Catherine Kanabahita

Linking NGOs and Citizens for a More Democratic Uganda

Ms. Catherine Kanabahita is the executive director of the Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA), a coalition of over 700 civil society organizations in Uganda that provides a platform for collective reflection and advocacy in support of people-centered, democratic development. In this capacity, she facilitates partnerships between NGOs and citizens to ensure that calls for social justice, human dignity, and sustainable livelihoods are strong and representative. She is currently training and mentoring youth in nonviolent activism and transformative leadership and also spearheading the Quality Assurance Certification Mechanism, an organization that assesses NGOs against a uniform set of standards to promote their credibility, professionalism and resilience. She is an active member of Women4Uganda, a cross-generational network of women advocating for democracy in Uganda. She is a board member of the Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda. During her fellowship, Ms. Kanabahita intends to author a book manuscript underscoring the importance of NGOs to support ordinary people’s struggle for democracy in Uganda. Her book will seek to combat the Ugandan government’s growing hostility towards NGOs and serve to build critical bridges between everyday citizens and NGO professionals for a more democratic Uganda.