Masaka District is a district in Central Uganda, situated about 37 kms away from the equator towards the south with an average altitude of 1150m above sea level.  Its main town is Masaka, whose estimated population in 2011 was 74,100. It is bordered by Bukomansimbi District to the northwest, Kalungu District to the north, Kalangala District to the east and south, Rakai District to the southwest and Lwengo District to the west.

Masaka was Uganda’s second biggest town for a long time; today this status has changed as it was largely destroyed in the liberation war of 1979 and again in the 1981-1986 civil war which removed Obote 2  from power. So Masaka District is one of the districts in Uganda, which has suffered the terror of bad governance, epidemics and total collapse of the service delivery system.  This bad situation resulted in bringing down Masaka to her knees both socially and economically between 1971 and 1986.  The former local administration structures were all destroyed and a few which remained, were dilapidated.

The first case of HIV/AIDS in Uganda was cited in the greater Masaka region. The people being illiterate thought this was witchcraft and this led to many people losing lives and leaving behind many orphans and many affected families. The effect of this is still evident today in the communities around Masaka.

During the colonial period Uganda was split into administrative districts and Masaka was one of them.

The district has a rich cultural heritage. It has also a diversity of ethnicities of about 40 ethnic groups though the majority of the people are Baganda followed by the Banyankole, Banyarwanda and Banyoro. But most of the tribes practice Buganda culture. The main language spoken is Luganda and the staple food of the area is Matooke.

The major economic activities in Masaka include food crop agriculture for example matooke, sweetpotatoes, pineapples, and tomatoes. Cash crop agriculture including coffee and cotton, Animal Ranching consisting of cattle, goats, pigs and chicken. Furthermore there is also fishing on Lake Victoria and fish farming. Some people earn a living in small scale industries like Coffee processing, manufacture of soft drinks, metal fabrication/welding and Retail trade.

Following the socio-economic and political challenges that affected the area, there was increasing number of orphan hood, unaccompanied children, and marginalized groups of women that suffered greatly due to socio-economic and political inequalities.

This manifested through increased domestic violence, early pregnancies among young girls, high school dropout rate and youth delinquency.