In 1996, twenty-six women on the shores of Lake Victoria in Katosi made a decision that would change their community — and eventually, the communities of over a thousand others across three Ugandan districts. They decided to organise.
The group they formed — initially the Katosi Women Fishing Group — had a simple mission: to help women enter the male-dominated fishing sector and secure a share of the economic opportunities the lake offered. What it became is something far more expansive.
The Early Years: Surviving Crises, Building Resilience
The early years were shaped by crisis as much as aspiration. In 2000, the government banned fishing in several zones due to the use of poison — a devastating blow to a community whose entire economy centred on the lake. Rather than collapse, the group adapted. Women diversified into agriculture, livestock, and micro-finance. The group changed its name to Katosi Women Fishing and Development Association (KWFDA), reflecting its broader mandate.
When the group's model began attracting other communities, a new structure was needed. In 2004, four women's groups came together to form Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT) — an umbrella organisation designed to equitably share resources, skills, and knowledge across a growing network.
Growth That Stayed Rooted in Community
What distinguishes KWDT's growth is that it has remained genuinely community-led. Groups are not recruited by KWDT — they apply to join, motivated by the transformation they observe in households of existing members. This demand-driven model has ensured that expansion has never outpaced the organisation's capacity to support quality programming.
Since 2018, KWDT has extended its reach to women's groups in fisheries in the island districts of Kalangala and Buvuma — communities facing the most acute vulnerabilities but with the least access to development support.
The Numbers Behind the Story
Today, KWDT coordinates:
- 1,235 members organised in 52 women's groups
- Groups spanning six sub-counties in Mukono District, plus Kalangala and Buvuma islands
- 526 fisher women organised in 11 groups across 11 landing sites in Buvuma and Kalangala
- Programmes spanning economic empowerment, WASH, education, environmental conservation, health, and advocacy
Awards That Belong to the Women
In 2012, KWDT received the third Kyoto World Water Grand Prize at the World Water Forum in Marseille — and the RIO+20 Women Good Practice Award in Rio de Janeiro. KWDT Coordinator Margaret Nakato has served as Co-President of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers, representing Uganda's fishing communities on the global stage.
These are not KWDT's awards. They belong to the women who constructed rainwater tanks in the early mornings before fishing, who planted fruit trees on degraded lakeside land, who stayed up late managing group accounts by lamplight. The awards are theirs.
Looking Ahead
Twenty-eight years on, the work is not finished. Climate change is intensifying the pressures that KWDT was founded to address. Fish stocks are declining. Water security is becoming more fragile. Gender-based violence remains deeply embedded in fishing communities under economic stress.
But so is the resilience of the women KWDT works with. And that, above all, is what the next 28 years will be built on.