diff --git a/roles/bodhi2/backend/templates/owner-sync-pagure.j2 b/roles/bodhi2/backend/templates/owner-sync-pagure.j2
index f3af10cfb8..47c78df466 100755
--- a/roles/bodhi2/backend/templates/owner-sync-pagure.j2
+++ b/roles/bodhi2/backend/templates/owner-sync-pagure.j2
@@ -149,6 +149,7 @@ def get_pagure_projects(namespace):
 
 
 def get_project_ownership(tag, namespace):
+    projects = {}
     for project in get_pagure_projects(namespace=namespace):
         # Check if this project has the branch we are interested in
         project_branches_url = '{0}api/0/{1}/{2}/git/branches'.format(