AJWS supports community-led collaborative efforts among partners in Uganda to advocate for a more enabling environment for the rights of women, girls, LGBTQI+ people, and sex workers. After the passage of a 2023 law criminalizing homosexuality with prison and the death penalty, life for LGBTQI+ Ugandans is more dangerous than ever. AJWS supports all of these at-risk communities through legal aid and crisis response and by advocating for a safer environment. AJWS also supports economic empowerment programs, access to sexual and reproductive health services, and mental health support so the community can better cope with stigma, risk, and isolation.
Across western and northern Uganda, AJWS supports feminist collectives and grassroots movements fighting to protect their communities’ land, forests, and natural resources. These rural and Indigenous communities have seen their ancestral lands threatened by logging, industrial agriculture, and other development that exacerbates the climate crisis, displaces thousands, and thrusts families into poverty. As AJWS partners speak up against these industries, they’re also helping their communities thrive by expanding food sovereignty through ecological, small-scale agriculture.
