Mwagale Foundation — Survivor-Led Anti-Human Trafficking Non-Governmental Organisation
Statutory NGO Registration No. INDR162385145NB | Kampala, Uganda
Mwagale Foundation is a registered survivor-led NGO in Uganda dedicated to preventing modern slavery, dismantling human trafficking networks, protecting vulnerable children, providing holistic trauma-informed rehabilitation, and enforcing statutory justice in East Africa.
Unlike traditional humanitarian models, Mwagale Foundation is founded, guided, and governed by survivors of human trafficking. Our leaders have survived domestic servitude, deceptive labour recruitment in the Middle East, and cross-border exploitation. This lived experience ensures that our protection protocols, rescue operations, and trauma rehabilitation are grounded in dignity, trust, and zero revictimization.
Learn more about our mission and governance → | Meet our Survivor Advisory Council →
Using interactive street theatre, marketplace drama, community radio dialogues, and village assemblies to expose deceptive recruitment tactics, modern slavery warning signs, and safe migration procedures across rural and peri-urban Uganda.
Establishing peer-led vigilance clubs in primary and secondary schools across Uganda. Equipping students and teachers with child safeguarding handbooks, fake scholarship awareness, and confidential classroom reporting channels.
Providing holistic trauma-informed psychosocial counseling, emergency safe shelter, medical assistance, vocational training grants, and micro-enterprise mentorship so survivors can permanently reclaim financial independence.
Partnering with the Uganda Police Force Child and Family Protection Unit (CFPU), statutory prosecutors, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (COPTIP) to enforce the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2009 and secure convictions against human traffickers.
Human trafficking under the Uganda Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2009 and the UN Palermo Protocol is the recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of persons by deceptive means, force, fraud, or abuse of vulnerability for commercial exploitation.
Read the complete educational guide on recognizing trafficking →
Read frontline reports, policy commentaries, and survivor victory stories directly from our teams in Uganda:
Published: October 7, 2026 | Category: Field News | By: Mwagale Media and Comms desk
Centering Survivor Leadership One of the strongest messages emerging from the Forum was the need to place people with lived experience at the heart of the global response to modern slavery. Survivors possess knowledge that is critical to understanding how exploitation happens, where protection systems fail, what barriers survivors encounter, and what meaningful recovery and reintegration should look like. For Mwagale Foundation, survivor leadership goes beyond providing survivors with opportunities to tell their stories. It means recognizing survivors as experts, advocates, leaders, and decision-makers whose experiences can help shape more effective policies and interventions. The Forum provided an important platform for survivor leaders such as Ms. Ndagire to contribute directly to discussions influencing the future of anti-trafficking work at national, regional, and global levels.
Published: September 28, 2026 | Category: Field News | By: Dickson
Mwagale Foundation joins The Salvation Army for the World Day of Prayer for victims of human trafficking. Discover how prayer fuels action, healing, and hope.
Published: July 25, 2026 | Category: Field News | By: Mwagale Media and Comms desk
Lopei is among the communities in Karamoja facing a serious risk of child trafficking. Here, trafficking is not a distant or abstract concern. It can involve a familiar face, a trusted neighbour or someone offering a struggling family an opportunity that appears genuine. Behind such promises, however, a child may be separated from their family and taken to a street, town or city into a life they never chose. To strengthen child trafficking prevention in Lopei, Mwagale Foundation recently organised a community baraza that placed children at the centre of the conversation. Through drama, poetry and song, the children portrayed how trafficking can begin and the harm it can cause. Their performances showed: A promise made to a parent experiencing hardship Trust placed in a familiar person A child being separated from their family The child being taken away from home A future shaped by exploitation rather than choice The children transformed a complex child-protection issue into stories and experiences that community members could easily understand and remember. Helping Communities Recognise Trafficking Risks Statistics are important in understanding the scale of child trafficking. However, community-based performances can communicate the reality of trafficking in a deeply personal and relatable way. When a child portrays the moment another child is lured away from their mother, the audience does more than listen. Community members begin to recognise how trafficking can happen in everyday life.
Published: May 20, 2026 | Category: School Clubs | By: Mwagale Foundation Team
Recently, we had the privilege of spending valuable time with one of our Anti-Human Trafficking Clubs at Latome Girls Primary School in Karamoja, alongside Ndagire Joanitah, CEO of Mwagale Foundation, and Mirriam Kusiima.
Browse all news, field reports, and articles in the archive →
Mwagale Foundation collaborates with statutory bodies, faith communities, and international partners to build an unbreakable protection network across East Africa:
Learn about our faith community action → | Partner with Mwagale Foundation →
Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons by means of threat, force, deception, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. It includes modern slavery, forced labour, sexual exploitation, and child trafficking.
Luganda: Okutunda abantu kiki? — Okutunda abantu kitegeeza okukunganya, okutambuza, okusiga, okusiisira, oba okutwala abantu mu ngeri y'okubatiisatiisa, okubakaka, okubalimba oba okubaggyako eddembe lyabwe n'ekigendererwa ky'okubalyazaamya. Kino kizingamu obuddu obw'omulembe guno, emirimu gy'amaanyi, n'okukusa abaana.
Signs include restricted freedom of movement, working excessively long hours for little or no pay, lacking control over personal identification documents (like passports), appearing fearful, anxious, or showing signs of physical abuse, and having scripted or rehearsed answers during interactions.
Luganda: Nnyinza ntya okutegeera omuntu asobola okuba nga yatundibwa? — Obubonero buzingamu: obutaba na ddembe lya kutambula, okukola emirimu emingi mu ssaawa eziyitiridde ku mpeera entono oba obutaba na mpeera, obutaba na nkyukakyuka mu biwandiiko ebibatandikawo (nga paasipooti), okulabika nga batidde oba balina obweraliikirivu obuyitiridde, n'okuba n'ebisoomoozo ku mibiri gyabwe.
Yes, Mwagale Foundation is a proud, indigenous survivor-led organization in Uganda. Our leadership, staff, and core advocates are survivors of trafficking and modern slavery. We believe that survivor voices are critical in designing effective solutions, policies, and rehabilitation programs.
Luganda: Mwagale Foundation kibiina ky'abasimatuse? — Yee, Mwagale Foundation kibiina ekiddukanyizibwa abasimatuse abaludde nga bayise mu mbeera eno mu Uganda. Abakulembeze baffe, abakozi, n'abatabaazi bonna basimatuse mu kutunda abantu n'obuddu obw'omulembe guno. Tukkiriza nti eddoboozi ly'abasimatuse likulu nnyo mu kuzimba embeera ey'okuzzaamu obulamu.
Anti-Trafficking School Clubs are peer-led awareness chapters in secondary schools across Uganda. We empower students with materials, warning-sign workshops, and safe channels to report suspicious activity. This creates a protective shield around young learners who are prime targets for recruiters.
Luganda: Ebibiina by'okulwanyisa okutunda abantu mu masomero niki? — Bino be bibiina by'abayizi eby'okulwanyisa okutunda abantu mu masomero ga siniya mu Uganda yonna. Tutegeka emisomo ku bubonero obw'obulabe, okubawa ebyokweyambisa, n'okubawa amakubo amakuumi g'okutegeezaako ku mbeera ez'obulabe, nga kino kikuuma abayizi abasinga okulimbibwa.
We use community-based village drama tours and interactive performances to reenact real-life trafficking scenarios, false job recruitment schemes, and organ harvesting deceptions. This makes the heavy, dangerous reality of exploitation visible, understandable, and memorable for grassroots rural communities.
Luganda: Katemba w'enkyukakyuka (Theatre for Change) ayamba ntya okusomesa ebitundu? — Tukozesa katemba w'omu bitundu n'emizannyo gy'oku madaala okulaga embeera ez'amazima ez'okutunda abantu, n'okulimbibwa kw'emirimu gy'ebweru, n'okusala ebitundu by'omubiri. Kino kiyamba abantu mu byalo okutegeera embeera zino mu ngeri eyangu era etasobola kwerabirwa.
View the full knowledgebase of all frequently asked questions →
Every contribution directly finances student safety toolkits, survivor emergency shelter, and community vigilance campaigns. US donations are 501(c)(3) tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor Visions Made Viable. Local contributions in Uganda can be made directly via MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money.