T

he Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU) was formed in January 1999 and later formally registered as an NGO under the NGO Statute in 2003. The organisation brings together like-minded entities and individual actors whose preoccupation is publicizing, exposing and advocating for curbing corruption in Uganda. ACCU provides a forum through which these actors can enhance their capacities in the fight against corruption as one strong voice and force that can effectively engage Government on issues of corruption. Regional Anti-Corruption Coalitions (RACCs) bring geographical diversity as they are spread throughout the country. This ensures that ACCU is present on the ground and in touch with the grassroots communities. Its governance is constituted by a coalition of members who meet regularly during Annual General Meetings to which an elected Board of Directors account.

Vision: “A transparent and corruption free society”

Mission: “To empower citizens to actively and sustainably demand for transparency and accountability from public and private sector”

Strategic Objectives of ACCU:

  1. To influence state and non-state actors in the effective implementation of anti-corruption laws and policies in Uganda by 2022.
  2. To empower citizens to effectively demand for transparency and accountability from duty bearers in Uganda by 2022.
  3. To strengthen ACCU secretariat and member organizations in the fight against corruption in Uganda by 2022

Core Functions of ACCU:

  1. Lobbying and Advocacy with government and private sector,
  2. Facilitating the exposure of corruption, and
  3. Coordination of ACCU coalition members’ activities.

Core Values:

ACCU’s strategic direction is based on its core values that form the basis for all its operations and these shall be upheld in all that it does. Those values are:

  1. Integrity: ACCU carries out her activities in an honest and truthful manner, and takes all reasonable measures to prevent willful wrongdoing by her management and staff.
  2. Transparency: ACCU is open at all times in dealing with all partners in the fight against corruption; she documents her operations and freely disseminates them to the public as and when required.
  3. Accountability: ACCU takes full responsibility for her actions and is always answerable to the civil society and to her partners.
  4. Non-discrimination: ACCU endeavours to espouse fairness in all her interventions through the involvement of diversity of people and doing so in a gender-sensitive manner.
  5. Justice: ACCU is committed to promoting fairness in all her dealings.
    Solidarity: ACCU upholds that the struggle against corruption needs close collaboration with others and she will support others to raise issues of similar interest.
  6. Objectivity: ACCU works in full judgement of her actions based on well-consulted opinion of her members.
  7. Working with others: ACCU upholds that she can only make a contribution as there are always others to add on and will at all times work in partnership with others.

ACCU’s theory of Change:

The ACCU’s theory of change is premised on the fact that corruption is a vice that poses detrimental effects ranging from threats to stability and security of societies, undermines the institutional values of democracy, ethics and justice as well as jeopardising sustainable development and the rule of law.

ACCU believes that effective and sustainable development requires accountability spaces and a critical mass through which civil society organisations and citizens exercise their rights and responsibilities to engage duty bearers to be responsible and committed to the attainment of Uganda’s National Development Plan (NDP) and it successful implementation.

ACCU further believes that citizens and civil society organisations require skills, knowledge, conviction, attitudes, confidence and methods of effectively preventing and fighting corruption in order to build strong accountability constituencies.

ACCU aspires to uphold its credibility as a strong institution by being transparent and accountable, whilst delivering on her mandate of generating and sharing information on the basis of which it carries out evidenced based advocacy engagements in harmony with strategic partners and the general public in exposing corruption.