Travelling East
on Ian Smith (Uganda), 14/Sep/2011 18:37, 34 days ago
Following the field trip to northern Uganda, the next excursion was to eastern Uganda to visit local government officials in Bugiri, Busia and Tororo Districts. These districts have the "Trans Africa Highway" running through from Kampala in the west through to Kenya and Tanzania in the East. An apparently endless stream of long distance trucks carrying essential goods and fuel for South Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, Congo and Rwanda use this road. The trucks stop at 'hot spots' along this stretch and the drivers get 'relief'. There are plenty of suppliers eager to satisfy their needs and risky sex is commonplace. If the spread of HIV infection is to be arrested effective action has to be taking along this road. In addition to truckers, fisher folk from Lake Victoria with money to spend after selling their catches in Busia and Tororo are also known to be partial to some risky sex.Mboizi Richard and Ian visited the District Community Development Officers in the three districts to introduce them to other colleagues to secure permission and agreement to collaborate around better coordination of the variety of 'players'. The aim is to try together for the all important breakthrough in securing a change in personal behaviour among these most at-risk populations.In all three districts Mboizi Richard and Ian received a great welcome and were happy to leave with signed commitments for joint work in the near future to come!This map shows the four regions of Uganda with, in Eastern Region, the District headquarters of Bugiri, Busia and Tororo. Jinja is the important town close to the source of the River Nile.This diagram (click to enlarge) illustrates how the MARPs Network seeks to enable its member organisations at the very local level to be empowered to make a difference. The members will have an automatic right to belong to regional 'technical working groups' (TWGs). The TWGs will be forums for sharing success and challenges and for coming up with shared solutions - they'll also be forums where bigger non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the very small civil society organisations (CSOs) can agree to collaborate to make a difference. Each TWG will be facilitated by a local (large) NGO that the Network will appoint to act on its behalf.The visits that Ian and his colleagues are making to the four regions of Uganda right now are crucial to building this structure. So far the preparatory work is going well. Within the next 6 weeks the four launch meetings will have been held - watch the bogs for updates!The proximity of the Trans Africa Highway makes for a good place to set up a cement factory - ease of distribution plus access to power.Tororo is not far from the hydro electricity plants situated along the upper Nile Valley and it's also close to a couple of additional power plants that generate electricity from thermal energy that's powered by diesel fuel. This plant (along with other similar thermal plants) tries to produce enough electricity to bridge the gap between what the hydro electricity plants on the Nile produce and what Uganda needs. Right now the gap is not closed - mainly because of these two reasons: (1) a drought has reduced water flow levels - thus reducing the amount of electricity generated along the Nile; and (2) the cost of diesel fuel has risen sharply making the thermally generated electricity hard to afford. Result - right now there are power cuts (load shedding!) every other day in most parts of Kampala - these cuts can last for 24 hours.Ian walking with the District Community Development Office under the shadow of the 'Rock' of Tororo.Ian thanking the HIV Focal Person at the Tororo District Local Government Offices for his welcome and commitment to work with the MARPs Network.By the way, Mboizi Richard loves taking photographs - he's taken many of the photographs of the field trip to the north and east of Uganda.After the trip to the three eastern Districts the Network organised a 24 hour briefing events for its newly chosen Directors - see earlier blog post focusing on the Network's first Annual General Assembly. Here are some images from a highly enjoyable and productive event.Here's Emmanuel - the Network's communications and networking officer (feeling the cold - in the green shawl) working with Directors Julius Nkuba and Bob Bwana.Eva, the Network's finance and contracts manager working with Directors Peter Ogwal and Oboth Ofumbi.Dr Geoffrey Mujisha enjoying a discussion with Director Sanyu BatteThe seven Directors about to board the minibus to make the journey back to Kampala. On the left is Peter Ogwal representing the Royal Danish Embassy - in the middle is Dr Geoffrey Mujisha the Network's Executive Director. The newly elected Chair of the Board of Directors is Veronica Asaba on Geoffrey's immediate left.