Peace Corps in Uganda
History of the Program
The first Peace Corps Volunteers in Uganda were secondary school teachers who arrived on November 16, 1964. A year later, the secondary education program consisted of 35 Volunteers, and by 1967 the program had more than doubled in size. A health program was initiated in 1968 with the placement of 15 Volunteers. As Peace Corps program expanded in Uganda, the major programming area was education, with Volunteers also working in fisheries, agriculture, vocational education, and surveying. Peace Corps terminated the program in Uganda in 1973 during the civil unrest of the presidency of Idi Amin.
Discussions concerning Peace Corps' re-entry into Uganda were initiated in 1989 when President Museveni met with Peace Corps Officials to discuss a renewed Peace Corps presence. Nine months later, a formal invitation to Peace Corps was received from the Government of Uganda, and Volunteers returned to Uganda in June of 1991. The first 15 returning Volunteers were sworn in on August 31, 1991. The program continued to grow, with programs in primary education, technical education, civil engineering, protected areas management, community conservation, and micro-enterprise development.
The program in Uganda was suspended again in May 1999 due to local security problems. At the time of suspension, there were 75 volunteers in country, working in three programs: Primary Education Teacher Training, Women in Small Enterprise, and Natural Resources Management. Following a request from the Government of Uganda and two subsequent assessment teams from Peace Corps Washington to explore the security situation and identify potential regions and criteria for programming, the decision was then made to reopen in August 2000.
As of June 2010, Peace Corps Uganda has 122 Volunteers in service to Uganda including Education, Health, and Economic Development Volunteers. The Education Volunteers are requested by the Ministry of Education and Sports and are assigned as members of staff to various Core Primary Teacher Colleges around the country as well as strategic placements of highly qualified volunteers at the National Teachers Colleges. The Volunteers in our Community Health and Economic Development projects work with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), faith-based organizations (FBOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), development project partners, international NGOs and national and local government to support a holistic approach to community health and economic development and to help communities and individuals address the impact of HIV/AIDS upon their communities, their organizations, their families, and themselves.
Whether Volunteers are working in the country or in a city; whether they’re working on beekeeping or in a school, it’s truly a profound experience to become part of another culture. Current Volunteer in Uganda