Freedom Centre Uganda is a humanist organization established in 2016 by a group of free thinkers and human rights defenders in the city of Mbarara, Uganda. Since 2018 it is an Associate of Humanists International. In 2021, Freedom Centre Uganda will work to create a bridge between the humanist and the LGBTI+ community in Mbarara, organizing a series of workshops to train 100 individuals on humanism, critical thinking and human rights awareness.
Since 2018, Freedom Centre Uganda (known also with the acronym “FC-Uganda”) has collaborated with Humanists International to promote humanism and critical thinking in Uganda, with a focus around the Great Mbarara area. in 2019, for example, Freedom Centre Uganda organized a Café Humaniste on the theme “Advancing critical thinking to break blind beliefs”
A moment from the Café Humaniste in Mbarara on 22 March 2019, with the participation of 22 people.
Freedom Centre Uganda’s project aims to build capacity of grass root LGBTI+ persons to strengthen their understanding of Humanism as an inclusive stance, promote critical thinking or scientific and evidence based information, the right to freedom of religion or belief and increase umanist membership at Freedom Centre-Uganda. This will amplify LGBTI+ voices and agency to gain control of their lives and belief and motivate self-advocacy to fight long-life discrimination by the religious community due to their sexual orientation, gender identity and belief, and gain responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
By the end of the project, the beneficiaries of the project will be able to understand and appreciate humanism as a lifestance, join the humanist community, exchange ideas, promote the humanist philosophy and values, and work together to achieve full social and civil equality of LGBTI persons.
On the left, Louis Kamugasha (President of Freedom Centre Uganda) with the Vice President of the Danish Humanist Society, Kirstine Kærn, and Viola Namyalo (Ugando Humanist Association).
The Project’s main objective is to build capacity of grass root LGBTI persons that have been discriminated in the religious realm, to improve their understanding of Humanism as an alternative worldview, human rights (in particular, freedom of and from religion), improve their critical thinking skills and increase Humanist membership.
Freedom Centre-Uganda will conduct training sessions on humanism, human rights and critical thinking , and develop a report on LGBTI religious beliefs and their understanding humanism to increase knowledge sharing among the Ugandan humanist community.
