Our History
In 2016, a team of 3 qualified social workers born in Mubende district and brought together by their profession were concerned about the image painted about welfare and people of Mubende. In many media outlets, Mubende district was always reported in bad light for high cases of gender based violence, land grabbing, child abuse, high rates of HIV prevalence and incidence, witchcraft and extreme poverty. This image was often a reference made by friends of the founders sarcastically to show how bad it is to be originating from Mubende district. The founders thought it was in their power and an innate obligation to defend their area of origin by showing the good things in Mubende district to whoever dared to depict Mubende district in bad light. However, upon further objective analysis, it was indeed true that Mubende district had some of the worst socioeconomic indices anywhere in Uganda. The HIV rates were indeed sky rocketing, unprogressive cultural practices (witchcraft) were overwhelming, gender based violence was appalling, child abuse cases were devastating and the rates of land grabbing were despicable. What caught the eye of the media was indeed a reality of doom and future uncertainty regarding welfare and livelihood situation of Mubende district. It was also realized by the founders that Mubende district, even with such worrying indicates was extremely underserved by technical and financial resources. The founders therefore decided that the tactic of defending their home (Mubende district) by word without addressing the glaring human welfare and livelihood challenge was a failing one. The meaningful action to do was to use the social work skills gained to contribute towards the improvement. This however had to be done through an organized structure that can mobilize resources and implement social development projects to turn the situation around. This is how REACT was born, first as a membership development group in 2016 and then formally registered as a community based organization in 2018 (REG NO. CD. 223/2907/158).
