What We Do

We uphold our mission

Northern Uganda Development Foundation (NUDF) is a registered charity organization based in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, with the mission to mitigate poverty and improve the standard of living of the rural people of northern Uganda by promoting sustainable development solutions in the region. We seek to empower the villagers because they are the stakeholders, as well as change agents. Villagers and NUDF jointly and closely follow a “participatory development” process in which they are substantially involved in the selection, design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs and projects that will affect them.

We build wells and self-esteem

About 90% of your donation for a well goes directly into the digging and construction of the well.  The on-site NUDF members in Uganda supervise the construction of the well.  The donation money is used to directly pay for local materials, equipment rental, and labor.  We pay the local workers and merchants directly to ensure nobody is profiting from charitable donations.  We involve the villagers in the entire process of well construction.  When a well is complete, the villagers take ownership of the well and appoint a small committee consisting of a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer to manage the well.  Where possible the committee collects small fees, from those who can afford it, for well use and puts the money in the local bank for future maintenance of the well.  Regular meetings are held as a forum for open communications and accountability for the operation of the well.

We enable hope for a better future

One local villager said to an NUDF member “I never thought I’d live to see the day that we had fresh drinking water.”  The seeds we help plant are not just the seeds that grow in the ground.  Our assistance and actions help plant the seeds of hope in the collective consciousness of the villagers.

We empower

Like any place in the world, there are those who would take advantage of the less fortunate.  On one of our trips to Uganda (which are self-funded) we discovered a person who was using legal intimidation tactics against less educated villagers in an attempt to appropriate one of the wells.  Due to our connections with local government, we met with the President of Uganda and put an immediate stop to this person’s actions.  The villagers know they have the NUDF on their side to support them.

We educate

A generation of farming knowledge has been lost on those who grew up in government camps to escape the devastation of civil war.  We built a small demonstration farm to show the villagers the types of crops that can be grown, and how to grow them.

We get their goat

When we asked what was needed most besides clean drinking water, the answer was “enough money to buy 40 goats.”  Instead of providing the money, we had a local Ugandan NUDF representative purchase the goats directly and provide the goats to the village.  As the goats multiply, some of them can be sold to provide money for medication for the goats and other purposes.  Like the wells, the goat herds become self-sustaining.

We engage and connect people

We have connections to various Ugandan government officials and to other charities.  If you are a charity looking to do work in Uganda, we can help connect you to the appropriate people.  If you are looking to donate funds to a project that is beyond the scope of the NUDF mission, we can help connect you with a charity that is right for you.  And most of all, if you want commit to being a volunteer, we have a place for you within the NUDF.

We buzz with excitement

We are passionate about our work.  We love to tell the story of the people of Northern Uganda whenever we get the chance.  Oh yeah, we also provide beehives.

We follow up

At least once a year we visit Northern Uganda, at our own personal expense, to follow up on our projects and to investigate new areas to help.  We meet with the villagers and local government officials to ensure that we are assisting in the best way possible.

We sing

The people of Northern Uganda, some of the most impoverished people in the world, love to sing.  While we in the western world have allowed some of the importance of singing to slip away, we at the NUDF sing in a different way.  We sing to the media.  We tell the story of the people of Northern Uganda to the press in Uganda, the press in North America, to government officials, and to you.  We want the people of Northern Uganda to know that the world is watching.

We dance

When a new well is built, the villagers come to the well site and dance.  As dancing and singing is an important part of their culture, they literally do a dance of joy in celebration of receiving clean drinking water.

We care

Villagers thank us when we visit them.  They thank us just for showing up and demonstrating we care about them.  That somebody in the world has taken the time to visit them impresses upon them their sense of worthiness.

We believe

We believe in people.  We believe that the people of Northern Uganda will be successful in building strong thriving communities.  We have all needed a little help sometimes and now is the time to provide the people of Northern Uganda with a little help.  After all, some of us were the very people we are helping today.