Witnessing the way in which the HIV/AIDS pandemic was wreaking havoc on the community, Robert Kalulu and colleagues founded a community based organization called The AIDS Generation (TAGEN) Uganda in March 2005 to address the needs of the many AIDS orphans at the time. 

TAGEN initially worked in communities of three counties (Bugulumbya, Mbulamuti and Wankole) in Kamuli District addressing livelihood needs for the elderly, providing scholarships for secondary education students, and deploying a low-cost vocational training program for girls who had dropped out of school. In 2015, TAGEN changed its name to Child Empowerment Programme (CEP)-Uganda to more accurately reflect our program focus. CEP-Uganda (or CEP) is a registered Community-Based Organization in Uganda

During the 1990s a large proportion of the people who died from the AIDS pandemic were from rural areas and thus left many orphaned children. The lasting impacts of socioeconomic marginalization are felt deeply within rural communities in eastern Uganda who comprise 26% of the population, yet this population accounts for less than 14% of the country’s income and consumption (UBOS, 2016).