FOUR HUNDRED CBOs/NGOs IN KABAROLE DISTRICT: How Valid and Relevant are they?

“We have four hundred CBO/NGOs in Kabarole District, but not all are compliant to the law and functional” remarked Mr. Tadeo Balisanga the Community Development Officer (CDO) Kabarole District.
Mr. Balisanga said this at the NGO evaluation meeting held on 22.02.12 at Mucwa. Opening the meeting Balisanga noted that his office is mandated to register, coordinate and monitor the operations of all CBO/NGOs in the District. He however apologized for the continued inconsistence in conducting NGO coordination meetings which he attributed to inadequate resources.

Mr. Balisanga informed the meeting that he had received a communication from NGO Board warning him of the increased NGO operations in the country which need to be closely monitored because some of these organizations are allegedly involved in criminal campaigns/work. Accordingly NGO Board had requested his office for an update of all the registered organizations in the District and what they do; and to this he had called for this evaluation meeting.
Explaining the purpose of the meeting, Mr. Balisanga said it is to get all the organizations in Kabarole together to share their work with the District because many NGOs are doing work that the Government is not aware of. The meeting was to also remind the different organizations to regularly update/renew their registration with the District every two years.

He added that all organizations are expected to share their reports, budgets, and work plans with the District, asserting that “if Government can display their work plans and budgets why not Civil Society, I challenge you to walk the talk”

Responding to the CDO’s communication, members raised a number of issues expressing their dissatisfaction over the relationship between the District leadership and their operations. Members noted that most times both District and sub county leaders shun away from CBO/NGO meetings whenever called upon especially those that are not financially or adequately facilitated. This they said has created a big gap between the two parties and has left either suspicious of the other.

Lack of routine monitoring of CBOs/NGOs by the District leadership was also raised by the members saying this is the reason why Government has continuously undermined the contribution of CSOs in society and also gets them framing CSOs as anti-Government agents.
Commenting on the unrecognized contribution CSOs were making in Society one Mr. Mihanji of Parents Concern revealed that his Organization had built eight permanent houses for widows in Fort portal Municipality alone costing over 180million but it is unfortunate that the District/Municipality is not even aware and appreciative of this. He appealed for a closer collaboration between Government and CSOs.

In addition to this, the meeting also appreciated the fact that many organizations are not familiar with the NGO policy and requirements and at this it was recommended that the office of the CDO should get this policy distributed to the CBOs/NGOs in the District.
Summing up the discussion, several other recommendations/appeals were made by the members. These included;
1. Government to revamp her monitoring system of NGOs, challenging that why has Government always complained of Briefcase organizations yet they have never exposed or closed up any especially in Kabarole District.
2. The District to call for bi-annual coordination meetings of all CBOs/NGOs in the District.
3. The CDO’s office to mobilize/fundraise monies to conduct the coordination meetings from the different organizations in the District incase his office is not in position to facilitate them.
4. CDO’s at the sub county level should be tasked to also conduct similar meetings and monitoring visits of the CBOs/NGOs in their sub counties.
5. The District should consider extending the funds allocated for capacity building to CBOs and NGOs as well.
6. RIC-NET to support the CDO in mobilizing other organizations for coordination meetings through its bulk Sms program.
7. CBOs/NGOs to routinely share their work plans, budgets and reports with the District and the CDO is to develop a particular reporting and work plan format and share it with all organizations for uniformity.
8. All the CBOs that did not come along with their certificates of registration, work plans, budgets and reports should ensure that they are availed to the office of the CDO by end of February 2012.

Closing the meeting the RDC, Kabarole District thanked the office of the CDO for conducting such a meeting and especially for inviting him to this meeting which he said is the first of its kind that he has attended in the Rwenzori region. He thanked all the members for the great work that their organizations are doing in their different fields of work.

He said Government appreciates the role and contribution of CSOs and would never take it for granted. He apologized for the poor monitoring and collaboration and promised that he was going to ensure that this weakness is addressed.
He advised members to work towards making their organizations self sustaining with less reliability on donor funding because this will keep them in business after the donor funding ends.

He however warned that he was going to institute a committee to keenly study the operations and visibility of all the organizations in the District and he will make sure that at least by the end of this year the number has been reduced to 300 only or less because many organizations are not functional any way while some are allegedly undermining Government efforts.

This meeting was attended by approximately 45 members from the different CBOs and NGOs in Kabarole District.

The vice of corruption exists but it’s not political

“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

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.

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!

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

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

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?

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.

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.