Uganda Society Research Articles

Challenging the legacy of the past and present intimate colonialization – a study of Ugandan LGBT+ activism in times of shrinking communicative space

ABSTRACT Through a mixed-methods approach consisting of a directed content analysis of five established LGBT+ organizations’ use of Twitter and Facebook during a month in 2022, and semi-structured qualitative interviews with social media content producers, the study attempts to understand the role of self-controlled social media spaces in challenging the Uganda society’s logics of oppression. The results indicate that self-controlled spaces are not used for disrupting the basis for repression – the local logic of oppression – or its cocoon of collective post-colonial amnesia. Nor were spaces used for re-constructive engaging with transnational and development partners’ unwitting impact on global south actors’ agency and legitimacy. Instead, with a few exceptions, spaces displayed a conspicuous uniform human rights advocacy rhetoric, and Western identity labels summarized in the LGBT+ acronym. The interviews with social media content producers suggest that the LGBT+ community’s dependency on international support may sway actors into what we call performative visibility, in self-controlled spaces. The study concludes that future analysis of Global South based activist’s use of social media spaces’ affordances including its potential for supporting de-colonialization efforts, must approach use as relational to actors’ dependency on key resources such as funding and protection through affiliation.

Legal Protection on Women’s Property Rights as Panacea to Poverty Reduction and Environmental Sustainability in Uganda

The exclusion of women from owing and inheriting land in Uganda through Customary law and discriminatory practices has continued to generate debates among scholars. The practice has provided basis for women’s economic dependability on men and their exclusion in decision making process in the Uganda society thereby increasing their poverty level and harsh economic condition. The writer relies on historical and content analysis methods to examine the provisions of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda in conjunction with religious ethics, the 1998 Land Act and international human rights norms on women’s property rights. The paper analyses the provisions of law and religion on women’s property rights, the challenges facing women’s property rights and how law and religion can guarantee the protection of women’s property rights. The paper examines how the protection of women’s property rights serves as measure for poverty reduction and environmental sustainable in Uganda. The paper establishes that inclusion of co-ownership clause in the Land Act will promote women’s participation in decision on land matters and that religion practices will guarantee equality of women with men. The paper demonstrates that lack of clear legal definition of women’s property rights and the continued application of outdated laws impede their protection, exposes them to poverty, leads to low agricultural productivity and it creates environmentally unsuitable farming practices in the country.

Inflation Thresholds, Economic Growth and Investment Planning In Uganda

<p><em>Economic Planners, monetary policy custodians and civil society in Uganda often disagree on the target for inflation when their development objectives are not harmonised. When development economists argue for increased deficit spending in support of infrastructure development and capital accumulation, they are challenged in regards how much pressure the development budget should put on likely macroeconomic stability, particularly where inflation could rise above the inflation target. This paper examined the effect of inflation on economic growth in Uganda and evaluates the equilibrium rate of inflation in the country, given the macroeconomic environment.</em><em></em></p><p><em>Using the threshold model</em><em> </em><em>and data for the period 1991-2017 it is established that</em><em>:</em><em> a) below 7.3</em><em> </em><em>percent inflation level, the relationship between inflation and economic growth is positive and inflation is not harmful to growth, while at levels above 7.3 percent, inflation was detrimental to economic growth and the relationship become negative; b) at economic growth rates above 7.8 percent, inflation was an incentive for further growth, yet at economic growth rates below 7.8 percent per annum, increases in inflation served as a dis-incentive to economic growth. Therefore Uganda in the current conditions is better off maintaining inflation below 7.3 percent as long as the anticipated economic growth is 7.8 percent.</em></p>

A mixed-methods evaluation of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland Uganda Fellowship Scheme.

The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland and the then Uganda Society of Anaesthesia established the Uganda Fellowship Scheme in 2006, to provide scholarships to encourage doctors to train in anaesthesia in Uganda. We conducted an evaluation of this programme using online questionnaires and face-to-face semi-structured interviews with trainees who received scholarships, as well as with senior surgeons and anaesthetists. Focus group discussions were held to assess changes in attitudes towards anaesthesia over the last 10 years. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using the constant comparative method. A total of 54 Ugandan doctors have received anaesthesia scholarships since 2006 (median funding per trainee (IQR [range]) £5520 (£5520-£6750 [£765-£9000]). There has been a four-fold increase in the number of physician anaesthetists in Uganda during this time. All those who received funding remain in the region. The speciality of anaesthesia is undergoing a dramatic transformation led by this group of motivated young anaesthetists. There is increased access to intensive care, and this has allowed surgical specialities to develop. There is greater understanding and visibility of anaesthesia, and the quality of education in anaesthesia throughout the country has improved. The Uganda Fellowship Scheme provided a relatively small financial incentive to encourage doctors to train as anaesthetists. Evaluation of the project shows a wide-ranging impact that extends beyond the initial goal of simply improving human resource capacity. Financial incentives combined with strong 'north-south' links between professional organisations can play an important role in tackling the shortage of anaesthesia providers in a low-income country and in improving access to safe surgery and anaesthesia.

Kampala WFUMB COE Status 2017

Kampala WFUMB COE was launched in October 2004 with subsequent regular renewals. The aim of the WFUMB COE is to offer formal and continuing medical education (CME) courses in ultrasound. Formal courses are offered at certificate, diploma and Bachelors and Master’s degree levels. Continuing medical education courses are offered twice a year aimed at refreshing participants’ ultrasound knowledge and skills and at training the trainers. The COE regularly sends reports of its activities to the WFUMB and communicates with other WFUMB COEs. The COE is under UGASON (Uganda Society for Sonography). ECUREI is the training centre for the COE. ECUREI stands for “Ernest Cook Ultrasound Research and Education Institute”. Ernest Cook was British missionary brought first X-ray machine to Uganda, in year 1910. To date the COE has trained a total of 1,040 ultrasound users since its inception in 2004. This year, the COE held its first refresher course on with the theme “Vascular Ultrasound”. The second refresher course will run on 02/09/2017 with the theme “Chest Ultrasound”. Last year in October, ECUREI graduated its first Bachelor’s of ultrasound degree students. This year in October, ECUREI will graduate its first Masters of Diagnostic Ultrasound students. The main challenge facing the COE is the low ratio of ultrasound machines to numbers of students. ECUREI acquired 3 ultrasound machines this year one through a donation and two purchased by ECUREI.

Civil Society and Land Use Policy in Uganda: The Mabira Forest Case

Over the past few years, the Ugandan government has repeatedly initiated proceedings to clear one-fourth of the Mabira natural forest reserve in central Uganda and give the land to a sugar company controlled by a transnational business conglomerate. Each time the government took steps to execute the Mabira project, civil society groups organised large-scale protests that pressurised the government into shelving its plans. The Save Mabira Forest campaign has been widely cited as an example of how sustained protests by civil society groups serve as a corrective of democratic deficits in decision-making processes pertaining to the commons and as a deterrent to profit-driven business schemes hatched in collusion with carefree or corrupt bureaucrats and politicians. However, an in-depth analysis of the campaign suggests that ecological and social justice concerns are mixed up with identity politics and exclusionist agendas. Examining the complex web of interactions between state, big business and civil society in Uganda, this paper sheds light on the multi-layered and often ambiguous role played by non-governmental organisations in post-conflict societies of sub-Saharan Africa.

Evaluation of a large-scale donation of Lifebox pulse oximeters to non-physician anaesthetists in Uganda.

SummaryPulse oximetry is widely accepted as essential monitoring for safe anaesthesia, yet is frequently unavailable in resource-limited settings. The Lifebox pulse oximeter, and associated management training programme, was delivered to 79 non-physician anaesthetists attending the 2011 Uganda Society of Anaesthesia Annual Conference. Using a standardised assessment, recipients were tested for their knowledge of oximetry use and hypoxia management before, immediately following and 3–5 months after the training. Before the course, the median (IQR [range]) test score for the anaesthetists was 36 (34–39 [26–44]) out of a maximum of 50 points. Immediately following the course, the test score increased to 41 (38–43 [25–47]); p < 0.0001 and at the follow-up visit at 3–5 months it was 41 (39–44 [33–49]); p = 0.001 compared with immediate post-training test scores, and 75/79 (95%) oximeters were in routine clinical use. This method of introduction resulted in a high rate of uptake of oximeters into clinical practice and a demonstrable retention of knowledge in a resource-limited setting.

Mentorship needs at academic institutions in resource-limited settings: a survey at makerere university college of health sciences

BackgroundMentoring is a core component of medical education and career success. There is increasing global emphasis on mentorship of young scientists in order to train and develop the next leaders in global health. However, mentoring efforts are challenged by the high clinical, research and administrative demands. We evaluated the status and nature of mentoring practices at Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MAKCHS).MethodsPre-tested, self-administered questionnaires were sent by email to all Fogarty alumni at the MAKCHS (mentors) and each of them was requested to complete and email back the questionnaire. In addition to training level and number of mentors, the questionnaires had open-ended questions covering themes such as; status of mentorship, challenges faced by mentors and strategies to improve and sustain mentorship within MAKCHS. Similarly, open-ended questionnaires were sent and received by email from all graduate students (mentees) registered with the Uganda Society for Health Scientists (USHS). Qualitative data from mentors and mentees was analyzed manually according to the pre-determined themes.ResultsTwenty- two out of 100 mentors responded (14 email and 8 hard copy responses). Up to 77% (17/22) of mentors had Master's-level training and only 18% (4/22) had doctorate-level training. About 40% of the mentors had ≥ two mentees while 27% had none. Qualitative results showed that mentors needed support in terms of training in mentoring skills and logistical/financial support to carry out successful mentorship. Junior scientists and students reported that mentorship is not yet institutionalized and it is currently occurring in an adhoc manner. There was lack of awareness of roles of mentors and mentees. The mentors mentioned the limited number of practicing mentors at the college and thus the need for training courses and guidelines for faculty members in regard to mentorship at academic institutions.ConclusionsBoth mentors and mentees were willing to improve mentorship practices at MAKCHS. There is need for institutional commitment to uphold and sustain the mentorship best practices. We recommend a collaborative approach by the stakeholders in global health promotion to build local capacity in mentoring African health professionals.

Is there a need for a human rights based Approach to health in Uganda?

Health is a fundamental human right that has great impact on the full realisation of other human rights including economic rights. In order to promote the health of the people and to increase the productivity of the population in a more sustainable way, there is need to do more than simply providing medical facilities and preventing and treating ailments. There is a need to address the injustices that occur in the relationships between the health service providers and the patients. Crucially, there is a need to address the stigma and discrimination, and all other health‐related issues that hinder the full realisation of the right to health of vulnerable members of society in Uganda. A human rights‐based approach to health is perhaps more likely to be effective, inclusive, equitable, sustainable and efficient in addressing such obstacles than other approaches. This approach calls for: a) recognition of the national and international human rights framework; b) empowerment and active participation of all stakeholders in all matters pertaining to their health; c) accountability; d) equality and non‐discrimination; and e) progressive realisation of the right to health. Thus, human rights principles must guide the analysis, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health promotion programmes in Uganda.

Civil society in Uganda: the struggle to save the Mabira Forest Reserve

Over the past twenty years Uganda's civil society has been virtually invisible, yet in 2007 government proposals to degazette the Mabira Forest Reserve provoked an unprecedented public reaction. Mabira was transformed from being a symbol of Uganda's natural beauty, into a symbol of civil society efficacy. Mabira is now indicative of other social struggles that suggest Ugandans are increasingly willing to demand accountability from their government. This paper deploys discourse analysis to examine the development, trajectory and dénouement of the fight to save the Mabira Forest Reserve, using the concept of civil society as a “field of struggle”. This alternative conception of civil society is uniquely suited to capturing the heterogeneity of diverse associations in non-Western settings, particularly those that gravitate toward a broadly inclusive issue such as the “environment”.

Bench-scale composting of source-separated human faeces for sanitation

In urine-diverting toilets, urine and faeces are collected separately so that nutrient content can be recycled unmixed. Faeces should be sanitized before use in agriculture fields due to the presence of possible enteric pathogens. Composting of human faeces with food waste was evaluated as a possible method for this treatment. Temperatures were monitored in three 78-L wooden compost reactors fed with faeces-to-food waste substrates (F:FW) in wet weight ratios of 1:0, 3:1 and 1:1, which were observed for approximately 20 days. To achieve temperatures higher than 15 degrees C above ambient, insulation was required for the reactors. Use of 25-mm thick styrofoam insulation around the entire exterior of the compost reactors and turning of the compost twice a week resulted in sanitizing temperatures (>or=50 degrees C) to be maintained for 8 days in the F:FW=1:1 compost and for 4 days in the F:FW=3:1 compost. In these composts, a reduction of >3 log(10) for E. coli and >4 log(10) for Enterococcus spp. was achieved. The F:FW=1:0 compost, which did not maintain >or=50 degrees C for a sufficiently long period, was not sanitized, as the counts of E. coli and Enterococcus spp. increased between days 11 and 15. This research provides useful information on the design and operation of family-size compost units for the treatment of source-separated faeces and starchy food residues, most likely available amongst the less affluent rural/urban society in Uganda.

Improving retention and performance in civil society in Uganda

This article is the second article in the Human Resources for Health journal's first quarterly feature. The series of seven articles has been contributed by Management Sciences for Health (MSH) under the theme of leadership and management in public health and will be published article-by-article over the next few weeks. The journal invited Dr Manuel M. Dayrit, Director of the WHO Department of Human Resources for Health and former Minister of Health for the Philippines to launch the feature with an opening editorial to be found in the journal's blog.This article – number two in the series – describes the experience of the Family Life Education Programme (FLEP), a reproductive health program that provides community-based health services through 40 clinics in five districts of Uganda, in improving retention and performance by using the Management Sciences for Health (MSH) Human Resource Management Rapid Assessment Tool.A few years ago, the FLEP of Busoga Diocese began to see an increase in staff turnover and a decrease in overall organizational performance. The workplace climate was poor and people stopped coming for services even though there were few other choices in the area. An external assessment found the quality of the health care services provided was deficient.An action plan to improve their human resource management (HRM) system was developed and implemented. To assess the strengths and weaknesses of their system and to develop an action plan, they used the Rapid Assessment Tool. The tool guides users through a process of prioritizing and action planning after the assessment is done.By implementing the various recommended changes, FLEP established an improved, responsive HRM system. Increased employee satisfaction led to less staff turnover, better performance, and increased utilization of health services. These benefits were achieved by cost-effective measures focused on professionalizing the organization's approach to HRM.

The impact of cybercafes on information services in Uganda (originally published in April 2003)

This study assessed the impact of cybercafes on the provision of information services in Uganda. It focused on cafe users only. Findings revealed that 69.8 percent were in the age group of 20-39 years. Eighty-seven percent were not registered with particular cafes. Fifty-seven percent indicated they were satisfied with the service. A little over thirty percent used the Internet daily. All female respondents indicated e-mail as one of their Internet applications. The hypotheses were tested using the Chi-square statistic and resulted into retaining the first null hypothesis while the second null hypothesis was rejected. Cybercafe use demonstrates a tremendous future for the Internet society in Uganda. The potential for meeting user needs in Uganda is high. The application of the Internet in the various disciplines and professions is hampered by low user skills, limited facilities, lack of support for the rural community, low downloading speed, high charges, and a lack of monitoring. Recommendations suggest that ICT policies be instituted and computers and the Internet be made part of the school curriculum to equip Ugandans with the necessary skills and to extend these new Internet services to the Ugandan rural community as well.

The development of an information society for Uganda's industrial development

This paper examines the environment within which Uganda can be productively involved in the process of building an information society for industrial development. There are concerted efforts by the government of Uganda and civil society organisations in the country towards the development of information literacy and establishment of an information society in an industrialised society. Strategies for the establishment of an information society entail the need to integrate information society initiatives into the country's industrialisation development plans. This paper discusses the strategies for the establishment and proper functioning of an information society in Uganda's industrial development. University of Dar es Salaam Library Journal Vol.6(1) 2004: 56-77

The Politics of Being Non-Political: Human Rights Organizations and the Creation of a Positive Human Rights Culture in Uganda

This article focuses on what role human rights organizations (HROs) actually play in the development of a rights-protective regime and a rights-respective society in Uganda, given structural, internal, and regime limitations. We argue that Uganda HROs are significantly limited in their ability to help create a positive human rights culture in Uganda by historical/structural legacies that have created a culture of political apathy and fear amongst the general population. Regime repression of vocal "political" non-state actors and foreign donor-implicit acceptance of regime human rights transgressions in light of neo-liberal economic reforms reinforce this fear and political apathy. Ugandan HROs, not willing to risk state repression or lose foreign aid, thus resort to non-contentious human rights issues that do not engage the regime or test the resolve or interest of society to demand for human rights for all.

The impact of cybercafes on information services in Uganda

This study assessed the impact of cybercafes on the provision of information services in Uganda. It focused on cafe users only. Findings revealed that 69.8 percent were in the age group of 20-39 years. Eighty-seven percent were not registered with particular cafes. Fifty-seven percent indicated they were satisfied with the service. A little over thirty percent used the Internet daily. All female respondents indicated e-mail as one of their Internet applications. The hypotheses were tested using the Chi-square statistic and resulted into retaining the first null hypothesis while the second null hypothesis was rejected. Cybercafe use demonstrates a tremendous future for the Internet society in Uganda. The potential for meeting user needs in Uganda is high. The application of the Internet in the various disciplines and professions is hampered by low user skills, limited facilities, lack of support for the rural community, low downloading speed, high charges, and a lack of monitoring. Recommendations suggest that ICT policies be instituted and computers and the Internet be made part of the school curriculum to equip Ugandans with the necessary skills and to extend these new Internet services to the Ugandan rural community as well.

The Uganda Society: Past, Present and Future

The Uganda Society: Past, Present and Future

A Brief history of the Uganda Society

The Uganda Society was founded in 1923 as the Uganda Literary and Scientific Society and gained its current name in 1933. In its early days, the Society was made up of some seventy members, almost entirely confined to Entebbe. During the first five years of its existence, the Society presented over forty lectures of scientific, historical, economic, or religious interest. Unfortunately, the organizers dispersed or became busy with other activities, and the Society had almost collapsed by 1928. One of the original founders, E.J. Wayland, managed to arrange an odd lecture from a distinguished visitor and to conserve the Society's assets, allowing the Society to be revived in the future.

THE FATE OF THE NILE CROCODILE IN AFRICAN WATERWAYS

'IT IS STRANGE that the loathly crocodile can provide sufficient interest to provide the wherewithal for one of our periodic talks', said C. R. S. Pitman, then Chief Game Warden of Uganda, in an address to the Uganda Society in 1941.1 His views were shared by many in the audience and many more within and outside Uganda. The Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) was and still is the most hated and feared creature in the African waterways (rivers, lakes, swamps and marshes). R. C. Maugham, a well travelled South African hunter and trader in East and South-Central Africa, observed in 1906 that the Crocodile was a 'veritable curse of. . . the African rivers', and in his opinion there was 'probably no more dangerous, more stealthly or more universally hated and feared branch of creation than the [the crocodile]'.2 The fear and hate for the crocodile stemmed from its man-eating activities which European travellers, traders, missionaries and colonial administrators described in glowing, horrid and lurid terms.3 Some of them were true, others were obviously exaggerated to add to the element of adventure and to stir hate and dislike for the crocodile among the Europeans and, to some extent, Africans as well. The crocodile, like the wolf in North America, came to be seen as better dead than alive.4 The following quotations confirm this attitude. The first comes from a 1973 book by Alistair Graham and Peter Beard:

Factions in Indian and Overseas Indian Societies, Part 3: Communal Rivalry among Indians in Uganda

r NHIS PAPER first describes the broad groups discernible in Indian society in Uganda and then discusses those aspects of , their structure which are of theoretical interest in a discussion of factionalism. Four points which arise from the East African material seem to be of particular interest.* (i) The title of this paper does not contain the word faction This omission is deliberate, for if a faction is considered to be a group organized to deal with a specific but temporary situation, then the term is not always appropriate in the circumstances I am about to describe. The Indian population of Uganda is undoubtedly divided into 'communal' groups which are permanent structural units in the Indian section of society in Uganda; but from the point of view of Africans and Europeans these 'communities' frequently have the appearance of factions and often behave as such. (ii) The material from Uganda leads me to suppose that the emergence or non-emergence of rival groups within a larger category of people depends to a sigriificant extent on the actual numbers of people concerned. (iii) A second factor related to the emergence and consolidation of rival groups that I wish to put forward for consideration deals with