Uganda ratified the 2005 Convention on the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions on 8 April 2015. This is Uganda's first reporting cycle since ratification of the Convention. A total of 68 measures/policies have been reported herein. Of these 48 are from Government Agencies and 20 from Civil Society Organisations and private sector. A total of 30 Institutions participated in the contribution of the policies and measures reported in this Cycle(10 from Civil Society Organisations, 3 private sector and 16 Government Ministries Departments and Agencies and 1 Bilateral Agency.

Most of the policies and measures, a total of 32 represent 47% of all the measures reported from both Government and civil society organisations are under Goal 1: on Support Sustainable Systems of Governance for Culture. Goal 2 on Achieve a Balanced Flow of Cultural Goods and Services and increase the Mobility of Artists and Cultural Professions represents 26%, Goal 3 on Integrate Culture in Sustainable Development Frameworks is represented with 15% while Goal 4 on Promote Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms represents 13%.

Uganda has the following policies to promote the articles of the Convention, the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (1995), the National Development Plan (NDP II) (2015/16- 2020/2021), the Social Development Sector Plan (2014/2015- 2020/2021), the Uganda National Culture Policy (2006) revised 2019, the Information and Communications Policy, the NRM Government Manifesto (2016 - 2021), Uganda Vision (2040), Uganda National Trade Policy, National Gender Policy(2006), The National Youth Policy, Intellectual Property Policy (2019 )among other key policies and measures.

The report highlights the current Uganda Culture Policy context and policy measures that the Government has put in place in the last four years to provide an enabling environment for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. Activities and programmes implemented by various Government and Non Government agencies, cultural actors and Civil Society Organizations in Uganda in the implementation of the UNESCO 2005 Convention are reported. The CSOs submitted 24 measures of which 20 were reported, indicating the role they play and relevance to the implementation of the Culture and Creative industry sector.

The report focuses on policies, measures, laws, programmes and activities that are relevant to the key priority areas of the Convention for example; policies and measures related to supporting sustainable systems of Governance for Culture, policies and measures to achieve a balanced flow of culture goods and services and increasing the mobility of artists and cultural professionals, policies and measures to promote integration of culture in sustainable development frameworks and policies and measures to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The report highlights on measures and policies to support the provision of enabling environment for enjoyment of culture as a basic fundamental human right which is enshrined in the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, policies related to creation, production and distribution of cultural expressions, protection of copyrights, integration of culture in development such as the Five year National Development Plan for Uganda and activities related to awareness raising and capacity building, activities on international cooperation and finally programmes and measures implemented and reported on by the civil society organizations on the promotion of culture and creative industries in Uganda.

Part of the success story on the implementation of the Convention in Uganda has been on the Government, the Civil Society Organisations and practitioners put in place more that 68 policies and measures that promote the protection and promotion of the diversity of culture expressions. The Uganda's Quadrennial periodic report has reported on most of the policies and measures put in place under the various Goals of the Convention.

The main achievements in the implementation of the Convention in the last four years include but not limited to the following;
i) Reviewing of the Culture Policy in 2019; The Convention informed the process of reviewing the Uganda’s Culture Policy of 2006. The review was done to reflect on changing development needs of culture in order to incorporate the promotion of creative industries as an important category of the cultural sector. The Convention was one of the reference documents in the review of the Policy that envisaged establishment of a National Culture and Creative Industry Forum, which has been a useful platform for advocacy, awareness raising creation and promotion of the culture sector in economic development. Also the Convention was a key reference document in the Mapping of Culture and Creative Industries in Uganda 2014 by Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development. Uganda National Commission for UNESCO also used it in the mapping of arts and crafts in three selected regions of Uganda in 2017.

ii) There has been enhanced awareness of the content of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions by stakeholders. Awareness with the civil society organisations has been achieved through collaborations in the dissemination workshops and programmes by the Department of Culture and Family Affairs under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and Uganda National Commission for UNESCO during the last four years. The awareness raising targeted Local Governments, practitioners, Culture professionals and artists, Government’s officials, cultural actors and the civil society organisations.

iii) The implementation of the Convention resulted into greater participation of cultural actors and civil society organisations in the policy reforms in Uganda . Many CSOs have contributed to the review of the Uganda National Culture Policy and in the contribution of measures and policies towards this Quadrennial Periodic Report. This has enhanced governance and ensured that Government policies are responsive to the needs of the culture sector especially in education, health sector, ICT and agriculture sector among other sectors. Civil society is now more eager to partner with Government in policy and development of culture sector and in seeking resources to support culture and creative industries. This year, there was a 50% increase in the number of CSOs applying for funding under the International Fund for Culture Diversity (IFCD). Over the last four years,Government has engaged civil society in policy reform discussions and civil society have also engaged Government in their programmes.

iv) There has been capacity building in areas of Local Government Officers and members of the Civil Society in implementing the provisions of the Conventions, planning and mainstreaming of culture in Local Government development plans. The implementation of the Convention helped to shape up cultural resource mapping process among CSOs from 2016 to-date. This has contributed towards influencing the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to undertake a series of Regulatory Impact Assessments for relevant Laws for Culture and Creative Arts in 2019. There was also training of Masters Crafts men and women where a total 210 Masters Crafts trained in Product development, design and marketing.

v) Furthermore, the Government is working hand-in-hand with public and private partners to encourage and enable the creation of artistic and cultural content that reflects Uganda’s diversity and to facilitate access to that content by domestic and international audiences. For example Government has worked with Local Media Houses and enforced a 70% Local Content Thresh hold for all Media broadcasting houses in Uganda. On the other front, through innovative budget policy Government has been able to allocate resources for promoting of the National Library and public Libraries under Local Governments. There has also been success on development of ICT Innovations where Government has dedicated a fund under the budget.

vi) The Government of Uganda has also taken action to promote the diversity of cultural expressions internationally by promoting Uganda artistic work at Investment forums in North America, Algeria, India, East African Community and Russia among others. These measures have included ensuring mobility for professionals in the cultural field especially musicians, signing of culture cooperation agreements with countries such as South Korea, India, Russia, Morocco and also promotion of East African Community Arts and Culture Festival- Code named (JAMAFEST) within the East African Community cooperation arrangements.

vii) The Government through Cabinet approved the National Intellectual Property Policy in 2019 to promote the protection and enforcement of Intellectual property rights. Supporting capacity-building, information sharing, training and technical assistance through projects tailored to the specific needs of artists and cultural professionals. Several cultural institutions also implement measures to promote international cultural cooperation by establishing funding programs to increase capacity for inviting foreign artists and encouraging partnerships and collaborations with Local artists in Uganda. The private sector has been instrumental in promoting artistic cooperation and collaboration projects in Uganda.

Among the main challenges encountered in implementation of the 2005 Convention during the period are;
• Limited resources leading to weak coordination of stakeholders in the implementation of the Convention.
• Lack of official cultural statistics that has negatively affected fiscal and political decisions.
• Stakeholders are concerned that Uganda has many policies and measures but many of these policies and measures lack effective
implementation and often their impact has not been monitored and evaluated. There are measures put in place by Government such as
Local Content of 70% for media houses but there is absence of a dedicated agency or mechanism to monitor the implementation of this
policy.
• Inadequate cultural infrastructure and spaces for cultural expression
• Inadequate awareness and low appreciation on the role of culture in development by key policy makers in Uganda

In terms of outlook for the future, Uganda will continue to reflect on the impact of digital technologies on the diversity of cultural expressions. Uganda firmly believes that the Convention remains as relevant and useful as ever in a digital environment, an idea which is expanded upon throughout this report. While important challenges lie ahead as the world is filled with an abundance of cultural content in various formats, Uganda is looking to the stakeholders in the Convention to share the best practices, support and innovative approaches that have been developed to fulfill the objectives of this Convention