The primary target participants of this workshop are:
- People who are directly involved in rural development projects, say in economic, education, health, environment, culture, etc.
- Those who have already integrated ICT in their programmes and have adequate experience in terms of challenges or successes that they would like to share with other participants.
As a part of the selection process, geographical diversity, gender and self-sponsored participants will all be taken into consideration.

Parliament has begun debate on the report on the Government White Paper on the constitutional review process with some MPs asking the President to state his position on whether he wants a third term. The White Paper, released in September 2004, contains the Government’s position on the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Commission. One of the proposals in the White Paper is that Parliament should decide on the issue of lifting the presidential term limits, which would make Museveni eligible to stand for a third term.

Ugandan state television and radio have started live broadcasts of parliamentary proceedings. It means MPs have been smartening up their act for the camerasIt means MPs are likely to be under much greater public scrutiny ahead of elections scheduled for next year. The next few months should also provide some lively viewing as the MP's are due to vote on many changes to the constitution including the controversial issue of whether to lift term limits on the presidency.

The European Union has cautioned Uganda against the use of an organic pollutant to control malaria, commonly known as DDT, warning that its use could pose dire consequences for exports to the European market.

Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC), is going to be a busy man this year as far as Africa is concerned. Reports indicate that the court could begin trying those accused of perpetrating atrocities in the conflict between Uganda's government and rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) this year. The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, took up arms against Kampala in 1986, saying it wanted to establish a government based on the Biblical ten commandments.

Thousands of Sudanese refugees living in camps in northern Uganda are reluctant to consider repatriation for a variety of reasons, including the lack of facilities in southern Sudan, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, told IRIN. The agency reported that the refugees felt the landmark peace agreement signed in December 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya, was not inclusive of all Sudanese groups.

A gay Ugandan man has been denied a visa to enter Britain because there is a warrant for his arrest in his home country - a warrant that was issued because he is gay. Chris Stentaza had been invited to the UK by the Church of England.  Stentaza had been a teacher at an Anglican run school in Uganda but was fired and forced to go into hiding after speaking at a conference of gay Christians in Manchester 15 months ago. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, punishable by lengthy prison terms. Stentaza was rejected for a visa by the British high commission in the Ugandan capital of Kampala based only on the fact that a warrant had been issued on charges of "crimes against nature". 

Distracted by Iraq and the Asian tsunami, the United Nations is ignoring a flare-up in Uganda's 18-year-old civil conflict, an aid group said last Thursday. "The United Nations Security Council has been appallingly negligent of the conflict in Uganda, failing to pass a single resolution," said Emma Naylor, head of Oxfam in Uganda. The British-based group said the Security Council should have used a meeting on African humanitarian issues in New York last Thursday to focus on one of Africa's longest-running wars.

Members of the political opposition in Uganda are working to avert what they say is a brewing political crisis as the time runs out for transition to a multiparty system. Members of Parliament opposed to the Movement system, who number only 81 in the 304-strong parliament, are lobbying the Speaker of the House, Edward Ssekandi, to avert a build-up of political tension by speeding up the transition from single-party rule to a multiparty system. The date proposed in 2004 in the roadmap was April 2005.

During the past week, Uganda witnessed an influx of more 10,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The refugees entered the southwestern Kanungu District, through Ishasha village. Apparent insecurity in this village near Lake Edward pushed some 7,000 people to either return to DRC or seek shelter further inside the country. There is a clear sense among humanitarian organizations on the ground, including the UN, that should the fighting continue, large numbers of Congolese may cross the border into Uganda in the coming days.

Uganda has expressed concern over the rising demand for anti-AIDS drugs, which is outstripping available resources. According to Ministry of Health officials, the number of HIV-positive people reporting daily to the Infectious Diseases Institute at Mulago Hospital in the capital, Kampala, was "overwhelming", having shot up from 100 before Christmas to 300 at present.

This Association for the Development of Education in Africa study examines the impact of HIV/AIDS on governance in the education sector. It specifically aims to: establish the impact of staff illness on the daily activities and governance function of the sector, establish how staff mortality affects sector governance, examine the resources drawn out of the sector due to HIV/AIDS-related illness and death, and examine how the sector sees itself to be coping with absenteeism and attrition among staff.

Publisher: Femrite

Exclusively distributed by African Books Collective Ltd, The Jam Factory, 27 Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HU United Kingdom
[email protected]
http://www.african bookscollective.com

When Frieda’s husband came home drunk and she was unable to provide him with the money he demanded, he went to the bedroom and came out swinging a panga.

“I have no money, please I have no money. You know I can’t have any,” Frieda begged. She escaped from the house and went to hide behind a tree, to which a goat was tied. Her husband, in a rage, swung the panga and split open the head of the goat, killing it instantly.

Frieda knew that the blow was meant for her. She knew that if she stayed with her husband any longer it would only be a matter of time before either her or her children were killed.

The decision to leave was the end of 14 years of constant battery. The odds were stacked against her – she returned to her parents, but received no support for the children from her husband. He began selling off possessions and property they had acquired during the marriage, but her attempts to access these resources where thwarted by a corrupt beurocracy heavily weighted in favour of her husband.

After a long struggle, she found out about a legal aid clinic that supported women in claims about land and property conflicts, domestic violence, rape and other abuses. The legal aid clinic helped her to achieve limited justice – her husband is prevented from selling their property – but she is still on the back foot in a society where the odds are stacked against her.

Frieda’s story is typical of the collection of short stories in ‘Tears of Hope: A collection of Short Stories by Ugandan Rural Women’. The eight short stories reflect the situation of African rural women in an overwhelmingly male dominated society. These are stories about the lived experience of women that demonstrate their suffering, pain and humiliation, but also show the enormous inner strength, courage and fortitude of women.

Each story is a window on the discrimination that women face. In ‘Where do I belong?’ we are shown that women are valued for the offspring that they produce and that that offspring had better be male.

‘Frieda’s World’ follows on this theme. Women are seen and chosen for their potential fertility and their ability to work hard and increase the wealth of their husbands. Women are seen to be nothing more than a bundle of flesh to be beaten into submission, even through they are more often than not the producer of food and nurturer of children.

Many of the stories, told in the first person, are extremely moving. In ‘Maria demands her share’, Maria describes her husband coming home form work some time in 1994, extremely worried. The setting is Rwanda and as her husband notifies her, it is time to flee because the situation has reached a stage where their lives are in danger. They lose everything and join a mass of humanity running for their lives. Maria’s husband is subsequently murdered by her own brother, who uses the confusion to settle an old family score related to Maria’s bride price. From that stage on, Maria’s life becomes a constant struggle for dignity.

The system of male domination breeds selfishness and oppression, not only from the male members of society, but also from women eager to hold on to whatever tentative positions they have established for themselves within the hierarchy. In that hierarchy, women can only exist by belonging to someone, by being a possession. Breaking out of that structure to go it alone is a hard road fraught with difficulties. So, for example, if a women finds herself in a situation of domestic violence she must not expect the authorities to take action. The only way to escape is to leave her husband, following which she will stigmatised for not being able to make her marriage work and face immense pressure to return to her situation of abuse.

Each story involves the main character finding out about and accessing her rights, and even though these laws might be limited in the protection they offer, they do more often than not offer some respite.

But the stories also show that standing up for these rights and using the law to fight their oppression is only half of the battle. In this sense it is not only about accessing rights within the framework of the law, it is also about confronting a hostile society who, even when the law is against them, do everything within their power to make sure that women are deprived and disempowered. If, however, the violence that the characters in these stories suffer at the hands of their spouses is relentless, so is the determination and courage of the women to make sure that their rights are enforced. This is the real inspiration of this collection of short stories: It is through the courage of women like the eight represented in these stories that society is forced to make shifts, forced to change.

Reviewed by Patrick Burnett, Fahamu

* For orders, please contact African Books Collective.

“Ntoroko is like some forgotten world. Our health unit is very poor, our roads are very poor and so are community members are very poor.”
- 22-year-old Ugandan male, Ntoroko West, 28 October 2004

Ntoroko County in Bundibugyo District lies in the far west of Uganda, bordering Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Not only is Ntoroko geographically remote, wedged between Semuliki national park and Lake Albert, but, as the young person above eloquently pointed out, it is also politically marginalised from district and central government decision-making and resource allocation. Following years of conflict between the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and the Ugandan government, as well as among armed groups in DRC, Ntoroko County has experienced widespread displacement and poverty.

It is within this context of scarcity that the Refugee Law Project, funded by Save the Children, undertook research to identify the main issues affecting children in the county, to assess community responses to date and to analyse gaps in policy and programming. Using participatory, qualitative methods, a team of six researchers gathered data from refugee and national adults and children in Kanara, Rwebisengo and Karagutu sub-counties. The aim was to understand the general context for children, as well as the specific challenges and circumstances of refugee children, including unaccompanied minors, from the DRC.

Ugandan government policy requires refugees to register and proceed to rural settlements. However, many Congolese refugees in Ntoroko County have chosen not to move to Kyaka II refugee camp, 200 kilometres away, because doing so would mean abandoning their cattle, losing their livelihoods as fishers and/or reducing their ability to monitor the situation in their home communities with a view to eventual return. Although they fulfil the criteria under international refugee law, these Congolese people are denied refugee status and deemed ‘aliens’ by the government. As a result, they constitute an ‘invisible’, albeit in some areas majority, part of the population in Ntoroko County. This means that they are not taken into account in government planning for service provision, resulting in increased demand on already over-stretched education and health facilities. Such a policy indirectly penalises Ugandan residents in the area, provoking discrimination against refugees in service provision.

In such an environment of competition for resources and power, children are often left out of the equation. As one resident pointed out: “Our children are completely at risk here because in Ntoroko, as in the traditions of most fish sites, the formula is every man for himself and God for us all. How can you then say children are well here?” Children and young people lack access to decision-making and leaders are not necessarily accountable to those they purportedly represent. The majority of officials dealing with children’s issues are older males, while Ugandan nationals often speak on behalf of refugees. Allegations of corruption are also widespread. For example, one interviewee said: “We normally see a number of things coming here, but they are taken to the chairman’s home. These leaders also sell the things like books which are brought for the children to use at school.”

Given this political situation, it is not surprising that research findings reveal major barriers to accessing quality education for children in Ntoroko County, particularly for girls and Congolese children. Malaria, cough, worms and cholera are the main health issues facing children, due primarily to poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water. Child abuse, neglect, rape and defilement are widespread in the county, but response from local authorities has been inadequate, contributing to a culture of impunity.

Recognising that children are active members of communities means that child protection is inextricably linked to governance issues in Ntoroko County. Only when the child rights agenda is politicised – when power dynamics in social structures are recognised and steps are taken towards inclusion of groups traditionally marginalised from power – will we begin to address the root causes of child abuse and neglect in Ntoroko County, and elsewhere.

* Christina Clark is Commonwealth Scholar, Oxford University. She is currently undertaking doctoral research with Congolese young people in Uganda. The research summarised here was undertaken in her voluntary capacity as Research Associate with Refugee Law Project, Makerere University. The full report is available at:

* Please send comments to [email protected]

For centuries, Ugandans have used herbs to treat the symptoms of malaria. Although experience shows that they are effective, their safety has never been tested. Grace Nambatya-Kyeyune is determined to remedy this. Nambatya is director of research at the state-run Natural Chemotherapeutic and Research Laboratory (NCRL). Together with clinicians at Mulago hospital in Kampala, she is evaluating the toxicity of several herbal formulations used to combat malaria.

ACT member, Lutheran World Federation Uganda is proposing for support to expand the emergency response program for Northern Uganda for internally displaced persons in Adjumani, Katakwi and Kitgum districts. If there is reduced conflict, this project will also support resettlement and reintegration of IDPs to their respective communities. The Direct Beneficiaries of this project are approximately 290,000 internally displaced persons (of whom approximately 60% are female) and the project will give special consideration to women and children. In 2005, there is hope for peace and if this were to happen, the LWF Uganda would work with the IDPs to assist them in returning to their respective homes, albeit on a gradual basis, with close monitoring of the security situation.

President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to step up military action against rebels in northern Uganda, after a seven-week truce expired without agreement. The government says the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rejected a deal meant to pave the way for peace talks, and staged an ambush on the army. Mediators said the LRA wanted more time to study the government's proposed memorandum of understanding.

New measures aimed at preventing the dumping of low quality condoms in Uganda have resulted in shortages across the country, a senior health ministry official told IRIN on Tuesday. Ugandans use between 80 and 100 million condoms annually as part of the country's anti-HIV/AIDS strategy of ABC - Abstain [from sex], be faithful [to one partner] or use a condom.

Ugandan rebels say that attacks by the army may undermine the peace process, supposed to end an 18-year war. The army says it has killed 16 rebels but stresses that the clashes took place outside a ceasefire zone, set up for rebel fighters. The conflict in northern Uganda has driven 1.6m people into refugee camps and triggered what aid workers call one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

The National Council for Higher Education has come up with a damning report on the status of higher education in the country. While noting positive developments in the sector like the number of universities increasing from one in 1987 to 28 today, it warned that 11 of them were operating illegally. The draft report being released at a stakeholders' workshop in Kampala paints a gloomy picture of the sector saying it is characterised by poor record keeping, under-funding, outmoded curriculum and unacceptably high lecturer to student ratio.