Founded in March 2007, Grassroots Reconciliation Group (GRG) builds trust between local community members and ex-child soldiers of the LRA who have escaped from rebel captivity. Together, the two groups build relationships and work hand-in-hand on livelihood projects that they design themselves, including communal farming, brick-making, village savings and loan, animal husbandry, and peer counselling. By supporting these projects, they support the long-term rehabilitation, reconciliation, and economic capacity of the war-weary people of northern Uganda.

Grassroots Reconciliation Group (GRG) was initiated as part of a USAID-funded program called the Northern Uganda Peace Initiative (NUPI) with the objective to reconcile and rehabilitate former child soldiers of Joseph Kony’s Resistance Army (LRA) and their communities of return in northern Uganda.

After USAID’s contract with NUPI ended, northern Ugandan participants were enthusiastic about the hope and trust these programs helped restore to war-torn communities. This enthusiasm motivated co-founders Sasha Lezhnev and Kasper Agger to continue helping these communities as a long term activity.

In March 2007, Sasha and Kasper, working with community leaders in Uganda, founded GRG to address this critical need. With great dedication, they decided to personally fund start-up. They assembled a dedicated board of directors who are convinced of the GRG’s positive role in fostering peace in the region. In July 2007, GRG received U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization status and status as an NGO in Uganda.

Since 2007, GRG has worked with 38 groups and reached 1200 people directly, and impacted more than 5000 indirectly. Grassroots Reconciliation Group will work to support the needs of communities, continuing to expand and graduate GRG groups over the coming years.

GRG’s unique participatory approach enables communities to design community-led projects in which GRG works directly with the groups over several years to ensure sustainability. On average, GRG works with each group for 4-5 years before they graduate to lead their own programs building on support from GRG.

Their five program areas include:

- livelihoods;
- microfinance;
- trauma;
- counselling and care;
- culture and recreation; and
- reconciliation.