Muhumuza Rubanzana Fred

Founding Director, and Team Leader

“I believe in self-empowerment. Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi’s Quote. After ten years of working in areas of international and rural community development, I experienced one of the rarest opportunities where everything seemed to fall into place. Having grown through most difficult situations and have been lucky to have worked with and led a handful of development organizations ranging from law-level community-based projects to international administration of projects, each experience has provided me with a deeper understanding of extreme hiccups faced by desperate communities here in Uganda. I found that poverty and extreme hardship do not have one point of derivation. Having worked on the community development programs, I found that each community development program has unique and effective approaches to addressing complex community problems associated with poverty and economic difficulty, oppression, complexity, and unfairness which many communities face all through.

I believe that Community development is fundamentally based on the values of human rights, social justice, equity, equality, and respect for diversity. The principles that underpin its practice is: Self-determination - people and communities have the right to make their own choices and decisions. Empowerment - people should be able to control and use their assets and means to influence. Collective action - coming together in groups or organizations strengthens people’s voices. Working and learning together - collaboration and sharing experiences are vital to good community activity. All this should be coupled with professional discipline, and a practice-based profession focused on promoting participative democracy, sustainable growth, increasing the number of economic opportunities, and improving social justice, through organizing, educating, and empowering people in the urban and rural communities. In one critical respect, this practice is well-founded: HICDEF will often emerge and play an important role in providing public goods and in resolving collective action problems when formal institutions are deficient.

Community-based organizations, agencies, and groups for child and youth development are influenced not only by families and schools but by a wide variety of formal and informal community organizations; some of which involve youth and women directly, while others affect neighborhood changes that affect youth, women, and families.

I believe that HICDEF will continue to empower individuals and groups of people with the skills they need to effect positive change within their communities. These skills are created through the formation of social groups working for a common agenda. Community developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities' positions within the context of a larger institution. The process we advocate for seeks to bring isolated success strategies of those “Positive deviants” to proponent sustainable community development and “Keep the Children’s Hope Alive”

Luca Ferrini

International Director

Discovering the deeply beautiful, incredibly deep, and green and smiling hills, valleys, and faces of the districts of South-Western Uganda was without a doubt one of the most enriching and humanly challenging experiences of my life. I had read and studied, including at Oxford, about poverty and community development, and went to look for solutions, to ask, listen, and attempt to empower. And of course, I was overwhelmed by the complexities and depth of rural life in Uganda.

When I met Muhumuza, who grew up in Rukungiri and had a life-long dream and a clear plan for supporting his communities, for me, it was a done deal. Since 2013 it has been my utmost privilege to support Muhumuza and the whole HICDEF team with funding, fundraising, networks, and strategic discussions about how to better and more efficiently and sustainably help the communities to empower themselves.

I know that every Euro goes directly to the communities, and I have seen with my own eyes how necessary and impactful it is. Today, as I work professionally on development projects across Africa for large European donors, I am inspired daily by the work HICDEF is doing.

My initial encounter with the Kanungu and Rukungiri districts, South-Western Uganda (Many heartfelt thanks to Volunteer Uganda!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GogV2H0Wjg8

Isabel Báez Lechuga

International Patron & Benefactor

Spanish working in Belgium, I studied Political Sciences and Administration with a Master's in EU affairs plus a PhD in European Law. While working in the European Parliament, I worked in the Development parliamentary committee on issues such as economic development, gender equality women’s rights, and Human rights.

I discovered HICDEF thanks to Luca, a great friend, and a better person. I had the opportunity to visit the communities in west Uganda (Rukungiri and Kanungu) with the organizers and take part in the daily work of HICDEF. I learned the way they implement projects in education, health, entrepreneurship, etc. through community mobilization.

HICDEF projects are based on the empowerment of the local communities to enhance education, health, and economic growth by supporting each other. HICDEF provides people in the communities with the resources to make the change possible. In particular, they work with vulnerable children and their families, by providing necessities of life, advocacy, capacity building, and provision of income-generating activities and teaching them their fundamental human rights.

It was really helpful during my time there to learn the way they develop themselves. I took my work on the ground as one of the best experiences in my personal life. I also used everything I learned from people and the HICDEF to give another perspective on the laws we are doing in Europe. It was a very good exchange of learning. I stay in contact with the organizers and contribute to the organizations when I can.

Sarah Drummond

International Ally, Grants Acquisition and Resource Mobilization strategist

As a Princeton in Africa Fellow with one of HICDEF's longtime partner organizations, the Foundation for Community Development and Empowerment (FCDE), Sarah worked with our team to strengthen our fundraising and proposal development skills. She was very inspired by our work and along the way became a friend and champion of HICDEF. While not a staff member, we have included her on our website as a testament to the value she brought to the team.

Sarah is passionate about supporting and expanding resources for community-based organizations. She holds a Bachelor of Science in International Affairs and French from Georgia Institute of Technology and has four years of experience in research, finance, fundraising, and project management within the non-profit sector. Before working with FCDE, Sarah was a Program Assistant with The Carter Center’s Rule of Law Program supporting projects advancing government transparency and women’s right to information.

"I feel so lucky to have worked and learned from HICDEF. The team's tireless dedication, creativity, and positivity inspires me daily and serves as an example to organizations everywhere!"

Dr. Catherine Promise Biira, PhD.

HICDEF PATRON

Dr. Catherine Promise Biira is a Development Management Specialist. She holds a PhD in International Development Studies and an MA in Development Management at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. She also holds a Master of Administration from the University of Western Cape in South Africa; an Executive Master in International Negotiation and Policy Making from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Administration and Management from the Uganda Management Institute and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from Makerere University, Kampala.

Dr. Biira worked with Uganda’s National Population Council Secretariat from 2006-2016 and from the beginning of 2017 to the end of 2019, she was Director, Institute for Regional Integration and Development at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi. She is currently, engaged in the private sector as CEO of Jade Country Resort, Bikurungu Rukungiri, and Le’Prome Plantation Forest in Kiboga. She is one of the 5 promoters of St. Ignatius University, Kabale, and is also a founder of the Africa Institute for Policy Alternatives and Social Justice.

She serves on the Board of the All Eyes Foundation Uganda and is also a Board Member of the Uganda Women’s Cancer Support Organization. She is the founder and Patron of the Bukorwe Park Neighbors Community Group, Kanungu, and has also served as co-patron of the Rukungiri University Students Association (RUSA) since 2018. She is a champion for Community Transformation and has been recognized by the Women’s Council of Rukungiri District for her contribution to promoting girl child education, among several other social development initiatives at the grassroots level.