Fare Thee Well

I hate to say goodbye...as a matter of fact I'm awful at it. I tend to wax poetic and cry a lot. Everyone around me generally gets embarrassed. It's not much fun.  And so knowing this, and because I've had to say a lot of goodbyes in recent years, I've tried to find other ways to leave without actually leaving...thus fare thee well.

I love those three little words...they have good intent behind them. And more importantly they don't trigger me into crying like the thought of goodbye does. Goodbye is an end, but fare thee well...it doesn't end anything, it just means I wish you the best. It leaves hope that this isn't really the end, that there's more to be said and more to be done.

Left to right: Alfred, Peninna, Loy, Margaret, Boniface, Brian, Me, Dennis, and Joan. (Team members not pictured: Joseph, Pheona, Brenda, Denis, Rachel, Rashid, Cox, Paul, and Anatole)

Today I said fare thee well to my friends at CDRN and began my journey back to Dublin. I am going to miss them as much as I hate the mosquitoes here (in other words a lot). Over the past nine weeks I have worked with CDRN to build a new technology strategy, modify their existing ICT policy, come up with a plan to virtualize their resource center, and draft a proposal that I hope we'll be able to work together on increasing digital literacy in Ugandan schools. It's been a productive summer for me, but it is nothing compared to the gift that they have given me...an invaluable life lesson that I will carry with me for the rest of my days. I hope you can see why I am unable to say goodbye.

So instead I'll say fare thee well, and to add a bit of color to my hopefully temporary departure I have found an appropriate tune to send us on our respective journeys...OK to be honest this song isn't a perfect fit because it's an English folk ballad about sailing, but it says "fare thee well" over and over again and the examples below are performed by two great Irish bands, so it's definitely worth a listen.

Leaving of Liverpool - Version 1: the Dubliners    Version 2: the Pogues  Pick your favourite (or post your own).

And, there are a lot of people I need to thank for their support this summer...

Thank you Joseph, Rashid, Susan, Elaine, and Purity for bringing me to Uganda.

Thank you Musanje Brian for your mentorship.

Thank you Cox, Margaret, Loy and Denis for your help and support on those difficult first few days.

Thank you Joan for your bodyguard services. You are fearsome!

Thank you everyone at CDRN for your friendship and for making me a part of your family.

Thank you Mom for supporting my dreams.

Thank you Mary Anne for grounding me in reality.

Thank you Janet for being my role model in kindness.

Thank you Gearoid, Brian, Taryn, Craig, George, and Frank for helping me maintain my tenuous grip on sanity.

And thanks to you for reading. Fare thee well, and I hope you've enjoyed the story.

Maureen

A Single Story Before I Depart

I recently watched a TEDTalk where Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, discussed the dangers of defining a culture through a single story. It has made me realize that I may have made a mistake by writing so much about Uganda's ills...poverty, corruption, and the like...because it may have given you the impression that this is all the country is. What I have learned over the past two months is that Uganda is so much more.

In my defence, I have never before witnessed the type of endemic poverty that exists here, and so when I first came to Uganda, it was poverty that jumped out at me. It fairly assaulted me as a matter of fact...the sheer magnitude of it. It was so overwhelming that I began to see everything from that single point of view. 

I tried to understand why, in a country with an abundant food supply, high literacy rate, and rich resources, people could still be so financially poor. Was the wealth being exported through corporate colonialism? Was the concentration of power at the highest levels of government or perhaps the rampant corruption causing a redistribution of the country's wealth to an entitled minority? Was the lack of technology adoption hindering economic growth? Immersed in this analysis I found potential causes, but no solutions, and worse... in concentrating so myopically on poverty I almost completely missed the beauty of this country.

But I was shocked out of my obsession when I went on safari. The great thing about getting out into the wild places of this world is that their sheer majesty simply cannot be ignored. The beauty of the natural environment is just as overwhelming as poverty, but in a completely different and blissfully positive way.

Walking through the foothills of the Rwenzori mountains and feeling the steadfastness of their endurance reminded me that Uganda is a place of richness and beauty. And this beauty isn't just contained within the natural environment, it's carried within the spirit of the Ugandan people as well...in their traditions, their outgoing nature, and in their culture of hospitality.


And as a bonus, the kids here are just adorable. 

On the third day of the safari we travelled to a fishing village. As we stood at the edge of the lake watching the fisherman tending to their boats, children from the village began to gather around us. 

A little boy of about nine or ten years of age approached me, and looking up with bold eyes demanded, "Hey muzungu! Give me money!" 

I've come to despise the word for white person, muzungu. It strips me of my individuality and lumps me into the same category as every other white person who shows up in Uganda. 

"I don't have any money for you." I replied in an annoyed voice as I looked down at my tiny tormentor. 

I expected him to admit defeat and leave but he was not so easily dissuaded. He reached over and started to lift the flap on my messenger bag, apparently to check for himself whether or not I was telling the truth. I slapped his hand away and tried a different tactic.

"Tell me your name." I commanded with an imperious glare.

He glared right back at me, not about to be intimidated by a tourist. "I am called Isaiah" he replied in a strong, clear voice.

"Hello Isaiah. I am called Maureen" I said, and softened my glare to a smile...deciding that all was forgiven...we were going to be friends now. 

Big mistake.

He rolled his eyes and wobbled his head and mocked in a sing-song voice, "I am called Maureeeeeen." Then he paused for a second, gave me a hard stare and with a menacing growl, started to reach for my bag again. 

Clearly I was not having the adult-in-charge-of-this-situation effect that I was hoping for. 

So I responded with the first idea that jumped into my mind. Fight fire with fire...or in this case, childishness with childishness. I slapped his hand away again, growled back at him, and then crossed my eyes and stuck out my tongue. Yep, two can play at this game little man.

That gave him pause. I was not behaving like a proper tourist...or like a muzungu should. He stopped his assault and tentatively smiled at me, and I looked into the eyes of this beautiful child and smiled back. In that one brief shared moment of humanity, we became friends.

I wonder what kind of man Isaiah will grow up to be. Will he be a fisherman? A businessman? The President of Uganda? He is one of the 35 million souls of this country, a place that defies generalization because it is the sum total of each and every unique individual here.

Every day I watch a sea of people walking up and down the road in front of CDRN's offices...some of them in suits, some in beautiful traditional dresses, some in casual clothes, and some in rags. It would be an easy assumption to just lump them into a category of poverty, but instead I imagine the lives they lead, the work they do, the families they love, their triumphs and regrets. I see these people representing the many stories of Uganda. With just a few days left here I don't have the time to tell them all, but I want you to at least understand that these lives are much richer than just one simple message.

Safari! Queen Elizabeth National Park Uganda

I was up at 5 am Saturday morning to meet Ronald for my long awaited and much anticipated safari. Remember Ronald from the previous post? He is a great guy and an excellent driver. He's incredibly nice, very funny, he puts his clients first and best of all...he will come and pick you up at 6 am or 9 pm or any time in between with no problems.

Despite the high esteem I hold Ronald in, I still chose the budget safari. He didn't take it too badly when I told him the news. He was happy to drive me to the Red Chilli drop off point on the other side of Kampala. So off we went in the predawn hours to join the tour.

I'm not exactly sure what I expected to encounter when I got to the hostel, but after living a Ugandan life for the last two months, I was definitely not prepared to find myself in a room full of Europeans and Americans sitting around drinking French press coffee and eating porridge...killing time watching the BBC while waiting for the tours to leave. For a split second I thought - am I dreaming that I'm in a European hostel thinking about an African safari? No that can't be right. I'm still in Uganda.

The safari left Red Chilli at 7:45 am for Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda. There were nine of us in total - Nasar our driver, four of us from the U.S., two from the Czech Republic and two from Holland. It was a long drive out there (about 10 hours) but we stopped along the way for lunch and other short breaks. Uganda has rolling green hills that turn mountainous as you go west. Traffic thins out after leaving Kampala and the main road is actually quite good. It was a beautiful and peaceful drive.

Over the next four days we went on game drives, took walks through the communities and forests within the national park, and just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. For me, it was a chance to see something of Uganda beyond Kampala. Of course, me being me I tested Internet connectivity the whole way there and back, but other than this one concession to the siren song of technology I switched off, relaxed and appreciated the beauty of everything around me.

The whole time I've been here I've been weighing my pre-trip expectations against the reality of what I've seen around me. There are some things I've seen that have lived up to my expectations and some that have not. The safari has exceeded my expectations. I was completely blown away by what I saw, and so impressed with how this national park is managed and with the professionalism of Ugandan tourism.

So, with that I'll stop talking and send you to the photos on Flickr. Fair warning...I'm not a very good photographer and my iPhone 4 camera has lighting issues these days. :-)

Adjustment

It's pouring rain today in Kampala and even though the glass shutters are closed on the windows, a bit of mist is still making it through with the breeze. It's lovely and cool. It reminds me a bit of Dublin.

I lived most of my adult life in Indiana - first in West Lafayette at Purdue for college, and then about three hours northeast to Fort Wayne where I finished school, started a career, got married, and did all of those things that you do when you're building a life somewhere. When I left for Boston three years ago it felt a bit like I was leaving everything I cared about behind.

I think that was why I struggled for the first six months or so. I felt like a fish out of water...I was constantly getting lost, every week or so another two feet of snow blew in across the landscape, and nothing was familiar. Most days I felt like an outsider...like the only person in New England who hadn't lived there for six generations. The fact that my family and friends were thousands of miles away didn't help either. But as time went on, things became familiar and I started to develop an appreciation for Boston. I loved the city - the museums, the restaurants, and the architecture. I made friends, I discovered my own favourite places, and in short - I adjusted. After living there for almost two years, I didn't want to leave.

But I did, and this time to Dublin...a modern city built from the bones of its ancient ancestors. Guinness and music and witty banter. I still struggled. It was the same situation - nothing was familiar, I couldn't find my way around, and I felt like an outsider. This time though I had a good friend who helped me get settled. I also had 20 other classmates who were equally new to the area. We sort of struggled together I suppose, and for these reasons it was an easier and shorter adjustment period of just a few months. As you probably could tell from my Goodbye Ireland post - I now love living in Ireland. It is literally everything that it's hyped up to be - an incredible place with incredible people.

I'm glad I had those two prior experiences before I came here to Uganda because I'm not sure if I would have been able to go straight from Indiana to here - it is just too different from anything I've known before. And it's easy to feel like an outsider when everything around you is different from any prior experience. But CDRN has made me most welcome - they've treated me like family - and for that reason it has been easier. I have adjusted relatively well.

I wonder how it would be different (or if it would be different) if I were still in my 20s. As I've gotten older I've noticed that I am a bit fixed in my ways. Is it easier to adjust when you're young? It seems like it...my classmates are having a great time in their respective placements (the proof is in their Facebook posts). And I'm having a good time as well, but I hate to admit it, my experience is tempered a bit with my reaction to everything I'm taking in...all the new sights and sounds around me.

When I talk with family and friends they say, wow, what an incredible adventure you're having! What an exciting life you lead! It must be so much fun! Well....it is. But it's also a bit nerve wracking sometimes. What this experience and all of the other experiences where I've had to adjust are teaching me, though, is how to be more flexible - how to adapt.

This morning at the guesthouse the cook didn't show up to make breakfast. It was his day off and nobody was covering for him at 7 am when the first guests wanted to eat. I was sitting outside watching the sun rise over the hills when one of them approached me.

"Do you know where the staff are?" he said.

"You mean the people that work here? Uh...no." I replied.

"Nobody is here to serve breakfast and the kitchen is locked." I could tell he was annoyed. I wanted to help, but there wasn't much I could do. I shrugged and went back to watching the pink and grey sky. That's what life is like here - sometimes people show up to make breakfast, sometimes you have a Snickers bar. You adapt.

And this is probably the greatest gift that I've received so far from my stay in Uganda, an opportunity to learn to be a bit more flexible. I'm hoping that the next place I move to, wherever it is, I'll not worry when I'm lost and I'll not care that I'm an outsider. I'll just enjoy the mist and watch the sunrise.

Freedom of Speech In Uganda...POMB

Imagine you're walking down the street with a couple of your friends. It's lunchtime and you're headed from the office to your favorite cafe. As you walk along, the conversation turns to the latest governmental disappointments...party politics, scandals, inaction and other common issues. If you're in New York, London, Stockholm, or Paris this conversation may happily continue as part of the freedoms of speech inherent in these societies. If you're in Kampala; however, you could be stopped by the police for engaging in a demonstration without prior permission as outlined in the Public Order Management Bill (POMB) passed last week by Uganda's parliament.

The objective of the bill is to provide for the regulation of public meetings. The intent is to safeguard "public order without compromising the principles of democracy, freedom of association and freedom of speech". It does this by managing public order and outlining procedures that should be followed for public meetings.

The scope of the bill includes public gatherings of three or more people that discuss "principles, policy, actions or failure of any government, political party, or political organization." It excludes "a meeting of members of any registered organisation...convened in accordance with the constitution of the organisation and held exclusively for a lawful purpose of that organisation"; or a "political party or organisation, convened in accordance with the constitution of the party or organisation, and held exclusively to discuss the affairs of the party or organisation." It also excludes, funerals, weddings, sports events, and parties.

If your meeting is in scope then you have to fill out a series of forms that are submitted to the police no less than 3 days in advance of the meeting, seeking permission to gather. They can grant permission, and if so they'll show up (with guns!) to provide protection. They can also refuse permission or have you reschedule your meeting. If you don't like the decision then there is a process for redress, but failure to comply, as mentioned, could mean jail time.

All meetings must start after 6:00 am and end by 6:00 pm, and if you want to use any kind of voice amplification, you have to have prior permission from the police. If your meeting goes sideways and starts to disrupt the peace (as determined by the police in attendance) they can stop the meeting. If you, the organizer, don't comply, then you can be fined up to a million shillings ($375 US) or 3 months jail time.

So...you can read the entire text of the bill provided through the link above if you want, but those were just some of the highlights I found interesting as I skimmed through it.

The bill has generated a lot of debate, particularly among Civil Society Organizations and Human Rights Organizations. Here are a few quotes.

New Vision: "The Bill...has been widely criticized by both human rights activists and political organizations saying it infringes on human rights and it’s a replica of the already existing laws."

Voice of America:  "Those opposing the bill say it violates the rights of Ugandans to freely associate, a right guaranteed by the constitution." 

Human Rights Watch: "The government should not respond to criticism by imposing overly restrictive laws. Instead the bill should be amended to protect the right to assemble and express one’s self freely." Livingstone Sewanyana, head of Foundation for Human Rights Initiative.

Amnesty International: "The Bill imposes wide ranging restrictions on public meetings and gives the police unprecedented powers to prohibit and disperse public gatherings of a political nature. This Bill represents a serious blow to open political debate in a country where publicly criticizing the government is already fraught with risk,' said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s deputy Africa director."

There are, I suppose, three gaping loopholes in this bill. The first is that it applies only to public spaces. If my house holds 10,000 people, I could invite them all over for a meeting about the government and since this is my private space, I wouldn't need permission. 

The second loophole is that public space is defined as the physical world. So I can stand up a Facebook page or launch a Twitter campaign criticizing the government and there's nothing within this bill that would make that illegal. With so few Ugandans on the Internet and even less on Facebook, it's not going to be much of a debate though...a better plan is to use radio. I could broadcast a lively political debate over the airwaves with no prior permission required. 

The third loophole is the topic of the meeting. I could, for example, hold a massive animal rights demonstration (Meat Is Murder!) and as long as I say nothing about the government, I wouldn't need prior permission.

It's that third loophole that makes me wonder whether this is about public safety or about suppressing political debate in advance of the 2016 elections. But, I'm an outsider...I could be wrong. I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourself.  

Geeky Pastimes

I know I'm a geek because this is what I do for fun  on the weekend...play with Google. A while back I read an article about the interesting directions you can get from Google maps and so I decided....hmmm, I wonder if I can get from Kampala to Dublin? 

Turns out I can. Watch out though, there are a few traffic hazards...construction in Spain and a stalled vehicle blocking traffic in France. 

I wonder what the rental car charge would be for this trip?

Update

I've been here in Uganda now for just over a month and I have just under a month left in my stay. Given that I've passed the halfway point I thought it might be good to provide a quick update on some of the things that I wrote about earlier...so here goes.

The Weather
When I arrived in Kampala it was 80 degrees (24 C for my metric friends). Most of the time the highs reached the mid-80s during the day and cooled down to about 65 degrees (16 C) at night. The sun rose at 7 a.m. and set at 7 p.m. and in between, nothing but dry dusty sunshine.

Then a week ago everything changed.  It became overcast and cool - the temperature hovered at 65 degrees morning, noon, and night. We began to enter the second of two annual rainy seasons.

Suddenly I noticed Ugandans walking around in long pants, sweaters, coats and scarves, blowing into hot cups of tea...warming their hands. The standard morning greeting of "Hello! How are you?" was replaced with "Hello! Isn't it cold today?"

Having lived in Ireland for the past year and the Midwestern U.S. for most of my life, I'm still wearing short sleeves, happy that I can finally sleep at night now that the oppressive heat has ended. They look at me as though I've gone mad.

The Food Monitors
Every day at CDRN we eat lunch together in the training center. Eating together in a group reminds me of the best family dinners I had growing up (the ones where nobody argued or got yelled at). There's just one problem...I don't eat enough.

For Ugandans this is the main meal of the day and so they eat a full plate of food. For me, breakfast is the main meal...generally I'm not hungry when lunchtime rolls around. So I take a small plate of food, and for this I get teased mercilessly.

"What, you are taking only two beans today!?!"
"There are no more than three peas on your plate. Why do you not eat? Do you not like our food?"
"Are you trying to maintain your figure? You don't want to look like Ugandan women?"
and my personal favourite...
"You will go back to Ireland and they will think we have starved you."

My grandmother wasn't half as good at laying a food guilt trip on me as my colleagues at CDRN, and I consider her to have been at least a high ranking amateur. These people are professionals. Fair play.

The Internet & Technology Landscape
There are many problems that Uganda faces...poverty, unsafe drinking water, Aids, Malaria, and declining public services to name but a few. The Internet seems a luxury in this environment, but it shouldn't be. It should be the foundation for a new knowledge economy.

But there are two problems.

First, new computer equipment is expensive. It costs 1,350,000 shillings ($525 USD) for an Acer E series laptop that I can buy in the U.S. from Amazon for about $460. A new iPhone 5 will cost 2,299,999 shillings ($895 USD) in Uganda versus $699 in the U.S. Of course Uganda isn't alone in the premium price they pay for technology - that same iPhone in Ireland costs 679 euros or $910 dollars - but I suppose the point is why is the US getting a deal on technology when the rest of the world is not? It seems particularly unfair given the developing world can't afford U.S. prices let alone premium prices. The U.S. and Europe have subsidized food programs for Africa, they also have subsidized medicine programs...where are the ICT subsidies?

The second problem is that good Internet service is insanely expensive and bad Internet service is only marginally less expensive. Every morning, like Charlie Brown hoping he'll finally get to kick the football, I plug the network cable into my PC at CDRN and cross my fingers.  Once in a while it's fine. Most days it's incredibly slow. Increasingly it's non-existent. Here's this morning's message...

 

It looks a lot like yesterday's message...and the day before's message.

 

And the crime is that Uganda Telecom Limited's (UTL) hamster powered Internet service is costing CDRN the equivalent of $150 USD per month.

 

Of course I'm only tortured by this for a few minutes each day. As soon as I confirm that the Internet is DOA as usual I fire up a 3G Wi-Fi hotspot on MTN's handy cellular network and return to the broadband age. It's costing me about 100,000 shillings ($40 USD) per month, which, as you can imagine, would be financially limiting when scaled to a 20 person network.

 

This situation makes me angry. Before coming to Uganda I had read that the country was doing a good job of technology infrastructure building and provision. It wasn't until I got here that I witnessed the reality. This is why Uganda is ranked 110th out of 144 countries for its ability to capitalize on the digital age. THIS is the "Digital Divide" because right now the only people who have access to the technological fast lane are the government, multi-national corporations, international NGOs, and the wealthy.

 

Access to current ICT should be a fundamental human right, just like safe drinking water and childhood education. The MDGs specify access to technology...why isn't this recognized and supported for Uganda?

 

OK jumping off my soapbox and recognizing the marginal bright side...the previously mentioned 3G cellular networks are available in most population centers. There are technology-based NGOs that fund and support technology capacity building (CIPESA in Uganda, SPIDER in Sweden and Indigo Trust in the UK are examples). There are also NGOs that fund technology insertion as part of a broader development project (US Aid, Irish Aid, UNDP, etc.). So I think the support is there to get the ball rolling. The government needs to step in as well, though, and provide better technology support and funding. Kenya is a great example of this with their eGov initiative and (iHub) technology incubators. 

 

There is a way out of the digital doldrums - it is possible.  

 

My "No Touching" Policy
After I posted the entry about safety and getting grabbed on Kampala's streets, my friends and family started calling and emailing, concerned I was going to end up a statistic on the evening news. It's OK - part of the touching is just a cultural difference between the US and Uganda. Physical contact is much more prevalent here. So while I'm not excusing the behaviour of the street kid who tried to steal my bag or the scruffy man who grabbed my arm and tried to lead me God knows where, I'm learning that when someone touches my arm or holds my hand it's not necessarily with malice aforethought.

Here in Uganda, acquaintances and colleagues hold hands. Earlier this week Moses took my hand and led me to his car. He's a driver that CDRN uses from time to time. I had asked him about the possibility of hiring him, and he just wanted to show me how great his car was. Nothing more. When I was in the city center with Joan (a colleague at CDRN) she held my hand as we crossed the street for protection purposes.

This is not how the US and Ireland treat business associates and so it makes me a little uncomfortable, but I'm thinking I need to get over myself. Human contact is a fundamental part of life. I like it that Ugandans are demonstrative to more than just family and good friends. So I've relaxed my No Touching policy here. When I get back to Ireland I'll revert back to my cultural norm, but while I'm here, as long as there's no harm intended, it's OK to take my hand.

Final Thoughts
And in closing, I'm getting a serious farmer tan. The safari is booked. And the fruit is still awesome. :-)

The Illusion of Privacy

The Kampala embassy delivered this to my inbox on Friday.

I didn't get nervous until I read this....

Just when I thought it was safe to come out from under the bed I'm reminded to remain vigilant and alert. Apparently getting grabbed on Kampala's streets should be the least of my worries.
 

But never fear...thanks to PRISM (and thanks to Snowden for naming the shadowy rumor previously called the Surveillance Dragnet) the US Government is on the job. The NSA's computers filtered through the haystacks of emails and Facebook posts and spit out the needles. Something's up but they're on it....in the meantime, be aware.

Except that I was already aware. I really did not need to be reminded to be vigilant. What I did need; however, was to feel safe. This communication had the opposite effect.

If this is what I get in exchange for surrendering my right to privacy I'm not impressed.

And neither are an increasing number of Americans, but first a bit of history. Back in 2000 (before social media and 9/11) the Pew Internet Project conducted an on-line privacy survey. The following bullets are lifted directly from the report summary:

• 86% of Internet users are in favor of “opt-in” privacy policies that require Internet companies to ask people for permission to use their personal information
• 54% of Internet users believe that Web sites’ tracking of users is harmful because it invades their privacy. Just 27% say tracking is helpful because it allows the sites to provide information tailored to specific consumers.
• 54% of Internet users have chosen to provide personal information in order to use a Web site and an additional 10% say would be willing to provide it under the right circumstances. 27% are hard-core privacy protectionists and would never provide personal information.

Back then there was an expectation that personal data would be protected. That softened a bit right after September 11th but has since swung back around again. The problem is that while our expectations of privacy protection are similar to what they were thirteen years ago, with the advent of social media our behavior has radically changed. We reveal loads of information about ourselves on social networks, expecting to have some level of control over who can access the information.

The problem of course is that there is no control - it's an illusion. Long before the NSA got outed marketers were mining our social media profiles and following our webtrails like virtual bloodhounds collecting information we thought private...all in the name of targeted marketing.

And it's important to note the difference between data mining for marketers and data mining for surveillance. If you're curious about the specifics of what the US Government has written into law with respect to surveillance, the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act provides the foundation, then the Patriot Act was established after 2001 which introduced the concept of warantless surveillance, and finally the FISA Amendment Act of 2008 prescribed procedures for physical and electronic surveillance of foreign intelligence information. Here is a good and current summary of FISA implications from the Center for Democracy and Technology. It's important to note that FISA was intended to exclude US citizens, but in practice, everyone's data is potentially within scope.

And it's also important to note that the US Government isn't the only one collecting and filtering data. There are many governments with equivalent surveillance programs (Canada and the UK for example). Germany outsources it to the US.  Shortly after the above announcement came out, Interpol was providing similar caution to our European neighbors. It appears, at least this August, that the threat is against the entire global north, not just the US. 

You may be wondering what about Uganda? With less than 10 percent of the population having access to the Internet, the government is selectively implementing digital surveillance programs. They are going to begin monitoring social media, and are considering monitoring emails.  They already conduct phone surveillance.

Increasingly, Americans and Europeans alike  are lobbying for greater privacy protections - the revelation in June about PRISM pushed the issue to the forefront. Mobile phones in particular are a hot button issue lately because of the ability to track physical movement.  It's when the virtual world crosses over to the "real" world that the issue of privacy becomes particularly dicey. 

The US government has stated that surveillance programs like PRISM have thwarted (if I recall the article) up to 20 terrorist attacks. If correct, that would be an impressive track record. But what I wonder is whether or not the trade-off between privacy and security is real. There are a number of experts who say that we could have both privacy protection and protection from terrorist threats. There are others who say the privacy paradigm of the 20th century was an anomaly and we must accept the transparent nature of today's information society.

I suppose from a personal perspective I can empathize with the people who are responsible for surveillance. It must be a difficult job balancing information sharing with the risk of panicking the public. As an individual I don't like being spied on, but as a citizen I do appreciate the early warning.

I just have one favor to ask. As you're reading though my emails and Facebook posts, try not to get too engrossed. I know it will be difficult. The Kampala weather and the puppies my sister's dog just delivered are fascinating reading, but you've got an important job to do. Don't get distracted.

Comparison Shopping in Uganda’s Dual Economy...A Safari Tale

Last September I was in a pub having a pint with my new classmates at Trinity. As everyone talked about their development experience Andres brought up the issue of first world prices in third world countries. Andres is from Argentina but has visited many parts of the world, working for small NGOs running aid and development projects. For a time he lived in an African country (I can’t remember which one) and learned from that experience about dual economies. 

Dual economies are when there are two prices paid, a higher price by one group and a lower one by another, for equivalent goods...it happens everywhere to some degree, but in developing countries it can be quite pronounced. An example of this would be a western-style apartment in the center of Kampala could rent for more than $3,000 per month but the same apartment a bit farther from the International NGOs and embassies would rent for less than $500. 

Thanks to the good advice of my supervisor here in Kampala and the wonders of Internet search engines, I’ve managed to pay mostly the local lower rate for things here. The guesthouse where I’m staying this summer costs just $20 per night. It’s a decent enough place – popular with students, backpackers and locals. I shop in the local markets and take the local version of public transportation (taxis) to get around. The cost of my food and transportation rarely exceeds $25 per week. 

My one challenge has been finding a safari. Before I leave Uganda I am determined to visit one of the national parks - they are rumoured to be some of the most beautiful in the world. But safaris cost an absolute fortune (about $300 per day) unless you can find five other friends to join you. This is well above my budget and so I’ve been searching around for a more affordable option.

Enter Ronald...Ronald is a driver here in Kampala recommended to me by the guesthouse. Take away the beret and he looks almost exactly like Rerun from the 1970s sitcom, What’s Happening. 

Ronald gave me a lift back from the craft market last Saturday, and in doing so, passed my version of a driver test - he didn’t hit anything, he didn’t run out of gas, and he didn’t take advantage of my non-existent bargaining skills and charge me too much. So as we made our way back through the chaos of Kampala traffic I asked him how much it would cost to take me to one of the national parks. He broke it down for me this way.

       “Well madam, there are several costs which we must consider as part of this discussion. I will now explain them to you. “

        “Most companies will charge you for a driver, a car, and the fuel to travel back and forth from the park. The car and the driver will be minimal charges to you, but be warned....the majority of the cost that you will pay will be the what? Petrol...yes that’s correct.”

        “Normally I will charge 180,000 Ugandan shillings per day for the car and the driver, but for you madam I will only charge 150,000. I will give to you a large car, so that you can rest comfortably in the back seat during the journey, and I will send to you my best driver so that you will be safe and secure.”

        “It will cost approximately 400,000 Ugandan shillings for the fuel, and you must be careful not to purchase too much or too little because you do not wish to overpay, but neither do you also wish to run out of fuel on the road. This would be very dangerous.”

At this point I realized that the budget option of travelling to a national park was going to entail some level of personal accountability on my part. Check.

       “You will wish to take one day to drive to the park. You will arrive during the evening where you can drive around, see the animals, and then have dinner and relax from your journey.”

       “The next day you will wish to drive around the park again early in the morning while the lions are returning from their hunting, then have lunch, and after perhaps a walk around. You will finally depart for Kampala in the evening, arriving very late.”

This was a red flag...I’ve heard never to drive on the roads at night here - if the potholes don’t get you, the roadblocks will. 

I explained to Ronald that I would probably spend a full day at the park, departing on the third morning, and he acknowledged my wisdom, adding another 150,000 shillings to the tally. While he neglected to mention the additional costs of the $35 park entrance fee and $70 per night hotel (for me...not sure where the driver stays), it’s still just about $200 per day. Much less than a safari.

So that’s a better option, but there is yet a cheaper one that was recommended to me by my friends at the guesthouse. Red Chili here in Kampala runs safaris for backpackers. Assuming I can join an existing group, it will cost me only $350 for four days....well within my price range. So I’ve sent off an enquiry form and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll have a tour. 

If not, sometime in August Ronald and I are going on safari. 

ICT4Dev

Here in Uganda friendships form quickly within the expat community, fed by a common need for kinship in a foreign place. Over the previous month my friends at the guest house and I have shopped together, visited tourist sites together, but I think what I may miss the most when I return are the conversations we've had. Particularly those around my favorite topic – technology.

Lars and Asreen are two of my friends from the guest house. They are students at Linneaus University in Sweden, and for the past month they’ve been wrapping up an ICT research project that began more than a year ago. On Thursday they presented their project findings as part of a series of ICT4Dev (ICT for Development) projects hosted by a consortium of Ugandan NGOs that included: Transparency International, Women’s Uganda Network (WOUGNET), Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), and Toro Development. Asreen invited me to see first-hand the incredible work going on in Uganda using ICT – here are project summaries of the presentations from that day.

Transparency International (TI) Uganda (ICT for Health Services Delivery)

This project was implemented within six sub counties across the Oyam and Lira districts after nearly five years of insurgency decimated Northern Uganda’s social services infrastructure. The intent of the project was to increase service transparency and accountability. One of the first project steps was to establish a toll free number that community members could call to report issues with their health centers. Calls started coming in reporting high rates of staff absenteeism, understaffing, worker attrition, poor hygiene, drug stock issues, and ghost workers on the payroll.

Once the initial data was received, the project team summarized it and began broadcasting the findings using local radio stations. They used these programs as well to discuss healthcare service improvement, engaging the entire community in a dialog on their right to healthcare and the role of the government in providing it. The groundswell of community support was then used to bring stakeholders into discussions that led to service improvements. Despite challenges of self-censorship, local call center power outages, and a low rate of ICT accessibility by women, the project showed positive results. Health center absenteeism was reduced by 30 percent and the hygiene issues that had been raised were corrected.

Toro Dev (Converging ICT Tools to Promote Public Accountability for Service Delivery)
This project in the Toro district of Uganda began in July of last year and continues through July of next year. The intent is to bring community members and local officials together in a more collaborative partnership. Previously, the general public didn’t really understand the roles of local political leaders, and the leaders weren't cooperatively supporting grassroots citizen engagement initiatives because they didn’t have the resources to implement requested improvements.

Similar to the Transparency International project, this project used local radio as well, but instead of using it purely as a means of communicating the findings from the community, it was instead used as a convergence point for the entire process. Local radio broadcasters were trained on Internet research and advocacy journalism, and they then used their training to follow a new program format that increased dialog around important community issues. The project also used mobile phones, Facebook and other social media to gather information and questions for the local politicians and service providers who would be invited to participate in discussions on air. The live and interactive radio programs presented both sides of the debate, and then after the broadcast, discussion continued online in social networks.

The project has only been in effect for a year, but it has already resulted in several infrastructure improvements including a gravity flow scheme and road repairs. This project faces several of the same challenges as the TI project, including access to electricity and self censorship by the general population. The greatest challenge, though, is the rapid growth of local radio stations which is having a dilutive effect on listenership.

WOUGNET Service Monitoring Project (Lars and Asreen’s Project)

Similar to the projects above, WOUGNET’s service monitoring project was established as a means of increasing accountability and transparency between the government and civil society through grassroots engagement in public service monitoring. The technologies were similar as well to the previously mentioned projects in that they included a combination of mature technologies (radio and mobile phone) and emerging technologies (social networks). But WOUGNET’s project used a “beep call” system (when a call is placed it connects for an instant to register a call back request). The advantage of this system is that because the cost is born entirely by the return call from the call center, the cost to the person reporting the issue is practically toll free.

The service monitoring project uncovered worker absenteeism and mismanagement of public resources. It also uncovered something very unique, an informal economy of payments made by some public sector workers to other staff who had not received their salaries from the government. The Ugandan government has been accused on several occasions of not paying or being slow to pay its workers. That lack of payment is one of the fundamental reasons cited in many of the service delivery failures in the public sector. 

In highlighting this and other issues, the project increased civic awareness. It also increased community involvement in monitoring of public services, and the Voluntary Social Accountability Committees (VSAC) in charge of monitoring services noted improved ICT skills. Moreover the community received a greater voice in sub county development plans and more equal distribution of benefit from government programs like NAAD and NUSAF. The end result was an improvement in service delivery in the communities in which the project was implemented.

ICT Capacity Building...CIPESA and Ric-Net

CIPESA has supported many ICT projects including the iParticipate election monitoring project which ended in 2013. They also have provided PCs, Internet access, training and mentorship to the e-society center in Kasese, the Northern Uganda Media Club and the Busoga Rural Open Source Development Initiative.

Ric-Net also provided support for the e-society center as part of its capacity building efforts for local communities. In addition to a social service accountability program (similar to those described above) the organization also helps local communities in Uganda build websites and e-libraries which provide on-line access to community information that previously were available solely by visiting local government offices in person. Here is an example of one of the e-libraries: Kalangala.

Final Thoughts...

What struck me the most about these projects is that they all effectively integrated technology into existing manual systems, and in doing so, increased incident reporting rates within the communities that the projects served. In other words, the use of technology improved citizen engagement, primarily by increasing information transparency and accelerating communication flows.

The question, though, that kept coming up in each of the presentations was the issue of sustainment. i.e. how to continue accountability efforts within the communities after project financial supports were removed. Change is a very difficult thing to sustain over time – just ask anyone who made a New Year’s resolution back in January – and when there are powerful forces working against change like corruption and entitlement, then it’s even more difficult.

So corruption impedes sustained positive change, but sustained positive change is what fights corruption. In software development that would be described as an infinite loop...you do not want an infinite loop in your program – it crashes the system.

I don’t have any solutions to this dilemma, but the trend in Ugandan Civil Society Organizations is to integrate technology within the scope of capacity building. This is why CIPESA and Ric-Net are establishing community centers that provide technology access and training.

I’ve talked with many people here who say that the only way forward is through technology. It’s not a question of if, but rather of how. Technology is a powerful communication tool that has the potential to give voice to 7 billion hearts and minds across the globe. It is the great equalizer and as such, one of the purest forms of democracy. Perhaps these projects are just chipping away at the edges of social inclusion, but assuming the momentum continues, they have the potential to become part of a much greater transformation.

Safe and Secure

I'm sitting in my office at CDRN looking at the bars that crisscross the window, wondering what I would do if there was a fire. Like many businesses in Kampala (and I hear in other African cities as well) CDRN is one of a series of buildings contained within a walled compound. Large metal gates are controlled by our round-the-clock security staff. No one gets in or out without being noticed - it's very safe and secure...that is until there's a fire. Then I'll be human barbeque with grill marks thanks to these bars. Nothing in life is safe.

This is the kind of random thought that enters my head while I recover from the food poisoning I contracted over the weekend. Since arriving in Uganda I have mostly followed the rules - eaten only cooked food, drank and brushed my teeth with only bottled water, but there's one rule I broke - fresh fruit. I love the fruit here and eat it every single day. Could it have poisoned me? I don't really know...it could have been anything I suppose.

Things like this happen that shake the illusion of control I believe I have over my life. And when they do my first instinct is to stop doing whatever I did that may have created the threat. But when I do I deny myself something as well - a chance to overcome the fear that everyone has to face as part of life. The trick I suppose is knowing the right balance and my own capability to manage risky situations.

For example - I keep getting grabbed.

In fairness I do stick out a bit here...I'm almost 6 feet tall with light eyes and blonde hair. There aren't too many women wandering around Kampala that have these same characteristics and it's a bit like being a B list celebrity with a questionable reputation...Lindsay Lohan comes to mind. Everyone notices you - most people only stare - some are friendly - others are not.

The first Saturday after I arrived I decided to walk to a meeting with my research supervisor rather than take a taxi. It was only about 30 minutes to the city center and since I had seen many people walking around I thought I could as well. But as I continued down the streets of Kampala I quickly realized that I was attracting attention. 

Some greeted me with a friendly "hello!" Most just watched me walk by. Boda taxis kept pulling up in front of me and blocking my path, asking if I needed a lift. Men sprawled out in the grass at the side of the road called out, asking me to come over and meet them. It was disconcerting...I've lived my life so far in relative anonymity.

As I approached a crowded area, I felt a jab at my back. I spun around and a wide eyed boy no older than 15 years was backing away from me - he'd just made a grab for my bag but missed...his glancing blow went across my side instead. I'd never had anything like this happen before and it made me afraid for a while.

For the next several weeks I didn't venture beyond the short walk from my guesthouse to work unless I was with other people. Being part of a group had a cloaking effect, and as time went on and nothing bad happened I started to think maybe I was being paranoid. And even if I wasn't I was annoyed that I had allowed fear to make me a hermit.

So last weekend I ventured a short solo walk to the grocery store to stock up on water and snacks. A man greeted me as I walked down the hill and a group of teenage boys waved their arms at me with big grins on their faces but it didn't feel threatening...I didn't mind. Coming out of the grocery store, though, a man in a dusty ancient leather jacket grabbed my arm and commanded me to follow him. Angry this time instead of intimidated I pulled away from him and kept walking. I had begun to learn to adapt - to manage the risk in this environment.

If this all seems a bit cautious to you, I wonder if I am being too careful as well. When I was in my 20s I embraced risk - it was an adventure. And it's not to say that travelling half-way around the world isn't a risk....it is. But I hear the stories of my new friends Asreen and Lars who went bungee jumping and white water rafting last weekend in Jinja and I wonder...am I playing it too safe?

Everyone has to decide for themselves how much risk they will welcome into their lives, and accept that sometimes things will happen that are completely out of their control as well. Sometimes those things are wonderful new experiences that open your eyes to the world as though for the first time. Other times those experiences are filled with pain and regret. But the thing is there's no way to know beforehand how they will turn out and so there has to be a bit of faith that goes along with the acceptance that much of life is beyond anyone's control.

So peering into the dark void of uncertainty I have made a decision. I will eat the fruit. I will walk alone through Kampala carrying nothing that I would regret if it were stolen and waving like Miss America in the Thanksgiving Day parade as people stop and stare at me. I will forget about the fires, malaria-poisoned mosquitoes, rabid gorillas, and any other random but highly unlikely threats that could occur during my stay in Uganda. But I probably won't bungee jump, sky dive, white water raft or participate in any other adrenaline sports because while they look like a lot of fun, the thrills I seek are less physical and more existential these days. These are the thrills that I will leave a door open for to invite into my life.

Tinkering With An E-Waste Strategy

Every day between 68,500 and 137,000 tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) are generated across the globe. It is the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Assuming Wikipedia is right on its tonnage weights for shipping containers, that's enough to fill 2,000 40 foot containers per day. The reason I reference shipping containers is because the majority of e-waste is exported out of country for processing, quite often to Africa.

E-waste is hazardous and so there are international laws the govern the e-waste trade (the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions primarily). There are also regional laws and restrictions for the disposition of e-waste like the WEEE Directive for the UK and the EU.  These laws are meant to ensure that e-waste is disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner and to give countries the right to refuse shipments if they lack that capability. But there are two problems...market-based incentives and illegal export.

The market for gold, silver, scrap metal and sometimes plastic is strong enough that it makes processing e-waste a profitable business, particularly in places where labor is cheap. These countries generally do not have a mechanized waste collection and management infrastructure in place and so they rely on informal labor markets (scavenging) and environmentally toxic processing techniques. These techniques can reclaim most of the scrap metal, plastic, and glass, but very little if any of the highly valuable precious metals and rare earth minerals that most electronics contain.

Some African countries, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of e-waste arriving in their ports, have begun to crack down on illegal shipments. Other countries, like Uganda, have implemented import bans. The problem with import bans (at least with Uganda's) is that it is not selective. It bans the import of all used electronics into the country. The import ban has resulted in a wider "digital divide" between the wealthy who can afford new electronics and the poor who cannot. It has also resulted in an increase in the supply of cheap but highly unreliable new electronics, and has effectively shut down social enterprises, like Camara, who rely on a used computer model, to operate within the country.

This was one of the first discussion topics that came up when I began to work with Camara on an end-of-life disposition strategy for their computers here in Uganda and the other countries that they operate in. The other discussion topic was the sheer lack of responsible e-waste processing options. Here in Uganda that's certainly the case. It's also the case in Zambia, Lesotho, Jamaica, and Haiti, and while options do exist in Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia, they are very new and not yet governed by policy. Because of this it's difficult to determine whether they are really as responsible as they claim to be.

Studies have shown that when there are no options for processing e-waste, it tends to accumulate. So imagine the situation here in Uganda and in many other countries where there is literally a ticking time bomb of hazardous waste building up in households and businesses across the country. It's not good. And it doesn't have to be this way.

Kenya is a good example of a country working toward a sustainable e-waste processing system, having implemented both e-waste policies and responsible recycling options. The other countries mentioned above that have implemented responsible recycling are quickly following with e-waste policies as well. It may be a while though before these countries reach Irish standards. In Ireland if you want to recycle electronics you can just take them to one of the regularly scheduled "drop off" events.

E-Waste Strategy Development On A Refurbished Computer

Or if you want to dispose of a computer, you can choose an option even more responsible than recycling by dropping it off at one of Camara's collection sites. Camara gives new life to old computers by refurbishing them, loading educational software on them, and then shipping them to service hubs for distribution to schools. The maintenance agreement on the computers provides teacher training and hardware maintenance for the refurbished PCs. At the next end-of-life (within three to five years) Camara collects and recycles the computers. And herein lies the challenge that I've been tasked with - finding a responsible computer disposal solution in countries where, at least today, no solution currently exists.

It's a challenge that must be solved because at its core Camara is an environmentally responsible social enterprise. They just recently completed ISO 14001 accreditation which formalized many of the good environmental practices they already had in place. These practices are part of an organizational ethos that does not allow computers to be dumped and burned at the end of their useful lives. Nor does it allow computers to be "recycled" using acid baths and open fires that poison the air and water sources of entire communities. These toxic practices are in place today in many African countries.

So for the past two months I've been working with the experts at Camara to find a way to responsibly dispose of every computer they reclaim. And while difficult, so far it hasn't been an impossible task thanks to the support I've received from the organization. They recognize the challenge and are committed to finding a sustainable solution. 

The one problem has been that there are fery few recycling options for CRT monitors anywhere in the world. Camara is eliminating CRT use in their operations, but there are several thousand that have already been sent out that will eventually need to be disposed of. To ensure these monitors are properly recycled we're exploring the idea of consolidating and exporting them to responsible recyclers in South Africa for the African countries, and to the US for the Caribbean countries. I'm still investigating the export restrictions and costs though...if anyone reading this has more information or a better solution, please post a comment.

Finally, this whole situation raises a thought provoking question. How do you extend the total life of a computer even beyond what Camara has already done? The best solution of all is an infinite lifecycle. And thinking this way creates some interesting options. There is a "tinkering society" emerging in many countries where obsolete equipment is reinvented as completely new technology. Vinay Venkatraman describes this in his recent TedTalk. Is it possible for Camara to utilize this to further extend the life of their computers? It's certainly an idea worth exploring.

In a month or so I will wrap this project up, and I have to say I've learned a lot. Several years ago I worked as part of a team to develop a similar strategy for my previous employer and found it to be a frustrating task because of the size and complexity of the US operation. Now I think the previous task was relatively simple compared to what Camara faces. But hidden quietly away in this challenge is an incredible opportunity for innovation. Wouldn't it be amazing if Camara was able to not just educate hundreds of thousands of children around the world, but in doing so to also fundamentally redefine the technology lifecycle? 

Food Issues

This morning I woke up a little later than usual which meant that instead of applying make-up in the predawn half-light I had the advantage of full sun. As I examined my face, looking for smudges and smears from the heavy foundation that I use to cover skin imperfections I realized something....my skin was perfectly clear for the first time in years. No rash on my chin, no pimples on my forehead, no redness around my nose - it was all gone. 

I'm guessing this is due to the changes in my my diet over the last three weeks. Instead of oatmeal for breakfast, yogurt and fruit for lunch. and dinner that often includes soy protein, pasta and vegetables, I'm eating very little protein, no dairy, and a lot of vegetables. I'm not eating meat but that's normal because I'm a vegetarian. And just to clarify, I'm not a vegan (someone who eats no animal products), I do eat eggs and dairy, but I don't eat fish or chicken - nothing (as a friend of mine once said) with a face. 

When I tell people I'm a vegetarian most ask why I don't eat meat. The reason is that it's against my values. I don't believe it's right to prematurely end the life of an animal when there are perfectly good alternatives. It makes me sound sort of pompous when I say that out loud though so I generally just mumble something about being an environmentalist and change the subject. Another reason I'm vague is because I've learned over the years that my extreme beliefs tend to invite debate with the opposing side of that argument. It's a viewpoint I've heard many times...God put animals on this earth for us to utilize and when we eat them we honor them. 

Here in Uganda I would find that to be a relatively plausible argument because many people have goats and chickens. The meat you buy at the market is either still alive or hangs proudly from the front of vendor stalls. It's not ground up and wrapped in shiny plastic supermarket packages, divorcing you from the reality that the hamburger you're about to consume was once a cow. When the lives of humans are taken prematurely we call it serial killing or cannibalism. We're shocked and appalled. When the life of a cow gets taken we call it dinner.

Or I should say 90 percent of Americans call it dinner, I am one of the other 10 percent who don't. In general I don't consider myself to be a hard core activist about my beliefs. In 20 years of vegetarianism I've rarely tried to convert anyone to my way of thinking. I don't want people to run in the other direction when they see me coming - the life of a militant activist is a lonely one I would expect. Maybe that's why I don't donate to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

 

Or maybe I don't donate to PETA because I don't like their marketing tactics. They're trying to be edgy - to rise above the information noise and make veganism seem cool by targeting a young demographic with shocking ad campaigns. Perhaps you remember the one they ran on college campuses a few years ago encouraging students to drink beer not milk? The latest is a viral video, Boyfriend Went Vegan, which I've included a link to if you want to watch it. At more than 3 million views it's certainly drawing attention for the organization, but at what price to the vegan cause? PETA's "ends justify the means" approach embodies everything I abhor about extreme views. Of course, I could just be biased against them because I know they will never employ me...they only hire vegans. 

And while I do embrace vegetarianism, so far I've been unable to live the austere life of a vegan, and it's for exactly the same reason that most people give me when they tell me why they eat meat - because it tastes so good. Ice cream, cheese, yogurt and warm buttered bread are just a few of the things that make life worth living.

But for the past three weeks in Uganda my diet has been mostly vegan. Ugandans aren't really big on dairy. Their cookies are dry as dust and their ice cream reminds me of vanilla flavored wall insulation. But they have something much better...fruit so delicious that to describe it as such is almost an injustice. Sweet and juicy pineapple, mango, papaya, jackfruit, and watermelon. There are also tiny apple bananas that can be eaten fresh or combined with millet flour and deep fried to create banana pancakes. The fruit is so wonderful that I haven't missed dairy. And this morning I realized the side benefit of clear skin.

So maybe I should reconsider veganism again, not just for the sake of clearer skin, but for the clarity it would bring to my values as well.  The problem though is, as Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist everything but temptation". Kampala doesn't have Butlers chocolate and Irish cheese. After returning to Dublin, I'll probably cave after a few weeks of abstinence.

Normally I don't have to think too much about this compromise to my values, but here in Kampala where the roosters crow every morning and the goats wander casually along the side of the road it's hard to ignore. And I'm reminded of what my Aunt Joan used to tell me about the dismal life of a dairy cow. She was truly someone who could understand and appreciate both sides of the argument, having been both a farmer and a minister's wife.  During our discussions she never tried to push me in one direction or the other, instead she just asked that I give some depth to my values through critical examination and reflection. 

So I have a lot to think about over the next month I suppose. It's a fine line between accommodation and compromise.  A former colleague once gave me a t-shirt from a fast food burger chain because he said he appreciated that I wasn't closed to other viewpoints. Now I wonder if whether in being so accommodating I've compromised my values. Maybe it's time for me to reexamine my commitment to vegetarianism. Maybe it's time to go vegan.

Strategic Planning...Uganda Style

Friday I delivered my first assignment at CDRN, a presentation on technology trends. They gave me an opportunity to contribute to their strategic planning offsite last week by doing what I love, immersing myself in technology strategy. There are a lot of different ways to approach strategy development, but the process I follow is one that hasn't varied since it was first taught to me years ago by a colleague. It's called creative visioning and I use it because it focuses on the promise of technology while also mitigating the risk of uncertainty that is inherent in the technology environment. 

It also involves identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that comprise the cultural context of the technology environment, which for me was problematic because I'm new to Uganda and to CDRN. But over the course of last week's three day offsite I absorbed information. And on Friday I used what I'd learned to create contextual questions for the group that would help them decide which technologies to apply from the trends that I provided. What follows are both the trends and what I've learned so far about technology's role in Uganda and at CDRN. How they will apply this in the coming weeks I can't say, but I know that it will be a collaborative process because this is a core value of the organization. Normally I would call this teamwork, but CDRN seems to have elevated it to something more akin to family.

Cultural Context



In the baby boom race, Uganda leaves Ireland in the dust. The median age here is 15, and 75 percent of the population are under the age of 25. There are babies everywhere...three of the CDRN staff have children under the age of 6 months. So how is this accommodated at an offsite? Are moms excluded? Are they told to just be there and then left to figure out their family situation? For CDRN, the solution is to include the babies in the greater organizational family. When we climbed into the minibus to leave for the retreat, moms, babies and caregivers all travelled along. Over the course of the offsite, CDRN staff played with the babies, calmed them when they cried, took them to the doctor when they were sick, and in short, treated them as part of the extended family.

Another element of the extended family were the additional participants who attended the first two days. In my experience, technical experts, customers, and suppliers are generally invited to strategy sessions, but I've never seen former employees on the participant list unless they're paid consultants. At CDRN, however; the insight of former employees is not just welcomed, it's sought out. 

 




John De Conick

John De Conick is the founder of CDRN and ran the organization up until around 2008. His presentation provided perspective on the changing Ugandan environment, particularly what he saw to be trends of declining donor funding, a shift towards a larger government bureaucracy, and a greater priority given to self-determination within Uganda and national security outside of Uganda. He related these trends to Civil Society Organizations, specifically their proliferation, commercialization, and increased competition with for-profit consultancies and international NGOs doing CSO work. 

Arthur Larok, formerly of CDRN and currently the leader of ActionAid, followed John with a slightly different perspective. Arthur discussed an activist approach to address the imbalance of power that exists between government and society, which of course makes sense given that the Black Monday movement is sponsored by ActionAid. CDRN's role is largely one of capacity building though, not activism, and so Arthur also discussed how important it was to understand what "capacity building" really means. It is not simply linear knowledge transfer - that model isn't sustainable because there is no community ownership of the solutions that are implemented. According to Arthur, capacity building is "helping people to recognize their own potential by creating the conditions under which empowerment happens".

Isn't that the very definition of leadership?

I can personally attest that leadership is what Joseph Ssuuna, the current Executive Director of CDRN embodies. Everyone at CDRN has welcomed me warmly, but from a professional perspective I'm a bit of a curiosity...until Friday nobody quite knew how I could help. Musanje Brian started the discovery process by giving me the opportunity to present technology trends. Joseph then, through the course of the offsite, repeatedly linked my expertise to potential benefit for the organization. He gave me confidence and he gave others an appreciation for the perspective that I bring to CDRN, and so by the morning of my presentation, he had created the very conditions under which empowerment happens.

Joseph Ssuuna

Following are the technology trends I presented that are emerging in a different way in Uganda than they emerged in Europe and the US, and the implications of this difference over the next few years here. For anyone reading this blog with an opinion on these trends, I would really appreciate it if you'd take a few minutes and lend CDRN your expertise though comments to the post.

Cloud Computing

If you use Skype, then you are already using cloud Voice Over IP to supplement or replace telephone, chat messaging, and virtual meeting services. A few years ago, cloud services emerged offering low cost, reliable, and scalable Internet-based applications and data storage. Now many organizations are eliminating their internal email, file storage, and business process applications in favor of commercially hosted alternatives provided by Google, Amazon, and others. 

There are many advantages to these services, but there is one dependency, robust Internet access. In a previous post I talked about how the Internet connection at CDRN doesn't have the necessary speed or reliability to support cloud services, but robust Internet access does exist in Kampala and even in many parts of greater Uganda, and so it's just a matter of understanding the costs and weighing those against the potential benefits of having a company like Google as your IT service provider. 

Open Data (e-Gov)

Open data has three core elements:

1. Government-provided data for social services, budgets, etc, hosted on a public platform in an accessible format
2. The ability to extract and transform that data into information
3. Summarizing that information and communicating it in a meaningful way to interested parties

Open data is an emerging trend that fosters government accountability through information transparency. There are many democratic countries beginning to provide data, in the US it's provided at data.gov and the extract and transform part is consolidated in a "Code for America" initiative. Kenya's open data initiative was launched back in 2011 and is considered a best practice model for Africa.

Open data initiatives rely on cooperation between the data provider (the government) and those who want to turn that data into meaningful information. At the trade-show I attended recently I got a reality check on open data in Uganda. We were told that due to security concerns, the Ugandan government is hesitant to "expose" the raw data to the public. That said, the Ministry of Finance has provided a large quantity of data in an accessible format. Other ministries have provided data as well in .pdf which isn't accessible, but it's a start. 

And interestingly, Civil Society Organizations have responded to the data availability problem by leading their own open data initiative called the OpenDev partnership. CSOs collect a lot of monitoring data on social services and in the absence of government leadership, are carrying the initiative forward on their own. At the trade-show the leaders of the initiative asked CSOs to contribute their data and work together to influence the government to do the same. It will be interesting to see how successful this model will be without leadership from of one of the key players. Perhaps through their absence though, they will ultimately reduce dependency on government-provided data, which in the end may be a more sustainable model.

Mobile Technologies

You probably already know about the exponential growth of mobile technologies, specifically cell phones in Africa. You may also know that this growth is enabled by a good cellular infrastructure and the privatization of cellular companies which creates competition and drives down prices. Growth is also fuelled by mobile applications like M-Pesa in Kenya and MTN mobile money here in Uganda. But in Africa, extracting the next level of mobile value (Internet access and mobile applications) is problematic.

One issue is the high cost of smartphones. For example, the iPhone 5 costs about $600 US when it's not purchased as part of a contract. Other out of contract smartphones can be as inexpensive as $200, but that's still way beyond the reach of most Ugandans. In the US and increasingly in Europe, smartphone hardware cost is spread over the life of a multi-year usage contract, but here "pay as you go" minutes are purchased instead of contracts so consumers pay the full price of the mobile phone as an up-front cost. In other countries, people are purchasing used smartphones, but Ugandans don't have access to these because of the import ban on used electronics. In general I'm against import bans, but I support the one on used mobile phones and the Ugandan government's efforts to crack down on the black market, because the entire system relies on mobile phone theft. Overall, it's a difficult situation that likely means smartphone adoption will continue to lag in Uganda.

 

Even if most Ugandans could afford smartphones there's yet another problem. Mobile data gathering projects are breeding like rabbits here in Uganda without any coordination. Increasingly CSOs are using SMS and automated call centers to gather data from communities, and because even the cheapest mobile phones here have radio, they're using this channel to deliver information back to society. This would be great if it were part of a planned approach to improve social services, but it's not. Every NGO or CSO with funding is implementing their project without regard to the projects that have gone before. A community is asked to gather school attendance data, for example, by one NGO using one mobile technology platform, and then asked by another to gather perhaps slightly different data using another mobile technology platform for a different NGO. People wonder why mobile data gathering adoption is so low but it seems pretty simple, it's too much of a good thing. 

The Ugandan government is injecting some sense into this chaos by curtailing some mobile projects until a coordinated plan can be put in place. For CSOs I think the lesson is to stop being so distracted by technology and think about the meaning of capacity building as Arthur defined it. Within that context a sensible approach can be designed.

Social Media

Social media is hardly an upcoming trend in many parts of the world, but it is in Uganda. According to SocialBakers there are only about 500,000 Ugandan Facebook users. That's less than 2 percent of the population using what is unarguably the most popular social media platform in the world. And given the previously mentioned barriers to Internet and smartphone adoption, it may not take off anytime soon. 

But many other people around the world are using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media applications and so I would argue that while it may not be a way to connect with Ugandan society, it is certainly a way to engage with others outside of Uganda. And perhaps, by building that capacity, it may reduce some of the barriers that exist today in the previously mentioned trends. Black Monday is using social media, the Mabira Rainforest campaign relied heavily on social media, perhaps those 500,000 Facebook users are the influencers needed to drive this technology forward for Uganda.

In Conclusion

After wading through this lengthy post filled with technical jargon you may be just as exhausted and overwhelmed as I was at the end of CDRN's offsite. It was like learning a year's worth of information in three days, but it was extremely valuable information that will benefit both my research and CDRN's strategic direction. Note that there is one key contextual element missing from this post, CDRN's business strategy. As I mentioned, the new five year strategy is currently drafted and the presentations and discussion at the offsite will be incorporated into the final version. Because the strategy is an internal document, it's not appropriate to share the details here, but the strategy informed both the trends that I chose to delve into and the potential application of those trends.

In conclusion I'd like to leave you with this thought. An organization's strategy is, at its heart, a reflection of the culture. If the culture is healthy, if stakeholders have a say, if the organization's actions are aligned with its values, if there is good communication and an overall sense of "we're in this together fulfilling an important mission" then the foundation is there for good strategic planning. And that foundation is the place where transformation begins.

Musanje Brian and the CDRN team engaged in transformation.