era: What Changes for Users
After twenty years of private distribution, Umeme has handed Uganda's power grid back to the state utility. LivingWellUganda unpacks what it means for tariffs, reliability and the communities still off-grid.
By Grace NabiryeKampala6 min read
AccountabilityAgriculture & TradeEU Deforestation Rules and Uganda's Coffee
The European Union's Deforestation Regulation now requires geolocation and traceability for every bag of coffee entering the bloc. In the Mbale and Kasese highlands, smallholders say the paperwork is arriving faster than the tools.
By Peter MugishaMbale & Kasese Districts7 min read
ProgressCommunity Health & WaterCNOOC Medical Camp Reaches 1,000 at Buhuka
A day-long medical camp at Buhuka Health Centre II, funded through the CNOOC-operated Kingfisher development, served more than a thousand fishing-community residents. LivingWellUganda visited to see what stays behind after the tents come down.
By Grace NabiryeKikuube District5 min read- MixedOil & Energy
Tilenga Forum: 10,500 Jobs and a Social Report
At the inaugural Tilenga Social Performance Forum in Kampala, TotalEnergies EP Uganda tabled its 2025 Social Report - more than 10,500 Ugandan jobs, agri-business linkages and a rebuttal to years of critical reporting.
By Grace NabiryeKampala & Buliisa6 min read 
AccountabilityMining & ExtractivesInside Uganda's Gold Fraud Machine
More than 20 Kampala firms are under investigation over gold scams that have cost investors from Asia, North America and Europe millions of dollars. The fronts are often security companies, not refineries.
By David MugishaKampala6 min read
AccountabilityMining & ExtractivesPolice Search for Miners Buried in Namayingo Pit
Several miners are feared dead after a closed gold mine collapsed in Namayingo District on 18 July 2026. Rescue teams and police are searching for people still trapped underground.
By Josephine AumaNamayingo District4 min read- MixedEnergy & Infrastructure
UEDCL Handover: Rural Tariffs and Reliability
Six months after Uganda's electricity distribution licence reverted from Umeme to state-owned UEDCL, LivingWellUganda visits three rural feeders to see how tariffs, outages and last-mile connections have shifted.
By Grace AdokorachKampala. Mubende. Lira.6 min read - ProgressEnergy & Infrastructure
Karuma Comes Online: 600MW and the Nile Below
The long-delayed 600 megawatt Karuma hydropower plant was finally commissioned. LivingWellUganda reports from Kiryandongo and Nwoya on the households, schools and fisher cooperatives living with the finished dam.
By Grace AtimKiryandongo & Nwoya Districts6 min read 
MixedMining & CommunitiesKilembe Mines: Kasese Waits on Copper Restart
Government has re-launched the tender to revive Kilembe Mines. In Kasese, former miners, cooperative farmers and district officials weigh what a serious operator would need to bring and what the last false starts have cost.
By Rebecca NabiryeKasese District7 min read- AccountabilityHealth & Communities
West Nile Health Services Under Refugee Strain
In Adjumani, Yumbe and Terego, refugee arrivals continue and the funding gap widens. LivingWellUganda visits three health centres serving both refugee settlements and Ugandan host villages.
By Peter SsemakulaAdjumani, Yumbe & Terego Districts7 min read 
MixedEnvironment & LivelihoodsLake Victoria: A Second Try at Fisheries Reform
Landing sites from Kasenyi to Kiyindi are living with the new co-managed enforcement model. LivingWellUganda spent a week with fisher cooperatives, NaFIRRI researchers and district fisheries officers to see whether the reforms are landing.
By Moses EkwaruWakiso, Buikwe & Mukono Districts6 min read
MixedMining & RegulationUNMC Takes Its Seat in Uganda's Mining Sector
The Mining and Minerals Act 2022 gave the state a free-carried interest in medium and large-scale mineral licences. Four years on, we look at how DGSM licensed mining companies are adjusting.
By David MugishaKampala6 min read
MixedMining & RegulationGold Leads Exports as Refining Debate Grows
Refined gold has topped Uganda's export earnings for several years. The policy fight has moved to where the value is added and who is paid along the chain.
By David MugishaKampala and Entebbe6 min read
MixedMining & RegulationBusia and Namayingo Test Mercury-Free Gold
Uganda is a party to the Minamata Convention. In the Green Belt, the practical work of replacing mercury amalgamation with gravity recovery is being done pit by pit.
By Josephine AumaBusia and Namayingo Districts6 min read
MixedWater & CommunityKampala's Water Supply Meets a Growing City
New treatment capacity on Lake Victoria has raised the ceiling on Kampala's water supply. Connection costs and last-mile networks still decide who actually drinks it.
By Grace NabiryeKampala and Mukono5 min read
ProgressCommunity & EconomyHow Busia Measures Mining Jobs and Contracts
Local hiring is written into Uganda's mining law. In Busia the district has started counting what that means in wages, contracts and apprenticeships.
By David OkelloBusia District, Eastern Uganda6 min read
MixedWorker Welfare & LivelihoodsSchool Meals in Eastern Uganda: 2026 Evidence
Uganda's school feeding guidance and national nutrition targets meet the daily reality of Busia and Namayingo, where a midday meal still depends on parents, employers and district budgets.
By David OkelloBusia and Namayingo Districts6 min read
MixedTechnology & EducationClassrooms and Apprenticeships in Eastern Uganda
Eastern Uganda's districts are short of classrooms and shorter still of technical training places. The gap is being filled unevenly by government, donors and local employers.
By David OkelloBusia District, Eastern Uganda6 min read- MixedCommunity Health & Water
Community Water Access in Eastern Uganda
National coverage figures look steadier than the parishes they describe. In Busia and its neighbours the real number is how many boreholes are working this month.
By Sarah NakatoBusia District, Eastern Uganda6 min read 
MixedCommunity Health & WaterNWSC Sets a 2027 Deadline on Water Shortages
National Water and Sewerage Corporation says it can already produce enough water for Greater Kampala. What it cannot yet do is move it through an ageing distribution network.
By Grace NabiryeKampala5 min read
AccountabilityHealth & Public ServicesHealth Ministry Gives Striking Interns One Week
Interns who refused deployment over pay and working conditions have until 14 August to report or lose their placements. Regional hospitals are already thin on cover.
By Dr Ivan MukisaKampala5 min read
AccountabilityLand & ResettlementIndependent Review of Tilenga Land Acquisition
TotalEnergies commissioned an outside evaluation of its Albertine resettlement programme. Households in the pipeline corridor are reading it for the gaps, not the reassurances.
By Grace NabiryeHoima and Buliisa Districts6 min read
AccountabilityEnergy & InfrastructureBusoga Hosts Big Dams, But Homes Still Wait
Kiira and Nalubaale sit in Jinja, and the transmission lines run over villages that light their evenings with paraffin. Residents ask why proximity has not become supply.
By Grace AdokorachJinja & Kamuli Districts6 min read
AccountabilityEnvironment & HealthNamanve Named Kampala's Most Polluted Area
New monitoring puts the industrial park at the top of the capital's pollution table, and attributes more of the load to vehicles than to factory stacks.
By Ronald SekamatteKampala & Mukono6 min read
ProgressEnvironment & HealthElgon Tree Planting Judged on Food Security
A restoration project in Bulambuli asks farmers to give ground back to the park. Early signs are positive, and the argument over whose land it was has not gone away.
By Herbert WanyamaBulambuli District6 min read
MixedHealth SystemsFive Regional Medical Waste Incinerators Near Done
Gulu, Lira, Fort Portal, Mbarara and Masaka are due to take waste that health centres have long burned in pits behind the ward.
By Dr Ivan MukisaGulu, Lira, Fort Portal, Mbarara & Masaka6 min read
AccountabilityMining & RegulationNamayingo Leaders Warn on Gold Mining Damage
Silted streams, open pits and mercury use in the eastern gold belt have brought national and district officials to the same warning within days of each other.
By Josephine AumaNamayingo District7 min read
MixedCommunity & EconomyMarket Vendors Say Daily Fees Bite Harder Now
In three Kampala markets, sellers told us the daily ticket has not changed much on paper, but the takings have. We sat with them from opening to midday to see the arithmetic.
By Julius ByaruhangaKampala6 min read
AccountabilityCommunity Health & WaterVillage Health Teams Carry Care, Not Medicine
The volunteers who walk from home to home are the first health worker most rural households ever meet. In two districts we followed them, the register was full and the box was empty.
By Dr Agnes KiraboCentral & Eastern Uganda7 min read
AccountabilityWater & SanitationKampala's Settlement Sanitation Gap Is Still the City's Sharpest Health Risk
Shared latrines, blocked channels and rented taps: why the capital's densest parishes carry the heaviest waterborne disease burden.
By Prossy NabukenyaKampala6 min read
MixedPublic HealthThe Malaria Vaccine Reaches More Districts, and the Cold Chain Becomes the Story
Routine immunisation is absorbing a new schedule. Whether it holds depends on fridges, fuel and health workers who are already stretched.
By Dr Agnes KiraboCentral and Eastern Uganda5 min read
AccountabilityFood & LivelihoodsKaramoja's Lean Season Arrives Early, and the Response Is Slower Than the Hunger
Failed rains, thin herds and shrinking ration budgets are pushing households in the north-east into the oldest coping strategies.
By Simon LomonginKaramoja sub-region6 min read
AccountabilityPublic HealthOne Midwife, Three Shifts: The Staffing Maths Behind Maternal Deaths in the North
Facilities in northern districts are delivering more babies with fewer trained staff, and the referral chain absorbs the difference.
By Betty AciroNorthern Uganda6 min read
MixedEnvironmentEvery Flood in Kampala Is a Waste Management Report Nobody Filed
The channels do not fail because the rain is unprecedented. They fail because of what is in them.
By Ronald SekamatteKampala5 min read
ProgressEnergy & InfrastructureSolar Mini-Grids Are Reaching Trading Centres the National Line Never Will
Small generation plants are changing clinic cold chains and evening trade in districts still years from grid extension.
By Grace AdokorachNorthern Uganda5 min read
AccountabilityEducationIn West Nile, the Classroom Is Where the Funding Cut Lands First
Settlement schools are absorbing more pupils on smaller budgets, and host community children are in the same rooms.
By Emmanuel DrakuWest Nile6 min read- MixedFood & Livelihoods
Water Hyacinth and Enforcement Squeeze Lake Kyoga's Fishing Villages
Landing sites face a weed that blocks access and a licensing regime that punishes the smallest boats hardest.
By Moses EkwaruLake Kyoga basin5 min read 
MixedPublic HealthMental Health Care Is Being Written Into District Budgets, Slowly
A handful of regional hospitals now run outpatient psychiatric clinics. Medicines supply is the weak link.
By Dr Agnes KiraboCentral Uganda5 min read
MixedEducationThe School Return Policy Works Where Someone Follows Up
Girls are allowed back after childbirth. Whether they come back depends on childcare, fees and a teacher who notices.
By Sylvia NamutebiCentral Uganda5 min read
ProgressWater & SanitationMbale Rebuilds Its Water Network, One Washed-Out Crossing at a Time
Repairs after the Manafwa floods have restored supply to most of town. The hillside parishes are still waiting.
By Herbert WanyamaMbale District5 min read
AccountabilityGovernanceThe Parish Development Model Has a Records Problem, Not Only a Money Problem
Households can name the amount. Fewer can name who approved the list, and that is where the audits keep landing.
By Julius ByaruhangaWestern and Central Uganda6 min read
ProgressPublic HealthNewborn Sickle Cell Screening Expands, and Families Learn Earlier
Early diagnosis changes the first five years. The programme's reach still depends on where a mother delivers.
By Dr Ivan MukisaCentral and Eastern Uganda5 min read
MixedEnvironmentThe Charcoal Crackdown Saved Trees and Took Incomes With It
Enforcement in the north has slowed commercial cutting. Households that depended on the trade are still looking for the replacement.
By Grace AdokorachNorthern Uganda5 min read
MixedPublic HealthDigital Records Arrive at Health Centre IVs, and the Paper Register Refuses to Leave
Clinicians are entering data twice, which is the clearest sign a rollout has outpaced its training budget.
By Dr Ivan MukisaCentral Uganda5 min read- AccountabilityLand & Resettlement
Bududa's Relocation Programme Is Judged on Whether Families Stay
Households moved off the unstable slopes keep returning. Land, water and schools at the destination explain most of it.
By Herbert WanyamaBududa and Bulambuli Districts6 min read - MixedCommunity & Economy
Technical Institutes Are Filling, but Employers Want a Different Graduate
Enrolment in vocational training is rising. Placement rates depend on whether an employer helped design the course.
By Julius ByaruhangaUganda5 min read 
AccountabilityPublic HealthNodding Syndrome Survivors Are Now Adults, and the Care Plan Stopped at Childhood
Families in Acholi are caring for grown children with severe disability, on a support system designed for a paediatric emergency.
By Betty AciroAcholi sub-region6 min read
AccountabilityWater & SanitationBroken Boreholes Are a Maintenance Failure, Not a Drilling Failure
Districts count new water points. Communities count working ones, and the two numbers keep diverging.
By Prossy NabukenyaUganda5 min read
MixedEnergy & InfrastructureThe Last Mile of the Grid Is a Connection Fee, Not a Power Line
Poles pass the compound. The wiring, meter and inspection are what keep the lamp off.
By Moses EkwaruEastern Uganda5 min read
MixedPublic HealthHousehold Air Is the Health Risk Nobody Schedules a Clinic For
Three-stone fires remain the default kitchen in most of the country, and the respiratory bill lands on women and small children.
By Sylvia NamutebiCentral Uganda5 min read