Uganda’s ambitious ACTUATE project, originally launched as a four-year initiative (July 2021 – June 2025), is due for an extension, thanks to sterling results and renewed funding. Supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) and implemented by DKT International alongside partners like PSI, Ipas Africa Alliance, COHERINET, and Women First Digital (WFD), the program targets life-saving sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes through both private and public sector channels.
Verified records show the original four-year effort combined EKN’s support with DKT’s own contribution, totalling US $10 million to expand access to SRH services across Uganda.
Four-Year Impact: Millions Served and Countless Lives Saved
In its first two years, ACTUATE delivered on ambitious targets. Year 1 (2021–22) generated approximately 449,000 couple-years of protection (CYPs), helping prevent an estimated 60,000 unintended pregnancies, 1,425 maternal deaths, and nearly 268,000 unsafe abortions. Year 2 (2022–23) performance accelerated further with 562,533 CYPs—a 34 % increase over Year 1—and impressive coverage of emergency contraception and medical abortion combipacks, achieving 204 % and 129 % of targets, respectively.
Scope Expansion Through Public–Private Partnerships and Community Outreach
The project’s growth wasn’t limited to numbers alone. ACTUATE expanded its NEXT Gen Lydia Partner Clinic network, onboarding 80 partner clinics across regions, including Central, East Central, Acholi, Elgon, and West Nile. It also strengthened intersectoral collaboration—PSI-U sensitized public officials on Uganda’s Total Market Approach (TMA) for efficient SRH resource allocation, engaging over 134 government officials and convening multiple subcommittee meetings.
In parallel, WFD and COHERINET intensified outreach through digital platforms, mass media campaigns, radio activations, and in-person counseling—together surpassing targets by reaching nearly 19,840 women, 198 % of Year 2’s aim.
A New Phase: ACTUATE Gears Up for Two More Years (2025–2027)
As the ACTUATE program heads into its two-year extension (July 2025 – June 2027), funded again by EKN with supplementary support from DKT, focus shifts to five key regions—Acholi, West Nile, Bugisu, Busoga, and Central Uganda—and 25 targeted districts, including Kampala, Wakiso, Lira, Mbale, Jinja, and Arua, among others.
Over the extension, ACTUATE aims to deliver 2.3 million CYPs, avert 608,250 unintended pregnancies, prevent 1,906 maternal deaths, and eliminate 517,003 unsafe abortions. Steering this phase:
DKT International remains the lead implementer, overseeing core outputs across result areas.
Ipas Africa Alliance will assist the Ministry of Health in embedding the TMA strategy and leakage control tool across 120 public facilities in 12 districts.
Women First Digital will ramp up digital SRH awareness, provider education, counseling, and referral services through its platform.
COHERINET will intensify grassroots mobilization, community dialogues, and counseling via its Aunt-Kaki toll-free line and peer networks.
The ACTUATE project is part of the Embassy’s wider SRHR strategy in Uganda. The Netherlands invests over €10 million annually in bilateral programs promoting SRHR, comprehensive sexuality education, SGBV prevention, and enabling social environments, in close cooperation with government and civil society.
The numbers speak volumes: more than a million women have accessed contraceptive services, tens of thousands of frontline providers have been trained, and SRH messaging has reached tens of millions—a testament to the program’s scale, urgency, and life-saving reach.