KOBOKO AND ARUA DISTICTS LEADERS SUPPORT CEFFORD CONTRIBUTION ON E-SOICETY.

ENHANCING CIVIC COMPETENCE TO STRENGTHEN SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN 25 DISTRICTS, IN FIVE REGIONS OF UGANDA” is an EU funded project and one of it’s components is the design of District websites and E-libraries where RIC-NET is mandated implement  on behalf  of CEW-IT.

    The core objective of these websites is to strengthen information sharing within the Districts and with partners outside the District The key roles of RIC-NET includes; Sensitizing and training District leaders and staff on use and value of websites;  Domain name registration and hosting fee payments;  Designing and building dynamic websites for Districts;  Designing and development of E-libraries for the Districts;  Integrating web 2.0 tools and other social media such as twitter, face book, youtube,d-group with district website;  Integrating website issues with Huduma and bulk Sms.

Interface meetings with District leaders

Two districts were selected for the first round of meetings and that was Koboko and Arua.

 Koboko District

The meeting took place on 9^th July 2012 at Koboko District headquarters in the Chairperson’s office. In attendance were:

S/N	Name	Title	Sex
01.	Hon. Nginya Hassan Said	District Chairperson	M
02.	Mr. Asenda Patrick	Assist. C.A.O	M
03.	Ms Adraa Gloria winnie	Dist. Information officer	F
04.	Hon.Mukili	Secretary Social services	M
05.	Hon. Innocent Paul	Deputy speaker	M
06.	Mr. Abele Emmanuel Moro	P.P.O	M
07.	Hon. Goro Grace	Vice C/person	F
08.	Mr.Albert	Prog.officer CEFORD	M
09.	Mr.M John Silco	Executive Director RIC-NET	M
10.	Mr. Okuti Richard	Partner RIC-NET	M
11.	Mr.Yosia Baluku	ICTO-RIC-NET	M

  The roundtable meeting discussed  the District website that was provided by UCC  which has not been active for a while and needs redesign and activating www.koboko.go.ug. The E-library as a component of the website and way of cooperation and sharing information and responsibilities during the implementation period. The training component that will ensure that the District Staff update the website and other components them selves was stressed as a sustainability aspect.

The  highlighted  challenges included the lack of ICT equipment  for the District Information officer; unreliable internet connectivity; inadequate technical knowledge, finances among others.

The District chairperson appreciated the CSO work and pledged   total cooperation  of District the leadership  to have this fulfilled in the quickest time possible.

Way forward

    A Draft  M.O.U shared was to be reviewed and signed between Koboko District and CEFORD. The District focal person to start collecting current information from departments so as work to become much easier and quicker as it starts. District information officer mandated to be the focal person for this project.  the Mockup  design and development of the online platforms commences immediately. The District  CAO  to write to UCC to get the administrative rights of District website and Domain name.

Arua District Local Government

The meeting was held between (2:30pm) of 9^th July 2012 in the Chief Administrative officer at the District headquarters. In attendance were:

S/N	Name	Title	sex
01.	Ms. Sarah O	Senior Assistant secretary-CAOs office	F
02.	Ms. Achan Stella	District population officer	F
03.	Hon. Achema Genesis	District speaker	M
04.	Ms. Megwe Jane	District information officer	F
05.	Ms Faridah	Project officer CEFORD	F
06.	Mr.John silco	ED RIC-NET	M
07.	Mr. Ayayo	Officer CEFORD	M
08.	Mr. Okuti Richard	Partner RIC-NET	M
09.	Mr. Yosia Baluku	ICTO-RIC-NET	M

The senior Assistant secretary from the CAO’s office

The  concept of the ICT component in this project “ENHANCING CIVIC COMPETENCE TO STRENGTHEN SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN 25 DISTRICTS, IN FIVE REGIONS OF UGANDA” was shared and components as  the re-design of the District websites and e-libraries. 

These online platforms would be support by training of the District focal staff in updating and use of the platforms.

  Feedback from the citizens was to be captured through the  www.citezensvoice.ug  a web based platform that use the  sms. The bulk sms platform to be added to support the District to send sms alerts and reminder to the public and District Staff.

The District officials  represented by the District Speaker appreciated and welcomed the project and pledged for maximum support and cooperation.

Way forward

Ø  An M.O.U is shared and more input be made by the District leadership and later signed between Arua District and CEFORD.

Ø  The District focal person for this project to be appointed by C.A.O and that the D.I.O  is by default part of the team.

Ø  The design and development of the online platforms commences immediately after the signing of the M.O.U

Ø  C.A.O writes to UCC to get more Administrative authhorities  on the previous District website.      

Will Inclusive education deliver its intended results in Uganda?

The minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Developed Hon. Maria Kiwanuka delivered her second budget speech to a fully packed house on  14^th June, 2012.  The events that unfolded immediately after Hon. Maria Kiwanuka left many questions un answered. While giving his speech during the budget day, H.E Yoweri MK, the president of the republic of Uganda, was left puzzled by why Uganda was still importing ‘dressed chicken’ while Uganda had all the resources to supply chicken to the market, the other question was why should Ugandans export ‘maize grains’ instead of exporting maize flour or other products. It seems the Minister of Trade, Hon. Amalia Kyampade took note of the presidents concerns. I was in Mwanza, Tanzania during the budget speech, but quickly followed the events on internet and later downloaded the budget speech from the Ministry of Finance website, something that has embraced me to follow events in my country even when miles  away.

Immediately after the budget speech, Uganda joined the rest of the African countries to commemorate the International day of the African Child on 16^th June, 2012 under the theme “THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES: THE RIGHT TO PROTECT, PROMOTE AND FULFILL” I had participated in the preparatory meetings in  Kasese district, Western Uganda but because I had another international assignment, I left but had a mind of following all the events since an IT team had been informed of uploading  the events on the blog and youtube.  Kasese was chosen to host the regional celebrations for the Rwenzori Region covering seven district of Kasese, Kabarole, Kamwenge, Kyejonjo, Ntoroko, Kyegegwa and Bundibugyo. I also followed the events on a blog story provided by Rwenzori peoples’ voice: http://rwecovoice.blogspot.com/2012/06/plight-of-vulnerable-children.html and you tube. Indeed, 16^th June, 2012 will remain a memorable day in the lives of the pupils who participated in commemorating the international day of the African Child  in Kasese district.

Figuur 1. Andrew Bwambale of Rukoki Model P Sch. Kasese district

Being a concerned and patriotic citizen, I watched the video and followed up the activities and made phone calls to some participants to find out the conditions of the pupils that show cased their skills at the celebrations. One of the pupils that I followed was Andrew Bwambale (12) a P.4 pupils at Rukoki Model school. I made a phone call to the head teacher to find out how she manages to train the pupils, the government contribution and other requirements for such pupils.  The head teacher, Rukoki Model Primary School, was frank to say that, Andrew was a determined pupil ready to confront any challenges in his education career but was challenged to get the necessary support to see him through his dreams of education. I hanged up and reflected back on the budget which Hon. Maria Kiwanuka presented few days back before celebrating the Day of the African Child. I browsed through the budget: Section C, 63:

“Madam Speaker, the education sector has the largest share of our national budget with a total provision increasing from Shs 1,418 billion  in the current financial year to Shs 1,669 billion in the next financial  year. This amounts to 17% of the total budget. The sector provision will  also cater for salary increases for Primary School Teachers and Science  Teachers in Post O-Level institutions. I have allocated Shs. 290 billion  for teachers, scientists and other civil servants”.

Primary school pupils in kids athletics competitions in Kasese

But what did the head teacher share with me “ Andrew lacks support, he has no wheel chair, he has lost his limbs, but determined to study, I call upon members of the civil society to support this boy” I wondered whether the government proposal of inclusive education will  deliver to the expectations of such pupils like Andrew who are struggling amidst all odds to keep in school. Surprisingly, when I observed Andrew in the photo above, it shows how such pupils are capable of joining the job market and compete with the rest of the skilled labour force that we currently have. As a pro-poor analyst, I checked the Kasese district budget that was approved by council on 24th July of which Ugx 5bn out of Ugx 41bn was allocated to the education sector, but surprisingly only Ugx 1.500,000/ had been allocated to sports and music. I am still left puzzled like my senior citizen Mze. HE Yoweri KM who could not believe that Ugandans still import chicken despite the God given environment that is good for agriculture and poultry rearing. Can Ugx. 1.5m deliver the district sports team to national standards, what about the likes of Andrew who needed special consideration which was not reflected in both the district and national budgets? 

Its time now for Ugandans to see where we put our priorities, the education sector was ranked to take the biggest part of the national budget, who will benefit from this budget? While, Uganda was proud to present success stories in the Universal Primary Education program with enrolment now at 8,098,177 ( Education Statistical Abstract, 2011), the challenge is still what are our priorities if we must attain the education goal of providing relevant quality education to all Ugandans. Will Andrew and his friends benefit from this if inclusive education is top on the agenda? I believe, affirmative action  was the best to children with disabilities. Take the case of sanitary facilities at most of the schools, whereas, government policy is clear on these elements of disability but how much has been achieved to cater for individual disabilities even within the cluster of children with disability. Let us not shy away from the truth, if we keep making blanket statements, our children who are disadvantaged will not see the benefits of Education for all.

I have keenly followed the trends in the reports of the presidential special committee investing the abuse of Universal Primary Education and Secondary Education, colossal sums of money has been put to waste! Who is to blame?  Mr. Moses Byaruhanga, Senior Presidential Advisor, has questioned why our MPs are taking all their time to debate the succession question ( see newvison August 2, 2012).  I want to share with  Mr. Moses Byaruhanga that debating is good for our young generation and politicians. If the public had not been questioning the delivery of services, President Yoweri MK could not have known about the gaps in the Naads , Education and Health sectors. Let us give room for debate and question government to look beyond figures,  if these figures can be  translated into facts. I will ask also another question to the minister of Finance. Hon. Maria Kiwanuka, will the Andrews of this Uganda benefit from the 17% budget allocation to the education sector if you don’t allocate  special needs education specific budget that can be tracked?

The resource envelope for the Ugandan budget 2012/13 is enough if government ensures that leakages within the delivery systems are blocked. According to the world bank report, Uganda loses close to Ugx. 500bn per annum in contracts gone bad. Prof. Augustus Nuwagaba, while presenting at the launch of the activities  to mark 50 years of Uganda’s independence was quick to say “ let us make corruption a risk venture instead of glorifying the corrupt”  how many children with disability would benefit from Ugx. 162bn that was awarded to one individual, or even the recent scam in the Office of the Prime Minister. Ugandans what has gone wrong, the world is not about to end. Play your part, tomorrow is there for us. While its clear that those in position of leadership are not in touch with the realities in the country side, Uganda is there for us all to enjoy despite  our status. My message is, after 50 years of independence can we give a chance to the likes of “Andrew to live” and take part in the development agenda of our country Uganda.

Jimmy Baluku Odyek

Poverty and Policy Analyst and works with Rwenzori Consortium for Civic Competence
Kasese, Western Uganda.

Email:jimodyek@gmail.com

CITIZENS MANIFESTO DAY IN KAMWENGE DISTRICT

RWECO organized a Manifesto Day in Kamwenge District at Kahunge sub county headquarters on the 29^th May 2012. The event was jointly organized by RWECO member KALI in close collaboration with the partner CBOs and the office of the Speaker Kamwenge district. The objective of the event was to create a platform for citizens to interface with their leaders and engage them on how far they had gone in implementing the Citizens Manifesto one year after getting into office; it was also an occasion for the leaders to provide feedback on government programmes that they were being implementing in the district.
The event included citizens presenting a written report of what they had observed leaders deliver in the past one year. On the other hand leaders also presented their own reports showing how they were progressing with the implementation of their manifestos. An interactive session moderated by Patrick Kamara, a seasoned media moderator, followed the presentations. At least 23 citizens raised issues which were responded to by the elected leaders and civil servants in four separate rounds.
Attendance : about 200 men and women
Categories:
a)     Elected leaders: LCV Chairman, District Executive Committee, district speaker, Councilors; LCIII Chairpersons of 5 sub counties, LCIII Councilors, LCII and LCI Officials. The area MP Frank Tumwebaze – Kibale County, participated in the meeting vial telephone link.
b)    Civil Servants: DPC, District Inspector of Schools, District NAADS Coordinator, Sub County Chiefs of 5 sub counties, Sub County Community Development Officers, parish chiefs, head teachers, teachers
c)     Religious leaders: Christian and Muslim
d)    Civil Society Organizations: CEW-IT Coordinator, RWECO members, District NGO Forum, CBOs, and other community groups
e)     DGAP PMU: Programme Manager
f)     Ordinary citizens – mainly from the neighbourhood

Highlights of the Citizens’ Report
Members of the CBOs working with RWECO in Kamwenge district compiled a report of what they had observed their leaders deliver or failed to deliver in view of their campaign promises. The report was aligned to the citizens’ manifesto.
Citizen issues as outlined in the CM

1. Wide  spread corruption
2. Wide  spread poverty
3. Declining fortunes of the  Agricultural sector
4. Environmental degradation and climate change challenge
5. Poor infrastructure
6. Growing un employment  opportunities
7. Break down in the health delivery system
8. Poor quality education and mismatch with Uganda’s needs
9. An unsustainable population growth rate in Uganda
10. Very low levels of civic consciousness.

Specific Needs for the people of Kamwenge

• Fight corruption
• Poverty eradication through income generating activities e.g. SACCOs
• Increase agriculture production
• Environment protection
• Health – quality health; adequate staffing in the all health centres – HCII, III, IV; district hospital; eradication of neglected tropical diseases such as elephantiasis
• Quality education – at primary and secondary level
• Partnership and collaboration among politicians
• Relationship between the protected areas and the frontline communities
• Infrastructure development – rural feeder and access roads, tarmacking the Kamwenge – Fort Portal Road
• Rural electrification
• Access to safe and clean water
• Land question – surveying and acquisition of land titles

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS BY THE MONITORS, ISSUES RAISED IN THE PLENARY DISCUSSIONS AND RESPONSES BY THE LEADERS

By James Mwirima, National Coordinator , CEWIT

ICT TOOLS FOR POVERTY RESOURCE TRACKING

CEW-IT training in Progress (17-19, May, 2012)

It was a bright Thursday morning, dazzling in their glamorous suits the CEW-IT staff walked down the road to Kireka, Eastern route Hotel where the very colorful and down to earth two days training on ICT based PETS/PRMT monitoring tools on poverty eradication scheduled for the 16^th – 19^th may 2012 was held.

Moving around the clock, all the trainings were stipulated to commence at 8:50am this was highly blessed by all the CEW-IT partners among which included; RWECO, ACORD, PAC, CEFORD, and FHRI whose delegates elegantly stepped in very early and prepared for the long waited training. The training was further blessed by delegates from Oxfam, SODNET, and the very well experienced and down to earth facilitators from the Democratic governance associates of Uganda.

So fruitful were the opening remarks from James Mwirima the CEW-IT Coordinator. Who welcomed participants to the training and also took them through the climate setting session, his words were so good that gave hope to participants to keep hoping and expecting for more and more, and in the end all their expectations were met 80%.which was an achievement to CEW-IT. James Mwirima further explained the composition of CEW-IT as a consortium of 4-6 organizations, and notified the participants that the name had changed from Citizens Election Watch, to Citizens Watch IT Uganda which had changed for the better not for worse.  He also commended EU and Hivos funding for the project, Enhancing Civic Competence for Social Accountability. 

Mr. Eddie stressing a point

 In life, we always hope for the best  participants highlighted various expectations  which included; acquiring Knowledge on CEW-IT phase three, active participation and knowledge sharing, knowing how public service is in other districts, learning mechanisms and approaches of the project, how to influence the government to increase budget funding, acquire more knowledge and skills in monitoring, Share monitoring experience, how to monitor poverty eradication using ICT, how social goals are generated in service delivery, how to influence budgets in terms of budget allocations, gaining hands on skills in data entry, acquiring knowledge on PRMT.

Though some fears were highlighted, in the end they all turned to be reasons of appreciation when participants were introduced to the Huduma (Swahili) platform—which simply means social service delivery in English, this term has done a great deal of work in Kenya via accountability and access to social services are concerned, we greatly hope that since we have adopted it, the fruits will be ripe as well in Uganda.  And guess what! thanks to Penninah Mutuneh from SODNET for the good work done in putting her hands together in preparing the presentation. Ugandans at last will use the cheapest means to monitor and report on service delivery by local governments. Thanks to the CEW-IT, ICT Specialist Emmanuel Oluka, who tirelessly and nervously shared the strong idea of the Smart phone, for sure this was another milestone for CEW-IT, he simply explained that all one needs is to go down to a shop pick a phone and you know what? identify any social issue around the are, then send that very issue in a message to the short code 6030,  and behold there is no bureaucracy needed or any transport, all you require is just the lowest air time to send a message, so tell me will you send the message today?

Below  Mr. Muguzi facilitating at the CEW-IT workshop

The workshop covered various topics in the field of social accountability, which left most participants amazed, these very interesting topics included; Overview of the Budget Formulation and Implementation Processes (Central and Local Government), which focused on how budgets are formulated and implemented and how CSOs could influence them. The session which was  moderated by Henry Mugazi and  Eddie Kayinda brought on board the mechanisms of monitoring social accountability aimed at building strong networks in the Country and building internal capacity of CSOs in understanding how government operates, thereafter social goals  of service delivery, the roots of service delivery problems, budget formulation at national and LG levels, identification of common problems in budget processes, social services provision framework, and the mechanisms in budget and service delivery monitoring, PETs and their importance, planning and execution of PETS, Data Verification, Report writing, and how to integrate PETS into issue based advocacy, ICT monitoring tool, The HUDUMA Platform (over view, deployment and roll out), Information Analysis and Minimum Standards/Performance Indicators of Public Services

As you know there times when one can’t fail to smile despite the condition you are in that was the situation on Friday 18^th May 2012. On a brand early morning when participants were notified that they were required to go to the field (schools, hospital, district head quarters, water points) to pre-test the PET tools,  guess what Huduma in action  was the buzzword allover the corridors of Eastern Route hotel.  Participants jumped into the ‘Matatus’ courtesy of Rose Nanyondo who was the transport manager of the day headed to four distinct destinations to pre-test the tools.  Field results were presented and they were self explanatory for indeed the situation in almost all the places that were reached unto had issues of limited social service delivery, that significantly showed that the project of social accountability indeed has come in the most opportune time it was  needed therefore, strong implementation has to be made, effective monitoring has to be done, to ensure that all Ugandans access the basic social services they are entitled to.

In a nutshell, the training was necessary for Uganda, we your friends at CEW-IT CU, pray that it may be a success story as we implement together with all our partners alongside the citizens.

By Olive K
CEW-IT-Kampala

Arua LCV remind Citizens demand for their rights

The Citizens Manifesto (CM) did not remain a paper work but a tool used by the grassroots people to engage with elected leaders on the promises made during the campaign period. The Arua District Chairperson reminded the citizens that it’s their right to demand for better services as were promised during the campaigns. This was manifested when Community Empowerment for rural development (CEFORD) a member of Citizens Election Watch-IT (CEW-IT) was carrying out training for CBOs in CM popularisation.

The training that took three day attracted 24 participants from Arua, Koboko and Nebbi  and was one of the most memorable events that took place in the last couple of weeks. It took every participant by surprise when the LCV chair asked ‘how do elected leaders know people’s concerns if they are irregular in office?’. To the participants, the district chair had hinted on the gist of the CM agenda for which the CBOs were being trained. From the workshop, the participants vowed to hold their leaders accountable and even proposed to invite all their MPs to come and give feedback on what they had so far done in the last year in parliament.

While CEFORD and CEW-IT were aware of the implications of the information gap that has become common in Uganda, the CM agenda was timely to bring back the leaders to the electorates.

To show solidarity with the voters, the chair pledged to appear on radio and sensitize the communities on the CM agenda. While at the radio Pacis, the callers were concerned by the delay of establishing Muni University for West Nile Region, escalating corruption in the region, declining fortunes of agriculture and the  many promises made during the campaigns. It was also observed that  elected the representatives instead create many excuses for not attending to the voters concerns.  In response the chair pledged to do his role of mobilising the West Nile population particularly the youth in productive activities to curb the unemployment rate in the district, enforce the leadership code Act and forward any civil servants implicated in corruption cases to relevant authorities for action.   It was also noted that the CM was not in conflict with the political parties manifesto, the issues therein were generated through a highly participatory way.

Throughout the country, the CM has been a tool used to empower the citizens to engage with leaders at all levels of Governance. The most unique package with the CM was the concept of citizen’s parliament that was launched in Kamuli district by the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga on 9^th March, who pledged to give support and invite CEW-IT for a round table meeting to internalise the CM. The citizen’s parliament is a fora where communities identify local problems and local solutions with their leaders. This model of citizens engagement with leaders has given CEW-IT and its partners an advantage of promoting a citizen led problem solving other than pointing fingers to the leaders that they have not delivered on their promises.

CEW- IT and its partners is therefore set to roll forward the CM to the Citizens of Uganda. With the achievements so far registered, the CM has proved to be a citizen driven engagement tool with their leaders. It’s no doubt the leaders have embraced and are using the CM tool to realign government priorities in the local government budgets.

By Celestine Mugisha
Program Officer-CEWIT

CEW-IT PIONEERS ‘HUDUMA’ IN UGANDA

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Ms. Peniana from Sodnet demonstrating how the HUDUMA platform works 

  I have worked with civil society in Uganda for a while and engaged with different development partners on topical issues of poverty resource monitoring, but to be sincere it was all about paper work i.e. get a printed tool, go to the field, collect data and analyze, write a report and disseminate. Imagine all the time spent while processing  data would have been saved on my time sheet. Waiting for a miracle to happen, I was introduced to HUDUMA when I attended a workshop organized by CEWIT in Kampala. As you might guess, I was amazed by what HUDUMA meant on this planet earth. To save my time on cracking my head, I was introduced to HUDUMA on Thursday 17^th May, 2012, by Ms. Peninah  from Sodnet- Kenya  This lady just said HUDUMA was a Swahili word meaning ‘service delivery’ and that Sodnet had development a platform to engage leaders with the citizenry to monitor service delivery and report on the platform. HUDUMA is a multi-media platform- using Facebook, Twitter, blogs, flicker, skype,  emails and the phone. For which CEW-IT had secured a code -6030. 

                                                                      Mr. Emma Oluka, demonstrating HUDUMA on the smart phone

 

 What made me more interested in this HUDUMA word was that even my phone can be used to report. Look, go to the shop, ask for a smart phone and pay  and business begins. Now what about those with Kabiriti? I asked Mr. Oluka CEW-IT ICT Officer who had introduce the participant to ICT based monitoring tools. My dear, with Kabirit, you can only send your message to 6030, but with a smart phone, he said, he would install the tools, your work will be only to fill in the template while in the field, send the filled template and a report would  be generated instantly. Look how much time  would  I  have saved by  using a smart phone in poverty resource monitoring.    Adopting to ICT is the way to go in order to save on time and get instant reports that have feedback from the service providers. HUDUMA will move CEWIT to the next steps in getting updated information that is reliable, specific and timely compared to the paper work that I had previously used without back of the locations.

Mr. Eddie Kayinda (Standing) facilitating at the CEW-IT workshop ( 17-19, May, 2012

My experience did not end with HUDUMA,   the workshop had other packages of Participatory Expenditure Tracking Surveys that were delivered by Mr. Eddie Kayinda and Mr. Henery Muguzi of Governance Associates. These guys made the link between PETS and the Local Government planning processes which I had formally not bothered to explore. It was interesting when the facilitator Mr. Muguzi  introduced us to the overview of the Budget Formulation and Implementation where he emphasized that one of the mechanisms of monitoring social accountability is to build strong networks in the Country and building internal capacity of CSOs in understanding how government operates at different levels. CSO therefore, have to acquaint themselves with the tools of social service delivery, and also know the different social service delivery programs so that advocacy is on an informed perspective rather than rumors. It was interesting to learn what a budget is, how it is formulated and the Local Government processes. Also important to note was that one has to clearly understand the social goals of service delivery, the roots of service delivery problems, social services provision framework, and the mechanisms in budget and service delivery monitoring if advocacy is to be effective.

Ms. Lucy Den Teuling (right) and Mr. James Mwirima (left) addressing the participants

 On another note,  Lucy Den Teuling a representative from Oxfam  Novib mentioned  CEWIT was a special CSO that was integrating ICT within its work. That ICT can not work alone without the other aspects of development.  She urged the participants to utilize the knowledge gained and apply the skills from the training. 

Who was who in the workshop:

1. Rwenzori Consortium for Civic Competence (RWECO) with its members from Karambi Action for Life Improvement, Good Hope foundation for Rural Development, Rwenzori Information Centers Network and Integrated Women’s Development Program (RIDE-AFRICA)

2. ACORD- GULU with its partners from Northern Uganda

3. CEFORD- with its partners from West Nile

4.  PAC-Uganda from Teso Region, and FHRI from Central Uganda. A team of 55 participants were present and fully engaged for three days at Eastern Route Hotel, Kireka. 

My take from the workshop on ICT based poverty resource monitoring was that HUDUMA and the smart phones if used properly will enable the citizens to interact with their leaders since the HUDUMA planform will be linked to the service providers in the Local Governments and the line Ministries in Uganda.

CEW-IT is a consortium of RWECO, CEFORD, ACORD, PAC-Uganda and DENIVA/FHRI

 

By

Sheila K
RWECO

ONE DIES IN KK TRAVELER - NILE COACH ROAD ACCIDENT

KK T and Nile coach involved in road accident at Ayago in Amur District on their way to Kampala. The Arua bound bushes collided on a hump at ayago on 16^th May 2012 at  about 12:50am. A passenger who survived in the accident revealed that the contactor of the Nile Coach was left by the bush at Pakwach then the Driver of KK T lifted him and was hurrying to deliver him to Nile coach in the process as the Nile coach Bush was crossing the Hump at some slight angle in the process of the KK T over taking the sides of the two bushes rubbed then Nile coach knocked off road

The number of the seriously had not been established by this time.