Rwenzori Peoples' Voice

The vice of corruption exists but it’s not political

2012-02-02T00:57:00.000-08:00

“Some leaders have not yet conceptualized the reason why they are in leadership, and this is one of the biggest challenges and obstacles to development, Good Governance and improved service delivery” asserted the Kasese District Speaker Hon. Zepher Mubingwa.
He noted thus while presenting a paper on the District Position on Effective Service Delivery and Participation of the Citizenry in Governance of resources at the District Leaders Meeting organized by GoodHope Foundation and RWECO Coordinating Unit on 01.02.12 at Kasese SSD Hall.
Hon. Zepher Mubingwa was one of the six (6) leaders who turned up for the leaders meeting out of the invited and expected seventeen (17) leaders in the District. Hon. Geoffry Lubangula District Youth Councilor, Hon. Adongkara for Mayor, Vice Chairperson Karusandara Sub County, LCIII Chairman Nyakiyumbu Sub County, LCIII Chairman Bulembia Division and LCIII Chairman Maliba Sub County were the only leaders that turned up for the meeting.

Frustrating as it unveiled, the meeting nevertheless proceeded with some leaders standing in to present for the absent leaders. The meeting whose purpose was to review the progress on the fulfillment of the regional issues in the Citizen’s Manifesto by leaders and to sensitize stakeholders on the concept of Citizen Manifesto and Neighborhood Assemblies still achieved its objectives at the end of the day, courtesy of the few leaders that turned up.

In his presentation, the District Speaker Hon. Zepher Mubingwa challenged the participants to tell him how many people in Kasese vote Candidates basing on their Manifestos; he together with the participants agreed that largely most decisions are not based on their (voters) knowledge of the candidates’ manifestos but rather personal sentimental attachments or bandwagon influence. He added that it’s unfortunate that many development programs and Candidates’ Manifestos are drafted by individuals without the in-put of those they intend to lead. He thanked RWECO/GoodHope for this Citizen Manifesto program which he noted will help in merging the two to shape the delivery of services to the people.

Explaining the position of the District/Government’s on Effective Service Delivery and Participation of the Citizenry in Governance of resources, the Honorable noted that Government is the sole provider of social services and its main task is the creation of a favorable environment for development. He revealed that Kasese District Local Government is committed to improving service delivery and ensuring a poverty free society by 2015.
He added that the District intends to achieve this through encouraging people’s participation in development programs and processes - bottom up planning; “this planning will enable government to capture the people’s needs” he remarked.
He hailed Government for the policy/law framework although he regretted to note that Uganda on the other hand has continuously failed to implement these good laws and policies. “There is still very limited will to enforce these laws; I think we are defeating ourselves” Mubingwa Lamented.
Among other challenges to improved service delivery the Honorable noted; irresponsible citizens and leaders. He said under the UPE program parents irresponsibly have convinced themselves that they have no role to play while some leaders have continued to take citizen’s concerns and Government programs for granted whereas others have embarked on mismanagement of public resources. Interestingly Hon. Mubingwa said that while corruption/mismanagement of public resources is being practiced by both NRM and Opposition, it has most often been associated with/tagged to one party-NRM; “ I with due respect acknowledge that the vice of corruption exists but it’s not political, and, thus should not be attached to NRM alone” he remarked. Inadequate resources and lack of specialized Human resource were also named among the challenges.
Summing up his presentation the District Speaker pledged Government support and cooperation to CSOs and RWECO in particular in all her programs and activities.

Other topics discussed during the meeting included the youth and unemployment: steps and programs by Government to make the youth engage in work and Women as Vanguards of development: has Parliament delivered on its promises. These sessions pointed out Government’s interventions in extending services to the two interest groups and also got the participants into debates on Government’s shortfalls in delivering services and what can be done to address these hiccups.

Bravo to all the leaders that turned up, without you we would not have realized the day’s objectives and also heard the vast information that you shared.

Still wondering what happens when leaders shun a leaders meeting?; it still goes on my dear, big ups are given to those leaders that turn up while the absentees are entered into the Voters black books till then……

Voicing the Silence Campaign- be our companion

2012-02-01T06:01:00.000-08:00

Voice the Silence and cry aloud against corruption and poor service delivery by our leaders and companies.

Save lives from the condemnation of invisible death.
"Rushwa ni Adui ya maendeleo" or "Corruption is an enemy to development"

Are you aware of this:

1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water.
2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation.
30,000 children die each day due to poverty, that's 210,000 a week, and almost 11 million per year.

And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

At any given time, half the people in developing nations are suffering from health problems caused by water and sanitation deficits.

Source: http://www.globalissues.org

Share this with a friend and talk with your leader to change this trend.

GOOD HOPE FOUNDATION FORMS A COMMUNITY SOCIAL FORUM (EKYAGHANDA KY’ABATAKA) IN KISINGA SUB-COUNTY.

2012-01-30T22:25:00.000-08:00

28th/01/2012 is a day that will never be forgotten by the residents of Kisinga Sub-County), Bukonzo East Constituency, Kasese District. On this day Citizens witnessed and participated in the launch of a Sub-County “Community Parliament”- a forum where citizens discuss their community development challenges and come up with community based solutions alongside their Local Governments’ authorities.
Important to note is that a Series of activities were conducted ahead of the launch; training of CBO’s on Citizens’ Manifesto popularization and formation of a Community Social Forum (CSF), mobilization of Kisinga Sub County residents and the training of Kabirizi Growers Cooperative Society; the Cooperative Society was trained to support the formation of a CSF and Citizens Manifesto popularization. Finally Good Hope also saw to the election of the Forum’s leadership by Kisinga Sub-County residents. The elected leaders included the Speaker and Deputy, Secretary/Clerk to the Forum and Vice, Treasurer and Vice, Minister in Charge of Education, Minister in Charge of Health Services, Minister in Charge of Agriculture and Minister in Charge of Gender issues. On the same day of the elections the residents present scheduled the date for the CSF launch as on 28th/01/2012 at Kiburara Health Centre II in Kagando Parish.
On 28th Jan around 300 people turned up for the launch, these included farmers, CSOs like KALI, Civil and Political leaders like the Local Council three Chairperson, Sub County District Councilor, District Youths Councilor, Sub County O.C Police and other citizens stretching from all corners of the Sub County. During the launch participants were sensitized on the Citizens’ Manifesto and the concept of Community Social Forum through speeches, Music, Dance and Drama presentations.
On this day, the CSF leadership commenced work by conducting a session on the challenges of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in the Sub County. The session that was moderated by the speaker and the Minister In-Charge of Education invited the audience to react to the motion presented to them. The session challenged the local leaders present to table motions in their Local Councils on building a strong foundation at primary school level by introducing Nursery school section at all primary schools in the Sub County.
Speaking at the function the Local Leaders present commended RWECO/Good Hope for this initiative arguing that this was the beginning of a strong community structure where citizens will from time to time engage their leaders on Good Governance and development concerns in the Sub County. The LCIII Chairperson and O.C-Police for example pledged total support to the forum and requested Good Hope to continue involving them in such functions.
Another Social Forum (which actually will be first since this was just a sample) was scheduled for 25th/ 02/ 2012 in Nsenyi parish at Kisinga Primary School. This forum is expected to address the service delivery challenges in the Health sector in the Sub County. (RIC-NET supported this activity with documentation expertise).

YES WE CAN!

2012-01-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

Hurriedly they walked as if to catch up with something very precious that they wouldn’t dare to lose. One by one, young and old, women and men all gathered under the mango trees that offered a beautiful shade and breeze to its inhabitants.
Slowly the number swelled, mothers hurriedly breastfed and made simple makeshift beds for their babies so they wouldn’t disturb, while the men artistically arranged the venue for the meeting. With peaceful faces they all sat murmuring greetings to each other waiting for the set time 3:00pm. And finally the Clock struck 3:00pm, thirty two out of the expected fourty six people had gathered so far. Members prayed and sang the National and Toro Kingdom Anthems; it was now time for the Citizens’ Parliament, call it Neighborhood Assembly if you like.
IWDP had on this day 18.01.12 organized an assembly for her first group called Nyankwanzi People’s Voice. (RIC-NET supported this activity with documentation expertise).
Chaired by the group’s Chairperson Mr. Madhivani Moses, members (who included teachers, farmers, business persons, students and politicians) discussed issues that affect them in their communities in the sectors of NAADs, Health and Education. Several service delivery challenges were raised and a number of solutions to them were also suggested;
NAADs
Procurement and supply of poor quality enterprises; members noted that at the inception of the program, the community was informed that NAADs was going to introduce new and better breeds of animals and crops unfortunately nothing has changed, all enterprises are procured locally from the same old breeds. Accordingly the spread of crop pests and diseases has remained a challenge. Sharing her experience one, Hadija revealed that the NAADs banana suckers she received in 2010 came with Banana bacterial wilt that has since eaten up her entire plantation, “I regret why I accepted these suckers because they brought me diseases that I didn’t have before…”

Lack of adequate knowledge on the selection of beneficiaries and enterprises was also noted amongst the community. This was revealed in the various complaints by the members like the neglect of the poor and disadvantaged persons and their appeal for different enterprises like coffee.
Lack of supervision and follow up of NAADs beneficiaries by the NAADs officials, supply of inadequate enterprises viza viz the beneficiaries prepared land and limited involvement/ interest of some community members in groups.
Members appealed for more sensitization of the community on the NAADs program and the change of strategy of the supply of enterprises from group to individual. Explaining this one Jackson Mugarura asserted that the supply should target individuals and that Government could put measures to either arrest or punish those individuals who will not have utilized the enterprise as expected “I personally believe that this would increase the number of beneficiaries and also ensure uniformity in the program”
Commenting on these concerns the area Councilor to the Sub County Hon. Rubongoya Atuha thanked members for raising such pertinent challenges which he pledged to share with Council in their next Council Session. He appreciated the fact that NAADs has a number anomalies, although on the other hand, the community is to blame for the poor performance of the project; Hon. Rubongoya explained that there is still continued limited ownership of the enterprises and the program by the community and limited will and boldness in holding their leaders accountable. He informed the meeting that service delivery is two way- demand driven, and as such the community should be able to walk to the offices of their leaders and demand for information on issues of concern to them.
Health
Several issues were also raised about Nyankwanzi HCIII, these ranged from inadequate staffing, poor relationship between health workers and patients, frequent drug stock outs especially septrines, continued failure to follow first come, first serve basis when handling patients, lack of confidentiality by health workers in the HIV/AIDs department- they gossip about their patients in the community, and keeping of patients for long hours yet they send them away at the end of the day without drugs. Wholesomely members appealed for immediate intervention of the Sub County and relevant development partners into the appalling situation at the HC.
Education.
Members regretted to note that the Sub County was still doing badly in terms of academic performance; other challenges included lack of staff houses at schools, high pupil and teacher absenteeism, inadequate facilities in schools, inadequate teacher salaries and inadequate parents’ contribution/support towards education programs among others. About this, members appealed to government to consider increasing teachers’ salaries and construction of staff houses at schools if their performance must be improved. Commenting on these concerns, Hon. Rubongoya equally challenged the parents to find it within their priorities to send their children to school effective 30.01.12 and to support education programs.
Summing up the discussions, one of the discussants Mugarura Jackson thanked IWDP for this initiative of bringing citizens together to deliberate on issues affecting them, he revealed that he is optimistic that this initiative is going to cause positive change in Nyakwanzi Sub County. He however challenged the political leaders to use/maintain the energy, time and money they invest in soliciting for votes during elections when offering services to the community.
Conclusively it should be noted that this was a practical forum; active participation of the community members was witnessed/realized. From this I learnt one thing; that the solutions to development challenges are within us- the community, and to this bottom- up planning needs to be revamped if effective and quick development must be attained.

I feel compelled to thank IWDP and all the other members that have already started implementing the lessons they learnt from their study visit to Kakamego-Kenya in 2011 about Neighborhood Assemblies. I am optimistic that these assemblies will facilitate increased community participation in development programs and cause consequent improved service delivery in the community.
Neighborhood Assemblies, way to go!

RWECO FORMS THE FIRST EKYAGHANDA KYABATAKA IN KASESE DISTRICT

2012-01-11T05:52:00.000-08:00

Community members of Nyakiyumbu subcounty in Kasese District on Monday 9th 2012 witnessed the first formation of the ekyangahanda kyabataka which would be translated as the citizens ’ forum. The activity was organized under the citizens manifesto in action project as a platform where citizens would regularly meet and inform leaders of their development concerns.
Through the Rwenzori consortium for civic competence RWECO, a consortium of Rwenzori information Centers Network (RIC-NET), Integrated women Development program, (IWDP), karambi action for life improvement (KALI) and Good hope foundation for rural development (GHFRD). Karambi Action for life improvement organized the function that led to a full house attendance at the kalongoghire catholic church, Nyakiyumbu subcounty among the participants were KALI & RWECO staff, CSO representatives, religious leaders, community members, the community development officer, the sub county chief and LCIII chairperson
Two staff of RIC-NET participated in the meeting where they documented the proceedings of the day.

According to the Executive Director KALI Ms. Katusabe Beatrice, the organization identified the Ndongo anti poachers association as the community based organization through which the ekyangahanda kyabataka or the citizens’ social forum would be promoted as the citizens will have meetings on issues concerning them and task leaders to address their concerns.

Among the priority concerns raised by the participants that need to be addressed by the leaders were water, roads, sustainability of the Citizens social forum, market access for the farmer produce of which they agreed to invite the respective leaders as the sub county agriculture officer, the secretary for works at the subcounty. The participants also managed to elect Mr. Bwambale Zerubabel as the speaker for the Citizens social forum by the end of the day.

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA H.E. Gen. YOWERI KAGUTA MUSEVENI

2011-12-21T06:17:00.000-08:00

RE: COTTON FARMERS CONCERNS

Mr. President , I wish to refer you to the National Development Plan of the Republic of Uganda which you approved and made public, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Campaign Manifesto 2010, and other government flag ship programmes which the government has endorsed as National strategies to creating wealth and employment for the youths.

Mr. President, following the flagship programmes on wealth creation of the Government of Uganda, I personally and single handily mobilized the youths in my village and sub county to embrace the government program and picked on farming. I offered land in Bukangara, Nyakiyumbu Sub county, Kasese District, to begin with the youth planted ground nuts in March, 2011. The proceeds from ground nuts, were invested in Cotton farming for which we thought we shall get a better deal following your advice to the youths to become self employed and to engage in gain full work.

Mr. President, we planted 10 acres of cotton where we invested as follows; hire of land UGX 250,000/ X 10 = 2,500,000/ hire of tractor UGX 80,000/X 10= 800,000/= , 5 bags of cotton seeds 5X 3000= 15000, pestcides, UGX 200,000/=, Food and Water, Shs. 500,000/, labour during weeding, UGX 80,000 X 4X 10 = 2,400,000. Other general costs like air time linking to the tractor managers, transport, supervision UGX 500,000/, total UGX 6,915,000/. This is recorded expenditure for a single group, but there are many more farmers in the cotton sector, if this is multiplied by the total number of cotton acreage, the farmers have indeed invested a lot and paid taxes while procuring inputs like pest cides, cotton seeds thus contributing to the national treasury even before harvesting cotton.

Mr. President this is a single case, Kasese district is a cotton belt but the farmers are concerned about the cotton prices that were announced in the media. At the beginning of November 2011, the Cotton Development Organization announced a price of UGX 1,600/ as farm-gate price in the Media (Kasese Guide Radio) but while the Hon. Minister of Agriculture was appearing before the committee of Parliament on Wednesday, 14th December, the Hon. Minster’s response to the questions by the committee were un satisfactory and I was prompted to seek the audience of the President through the media to expeditiously come to the plight of the cotton farmers who by now have no clear information about farm-gate price for cotton. The sadden news that cotton farmers in Soroti have cut down cotton were shocking, what will the farmers pay back to the SACCOS which you have single handily supported for the last 10 years.

Mr. President, while I support liberalization of the economy, you might recall how you have changed the milk industry , the cotton farmers have not had a chance of engaging with you on how we can change the sector but only relay on the private sector which has decided to cheat us while we had invested a lot of money in the process. I therefore, request you Mr. President, that as a voice of the people of Uganda who entrusted you with power through our vote, and as a revolutionalist and farmer, you use your constitutional powers to prevent the cotton farmers from being cheated and government sets a minimal price of cotton at UGX 2,500/ per KG. If the cotton sector is ignored by you, our economy is likely to lose a lot based on what we earned from the cotton in the last financial year.

For God and My Country

Jimmy Baluku Odyek
Cotton Farmer in, Bukangara, Nyakiyumbu Sub county Kasese District
jimodyek@gmail.com

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME?

2011-12-16T01:31:00.000-08:00

At the end of every calendar year, right from the household up-to the public sector, we are all busy accounting for our time. What does this mean, make a call to your friend whom you spent the other month hanging out with, the most likely answer is “ I am busy with end of year report” believe me you, this is a critical moment for both parents and managers. Shop keepers are busy making endless journeys to Kampala looking out for the most recent design on market, what about the tailors, the machines are on rampage what has happened, Christmas or end of year. All this is in the name of Christmas and welcoming the new year 2012.

While I was in Holland, I witnessed how the Dutch welcomed the year 2010. It was real spending, don’t mind about the financial crisis making headlines in the Euro zone, The Americas and sub Saharan Africa, orders for fire works to usher in the year dominated the media. One senior citizen wondered if all the money spent on fire works was put in a pool and spent on food security in one of the sub Saharan African countries how many hungry children would be saved? This alone reminds me of how we spend our time and money during Christmas without caring for the next neighbor walloping in abject poverty, never mind we spend our time debating and arguing advancing theories on causes of poverty.

In the name of meeting targets, members of Civil Society Organizations, and Government departments will certainly break for Christmas, but ask how all these civilized citizens will be spending their valuable time. Don’t get surprised to hear somebody mention, ‘I did not finish my end of quarter report, I have comments from my donors to respond to, my boss was not around I will be having a meeting with him/her’. What about the family? With such kind of working, what happens to the children who needed to go out to the beach to make fun with the busy parents?

Again in the Hague, new year is spent in style, imagine temperature at negative two degrees, then you jump into the North Sea! I saw for myself on January 1, 2010 brave people of different odds jump into the North Sea, and I have already received invitations for the ballistic event to be at Schevinengen a famous beach in Den Haag, The Netherlands. Wow, don’t forgot the famous Christmas lights lit allover the streets in town and in public places.

While reviewing my agenda for this year 2011, I realized, many local governments were supposed to have council meetings and budget conferences, but wait a minute, as a concerned citizen, I took time off to review my agenda if I had ever attended any of the consultations by the honorable councilors to collect our views. All I read in the news paper of Monday 12, Dec. 2011 page 9, was “Kasese swimming in Poverty” I was struck by this statement and when I made analysis of the budget for Kasese district, I could not locate money on wealth creation save for the Naads funds which is only benefiting the Naads staff instead of the poor farmers who are swimming in poverty. Did you hear Kasese Municipality passing a supplementary budget of UGX 800M on 15^th December, 2011? It all focusing recurrent expenditure what about the garbage in town? Be as it may, if we don’t plan for garbage collection in Kasese MC, Mpondwe-Lhubiriha TC, our leaders might answer for the cholera cases in hospital, simply because somebody plans to arrest those dumping garbage.

What can as CSO activists do to bring the plight of the poor on the political agenda? Its our constitutional mandate to take off time and engage with the leaders to change the statue quo of the flagship programmes like Naads , UPE, Immunization, environmental conservation among others. Its un believable for a government flag ship programme like Naads to allocate 60% of its total budget to administration? Isn’t this another wastage of public funds if we must spend our time profitably then we need to take stock of our priorities. Why are farmers swimming in poverty don’t they spend their time wisely or somebody is working to bring them down?

Following the trends in the 9^th Parliament of Uganda, one can now believe that, the power of numbers is working and the spirit of nationalism is back on the political agenda. The news of one of the senior ministers resigning her position paving way for investigations into mismanagement of Uganda Broadcasting cooperation (UBC) was greeted with missed feelings on the evening of December 14^th , 2011 (New vision 15^th December, 2011 page 13, Why I resigned). While my eyes were glued on the 8 pm UBC news, I swear, the said Hon. Minister read out her resignation and did not welcome any questions from the blue eyed journalists of this country. This is perfect and nice way of spending time other than wasting tax payers money on another Adhoc committee to investigate whether the Hon. Minister really spent her time wisely while holding the Information docket. Wamma, Hon. Minister, you are a ‘Heroin’ come the next generation you will be remembered for giving way.

As we celebrate Christmas and usher in the new year on Sunday 1, January, we are all called to spend wisely and think of the little child who had nothing to serve on Christmas day because their parents were caught up attending to another child in hospital.

INFORMATION SHARING CAUSES ACTION TOWARDS SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY.

2011-12-02T04:46:00.000-08:00

Information is any relevant news or data or facts gathered, processed and analyzed and shared with other stake holders who include among others; the farmers, health officer, political leader, teachers religious leader and members of Public. The role of information officers is to identify such silent issues in the society that can be amplified. The training took place on 28^th November at RIC-Net head office in fort Portal.

The focus of the training was how the information we gather can speak out and influence change in the communities where we work. The main facilitator Ms Alice Mushenene Mbayahi mentioned that “what makes good information is the 5W’s”. Information should have content, evidenced based, having facts and based on the community are facing. Information should be shared and should emphasize on a single issue for action to be realize.

She emphasized on the methods of gathering information as observation, discussions, interview and dialogue. Information officer should easily identify the sources, monitor the project or issues in the community, share with other stakeholders, and identify the local government development project cycle.

In doing all this, it was realized that the entry point is important in information sourcing. Create a good social relationship with people, write a simple description of the issue, make follow-ups’ and if no action is done then engage the community in the issue before a dialogue with the authority can be organized.

By the end of the training, the information officers agreed that in order to cause change in the community, there is a great need to develop interest in serving the community, share timely information, improve the means of communication, improve our resource centers with timely information and engage our leaders to practically be accountable to the community they are serving.

LOCAL LEADERS VOW TO FIGHT INSECURITY IN THE REGION

2011-12-01T06:49:00.000-08:00

As the festive season draws near, there is a lot of social unrest in the Rwenzori region characterized by stealing, domestic violence, accidents and recklessness. The police, RDCs, Chair person LC Vs and LC IIIs in the districts of Kabarole and Kyegegwa have put up measures to fight insecurity in the districts. This message was communicated by the same leaders during a radio program sponsored by RWECO under the invitation and coordination of RIDE AFRICA (IWDP).

Three radio programs were held on Life FM radio by different leaders from the districts of Kyegegwa and Kabarole. The sensitization campaigns started in September/November 2011 to discuss the strategies for improving the security situation in the two Districts.

Strategies to improve the situation include;

Revitalizing security committees at District, Sub County and LCI so that crime can be detected early and prevented.
Establishment of Police Posts in trading centers with high crime rates such as Nyabagahya in Kakabara Sub County, Kyegegwa District.
Conducting of police patrols with vehicles and foot to arrest evil doers.
Conducting community policing to sensitize communities on how to live peacefully, people’s rights and the legal process.
Sensitization on how to prevent crimes and corruption especially among traffic police officers.
Local Leaders especially LC I to report cases of bad behavior to relevant authorities before they yield crime.
Encouraging all drivers to service their cars to avoid accidents
Encouraging the individuals to stop moving at night.
Holding village meetings to sensitize and warn communities to avoid bad behavior.

KALI Supports Cholera Task Force in Kasese District

2011-12-01T03:54:00.000-08:00

In attempts to curb cholera outbreak in Kasese District, Karambi Action for Life Improvement (KALI) has mobilized volunteers to disseminate information on disease/cholera to the community especially the already affected communities like Kayanzi landing site.

The upsurge of cholera cases is attributed to the lack of clean water and proper sanitation facilities coupled with the current heavy rains and high population movement from neighboring countries.

This effort intends to assist the already established Cholera task force and the Kasese District medical team in sensitizing the communities on the outbreak of the epidemic.

Cholera hit Kayanzi landing site in Nyakiyumbu sub-county in Kasese district and later spread to some other parts of Mpondwe Lhubiriha Town Council and Busongora County.

Four people are said to have perished following the outbreak of this epidemic.

According to the In- Charge Kayanzi Health Centre II Mr.Balinda Simon the death of the four residents was enhanced by the ignorance of the residents who delayed the patients and kept attributing their illness to witch craft instead of taking the affected for treatment. He noted that those who died did not visit the HC in time and ended up being dehydrated.

Karambi Action for Life Improvement was the first Non-Governmental Organization in Kasese that came up to empower stake holders to sensitize the masses on the outbreak of cholera in the already affected areas of Kayanzi and Mpondwe Lhubiriha Market.

The team named “Cholera task force” was supported by KALI; it moved to Mpondwe Lhubiriha market sensitizing the market vendors who were selling juice, sugar canes, and some other food stuffs to halt their business until the disease ends.

The same team went to Bwera Hospital where they met the hospital administrators and laid modalities to boost massive sensitization of the communities. During the visit the team learnt that the four Cholera patients who had been admitted at the Hopsital were steadily improving however, unit allocated for cholera patients was in a sorry state in terms of its infrastructure.

In Kayanzi, the team visited the landing site and Kayanzi HCII where Cholera patients were being admitted. The team established that latrine coverage at the landing site was alarmingly low, and that the water facilities being used by residents are in a poor state- sanitation and safety.

In addition to this the team learnt that residents in Kayanzi drink and use lake water which same lake some residents use to dispose off their human waste. It was observed that under such circumstances, an epidemic is inevitable.

Commenting on this situation the Kasese District LCV Chairman Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo noted that the district leadership had created a treatment centre in Kayanzi such that the disease doesn’t easily spread to the rest of the parts in the district. He also revealed that modalities to construct the road to Kayanzi are underway such that Cholera patients are not delayed on the way in case there was need for them to be transferred to Bwera, Kagando and Kilembe hospitals.

Besides the field sensitization exercise, Karambi Action for Life Improvement offered a one hour live talk show on Kasese Guide radio to sensitize the masses on the epidemic and how the disease can be prevented.

It is important to note that massive community awareness on how to prevent, identify and treat cholera was created.

HIGH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE REGION CLAIMS LIVES

2011-12-01T03:45:00.000-08:00

Domestic violence is something that society tends to sit on/ignore yet it has a negative impact on the development of the Society. Over the last three months there has a lot of murder arising from domestic violence and negligence. IWDP was able to establish details on some the incidents in Kabarole and Kyenjojo Districts as seen below;
Family Perishes Over Rat
Rukidi Sam, Coordinator, IWDP
Trouble emerged in Bufunjo Sub County, Kyenjojo District when a rat fell in drum of water. One Omuhereza Mutende returned home tired only to find a rat in their drum of water. He was so bitter that he started beating his wife for this mess, in retaliation the wife picked a panga and cut him to death. When the children realized that their father was dead, they immediately pounced on their mother and beat her to death. Currently the children are in prison detained for murder. I appeal to members of the community to curb this vice.
Man Kills Lover Over 90,000 Shillings
Kahunde Erina, RWECO-IWDP
Tayebwa aged 28 years and a resident of Harukooto village Fort Portal Municipality allegedly killed a one Kamakune Priscilla aged 26 and her son over issues of money. According to the residents Tayebwa lent 90,000 to Kamakune which she has since failed to pay. It is also alleged that Tayebwa had bought Kamakune a TV set and a DVD player and that the duo had been in love for more than one year. On the fateful day Tayebwa was seen drinking beer at Kamakune’s bar and all over a sudden started demanding for his 90,000 shillings from her. The two love birds picked a quarrel and Tayebwa rushed to his home and picked a gun and killed Kamakune and her three year old son. In retaliation the neighbors beat Tayebwa and burnt him to death. By the time police arrived, Tayebwa’s dead body was burning like a furnace.
Child Hanged For Stealing Mandazi
Kahunde Erina, RWECO-IWDP
On 3rd October 2011 a primary five pupil from Kinyamasika primary school was killed on his way to school by one Alimanywoha Felix of Kanyambeho village, East Division Fort Portal Municipality, Kabarole District. On the fateful day the little boy as usual left his home early morning for school, on his way he branched to a shop by the road side to pick some mandazi for breakfast since he was hungry, unfortunately the owner of the shop saw him and ran after him, caught him and dragged him to the shop and hanged him. The killer is being detained at Katojo prison, Kabarole District.
Parents and guardians are strongly warned not to send children to school without food, a factor that led to the death of the little boy. At the same time all community members should be parents, Alimanywoha would not have killed the boy over stealing mandazi if he had a parental heart!

RWECO-RIC-NET TRAINS PAC AND ACORD IN E-PLATFORMS

2011-11-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

The journey started on a bright Sunday (20th Nov.2011) after noon from Kampala through the east to Soroti District where we arrived late in the evening.
On a Monday morning the RIC-NET team visited Public Affairs Center (PAC)-Uganda where we had a session of training with them in as far as the e- platforms are concerned.
Betty-ICTO RIC-NET led the participants through the Uchaguzi (http://www.uchaguzi-uganda.blogspot.com ) platform that was used during the election process. This was a review.

She was later joined by the Executive Director RIC-NET who also took the participants through a number of other online platforms like the Rwenzori Peoples' voice blog (http://rwecovoice.blogspot.com), CEW-IT (http://cewit.or.ug ), http://wwww.uchaguzi.co.ug and more blogs.

He also took participants through other information sharing platforms like the use of skype. Members signed up and started using this. Twiter was yet another communications media introduced to the members.
This was a long session characterized by practicals, questions and answers. The team carried along with them a dell projector that was officially handed over to PAC by the Executive Director RIC-NET. He took them through its procedures of operation.
ICTO-Yosia also ran some Networking maintenance for the PAC Network and made sure their wireless internet was enabled and security protected and more security issues for their router were done.
The session ended at around 3:15 pm and the team set off for Gulu at around 3:45 pm.

Bright morning of work in Gulu

2011-11-28T23:28:00.000-08:00

22nd November 2011 was yet another day of great work at ACORD-Gulu. The session that attracted a number of participants started at around 9:30 am with Betty-ICTO taking the participants through a review of the Uchaguzi platform that was used during the elections by CEW-IT.
The ED RIC-NET led the participants through a number of other ICT online platforms. Twiter , skype were too taught to the participants. This was for nothing else other than timely information sharing among members.

They (participants) signed up and they started using these tools. This was a successful tour because nearly everybody picked up the ideas.

As it is for RIC-NET to continually give ICT support the ICTO-Yosia led participants through a session of computer repair and maintenance tips.

It is believed that most computer users take small things for granted and that is why they have always had technical issues with their computers most often. So these were emphasized for members to take care of their machines just like one would clean his house or office daily so are the computers.

ACCESS INFORMATION AND CAUSE ACTION!

2011-11-22T06:10:00.000-08:00

Information as opposed to strength has over time proven to be a more effective and necessary tool for causing action and facilitating positive change and development in the Community. In most cases when a person is well equipped with evidence based information, it’s easier for them challenge, influence, or effect change in the community. Geared at establishing a strong and empowered “army’ of social accountability activitists in the Rwenzori region, RWECO has organized a 3 days training at RACA Resort for her CPFs on Social Accountability.

The training that started today 22.11.11 will run till 24.11.11 and aims at deepening participants’ understanding on social accountability issues, and on how services are delivered in Local Governments.

Opening the workshop, the RDC Kabarole Mr. Biryabarema Elijah expressed gratitude to RWECO and the participants in particular for coming out bravely to facilitate positive change in Rwenzori region. He encouraged them to engage and also work closely with the leaders at both District and Sub County levels in all their work, saying these leaders too share the same objective of improving service delivery and fighting corruption in the region. He added that working closely with the leaders will make social accountability work a lot easier and fun for them.

During the training, participants will be taken through various topics, ranging from concepts and definitions like governance, accountability, service delivery, data and information, citizenship and constitutionalism among others, information sourcing and utilization, Good Governance in Local Government, Monitoring service delivery in Local Government, Civic engagement to mainstreaming of cross cutting issues.

Emphasizing the purpose of the training, the RWECO Coordinator Mr. James Mwirima noted that the training is intended at empowering the participants with practical skills on social accountability such that they can be able to monitor service delivery and to engage the leaders in their localities.

In his presentation on HOW TO USE INFORMATION TO CAUSE ACTION, the facilitator Benson Ekwe Ocen cautioned the participants to always source and share only verified/evidence based information, and to always be committed, and brave enough to challenge the duty bearers with the information gathered. Benson equally tasked the participants to pick interest in familiarizing themselves with the different laws and provisions that empower the citizens with the right to access information and to participate in social accountability, like the Access to Information Act and the Constitution of Uganda; Art. 1, 41, among others.

Over 100 participants (RWECO staff and CPFs) are attending this training.

To be continued! (Watch this space!)

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

2011-11-21T02:32:00.000-08:00

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.

RIC-NET CONDUCTS D-GROUP TRAINING

2011-11-21T02:19:00.000-08:00

As RIC-NET in partnership with RWECO try to improve social accountability and information sharing among the community and the leaders, D-group training was held on the 15^th Nov.2011 at the E-Society resource center in Kasese District.

The D-group or simply Discussion group is one of the online platforms administered by RIC-NET. It allows members who have signed up with it to initiate, respond and receive messages or discussion topics. The training attracted a number of participants from Kasese and Kabarole Districts Local Governments, members of the CSOs and all RWECO focal persons.

The training started at 10:00 am being facilitated by the ICT Officer RIC-NET who introduced members to web browsing terms since these terms were to be used most often later in the practical session of the training. He explained a number of web terms to the participants.

He was later joined by the Executive Director RIC-NET who also went through the practical session of how one can sign up or join the D-group, and advantages of this discussion group. Participants signed up with the D-group and were approved as members to this group. They (participants) were challenged not to stop at that but go ahead and initiate discussion topics and respond to those that they receive. Members were also briefed that these discussion topics would automatically get to their e-mail inboxes as long they could have been approved by the administrator and that a member would be free to reply to that message just as he/she would reply to other e-mail messages.

Participants were also informed that they could initiate a discussion topic by sending it to dgroups@kasese.org which would later be approved by the administrator and then sent to the rest of the members. The administrator of the group reserves rights to reject a topic in as long as it may not be genuine.

The Executive Director later led participants through some other online platforms like the Uchaguzi platform, and informed them another platform has been designed called the huduma that is going to monitor service delivery. Blogging was yet another issue that was explained thoroughly.

He also informed members about the U-report that UNICEF is running. He told members to join this by sending join to 8500 and that every message sent is free of charge.

The training was successful and it was adjourned at around 2:00 pm.

RWECO CONDUCTS SECOND STAFF MEETING

2011-10-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

Biblically noted that “do not give up the spirit of meeting together”, RWECO as well upholds this practice to strengthen collaboration between the partner organizations, create a platform for experience sharing about the different activities being implemented by partners and to help partners keep abreast/track on the progress of the project under implementation by the different partners (KALI, IWDP, RIC-NET and GoodHope Foundation for Rural Development.)

RWECO on 21.10.11 held her second staff meeting at Kasese SSD. The purpose of the meeting was to bring partners together to review the progress of the project and to also share on key upcoming activities; how and when they will be done.

During the meeting the partners shared reports indicating that a number of activities ranging from conducting staff meetings, radio programs, conducting of inception meetings and a baseline survey in the project areas, trainings, mobilization and selection of monitors, and in - putting to the production of the recently published RWECO Newsletter were some of the activities conducted.

Reports indicated that most of the partners had accomplished 90% of what they had initially planned to do at the inception of the ended quarter. Making her presentation the IWDP RWECO focal person Kahunde Erina revealed that “at IWDP we achieved all that we had initially been planned to do then”. According to Erina, amongst other achievements registered key among them was the establishment and strengthening of rapport between IWDP and the Local Governments in the project areas especially in Kyegegwa District, and the ability of the new RWECO focal person Kabasinguzi Margaret to cope and also perform her job so well.

In addition to this, RIC-NET also noted that she had been able to enhance her visibility locally, Nationally and Internationally, had built and also tested the Bulk Sms platform, enhanced staff capacity and skills in pro- poor budget analysis, revamped the functionality of the E-Society Center in Kasese and the D-group among others, while KALI also indicated that it had strengthened rapport with the District leadership in Kamwenge which even offered KALI office space when it effectively starts implementation of the project in the District and also been able to mentor 280 people in their different areas of operation.

In a related development GoodHope Foundation noted that it had been able to form/establish project structures in the areas of operation and to also strengthen rapport with Bundibudgyo District Local Government which recently invited them to attend the District quarterly NAADs meeting as key stakeholders in development. Finally, speaking for RWECO CU- Baluku Jimmy Odyek highlighted that the Coordinating Unit had also been able to maintain, sustain and strengthen the consortium and also enhance the Consortium’s Networks with other partners like Oxfam Novib.

A quick scan through the three areas under M&E; Weak institutional linkages within CSOs and LGs, Low and ineffective engagement of citizens and the LGs and Inadequate access to and utilization of reliable information by the citizens. It was observed that under linkages with LGs, RWECO had been able to work with 81 Sub Counties and 7 Local Governments. This is evidenced in the LG’s willingness to share District information/reports, offer office space, and also pledge provision of equipments to the initiatives started by the partners like the E-Society Center in Kabarole and Kasese.

About linkages with other CSOs, members agreed that the pledges from other CSOs to offer equipment to E-society Centers and to also jointly implement the project with them is an indicator of the established linkages with other CSOs. Some of the CSOs include Unite and Link in Kamwenge, Toro Development, RAC, KIC and KANCA in Kabarole District, Partnership with computers for schools Uganda, Aljazeera, UNICIEF, VSO, SNV, and CARE International in Uganda among others.

Commenting on the area, Citizen’s engagement of LGs, members reported increased Community vigilance on reporting of service delivery challenges.

However, members also highlighted a number of challenges which were encountered during the implementation of the activities; it was generally noted that some project Sub Counties were too large, distant and therefore hard to reach and adequately work in given the inadequate resource envelope and the difficulty in accessing secretarial services, and mobile phone network.

During the meeting a number of recommendations were made, these included;

1. More fundraising should be done by the Coordinating Unit to cater for the inadequacy that might hinder effective implementation of the project in the hard to reach sub counties.

2. Routine engagement with monitors should be considered to ensure full ownership and conceptualization of the project by the monitors.

3. Quick establishment of E-society Centers in the District where they are not should be considered to answer the impatience of the District officials and to also confirm the seriousness of RWECO towards working with the respective District LGs.

4. An official launch of the project should be done to cement the already established rapport.

5. RWECO should train District leaders in the project areas on issues of Social Accountability before effective implementation of the project begins, similarly radio programs should be conducted to introduce the project to the stakeholders in the project areas.

6. Finally, members agreed that in future T-shirts and Identity Cards should be made and given to the monitors for purposes of identification and motivation.

KYENJOJO DISTRICT E-SOCIETY ROUND TABLE MEETING REAPS

2011-10-24T04:44:00.000-07:00

RIC-NET in partnership with Rwenzori Consortium for civic competence (RWECO) conducted a round table meeting on the 20^th October 2011 at the district headquarters in the district council chambers.
This meeting was as a result of the discussion held in September 2011 with the CAO kyenjojo and the secretary for social services whereby RIC-NET introduced the idea of promoting partnership on effective information sharing between the District Local Government, CSOs and the citizens The meeting was a follow up on how effective information sharing can be promoted in the District,

Various participants attended to give their views including the District officials, CSOs representatives, Religious leaders, the media and representatives of the business community

During the meeting the Executive Director RIC-NET gave a detailed presentation on using the model of the E-Society in bridging the gap between the District Local government, CSOs and the entire community in terms of;

· Access to information

· Voicing the silence and

· Accountability

Mr Murugahara J.Silco the Executive Director mentioned the various online resources that would aid in availing timely and relevant information to the community like the District website, District news blog, E-Library, Dgroup (Discussion platform) and the CSOs portal.

Later a session of reactions chaired by Mr.Mwirima James the co-coordinator RWECO led to a number of issues where among others included;

It was appreciated that there was a starting point since some departments had computers and internet

Outlining a number of requirements that are needed to have the E-society in place

A draft Memorandum of understanding (MOU) to be shared among stake holders to discuss and have their inputs and later signed to enable commencement of the Electronic centre

Information flow and control managed by the District Information Officer (DIO) since the center is meant to strengthen his office and in this case avoiding information distortion since members expressed concern about information security.

Key stake holders to this noble cause were also outlined and their roles.

In her closing remarks the, District secretary for production Ms Tumuranze Grace appreciated the efforts of RIC-NET/RWECO in strengthening information sharing

She pledged to further the ideas to the District executive for discussion and also assured the meeting that she was ready to enroll for the computer classes as soon as this would be established.

She called upon the CSOs to join in this cause of establishing the E-society. She also pledged the support of the district in moving forward to the establishment of the E-society in the District.

The meeting was adjourned at around 1:45 PM.

KABAROLE DISTRICT E-SOCIETY CENTER STARTS WITH A BIG BANG!

2011-10-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

In the bid to facilitate increased access to timely and credible information by the community in Kabarole District, RIC-NET in partnership with Kabarole District Local Government have embarked on establishing an E-Society Center at the District head quarters in Booma.

The E-Society Center’s vision is to ensure access to credible and timely information that can influence social accountability and also voice the silent issues/persons in Society.

To usher it in, RIC-NET and Kabarole District Local Government held a round table meeting on 13.10.11 at Toro Club to discuss and also map out modalities on how to get the E-Society Center functional come November 2011.

Speaking at the Meeting, the Kabarole District Information Officer Lillian Nkwenge expressed gratitude to RIC-NET for its interest in working with Kabarole DLG to promote increased access to information. She noted that they (RIC-NET and Kabarole Local Government) shared a vision.

Making his presentation about the E-society Center, the RIC-NET Executive Director Mr. John Silco explained that the Center is expected to facilitate universal and timely access to information, cause global influence and increased involvement of the greater majority; the grass root persons participating in the decision making process at the district.

The meeting that brought together other CSOs in Kabarole like RAC,KANCA,KIC, Toro Development Network, IWDP, and FORUD discussed a lot of things ranging from when the Center should commence, what it will do, who will provide what and how it (the Center) will be sustained.

Commenting on who would provide what, Lillian noted that Kabarole DLG is going to provide space (2 rooms), furniture (lockable office Cup Boards ), staff, carpet and information, while RIC-NET will provide Hard ware (5 computers),1 Multi- printer (Photocopier, printer and scanner),Internet support, trainings (introduction to computer, web2.o tools), staff up to December 2013, designing the District Website, development of on-line platforms – bulk Sms, e-library and d-groups, radio programs, small generator and technical back up from time to time.

In addition to this, KIC also offered to provide 7 desktop computers, 15 chairs, shelves, information sourcing from the community and Community Based Officers, and supporting the community Development office, while FORUD offered an office desk, and Toro Development Network offered radio programs effective January 2012. IWDP, RAC and KANCA pledged to communicate the kind of support they would offer by the end of October 2011.

Discussing what the Center would provide, the participants noted that first it should be established what kind of information needs are in the society, arguing that this would guide information sharing by the different stakeholders in terms of; what information should be shared, in what form, how often and through what channel? Its upon this that the members recommended that another meeting for majorly District heads of department be organized in the last week of October to critically think through these ideas as heads of department who will be regular providers of information to the Center.

Sharing their views the RWECO Coordinator Mr. James Mwirima and the KIC Chairperson Mr. Baguma Johnstone appealed to the CAO and the other stakeholders to put more efforts on influencing attitude change towards information sharing, arguing that even when most people have vital information they are always too reluctant to share it. They noted that there is need for people to learn the importance of information sharing and to routinely do it voluntarily and timely whether physically or electronically.

Closing the meeting the C.A.O Mr. Juma Nyende thanked the members for turning up for the meeting and for their different pledges towards the establishment of the E-Society Center and particularly to RIC-NET for the initiative to work with Kabarole DLG to promote easy access to information. He noted that the establishment of an E-Society Center is in line with the District’s objectives, because the District is equally supposed to have a resource center but due to limited funding it has not been able to have a functional one.

The CAO revealed that he was excited about this joint initiative that was going to make their resource room finally functional and to also add value to the services offered by Kabarole District Local Government . He pledged continued support towards this cause.

RWECO PARTNERS CONDUCT A REPORTS’ SHARING MEETING

2011-09-07T05:57:00.001-07:00

Having conducted a baseline survey in Kyegegwa, Bundibugyo and Kamwenge Districts to establish the quality and type of service delivery in the education (UPE) and agriculture (NAADs) sectors from 15.09.11 to 20.08.11, RWECO partners (Good Hope, KALI, IWDP and RIC-NET) on 05.09.11 met at Rwenzori International Hotel in Kasese to share their reports and compile a main report that is expected to be shared with the leaders on 16.09.11 during the launch of the RWECO project.

The meeting that started yesterday is expected to run up to 09.09.11.

The issues shared are those baseline survey findings that members gathered from the different places visited; two sub counties per district were sampled and taken on for the baseline survey exercise. In Kamwenge, Kicheche and Kamwenge Town Council were surveyed, while in Bundibugyo, Bubukwanga and Nyahuka town council and in Kyegegwa District Mpara and Kakabara sub counties were visited during the exercise.

During the sharing, some issues in both sectors emerged similar for instance;

Under Education sector (UPE), issues of inadequate and delayed release of UPE funds, high teacher and pupil absenteeism especially in the case of pupils like on market days, worship days(every 2^nd,12^th and 22^nd of every month for bisaka worshipers in Kyegegwa) and in Bundibugyo on Cocoa picking days (15^th and 30^th of every month).

Other issues included understaffing, inadequate support from the parents towards education programs, high school dropout rates, lack of/inadequate text books, limited access to safe and clean water, lack of monitoring and school inspections by the District Education Officers and inspectors of schools, inadequate infrastructure; desks, classrooms, latrines and staff houses, in bundibugyo for instance the staff house coverage in the district is just 15%, while the ratio of latrines to pupils is 1:77, and non functional School Management committees among others.

Under the NAADs sub sector, issues of lack of co-funding towards the NAADs program by the sub counties, inadequate knowledge on the NAADs program by the community, unrealistic/inadequate supply of enterprises like the supply of only one sex of the animals to the farmer, high taxes charged from the suppliers, inadequate number of beneficiaries(out of a group of 25 members only 1 member benefits at ago per financial year), and inadequate monitoring of beneficiaries by NAADs officials.

In addition to this was influence peddling in allocation of enterprises and selection of beneficiaries and politicizing of the program by some leaders, late disbursement of NAADs funds, conservativeness and lack of cooperation by the beneficiaries; some eat or sell the enterprises while others have continuously stuck to the traditional methods of farming despite the training they have had while others still prefer growing traditional crop species even when they know that they don’t yield much on the market.

More of these issues are being discussed and repackaged into one report that RWECO intends to use in her advocacy work at both local and national levels, and to also share with her different stakeholders and partners as soon as it is ready.

General observations

From the sharing, members have learnt that the two services (NAADs and UPE) are not adequately benefiting the grass roots and that the government must be informed of the service delivery challenges/gaps identified and lobbied to address them if the programs must benefit the grass root persons.

RIC-NET PARTICIPATES IN TSA-EXPO

2011-05-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

The Technology for Social Accountability Expo (TSA-expo) is a networking opportunity to bring PEOPLE together with TECHNOLOGY. Citizens and institutions focused on building a more cohesive, transparent and accountable Uganda can interact with technology service providers who have tools and skills to make those efforts more efficient and effective.

Technology tools that improve performance, accelerate communication, and enhance transparency between individuals, civic and political groups, businesses, and governments are increasingly available in Uganda. As we write, ICT is being used to improve services, build knowledge, organize people to debate policy and provide innovative solutions for the country’s most pressing challenges.

Uganda’s rapidly developing technological infrastructure, expertise, and mobile phone user base offers the opportunity for the nation to shine with the development and scaling up of technology applications that improve social accountability and cohesion.

RIC-NET/ CEW-IT was represented by M John Silco Chair person CEW-IT /Director RIC-NET, Mukasine Betty the IT officer at CEW-IT National Data Centre, and Erastus the Documentation officer RIC-NET.

John Silco a member on the panel discussing "Citizen Participation through Mobile Technology",presented the efforts of CEW-IT based on Uchaguzi platform.

centering on Citizens participation through Information Sharing using ICT, the ICT is used in two ways:

1.Strengthening Transparency and Accountability through access to Information.

On line district e-library www.kaseseelibrary.org

Information centres & e-society resource centre.

Interactive radio programme

Citizens access easily repackaged policies and government guidelines, government contracts, reports and budget estimates.

2. Facilitating feedback from the citizens and the local government .

This is done through:

Stake holders meeting on M&E reports.

Interactive community radio

Quarterly magazine

Online blog and website

after carrying out Independent budget analysis, public expenditure tracking and service delivery tracking.

He clarified that ;Uchaguzi Uganda, www.uchaguzi.co.ug is a collaborative platform by Citizens Election Watch - IT (CEW-IT), that allows citizens actively participate in observation of the election process.
Facilitates the citizens and observers to report incidents in real time, synthesizing, aggregating and displaying reports on the map.Observers report detailed account of issues on blog http://uchaguzi-uganda.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

The information access possibilities available are: The District website, an e-library www.kaseseelibrary.org a district blog, a civil society portal and CSO blog http://rwecovoice.blogspot.com allows citizens access and share information within the community. http://uchaguzi-uganda.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html www.rwenzoripeoplesvoice.org .
Offline channels: feedback stakeholders meetings, Radio talk shows, quarterly magazine "the peoples voice” copies are on: http://www.ricnet.info/files/pub

The CEW-IT team demonstrated on how the tools are used and provided copies of the videos and quarterly magazines at the exhibition table.

E-Society Resource Centre Commissioned in Kasese

2011-04-27T02:54:00.002-07:00

Director RIC-NET Mr. John Silco hands process documents to Mr. Kahika the CAO Kasese.
Kasese district has established an e-society resource centre in partnership with the private sector and Civil society organizations in the Rwenzori region.

The resource centre, worth Shs43m, was commissioned on Wednesday at Rukoki, the district headquarters, in Kasese Municipality.

The facility, which is part of The District Information Office, comprises 13 desktop computers, a laptop, a printer which also acts as a photocopier and a scanner.

Rev.J Kitheghenda LCV Kasese (2nd left)observing the online platforms after commissioning the e-society resource centre

The project combines both online and off line access to information by the community.

The various online packages including a district website, internet, an e-library, a district blog, a civil society portal and an e-mail link and also offers computer training to district workers and community users.

the offline possibilities are monthly and quarterly feedback stake holders meetings, Radio talk shows that allows the citizens to phone in quartely magazine "the peoples voice" and sms mobile phone platform.

The executive director Rwenzori Information Centres Network (RICNET) John Murugahara said that the centre was the first of its kind in the Rwenzori region.

The centre is offering free internet services to the people, government officials, civil society organizations and the private sector.

Rev.J Kitheghenda LCV Kasese addressing the people at e-society commissioning ceremony.

He said that a district website had been built through the e-society centre containing information about the district including departmental reports, plans, budgets and any other information related to civil society and the private sector among others.

Murugahara said that the centre was also offering free computer training, subsidized costs on photocopying, printing and scanning among others.

He revealed that the centre was co-funded by the European Union, Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (HIVOS), International Institute for communication Development and Rwenzori Consortium for Civil Competences (RWECO).

The District Information Officer Kasese John.B.Thawite told the guests at the ceremony that the e-society is aimed at bringing the society of Kasese into a purview of electronic usage for poverty-reduction to improve their social economic, health, cultural and education status of the Kasese community.

‘The e-society will answer the issue of inadequate access to timely and relevant information, a key aspect that limits citizens’ effective participation in the planning and monitoring processes in the district’ Thawite added.

Mr. Thawite the DIO kasese and John Silco Director RIC-NET on a radio progamme.

He said that the plan was in place to decentralize the resource centre services to counties, sub-counties and parishes in order to benefit more of the rural people.

Officiating at the ceremony the district chairman Rev. Canon Julius Kithaghenda underscored the need to empower the people with information that can help them to fight poverty.

He noted that without information sharing and giving to the people the fight against poverty would not succeed.

‘I tell you our people are derail and sometimes they vote for people they couldn’t vote for because they lack information’ Kithaghenda said.

He challenged Civil servants to be computer literate so that they can much with the technological developments in the world, proposing that computer-illiterate civil servants be sacked.

The Chief Administrative Officer Kasese Giles Kahika said that his office was drawing a plan of sustaining the e-society resource centre after the donors pulled out and assured the people that it would be maintained and serve the intended purpose.

The function was attended among others by a Programme officer ICT -Media in HIVOS Ms Fieke Jansen, representatives from Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu and representatives of the civil society and private sector among others.

By John B. Thawithe

http://www.kasesecso.org/ - Kasese CSOs Portal

http://www.kasese.go.ug/ - Kasese District Website

http://kaseseelibrary.org - Kasese District E-Library

http://dgroups.org/iicd/kasese - Kasese Community D- Group

http://kasesenews.blogspot.com/ - Kasese District News Blog

http://www.kabaroledistrict.go.ug/ -Kabarole District Website

www.uchaguzi.co.ug Citizens’ election monitoring platform

http://www.ricnet.info/files/publications.html Copies of “ The Rwenzori Peoples voice Magazine”

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/18/753092

Students and Teachers enroll for computer training

2011-01-19T04:57:00.001-08:00

E-Society IT Training is picking up very well these days. More students are coming from the schools and also school drops out too.

I am finding teachers from the school are also enrolling for the basic computer learning.

Nice symptoms indeed. This is a sign of increased community usage of the e-society resource centre at Rukoki, Kasese District .

As reported by Rajamohan a VSO volunteer

Kasese e-society centre realising its dream

2010-12-19T05:22:00.000-08:00

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Kasese Sets Up First Internet Facility

John B. Thawite

15 December 2010
KASESE district is finalising an internet-based, facility, the first of its kind in the Rwenzori region, that will enable the district administration and her stakeholders to electronically share information online.This will enable the district administration to store, retrieve and disseminate various documents among stakeholders in and outside the district, including central government and the donors.
The facility, known as the electronic society (e-society) centre, is housed in the District Information Office. It also comprises an electronic library (e-library) where the district will upload and retrieve its documents including procurement and job application information, development plans, budgets, various reports, minutes of council and departmental proceedings.The facility based and managed by the district, is funded by HIVOS, EU and IICD through the Rwenzori Information Centres Network (RIC-NET) under the RWECO project in the Rwenzori Region.
The e-society and the e-library can be accessed via the district website, http://www.kasese.go.ug, which RIC-NET has also helped reactivate.

"The facility is so far the first of its kind in the Rwenzori region," the RIC-NET programme manager, John Silco , said at Hotel Margherita in Kasese Municipality on Friday.

Kasese Sets Up First Internet Facility

2010-12-16T04:16:00.000-08:00

John B. Thawite

15 December 2010

KASESE district is finalising an internet-based, facility, the first of its kind in the Rwenzori region, that will enable the district administration and her stakeholders to electronically share information online.

This will enable the district administration to store, retrieve and disseminate various documents among stakeholders in and outside the district, including central government and the donors.

The facility, known as the electronic society (e-society) centre, is housed in the District Information Office. It also comprises an electronic library (e-library) where the district will upload and retrieve its documents including procurement and job application information, development plans, budgets, various reports, minutes of council and departmental proceedings.

The facility based and managed by the district, is funded by the Netherlands-based International Institute for Communication and Developments (IICD) through the Rwenzori Information Centres Network (RIC-NET).

The e-society and the e-library can be accessed via the district website, http://www.kasese.go.ug, which RIC-NET has also helped reactivate.

"The facility is so far the first of its kind in the Rwenzori region," the RIC-NET programme manager, John Silco Muruga, said at Hotel Margherita in Kasese Municipality on Friday.

Need for joint implementation of gender activities by civil society organization and local governments

2010-12-16T03:26:00.000-08:00

Sub county chiefs from the fourteen sub counties that have been implementing the civic competence project supported by European Union and HIVOs through Rwenzori Consortium for civic competence (RWECO) have recommended for a joint implementation of gender focused activities that can increase the participation of women in the local government planning and feedback processes.

The recommendation was made during one day follow up workshop organized by RWECO at Rwenzori International Hotel in Kasese Municipality Kasese District to evaluate the comments made during a three days gender budgeting training that was organized five months ago at Kasunga Training centre in Kyenjojo.

During the follow up meeting, the sub county chiefs reported that they had incorporated the acquired knowledge during the gender budgeting training to develop gender sensitive budgets at Sub County level; for instance:

· Kyarumba Sub County in Kasese district has planned to buy a mattress to the best girl pupils in the primary leaving examinations of 2010.

· Kisinga, Kithohu, Bwera, Mugusu, Karambi, and Muhokya have organized community sensitization meetings of the general public to become gender sensitive.

· Karusandara, Maliba, and Bugaki have conducted training sessions for Sub County planning staff in gender mainstreaming skills in order to have Sub County gender sensitive budgets.

The above participating sub counties thus recommended that there should be joint implementation of gender based activities by the civil society organizations and the local governments since local governments had limited support in terms of funds and human resources to implement all genders based projects.

Closing the meeting, the chairperson RWECO Mr.Murugahara John Silco who is at the same time the programs manager RIC-NET called upon the civil society organization and local Governments to share information and implementation plans for the planned activities

More information coming soon;

Kabarole District conduct peaceful nominations for nine parliamentary candidates

2010-11-25T06:44:00.000-08:00

Nine candidates for the parliamentary seat have been nominated today in Kabarole District. The nomination was held at muchwa the headquarters for Tooro kingdom in fort portal municipality kabarole district. The male candidates nominated for parliamentary seat included:

1. Alex Ruhunda for Fort portal municipality on NRM seat

2. Akugizibwe Solomon for Fort portal municipality on FDC seat

3. Adolf mwesige for Bunyangabo consistency on NRM seat

4. Ategeka James Mugarama for Bunyangabo consistency on independent seat.

5. Isingoma John Baptist for Bunyangabo consistency on independent seat

6. Mugabe Christopher Kayonga for Burahya county kabarole district

While the women candidates for the district parliamentary seat included:

1. Businge Victoria Rusoke candidate for women District MP on NRM seat

2. Brungi Elizabeth candidate for women district MP on FDC seat

3. Mugisa Muhanga Margret for women District MP independent

More information still coming, by Augustine Focal person RAC election monitoring and Jackline Aturinda

Conflict arises as parliamentary candidates get nominated in Kyenjojo District

2010-11-25T04:56:00.000-08:00

It was drama at the registrar’s office in Kyenjojo as NRM flag bearer for mwenge north consistency Mr. Muhumuza Daudi handed his nomination papers to the electoral office for the parliamentary seat for mwenge north consistency.

The conflict rose due to Hon. Tom Butime former Member of Parliament for the same consistency denied the candidature of mr.Muhumuza Daudi as NRM flag bearer for the consistency. Mr. Butime had contested the NRM primary elections result saying that mr.Muhumuza Daudi was not supposed to be the NRM flag bearer for mwenge north consistency due to the irregularities which occurred during the NRM primary elections for Flag bearers though the he had been declared a flag bear by the NRM office.

Another candidate who was nominated for mwenge north consistency parliamentary seat was mr.Kalija Cats for FDC while Linda Timbigamba was nominated as women member of parliament on NRM ticket, whereas Joyce Kwebiha, Kabasinguzi Teresa , Kensime Miriam were nominated as independents for women member of parliament for Kyenjojo District. More information still coming by Robert Nyaika focal person election monitoring Integrated Women development Program (IWDP)