Friday, 28 July 2017

West Division Chairperson Hon. Muhumuza Richard urges duty bearers to implement policies on natural resources management.

Hon. Muhumuza Richard the chairperson West division in Fort portal municipality has warned citizens on their human activities that have eroded the natural resources in the country leading to hazardous effects on environment. Uganda’s economy depends much on agriculture and when human practices are not checked chances are that the living conditions of both people and animals is at stake, there is need to strengthen the natural resources management committees to play their roles in rescuing the natural resources for people to do farming without being worried of unpredictable weather changes, said Hon. Muhumuza Richard.

Richard said these when he was hosted live on ToroDev’s supported weekly radio program “Manya Ekiragiro Kyawe” that discusses existing policies in Uganda and how they affect service delivery, the live discussions are aired every Wednesday 8:00pm-10:00pm on KRC FM and on 23rd July 2017 the division chairperson was hosted to give accountability for the one year period spent in office as West division Chairperson.
Hon. Muhumuza Richard, West Division Chairperson in Fort Portal Municipality
Hon. Musinguzi further said that activities carried out by people in different wetlands have negatively  impacted a lot  on  climate change and many are due to increased human activities like;  increased demand of building materials, tree planting, and poor farming/agricultural practices.  The future of wetlands at the moment is questionable and enforcement agents should act accordingly and give all support including government in order to deal with encroachers who use wetlands for setting up tree plantations and settlements. He called upon all duty bearers and stakeholders especially environment officers to implement the existing policies on natural resources management to curb practices impacting negatively on climate change.

During the 2 hours live discussion, Hon. Muhumuza Richard gave accountability of what they have done as a division for 2016-2017 financial year; ‘’our achievements have been majorly on roads where we have opened access roads and improved on existing ones including, Muhoti-Kasojjo, Sakka- Kitere, Nyabukara- Kyamukerege, these roads have been constructed and plans of murraming them are set already, we have lobbied for a cervical cancer screening machine at Kagote HC 111 to improve health services especially for our mothers and hope to register positive impact in the health sector , youth and women groups have been mobilized where over 30 groups are currently benefiting from Youth Livelihood Program (YLP) and women fund, under operation wealth creation we have supplied seeds and heifers to some homesteads aimed at increasing household income despite the challenges under this sector, and we continue to work with all stakeholders in development to see that there is improved service delivery in communities’’, said Hon. Muhumuza. However, we still have sectors like water, education and much more effort is still needed in economic development sector, we need to lobby for increased budget allocations for lower local governments to support us achieve our plans and the concerns of our people.

We thank SIDA, NED, SPIDER, CIPESA & all our development partners for the great financial & technical support to run these programs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               


Wednesday, 26 July 2017

Harugongo community development forum calls for support from duty bearers in Kabarole district to construct a secondary school in their sub county.

Harugongo community development forum that is coordinated by Abdul Musinguzi partners with ToroDev to do advocacy work for improved service delivery in Harugongo sub county, Kabarole district. On 23rd July 2017 Abdul was hosted alongside Jotham Mbabazi on ToroDev’s supported radio program ‘Leaders forum‘ that is aired live every Sunday 8:00pm-10:00pm on Jubilee radio to share with the public their interventions.

Abdul said they have been supported by ToroDev to monitor service delivery especially in education and health sectors aiming at improving service delivery in communities.  He said the education sector is faced with high school drop-out rate especially in UPE schools a factor attributed to the long distances covered by learners to access education and also poor performance.

‘’Harugongo sub county has only one secondary school and is private owned which is against government policy of having a government aided secondary school in every sub county. Learners walk long distances to access a government school which is about 30 kilometers and this makes life of learners difficult hence increasing the challenges of early pregnancies, poor performance, high drop-out rate and this has put mostly girls at risk’’, said Abdul Musinguzi, the forum coordinator.

‘’The government policy of having a primary school in every parish has not been achieved in addition to the congestion in these schools. Most schools lack enough classroom blocks, enough teachers, and the capitation grant received from government is little compared to what needs to be done and it is many times not timely’’, said Jotham Mbabazi member of the forum.

‘’We request duty bearers and all other stakeholders in the district to support us as we lobby for a government aided secondary school in our sub county and also work as a team to improve girls education We request government to regularly inspect schools to check absenteeism of teachers and pupils if we are to improve education standards in our sub county and district as a whole’’, said Abdul Musinguzi forum coordinator.

During the 2 hours live radio discussion, over 45 listeners called inn and others sent SMS, ‘’Parents should always follow up their children at school and also interact with their teachers to find out the concerns of their children if we are to improve performance and general education standards’’, said Mpoza Joseph a caller from Kicwamba in Kabarole district, “The government should improve the challenges affecting education especially in UPE schools for example improving on the infrastructure, inspections, etc if we are to raise education standards in our communities’’, Said Rajab a caller from Kihura sub county in Kyenjojo district, ‘’Education sector is declining in Uganda and parents have encouraged their children to drop out of school because they have not supported them by proving scholastic materials, lunch and counseling services something that has led to child labour in many institutions like tea plantations, etc’’,  Said Dan Businge from Rwebisengo in Ntoroko district through an Sms.


 We thank SIDA, NED, SPIDER, ICT4DEM,CIPESA & all our partners for the support to keep these programs running.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Tuesday, 25 July 2017

Services improved in the health sector as a result of Advocacy forums and rural debate/magazine

 In the month of May 2017 ToroDev supported Harugongo community development forum to go and monitor services in health, education and agriculture sector to find out the status of service delivery in those sector.

The rural debate held in  May 2017  by ToroDev has caused a positive change in the health sector, during the rural debate citizens raised the issue of late coming of heath workers at Nyantaboma health centre III and we are happy duty bearers heard the voices and intervened. When we went back for a follow up in June we had an interview with patients and they acknowledged that nurses this time  come early at 8 am and leave in the evening and attributed this to the rural debates which a wakened  them”. Said Musinguzi Abdul the coordinator of Harugongo community development forum during the follow up field exercise.
A health worker attending to people  seeking health services
Abdul added during the follow up exercise I checked registers and observed that health workers are reporting early and signing out late in the evening compared to those days when citizens were complaining about absenteeism & late coming, this is a change since citizens reported them during rural debates.

Another issue that was raised during the rural radio debate was health workers harassing and mistreating the patients and we are happy that things are different now because nurses were warned by the In-charge after the voices were amplified live on radio, that captured the attention of  duty bearers. We are happy to report  when we asked the patients during the field exercise  it was confirmed that health worker attitude has changed, now the way they are handling patients  has changed whereby they talk to patients and build that patient doctor relationship and this has increased the number of patients accessing the facility to get medication.” Said Mutegeki Robert member of Harugongo community development forum during the follow up field exercise.
Robert added we were hosted on radio in the month of March 2017 and complained to leaders to inspect homes to find out those with no latrines and we are happy that leaders got concerned and started inspecting home and those homes that had no pit latrines were warned and given a shorter time to have latrines or they will be arrested, we are happy that   many homes that didn’t have pit latrines have constructed them and we credit this to our efforts and ICT tools because information is always disseminated and accessed through those channels like radio stations.
During the monitoring field exercise we discovered the following challenges limited information flow especially at the health centre, VHT are no longer active and yet they are the first people who can give out first aid, poor documenting and record keeping at Nyantaboma health centre III and as a forum we have decided to sensitize the community on radio and community meetings.

ToroDev partners with 21 advocacy forums located in different sub counties in 5 districts of Rwenzori Sub region. The 21 advocacy forums have been formed by the 120 rural monitors who have been trained by ToroDev since August, 2012 in online advocacy, monitoring service delivery using online social media/ICT tools like Ushahidi platform online & offline documentation, visualization and mapping.

 The Advocacy Forums also use FM Radio Broadcasting as an ICT tool for convergence or hub” since it is the most accessed media channel in the rural areas of the Rwenzori Region.

We thank SIDA, NED, SPIDER, CIPESA, & all our development partners for the support to improve service delivery in our communities.









Friday, 21 July 2017

Bunyangabu District Interim Chairperson Calls for Teamwork

Bunyangabu district became operational effective 1st July, 2017 being the fourth district to be carved out of Kabarole district. On 3rd July the electoral commission officials together with an interim district council were at the district headquarters in Kibiito to elect an interim district chairperson from among the members of the council by secret ballot as established in accordance with section 180, 182 & 186 of the Local Government Act CAP 243.
Hon. Musinguzi Peter participating in electing the Interim Government at Kibiito
Two candidates vied for the interim district chairperson, out of the thirteen (13) councilors who make an interim district council. Hon. Musinguzi Peter who has been the secretary for finance in Kabarole district council defeated Hon. Moses Ikagobya who has been the district vice chairperson for two (2) terms by getting eight (8) votes while Hon. Ikagobya got five (5) votes.
Hon. Musinguzi was hosted alongside his vice Hon. Remegious Turyahebwa and Hon. Kato Hussein on ToroDev’s supported ‘Orukurato’ program that is aired live every Saturday 8-10pm on Hits Fm on 8th July, 2017  to share his plans for the people of Bunyangabu district.
Hon. Musinguzi Peter during his swearing in as Bunyangabu district Interim Chairperson
Hon. Musinguzi pledged to unite the district political team with the technical team at all levels to improve service delivery. He showed it that they will among other key sectors improve education in the district, health, water and electricity which are in sorry state using the district budget for the financial year 2017/18. 

‘’Our people in Nyakatabazi, Kakoga & Kajumiro are suffering a lot to access safe and clean water, we promise to build the water tank at Nyakatabazi to supply all other areas/villages within the district’’, said Hon. Musinguzi Peter.

He further added that in education sector, the government has already allocated funds for the construction of Katebwa high school which has been a presidential pledge for some years and we believe this will improve on some of the challenges in education like children walking long distances to access education and also supplementing on the government policy of having a secondary school in every sub county. He promised to mobilize and support the youth in groups to make them more productive, increase their incomes and reduce unemployment in the district.

Together with his vice chairperson they called for teamwork among duty bearers including all development partners if the district is to succeed in improving service delivery for the people of Bunyangabu and promised to consult citizens such that community priority needs can always be integrated in the district budget.

The two hours live radio discussion had participation of listeners through phone calls & Sms; ‘’We thank the interim chairman for showing commitment to work for the people of Bunyangabu and we request him to first work on increasing the number of health workers at Kibiito HC IV due to the bigger number of In-patients and out patients attended to and now that it is the biggest health facility we have as a district’’, said Mr. Kamara Paul a caller from Kasunganyanja in Bunyangabu district, ‘’Issues of the youth should be taken as priority by the new district leadership because programs like Youth livelihood program have not benefited us as they would have’’, said Mr. Tumwine  from Rwimi town council through an Sms, ‘’we people of Bukara have suffered with water issues for a good time, we request Mr. Musinguzi and his executive to think about us because our children and wives have suffered a lot’’, said Mr. Magezi Polly a caller from Bukara in Kasunganyanja, Bunyangabu district.

We take this opportunity to thank SIDA, NED, SPIDER, ICT4DEM, and CIPESA for the financial and technical support and all our other development partners for the collaboration.






Wednesday, 19 July 2017

Women & Youth encouraged to organize themselves in groups in order to benefit from government programs like Women fund & Youth livelihood program (YLP).

Government with an objective of reducing unemployment & poverty in communities will support organized groups of women and youth aimed at improving household incomes. The funds will help women and youth to invest in community development projects that will bring about positive changes in the income levels of their families and improve living standards of Ugandans.

While making accountability for her ministry for Rwenzori region on ToroDev supported ‘Orukurato’ program that is aired live every Saturday 8:00pm-10:00pm on Hits Fm on 15th July, 2017, Hon. Peace Mutuzo urged women in the region to embrace government programs if they are to improve on their living standards.  She said 40 women groups and about 171 youth groups from Kabarole district will benefit from the fund as a way of empowering these groups for economic development.

‘’The funds were released by the ministry on 29th May 2017 to the district accounts and we hope very soon it will be transferred to group accounts to help them implement the planned activities, women  who are unemployed and organized in groups and showcasing some projects will always be supported by government’’, said Hon. Peace Mutuzo.
State Minister for Gender and Culture Peace Mutuzo
Hon. Peace Mutuzo urged the 40 groups of women and 171 youth groups from Kabarole who are supposed to benefit from the government support this financial year to appropriately use the money as planned. She said most often groups plan for projects and after receiving the money they divert to projects they did not plan before which affects their sustainability. She further said that the misappropriation of funds by some officials is no longer an issue because funds will be directly credited on the group account for proper management. The minister called upon district community development officers, sub county/parish chiefs and all other stakeholders in development to support and supervise these groups in order to realize the government intended objective of reducing poverty, unemployment and improving household income at household level.

During the program about 30 listeners participated through Sms & call-ins; ‘’For us doing poultry already face a challenge of diseases that come quite often and government has not done much to help us, what plans is the ministry having to support farmers affected by pests and diseases?’’, asked Ian Isingoma a caller from Kicuucu in Bunyangabu district, ‘’the minister is telling us that the ministry released money to districts accounts already but the district delay to release the money to group accounts and this has affected our plans, there is need for timely distribution of funds to successful groups’’, said Joseph Irumba a caller from Rwimi in Bunyangabu district, ‘’Many groups have applied for the funds but have not got it, which criteria do you use in choosing these groups?’’, said Grace Kamaikya a caller from Kasunganyanja in Bunyangabu district.

We thank SIDA, NED, SPIDER, ICT4DEM, CIPESA & all our development partners  for the support.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 


Wednesday, 12 July 2017

ToroDev support the functionality of Kabarole district local government e-society center

The support of e- society contributes to ToroDev’ mission of promoting knowledge through appropriate ICT tools for improved service delivery for Education, Health and Economic Development.
ToroDev with financial support from SIDA purchased 3 desktop computers and on 11th July, 2017 they were handed over to Kabarole district officials to serve citizens who use the e- society.  The support of the e-society came after Kabarole district local government sought for support from ToroDev to revive the functionality of the district e-society center. In addition to computers ToroDev has designed a website for Kabarole district, to see that there is improved information access and dissemination. 

District chairperson, ToroDev team, Kabarole district information officer and members of media institutions in Fort Portal Kabarole district were part of the handover ceremony.

 “I thank Kabarole district leadership for the continuous support given to CSO’s while executing advocacy work for improved service delivery, ToroDev supports you with these computers to enable heads of departments, district officials and the public   to access the information easily on website free of charge”.  Said the executive director ToroDev, Johnstone K Baguma
Johnstone K Baguma ED ToroDev giving remarks during the handover
 Johnstone added I know 3 computers are not enough for the e-society but as an organization we shall lobby for funds to purchase for the district more 3 computers and we shall orient the district information officers and ICT officers on how to use the website we have designed. This training will take place immediately the websites are online.   

“I appreciate our partners ToroDev for the great support rendered to the district, I know we really needed to revive the e-society but due to lack of funds this problem has been there for years now, but we appreciate ToroDev for this support, to the Donors of ToroDev thank you so much for the financial support that has helped in improving the use of ICT in this region”. Said Richard Rwabuhinga the Kabarole district chairperson.


ED ToroDev Johnstone K Baguma handing over the computers to the district chairperson

Hon Richard added,   as a district we shall use these computers to carry out research, do our reporting on time and also account to the peoples through the website. I call upon you members of the media to come and utilize the e-society, to carry out research and give people evidence based information. We are hopeful that our communication is going to improve and we promise to put the computers to good use to serve the intended purpose of improving communication for improved service delivery.

We appreciate SIDA, NED, SPIDER, CIPESA & all other partners in development for the financial and technical support.

Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Rwenzori Rural & Urban Development Organization (RUDO-Uganda) in partnership with ToroDev and KRC organized a public meeting to allow citizens present their concerns to duty bearers.

On 5th/07/2017 Rwenzori Rural & Urban Development Organization (RUDO-Uganda) RUDO in Partnership with ToroDev and KRC organized face the citizen’s meeting at Hamabale village, Karangura sub county in Kabarole District to bringing top duty bearers both political and technical together to hear and respond to the concerns of citizens aimed at finding solutions to the challenges/concerns from community members as a way to improve service delivery.

The meeting came up after ToroDev conducted a rural radio debate/magazine in Karangura Sub County in the month of April 2017 where citizens raised their concerns and when the voices were amplified live on radio, duty bearers were listening and were touched by concerns of the citizens who complained of the poor service delivery in Karangura Sub County. After the broadcast of the voices the district chairperson contacted the leader of RUDO through a cell phone and requested him to organize a meeting in order to get a platform to address some concerns for positive actions.
Community members & duty bearers listening to comments from CSO's
The meeting was attended by 320 people who included community members, CSO’s, duty bearers both political & technical that included among others; LCI, LCII, LCIII, parish chief, sub county & district  councilors, district chairperson, Resident District Commissioner (RDC) and media.

“In the month of March we carried out a simple research as a forum to know the state of service    delivery in the Health, Education, Water, Roads and Economic development sectors, where we found out that services in the above sectors are in a sorry state, we decided to request for a rural debate which was held in April 2017 and the voices of citizens were amplified live on radio which captured the attention of duty bearers and requested for this meeting”. Said Mr. Kule Vincent, the Chairperson RUDO

Vincent added that the key challenges shared during the rural radio debate/magazine included; absenteeism & late coming of health workers at Nyakitokoli HCII, limited drugs at Nyakitokoli HCII, Poor performance in government primary schools, Impassable roads with lots of potholes, lack of clean and safe water in the sub county etc and today we are here to listen to what our leaders have to say as we find a solution to address these challenges.

“In Karangura sub county we have five (5) government aided primary schools but last year we got only one 1st grade out of hundreds of pupils that sat for primary leaving examination (UNEB) this shows that education standards are still very low in our sub county and we have (1) secondary school which performs very bad with no first or second grade for many years now”. Said Joshua Magezi, a member of RUDO while presenting the issue paper at Karangura Sub County.
Joshua from RUDO presenting the issue paper before duty bearers
 Joshua added that poor performance  is due to late coming of teachers, absenteeism of students,  overcrowded class rooms which do not allow learners to be comfortable while studying, PTA and SMCs are not active to  play their roles and responsibilities, poor inspection of schools from DEOs office and political leaders, etc I call upon duty bearers present today to address these challenges for a better Karangura.

“I request duty bearers to work on Kihondo - Kazigo road which is impassable during rainy season and this road is a busy one connecting to other areas, dear district chairperson  I am happy that you are here kindly find a way to address these challenges”, Said Erisa the chairperson local council one (LC 1) Hamabale village.   









Area LC I Erisa & Chairman LC 111 sharing with community members during the meeting

“I appreciate responsible citizens who have boldly stood to speak on behalf of others however, am here in the capacity of DHO because he is the one who sent me here to address concerns raised regarding the health sector especially on Nyakitokoli HCII, first of all I want to assure you that  by next week all staff of Nyakitokoli HCII  will be transferred and new staff will report on duty  by next week, you will receive a new  In-charge and as the office of DHO we shall monitor regularly the performing of these people who are coming to make sure they provide health services as required by people in this Sub county and promise you that we shall sit in a meeting  as health department  to find  a solution to each challenge raised and soon we shall give you a feedback through RUDO and ToroDev”. Said Catherine Kemigabo the Kabarole District Health Educator (DHE) during the meeting.
 
Catherine Kemigabo the district health educator (DHE) responding to concerns from the Health sector
Catherine added, I request everyone to respond positively to health activities that are going on in the district, like sleeping under mosquito net, testing for HIV, drink boiled water, pregnant mothers to go for antenatal checkups and use of family planning. Use any available avenue to inform us where you need our support as a district.

The following were the action points and commitments by the leaders during the meeting.
The sub county chief and chairman LCIII committed to provide Seven hundred thousand (700,000/=) to murrum Busoma-Hamabale road within a period of four (4) days. We are happy to report that construction of the road began two days after the meeting on addition to pledging to monitor s/c projects, schools and the health centre, follow up the construction of the bridge connecting Bulera to Butulya zones, purchase of an attendance book for health workers which will be kept at designated place to check the attendance and reporting & leaving time at the health facility.

The RDC ordered police to start arresting health workers who report late and leave early, he ordered the LCI to always work with police to monitor heath workers, and he pledged to work with the district authorities to follow up presidential pledges as presented in the citizens’ petitions. The RDC ordered for immediate arrest of people without toilets residing near the health unit, the arrest of children attending markets during school days/hours and immediate arrest of two (2) teachers who have continued earning tax payers money without working. These teachers are from Kibyo p/s and Kamabale p/s.
The district Woman councilor representing Karangura Sub county responding to some of the concerns during the meeting
 Kabarole District chairperson during the meeting assigned the sub county chief Karangura and Town Clerk Karago to murrum, Busoma-Hamabale road within 4 days, he committed to construct Butulya bridge, construct classrooms in the most affected schools in the  next financial year 2017/18 and also  lobby for upgrading of Nyakitokoli HCII to HCIII in the next financial year so that it can be equipped  with enough human resource, maternity ward & enough drugs to handle the big numbers of patients who come to seek for health services . He also promised to secure funds for water project in the next next financial year, secure Government Aid for St Joseph SS-Karangura and send 3 heifers to Karangura Sub County under operation wealth creation to increase incomes of community members aimed at development of the Sub county.

“We are grateful that our efforts of presenting petitions, organizing rural radio debates, attending radio talkshows and mobilizing citizens for this meeting have not been in vain, already the road is half way constructed and men are still at work. New staff at Nyakitokoli HCII will report this week on Thursday of 13th July. We very much appreciate our partners ToroDev and KRC for the financial support”. Said Kule Vincent RUDO Chairperson.

As ToroDev we thank all our partners SIDA, NED, SPIDER, ICT4DEM, CIPESA for the technical & financial support and also the advocacy forums we work with for the advocacy & monitoring work done in communities.




Friday, 7 July 2017

Parents urged to support programs on food security & nutrition to fight Malnutrition in children

It is estimated that half of the households in Uganda are food insecure and consume foods that most cases lack nutrients a factor attributed to reduced life expectancy. G20 countries in partnership with the government of Uganda have embarked on funding multi-sectral food security projects in the country aimed at reducing the increasing malnutrition and poor health especially in children under 5 years in order to curb malnutrition & stunted growth that are caused by lack of nutrients in the body resulting from food consumption both quality and quantity.

Speaking live in the studios of HITS Fm on ToroDev’s supported ‘Orukurato’ program that is aired every Saturday 8:00pm-10:00pm on  24th June, 2017, the Kabarole assistant project coordinator Mr. Katisa Paul said government is implementing the nutrition project through schools. In Kabarole district alone demonstration farms in one hundred (100) UPE schools managed by teachers, pupils, PTA, SMC’s members have been set up for both teachers, pupils and parents to acquire skills in nutritional farming.
School children doing gardening as part of their practical skills subject
 Paul further said that when pupils and their parents acquire skills, most likely they will copy what is practiced at school to their homes and in the long run our children in homes will start feeding on nutritious foods which will help them grow strong and become productive people in future.

‘’The project is further aimed at encouraging diet diversity and promotion of appropriate feeding of young children on foods with high nutrients using our ancestral  foods,  reduce malnutrition, stunted growth, support the issue of lunch in UPE schools. The funds allocated to these schools to implement the project is managed and accounted for by PTA & SMC’s members as they do their management roles in these selected schools’’, said Paul Katisa the G20 assistant project coordinator, Kabarole district. We have faced a challenge of changes in climatic conditions in different parts of the district where the project is being implemented but hope to have stable and favorable climate conditions for best yields and project success.
A demonstration of a school garden in one of the schools
During the 2 hours live discussion, callers participated through call-inns; ‘’we are happy for government to think about nutrition/diet  and involving children in schools because they can sustain what they are practicing now’’, said James Tumusiime a caller from Ntoroko district, ‘’Malnutrition and stunted growth are serious issues for ones growth in body and mind, we hope such and other related  illnesses will soon be history in our communities’’, said Happy Kirwana a caller from Bugaki sub county in Kyenjojo district, ”Our traditional foods used to be like Herbal medicine which would help to fight diseases in our bodies, the campaign on diet will help us increase the life expectancy due to feeding on nutrients’’, said Margret Kobusinge  a caller from Rwimi in Kabarole district.

We take a great opportunity to thank SIDA, NED, SPIDER, ICT4DEM, and CIPESA for the financial and technical support to run these programs.



Thursday, 6 July 2017

ToroDev Team attended Kabarole District Council to assess the performance of Councilors who were trained in November 2016.

ToroDev on 10th & 11th November, 2016 was in Kabarole & Ntoroko districts building capacity of district councilors. The objective of the training aimed at empowering the district councilors with knowledge and skills to effectively play their roles of representation and legislation aiming at improving priority service delivery in the Rwenzori sub-region within a given period of time.
The district chairperson Hon. Richard Rwabuhinga making a presentation during council meeting
The orientation training aimed at empowering, motivating and encouraging female councilors to fully participate in raising motions and general council proceedings other than being dominated by their male counterparts. This followed the remarks made by Kabarole district speaker Hon. Stella Kyorampe that female participation in council proceedings was estimated at 20% where they leave male councilors to talk and debate on issues something we wanted to see changing in a near future.

On 30th June 2017, ToroDev team attended the Kabarole district council to assess the performance of women, youth & other councilors and also track outcomes of the training. After the council session the team interacted with key district officials to hear their views whether the training yielded results or not.
‘’I observed women competing with male counterparts to talk during deliberations in council session. For example out of fifteen (15) female councilors who attended the council session, at least ten (10) were actively deliberating without any hindrance during the council proceedings’’, said David Kugonza, ToroDev’s Documentation & Communications Officer.
A woman Councilor deliberating during Kabarole district council meeting on 30th June,2017 
David further said that 2-3 women were able to raise motions & actively participate during council proceedings before the training done by ToroDev compared to ten (10) women to date who were competing with male councilors to attract the speakers ‘eye and were given the microphone to debate as observed during council proceedings on 30th June 2017. We are hopeful that by end of three (3) years the district councils will be deliberating on key priority issues from communities focusing on improved service delivery.

‘’We really appreciate ToroDev for the training because there is a big difference from the way our councilors are deliberating now as compared to that time before the training. Women could fear to talk and male councilors were dominating the council proceedings. This trend has changed where women are actively deliberating on development issues and now could be graded at 60% compared to 20% before the training’’, said Smarts Bwango the clerk to council Kabarole district.
The Clerk to Council Smarts Bwango clarifying on an issue raised by a council during the council session
‘’Iam happy that the youth councilors are able to come up with recommendations to the district council like organizing a district youth council to plan for the funds accrued from the youth center to be invested in other income generating ventures to benefit the youth further. I personally credit this on the training conducted by ToroDev’’, said Hon. Richard Rwabuhinga Kabarole district chairperson. 

We are grateful to SIDA, NED, SPIDER, CIPESA, ICT4DEM & all our development partners for the support.