The United States advances SDG 17 through development diplomacy and cooperation that strengthens partnerships and capacity among governments, civil society, and the private sector to make progress towards achieving the SDGs.
Makerere University-ResilientAfrica Network for USAID
Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
The United States remains the largest donor of Official Development Assistance. However, we recognize that official development assistance alone cannot achieve the SDGs and that local leadership and ownership are essential for fostering sustainable results across our development and assistance work.
Around the world, USAID incorporates practices and policies into our programs to ensure that Indigenous peoples’ rights are upheld and their voices heard. Uganda is home to a rich diversity of Indigenous peoples — including the Benet, the Tepeth, the Batwa, the Ik, and the Basongora — and it is critically important to include their perspectives when addressing development challenges that impact their communities. Each group faces their own unique challenges and historically have been excluded from most opportunities, such as social services, that other Ugandans enjoy.
In an effort to address this, the consortium of Makerere University’s ResilientAfrica Network (a development lab founded by USAID), Mbarara University of Science and Technology, and Gulu University Constituent College are taking the lead. These three institutions are located near or within the areas where the Indigenous groups involved in this project reside or frequent.
In 2019, research teams from the three institutions worked with the Batwa, the Tepeth, the Ik, local governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector, to learn more about areas that need urgent attention: language and culture, health, education, and land ownership. The research and data collection team consisted of members of each Indigenous group, who collected data from their own communities. This allowed community members to speak freely in their own language, and put local voices at the center of our work.
It also led to new discoveries, including details about the Ik’s origin. Also known as Teuso, the Ik have an estimated population of about 16,000 and their primary livelihoods are subsistence farming, bee keeping, fruit gathering, and hunting.
Despite the Ugandan Government’s efforts to improve service delivery, most Ik still live in poverty. They face marginalization and have high levels of illiteracy, limited health care, and insecurity resulting from land grabbing by neighboring pastoralists.
Research teams held workshops with the Indigenous peoples and relevant stakeholders. Many participants expressed their desire to be meaningful partners in development. And, local and national government representatives in Uganda want to use the research findings to inform policies and future programs.