The police accountability and reform project, Phase One, spearheaded by HURINET-Uganda paved the way for constructive engagement and civil society participation in police accountability processes and contributing to the development of a more democratic and accountable police service which space needs to be fully utilized. Specifically, the project has achieved the following among other notions;

•From CSO-Police Antagonism to Co-operation:

Coming from a background of antagonism and a confrontational relationship between the civil society and the security organs especially the police, the start of the project was not easy.  Indeed, the very reasons why some of the government institutions are so closed is simply the notion that no CSO comes up with constructive criticism rather they (state agencies) are continuously demonized on failure to deliver the expected services to the public. Mostly, the CSO do not inquire into the in-depth of the operational mandates of such institutions such as the police to find out their side of the story or short comings. This is precisely why at the beginning of the project; there were genuine apprehensions from the different police officers both junior and senior on how HURINET was going to ‘treat’ them and the likely relationship.  HURINET-U adopted a different strategy of appreciative inquiry going in not to blame but to find solutions to how the shortcomings faced by the police in adhering to universal standards of policing can be overcome for the good of the community and stability in the country.  The break-through that HURINET-U and the working group have had through the past 3 years working with the top leadership of the police to implement the proposed initiatives of reform is a great achievement.

• The continued cooperation and engagement with the Uganda Police Force has made the project to move expeditiously with impact. This partnership and co-operation has been very useful in diffusing/pre-emptying the occasional tension periods that happened during the implementation of the programme. The avenues opened continued to provide space for the CSOs to voice their concerns, lobby and forge a way forward on various police reform related aspects.

• In the same vein, joint ownership of the various initiatives carried out with the police and their practical involvement on almost every aspect related to the project implementation is an outstanding success of the project. From developing the Complaints manual to designing the police accountability newsletter; all the way to providing the project team with escorts to Karamoja among other numerous ventures, the police has been side by side with the project team.

• Ownership of the project by the various civil society organizations that make up both the coalition and the working group membership is laudable. In the course of the implementation of the project, at least three NGO forums based in Mukono, Iganga and Nebbi developed action papers with which they used to engage the police further in the police-CSOs forums.

• The Progressive Move towards Police-Civilian Co-operation
  Police–civilian working relationship has greatly improved in several regions of the country. This was noticed during the coalition field visits by way of testimonies from the coalition members and members of the community and the police force. There is a progressive move towards cooperation and team work in implementation of most of the police activities that benefit the community. (These testimonies especially came from West-Nile region, mid east, Far East, mid-north, north and most upcountry districts especially on crime related aspects and demystifying the fear the people had for the police).

• Regional Police Reform Coalition; enhancing project sustainability
  With the establishment and empowerment of regional coalition on the project, community policing has also taken centre stage among the other initiatives the coalition members are working on. CSOs continue to provide excellent partnership for community policing for effective crime prevention.

• Further increase on the level of awareness among the Civil Society on policing and police-civilian oversight in the different trainings conducted were a great achievement. Substantially CSOs nationwide are equipped with knowledge and their roles on policing and civilian oversight.

The proposed new phase of the project (2010-2012) is thus inspired and is based on mainly two principles/notions namely:

• Consolidation of the past gains/successes/observed gaps and challenges;

• Secondly the principle of responsiveness-which is hinged on the realization of some issues that emerged during the subsistence of the previous programme but would not be incorporated and responded to immediately for among other factors budgetary issues.  It is pertinent that they are addressed as they were also found to be central to police reform and accountability.