Katooke people’ forum and Bufunjo people’ forum advocate for improved service delivery in the health and education sector

Since 2016 ToroDev has been partnering with 20 advocacy forums from 15 in 2014-2015 to  monitor government  services, demand accountability from duty bearer, defend people’ rights and advocate for better services  using both offline and ICTs platforms with an aim of having improved service delivery in the seven districts of the Rwenzori Region.

“As forum members in the months of April, May and June we have been visiting schools and health centre’s located in  Katooke sub country, Kyenjojo district, for example in April 20^th/2016,  we visited  Iboroga Primary school and held a meeting with the head teacher, the school management committee and the parents committee to address challenges that the school faces, challenges of lack of enough infrastructure, lack of staff quarters, poor performance of candidates classes etc, we are happy that parents accepted to support the school and complete four class rooms that were not yet complete due to lack of funds”.  Said Muzoora Godwin the leader of Katooke People’ Forum.

Godwin added we further  visited  Myeri Health centre II to find out the challenges that the health centre faces so that we can present these challenges to the leaders, we discovered that there is shortage of medical supplies, there is no standard maternity ward, few health workers etc, we had a meeting with the In-charge of the Health centre and he  explained that the Project of maternity ward will begin this financial year, 2016/2017 and 8 million is already in place to start something and we also presented the issues to the sub county leaders who promised to address them during their council meetings, we shall keep reminding these leaders until we see change in place.

“As a forum we will struggle to follow up everyone who is responsible to implement any issue that was raised by citizen to see that at the end of the year all are achieved or worked on”  Said Birungi Jane the member of Katooke People’ Forum

“As a forum we have been lobbying for general ward of Bufunjo health centre III, where the hospital ward was very small and very congested, as a forum we have written to Kyenjojo district leadership through the sub county council as per now  we are waiting for the sub county council which  promised to address this challenge this financial year, 2016-2017, we shall follow this issue until something is done”. Tumwisigye Andrew the leader of Bufunjo people’ right.

Andrew added that we have also written a letter to the District health officer Kyenjojo district to lobby for the renovation of the health unit, we asked the DHO to speak to Baylor Uganda to support the health centre, and we are waiting for the response from Baylor now, we thank ToroDev that has given us enough airtime on radio to speak about these issues.

However as forums we still face challenges like having active members who are withdrawing their power in the struggle of monitoring service delivery and promoting, protecting, and defending Human Rights due to intimidation, having no facilitation and lack of hard working spirit in the country.

 We are so grateful to our donors SIDA, SPIDER, NED, CIPESA, ICT4Dem, WOUGNET, Indigo Trust for supporting the work of Advocacy forums.

Can Uganda achieve the middle income status, government’s vision by 2020?

When a country is struggling to attain a middle income status it means there are people lower income status and others with higher income level. We have to consider our income at house hold level where every family should stop producing for consumption only but have surplus for sale. When we sale we get money to do other things and the government gets money through tax payment which is used to improve service delivery in the country.

 These were the words of Mr. Tumwine Henry a lecturer at Mountains of the Moon University and a Quality Assurance Officer of the same institution. Mr. Tumwine was speaking during Torodev’s supported live radio discussion on ‘Orukurato’ program that is aired live every Saturday 8:00pm-10:00pm on HITS Fm.

Mr. Tumwine said we do not have value addition products like other countries which forces us to import more than what we export hence our revenues being taken by other countries. We need to work hard to avoid such if we are to achieve the 2020 vision as a country.

Mr. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni President of Uganda

In a related development, Mr. Museveni who is the president of Uganda on 11^th July,2016 while officiating as chief guest on World Population Day national celebrations in Rukungiri district said; every Ugandan will earn 3.5 million shillings annually or shillings 290.000/= monthly when the country attains a middle income status, the governments 2020 vision. Mr. Museveni said we can achieve this through increasing funding to agriculture that employs majority Ugandans and by investing more in operation wealth creation programme. ‘’I request all Ugandans to embrace this struggle of total monetization of the economy’’, said Mr. Museveni the president of the Republic of Uganda.

Meanwhile the 2 hours live discussion had participation of  Mr. Bamanyisa Patrick who said that; ‘’for any country to grow especially in it’s economy, it should deal with corruption as the first issue and also reduce the cost of public administration which is too high for example here in Uganda. 

Callers were given chance to participate through call-ins & Sms platforms; ‘’ the monthly salary of 1 member of parliament here in Uganda is equivalent to 80 months salary of a teacher, how can we achieve the middle income status with such trends?’’, asked Moses Mugisa a caller from Kyegegwa district.

We are grateful to all our partners for the support that keeps our programs running on radios.

Bufunjo People’ Forum advocates for the transfer of a health worker for misconduct.

“We received an outcry from concerned citizens of Bufunjo Sub County in Kyenjojo District complaining about Mr. Mugisha Tumwine Salongo, the laboratory assistant at  Bufunjo health centre III  after seeing him  fighting with  fellow staff.  According to eye witnesses & other staff members, Mugisha used to attack fellow workers, abuse them publically and this was the third time seen fighting fellow staff”, Said Andrew Tumwesigye the leader of Bufunjo People’ Forum.

Andrew added that when we received this complaint as human rights defenders we visited the health centre and held a meeting with the in charge of the health centre and inquired on what was going on, we found out the truth and the in-charge explained to us that Mugisha has been warned but he could not change and he asked us to help them handle Mugisha’s behaviors. After the meeting we took another step of writing a letter to the Chief Administrator Officer (CAO) Kyenjojo district through the District health officer Kyenjojo district and the district chairperson to take action on Mugisha.

“We are happy that the district officials responded to the letter and the transfer letter was sent to Mugisha. As we talk he has been transferred to another place and we have peace at the health centre.” Said Twinomujuni John, Secretary of Bufunjo People's Forum  

“Unfortunately Mugisha ran away with the Microscope of the health centre but we have reported the case and he will bring it back because he is followed up by the district officials and we shall work with them to see that  this equipment is back to the health centre”. Said Margret Tugume treasurer of Bufunjo People's Forum 

The Microscope that Mr. Mugisha disappeared with

“As ToroDev we appreciate the good work done by the advocacy forums in  defending people’ rights, demanding for justice, advocating for better services, demanding accountability from duty bearers without fear or favor and monitoring government services among other activities. We shall keep supporting and encouraging the members of the 20 advocacy forums to continue using both physical meetings and ICT tools to advocate for improved service delivery”. Said Sheila Amanya M&E officer ToroDev.

 Thanks to our partners for the financial and technical support

Political opponents called upon to share their manifestos they used while soliciting for votes during 2016 general elections

As a leader iam calling upon all people especially those who were campaigning against me to bring their manifestos so that we can combine them to get better issues that will be worked upon to improve service delivery in our division. Mr. Muhumuza Richard the West division chairperson in Fort Portal municipality said this while appearing live on KRC Fm during ‘Manya Omwebembezi Wawe’ program that is aired live every Wednesday 8:00pm-10:00pm.

 Mr. Muhumuza  on 6^th July, 2016 while sharing his plans for the 5 years term (2016-2021) said the little time he has been in office, already the construction of Water supply-Rwengoma-St. Pauls road with first class marrum is on-going, Rwengoma-Kagote-Mpanga bridge is under construction & Bulyanyenje-Nyantabooma bridge which is now complete where movement of people and goods has been improved.

Mr. Muhumuza Richard the Chairperson West division Fort Portal Municipality

During the 2 hours program Mr. Muhumuza promised to Fight corruption & give accountability regularly, improve on access to safe & clean water, lobbying for increased drug supply to Kagote Health Centre 111 & fencing it, improving the education status in the division, launch a general cleaning day for the division to improve on hygiene & sanitation, work on garbage collection, re-construct Kabundaire market toilet, gazette green belts in the division, improve on revenue collection, road infrastructure, etc. Mr. Muhumuza said with the 958 million shillings budgeted for 2016/2017 financial year; the division will give priority to the above mention service delivery sectors.

He said as a team they are ready to visit all the schools especially secondary schools in the division to ascertain the challenges they are facing and also meet School Management Committees (SMC’s) & other partners in education to lay strategies on how the education sector can be improved.

Mr. Muhumuza promised to support and works with the youth especially those organized in groups and with a positive attitude towards work with emphasis on wealth creation programs. ‘’The problem with our youth is they do not want to work but want to have money and become rich. We shall put bye-laws especially on people who open their bars in morning hours to reduce the problem of our youth going to drinking places during working hours and also send to school all willing school going age children’’, said Mr. Muhumuza Richard the chairperson West division.

Callers were given time to participate in the 2 hours live discussion through call –inns & Sms platforms; ‘’Kagote road needs to be worked on, what plans do you have for it?’’, asked Godfrey Mugenyi a caller from Kabarole district, ‘’What plans do you have for the youth especially those selling food on road sides?’’, asked Abudul Manzi a caller from Matiri in Kyenjojo district.

We are grateful to our partners; SIDA, NED, SPIDER, ICT4DEM & CIPESA for the support both financial and technical.

Uganda needs to change some policies in order to achieve the middle income status, government’s vision by 2020

When a country is struggling to attain a middle income status it means there are people lower income status and others with higher income level. We have to consider our income at house hold level where every family should stop producing for consumption only but have surplus for sale. When we sale we get money to do other things and the government gets money through tax payment which is used to improve service delivery in the country.

 These were the words of Mr. Tumwine Henry a lecturer at Mountains of the Moon University and a Quality Assurance Officer of the same institution. Mr. Tumwine was speaking during Torodev’s supported live radio discussion on ‘Orukurato’ program that is aired live every Saturday 8:00pm-10:00pm on HITS Fm.

Mr. Tumwine said we do not have value addition products like other countries which forces us to import more than what we export hence our revenues being taken by other countries. We need to work hard to avoid such if we are to achieve the 2020 vision as a country.

In a related development, Mr. Museveni who is the president of Uganda on 11^th July,2016 while officiating as chief guest on World Population Day national celebrations in Rukungiri district said; every Ugandan will earn 3.5 million shillings annually or shillings 290.000/= monthly when the country attains a middle income status, the governments 2020 vision. Mr. Museveni said we can achieve this through increasing funding to agriculture that employs majority Ugandans and by investing more in operation wealth creation programme. ‘’I request all Ugandans to embrace this struggle of total monetization of the economy’’, said Mr. Museveni the president of the Republic of Uganda.

Mr. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni President of Uganda

Meanwhile the 2 hours live discussion had participation of  Mr. Bamanyisa Patrick who said that; ‘’for any country to grow especially in it’s economy, it should deal with corruption as the first issue and also reduce the cost of public administration which is too high for example here in Uganda. Callers were given chance to participate through call-ins & Sms platforms; ‘’ the monthly salary of 1 member of parliament here in Uganda is equivalent to 80 months salary of a teacher, how can we achieve the middle income status with such trends?’’, asked Moses Mugisa a caller from Kyegegwa district.

We are grateful to all our partners for the support that keeps our programs running on radios.

Kabarole District Leaders from East Division, Rwimi Sub County & Rwimi Town council gave Plans for 2016-2021 political terms to their electorates

ToroDev in collaboration with the 3 FM radio stations i.e HITS FM, KRC FM & Jubilee radio have given local leaders from Rwenzori sub region free airtime to share their plans with electorates for the 5 years political term 2016-2021. The activity that is aimed at tracking what the leaders are pledging to do for their respective communities so that at some point they are reminded of what they pledged to do and also keep track where they divert from their promises will be done with support from the 3 program moderators of the 3 Fm radio stations.

On 29^th June, 2016 during ‘Manya  Omwebembezi Waawe’ program  that is aired live every Wednesday 8:00pm-10:00pm on KRC FM, Mr. Magezi Willy Snob the Chairperson for East Division in Fort Portal Municipality was hosted to share with the listeners the current stand of the division and the plans he has for the people of East Division.

Mr. Magezi Willy Snob Chairperson East Division Fort Portal Municipality

Mr. Magezi  called for co-operation of all people, those who were contesting against him and those who wish the division success to join him in developing the division now that elections are over. He said many people do not fully know how local governments operate which forces them to keep demanding even what the division leadership cannot manage doing from the local revenue collections and the funds from central government.  Mr. Magezi said when citizens are invited for budget conferences where they should plan with their leaders on the development of their communities in that particular financial year; they do not come to attend. He said politics has ruined our country where leaders do not want to tell electorates the truth for fear of losing votes in the next election and this has made leaders fail to perform because the citizens have been given a lot of powers where they want to listen to what they want to hear not what is being told. He called upon citizens to do their responsibilities well to allow smooth running of government programs.

‘’The division has earmarked 960 million shillings this financial year 2016/2017 to improve the road infrastructure, work on garbage collection, increase green belts in the division, hygiene & sanitation, education especially on performance and teachers recruitment, the division will also provide bursaries for poor children & best performing children among other plans’’, said Mr. Magezi Willy Snob the Chairperson East Division Fort Portal Municipality.

He said what will be done will depend on the available funds and the lobbying capacity of councilors. He called upon local people to fulfill their responsibilities of paying government taxes to enable the division realize the budget in order to improve on the service delivery since what is done is determined by funds collected and available.

Meanwhile on 2^nd July, 2016 during ‘Orukurato’ program that is aired live every Saturday 8:00pm-10:00pm on HITS FM Mr. Kangwagye Moses the chairperson for Rwimi Sub County and Mr. Ngomayondi Abel the Mayor Rwimi town council were hosted to share their plans with electorates.

Mr. Kangwagye promised to lobby for a maternity ward because mothers are suffering a lot, Follow the presidential pledge of provision of safe and clean water & irrigation scheme, increase house hold income for citizens, deal with the issue of recruiting staff in schools with limited staff /teachers’,  reviving community work especially opening of access roads & other community roads, lobby for enough trees from National Forestry Authority for the people to plant in order to reduce the problem of dry spells in the area, Work with Uganda Wild Life Authority (UWA) to stop wild animals that destroy peoples crops, work with farmers to lobby for a farmers bank where they  can access loans with affordable interest rates and to work with other authorities to fight Banana Bacterial Wilt ( BBW)

Also live in studios was  Mr. Abel Ngomayondi  who promised to lobby government and Baylor Uganda to construct children’s & Maternity wards, improve on education by arresting parents who do not take their school -going age to schools, provide safe and clean water, fighting corruption, and provide farmers with quality seeds they prefer on timely seasons.

Callers were given time to participate live in the discussion through call-inns & Sms platforms; about 70 people called in during the two (2) programs and 27 sent Sms;

‘’ What plans do you have for the hawkers who were chased from their places of work?’’, asked Dan Mugenyi a caller from Rwengoma in Fort Portal municipality, ‘’People who get tenders to run different revenue collection ventures on behalf of government do over charge us, how are you going to help us?’’, asked David Ruhweza a caller from Fort Portal municipality, ‘’we see a lot of gaps in health & Education, how are you prepared to deal with them especially on lack of enough teachers in schools  & shortage of drugs and lack of enough health workers in our health centers?’’, asked Mrs. Asaba Gift a caller from Kabarole district, ‘’Isunga-Rukomba road that is under construction, the engineers are putting sub standard murrum, look into the issue before it goes beyond’’, said Henry Kamugisha a caller from Kasenda in Kabarole district, ‘’Kasenda-Nsongya bridge and extension of electricity to Kyanga, where have the plans to work on them reached?, asked Annet Kemiyondo a caller from Bunyangabu.

We are grateful to our partners SIDA, NED, SPIDER, and ICT4DEM & WOUGNET for the financial and technical support to have this work done.

Forum for Katebwa sub county NGOs/ CBOs advocacy benefit a lot from the savings groups after getting the idea from the annual conference organized by ToroDev in October 2014

“In October 2014 ToroDev organized an annual conference and one of the components handled was encouraging the members of advocacy forums to initiate village savings as the only way to sustain the work of the forum and themselves. As a forum we learnt a lot and immediately in the month of November we started our savings group as a forum, we are happy that this has helped us, when there is need we don’t get stuck, we have money to support our work, our businesses and to improve the livelihood of the forum members”. Said Muhindo Ezra the leaders of Forum for Katebwa sub county NGOs/ CBOs advocacy.

Ezra added we already have over 35 members saving every week, saving a minimum of 5,000/=, members who are not part of the forum also save with us, and at the end of every week we collect over five hundred thousand (500,000), which is good money every week and incase a member needs help we give him or her money at a smaller interest of 5% which is affordable and manageable by most of the members.  

List of the saving group of Forum for Katebwa sub county NGOs/ CBOs advocacy.

“The money that is not borrowed out is kept in the saving box, which is safe and well protected, it stays with the treasurer of the group and opened at the end of the month to know how much is saved every month , to me this saving group has helped so many people who come to borrow  the money and invest it wisely, some have invested it in coffee businesses ,some in maize businesses, some in goat rearing , some in poultry and some in retail shops”. Said  Mukebezi Joseph the treasurer of the saving groups.

Ezra and Jospeh with the  group saving  group.

Jospeh added the truth is, as leaders of the forum we don’t stop at giving out the loans but we take a step to go out and  monitor  all our clients that borrow from us, to see the progress of their businesses ,  to encourage,  motivate and evaluate  them  after a period of 3 months , to our surprise our clients are doing fairly well, am happy that they have not given us hard time to pay back the loan and the interest on time. 

  Sheila Amanya M&E ToroDev with the members of saving group during the evaluation meeting in June 2016

“We are grateful to ToroDev for taking us through the Financial literacy training at the mountains of the moon  university and for organising the annaul conference that opened our eyes to see the benefits of saving, we are no longer looking for loans from banks and other saving groups, we have something that can help us and the members of the community, the community trusts us and they are saving with us to have more funds.” Said   Joy Bwambale the secretary of the saving group.

“Saving money, we all wish we were better at it, but most of us simply are not.  For one reason or another, most people are just not good at saving money.  A lack of discipline is probably the biggest reason behind this, as it really is fun to spend.  Whether it’s clothes, eating, partying, electronics, cars we can’t afford, or vacations, we love to spend, as ToroDev we are happy for  this step, keep it up”. Said Sheila Amanya M&E ToroDev.

We are grateful to all our partners for the support both financial and technical.

Harugogo Development Forum Use TracFm and Radio talkshows to Advocate for the Construction of Harugongo Road In Kabrole District

Harugongo sub county is a new sub county demarcated from Kicwamba sub county in Kabarole district Rwenzori region in Western Uganda. For along time, Harugongo people have suffered with bad roads leading to failure of farmers to market their products on time due to impassable roads hence limited income at household level.

 ''As an organization, we have given community members  and local leaders time to talk on different radio stations on the road sector issue and now we have registered success because our efforts to improve the road net work in the district has yielded results beginning mid 2015'', said Shiela Amanya M &E officer, ToroDev.

“The construction of the road is going on in Harugongo sub county, Kabarole district after making lots of complaints on the radios, leaders fear to hear the same issues discussed over and over on radio they act as faster as possible, when we continue sharing our issues on radios change will be seen in all sectors”. Said Abdullah Baguma a caller from Harugongo in, Kabarole District, during the evaluation talkshow on Hits Fm on 23^rd/April/2016. http://torodev.blogspot.ug/2016/04/radio-talkshows-have-helped-in.html

 Abdullah added we were hosted more than 3 times on radio stations to discuss the issue of  Harugongo road , we are happy that  the central Government is now working on the road and  we are monitoring the progress.

 “As a forum we realized shoddy work was being done as the construction was going on, the culverts were not fixed well, the murram was not the best for such a busy road, we complanied to the local authorities and we shared the issues on radio talkshows, we are happy that the district officials came to monitor what was going on”. Said Mutegeki Patrick member of Harugogo development forum

Culverts fixed along Harugongo Road  that is under construction

Patrick Added; our complaints forced the district chairperson LCV Richard Rwabuhinga to   monitor the construction of the road after we complained of the shoddy work done.

The leadership/committee that was put in place to supervise the road asked for the apology for the shoddy work that was done and they attributed the shoddy work to lack of equipment's and they promised to do the best to bring the best equipment's and to have the road completed as planned.

Harugongo Road that is under construction 

We are happy that another committee was elected on 4^th/05/2016 and a road committee was formed at Harugongo (Karago trading centre) by the district leadership comprising of Vice chairperson, LCV, Deputy CAO and senior community development officer.” Said Abdullah Baguma the leader Harugongo development forum in, Kabarole District.

Harugongo road in the year 2014

 ''We thank ToroDev for the advocacy work in improving service delivery and for the capacity building skills  imparted in different advocacy groups to see that they are monitoring service delivery in their communities'', added Abdullah Baguma.

We are grateful to all our partners for the support towards the work being done in the communities of Rwenzori sub region.

ToroDev holds consultative meetings with Districts health officers of Kabarole, Kyegegwa and Kyenjojo districts

In the next 5 years ToroDev will be focusing mainly on Health, education and entrepreneurship and other sectors will crosscut.  On 24^th and 29^th   June 2016 ToroDev programming team had  consultative meetings with the District Health Officers of Kabarole, Kyegegwa and Kyenjojo districts aimed at following up the action points that were drawn during the CSO's- District local government Forum meetings held in March 2016.

“During the last CSO's-District local government forum meeting held in March 2016 participants mentioned numerous challenges, faced by the health sector like absenteeism of health workers, drug stock out, congestion in referral hospitals due to poor performance of HC II's & HC III’s, health infrastructure, sanitation & hygiene etc but we are here to see how we can work together to address some of these challenges”. Said Sheila Amanya M&E officer ToroDev.

Congestion at our health centers

 An example congested maternity ward at Kyegegwa Health centre IV

 ‘’Much as the district is facing such challenges, the senior health team including top level political leaders is not quiet on such issues where section heads from health department meet every week to share the challenges and this has resulted into formulation of reward & sanctions committee, revitalizing the functionality of Health management committees, establishment of health assembly workshops, recruitment of new staff, etc’’, said Madam Catherine the Kabarole District Health Educator.

Madam Catherine added that serious in-charge(s) report workers who are not serious on duty to us and we call the accused person(s) & talk to them in the Reward & Sanctions Committee especially on absenteeism from duty and if the person fails to respond positively, the matter is forwarded to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and the person affected can even be interdicted. As a committee we have tried that but we are challenged by politicians because when such an issue is reported and somehow the person talks to the politicians and no action is done against that person, it demotivates the workmates. We need to continue sensitizing our people especially on the issue of preventable diseases so that we are able to meet the demand for drugs we receive as a district.

 “We really need support from the NGOs like ToroDev , to see that  health workers are motivated, they are sensitized on mind change, they are supported with more trainings to add on more skills, we need support in terms of improving the  infrastructure in the health sector , it will be great to work with ToroDev to improve health sector in Kyegegwa district”. Said Dr Balinda Julius the District Health Officer (DHO) Kyegegwa district.

‘’We are committed to realize change in the health  sector because health  is very vital in the growth of human beings both mental and physical and much as the initiative requires a lot of funds to have the planned activities implemented , we shall support the districts budgets where there is a gap we come in and fill to have improvement in service delivery for our people”.  Said David Kugonza, Documentation & Communications Officer ToroDev

As ToroDev we are grateful to all our partners SIDA, SPIDER, NED, ICT4DEM for the financial and technical support.