The origins of the NGO Presence can be traced back to before 1989. At that time, the social, economic and political structure of Uganda was marked by political turmoil, mismanagement of the entire government institutions, and insufficient leadership capacity. Soon all this translated into the many civil unrest the country went through. Since then, the relatively peaceful return has left the majority of the population living in extreme poverty and the urgent need to make ends meet to fill the void. This pioneered the volunteer service and charities, and many people and organizations came up together to provide much-needed assistance. This is the reason why so many NGOs emerged like mushrooms.

Before 1989, under the Companies Law, all NGOs were registered as LLCs, or NGOs appointed their directors in accordance with the Trustee Creation Law. The number of NGOs in the Ugandan NGO sector continued to grow. This led to the enactment of Chapter 113 of the NGO Registration Law in 1989, which established the National NGO Board whose mission was to register all NGOs in the country. After the work of the NGO Board, it was evident, from the point of view of its form, that were gaps in the supervision of a dynamic, diverse and diverse sector. Therefore, more functions were needed for the NGO Board.

Industry transformation then resulted in the need for a stronger regulatory framework. The government, through the then Ministry of Internal Affairs, embarked on drafting the National NGO Policy 2010, which changed the NGO regulatory framework. Since then, the NGO Act 2016 has been enacted to repeal Article 113 of the NGO Registration Law. Therefore, since the entry into force of the 2016 "NGO Law", NGO Office was established in 2016. This was followed by a process of drafting the 2017 NGO Bylaw to make the law enforceable.