E-SOCIETY KASESE GOVERNING COUNCIL MEETING HELD, ORIENTATION OF DISTRICT EXECUTIVE ABOUT THE E-SOCIETY OPERATIONS DONE

In the bid to prepare for future sustainability and governance of the E-society resource center in Kasese District, RIC-NET spear headed the E-society Governing council meeting. This was held at Rwenzori the Gardens Hotel in Kasese Municipality on 16^th November 2011.

The meeting attracted all parties that compose the ESRC Governing council. Among these were representatives from the Civil society and Local government staff (civil servants) headed by the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Kasese Mr.Asaba Wilson.

The meeting that was chaired by the A.C.A.O started at about 11:00 am with a word of prayer led by one of the RIC-Net staff.

The ACAO welcomed all members who had turned for the meeting and having responded positively towards the invitation. He also said that meeting was as a result of a previous meeting that was held at the District that came up with a resolution of orienting the Governing council about their responsibilities towards the E-society resource center.

He later gave time to the Executive Director RIC-NET to highlight a number of issues about the E-society resource center.

The ED RIC-NET started by thanking the members for having honored the call and immediately outlined the composition of the governing council as follows;

· CAO Local Government to present three members chaired by the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)

· District Heads of departments atleast three with District Information Officer (DIO) inclusive

· Four members from the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) with the District Network

· RIC-NET was to remain as a member but not permanent also for technical back up

The ED also lamented that the CAO was to choose two other private sector partners working in the district to be part of this governing council.

He (ED) also highlighted the roles of the Governing council. Among others were;

· Governing council be the body proposing the policies in terms of governance, sustainability and operation of the E-Society center.

· Look at future plans and recommend the kind of direction that would be suitable

· Financial management

· Ownership of the E-society

· Governing council to look at how to expand and when to expand the ESRC

· Proper maintenance of documentation of the ESRC (minutes and other documents)

The District information Officer (DIO) later sited that a number of policies were already outlined by the ED and that therefore there would be need to translate these policies into a document that would go through the Governing council for approval, discussed to the District Technical Planning Committee and later signed by the Chief Administrative Officer to be a Governing document.

He (DIO) said the document would look at the;

· Mandate

· Vision

· Objective s

· Goal

· To describe membership and the tenure of membership

· Management/Administration

· It’s operations in terms of maintenance

· Sustainability

· Resource mobilization

· Need for partnerships among others.

Later a number of reactions were raised by the participants and action points were drawn. Among others were;

Technical sub committees be formed

At least two;

Policy and business plan committees.

The session was adjourned at around 1:00 pm.

Later in the afternoon the District Executive joined led by the District Vice chairperson Hon. Naome Mbambu to have lunch with the Governing Council E-society. The group later moved to the E-society resource center for inspection.

The ICT Officer RIC-NET took the District Executive through the District online resources that is the District website www.kasese.go.ug, kasese e-library, CSOs portal, the Kasese news portal and the D-group. They appreciated all efforts right from the beginning to date.