Uganda MDG/GCAP Coalition

National Coalition:

This page is being updated. please visit agains on Monday 22nd Oct 2007

If you want to be part of the national coalition as part of the Global Call to Action against Poverty, you can contact:

Deo Nyanzi
Uganda National NGO Forum
email: ngoforum@infocom.co.ug / ddnyanzi@yahoo.com 
Tel: (w) +256 414 510272; 501674

Fax: + 256312260372

Events in 2007

Stand up Speak out Public Poverty Forum

Under the theme ‘Why are we still poor?’ the Public Poverty Forum was the main event for stand up, speak out activities in Uganda. Attended by over 500 people, the Forum provided a platform for citizens to speak out and raise and re-examined Uganda’s poverty agenda. Seven panelists representing Government, Academia, Media, Parliament, Women, Traders at the Forum set the stage for an intelligent discussion and debate on Uganda’s poverty problem and the challenges impeding the attainment of the millennium development goals. In his opening remarks, the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Mr. Theophane Nikyema who was the chief guest noted that “…indeed, Uganda has relentlessly pursued the MDGs during the past decade, and is on course for Goals 2 and 6 on universal primary education and HIV/AIDS reduction, respectively. However, a glance at Uganda’s MDG scorecard at this midpoint indicates that for the rest of the MDGs and associated targets, the country is hardly on course and more effort is needed to ensure that all the goals are attained. For instance, although the country has made significant progress in the UPE programme, the quality of education is still poor. Again, even though Uganda has done reasonably well in fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases still pose a serious challenge. Malaria remains the leading cause of illness and death in Uganda and is widespread in 95 percent of the country”. Speaker after speaker decried the colossal levels of corruption in Uganda; lack of prioritization in budget allocations; increased public expenditure; the “subsistence thinking” of the leaders who are also unfortunately “transaction leaders”; poor, uncoordinated planning and institutions; the unregulated foreign investment suffocating local industries; Uganda’s docility in the in the international trade architecture etc.  “We are tired of talking and talking but today we had to stand up and speak out, something has to be done, we need action”, Dr. Augustus Nuwagaba said on behalf of the panelists. The forum called for intensive mobilisation of citizens particularly at the local level to incite them to demand for urgent action from government to improve the lives of its poorest citizens through the attainment of the MDG targets. The UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Mr. Theophane Nikyema led the Forum in a stand up moment to read the stand up, speak out pledge.

President Museveni Signs Stand up Speak out Pledge

As a sign of Government’s commitment, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda signed a Stand up and Speak out pledge on October 17^th.  In the statement, the President pledges to “make it our first responsibility to save the lives of our citizens; to tackle inequality; to be accountable to our people; to govern fairly and justly; to fight corruption and uphold human rights. The President also called on “leaders of wealthy countries to keep their promise of poverty reduction, debt cancellation; more and better aid; fair trade; health for all; maternal care and gender equality”. Upon receiving the signed pledge the MGG/GCAP coalition published it in the leading newspapers to ensure that citizens continuously demand for action on the commitment made by the President in the Pledge. The Coalition plans to use the pledge to engage the President and Government in subsequent campaign activities.

Stand up, Speak out with Churches and Religious Leaders

Mobilizing through the Uganda Joint Christian Council, the MDG/GCAP Coalition organised special morning and lunch hour services in different churches in Kampala and neighbouring districts. Church leaders led the stand up moment and reading of the pledge and called on government to fight corruption and uphold human rights. All the churches committed to continue mobilizing and encouraging their large number of people to speak out against injustice and poverty. A religious leaders, round table attracted key church leaders from the Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, and Pentecostal churches who demanded for a just society; and the promotion of accountability and transparency. The church leaders committed to engage government on these issues and to spread the anti poverty crusade during their religious services.

Stand up, Speak out in Schools

The MDG/GCAP coalition worked with Uganda National Teachers Union to mobilize events in schools allover the country. Special school assemblies were held in over 100 schools in different districts. Teachers and students demanded that the educational needs of future generations of school children are taken into account. In addition to reading the stand up pledge, the schools raised their voices and spoke out in favour of quality teachers for quality education n Universal Primary Education. The coalition also worked with Art of Living to organised events in up market schools

Events in 2006

Introduction

On October 15/16, the Uganda MDG/GCAP coalition joined campaigners all over the world to Stand Up and demand that our leaders live up their promises to end world poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The Coalition organised stand up moments in churches and schools to demand for more accountability and action to end poverty in Uganda.

Stand Up moments

A number of Stand up Moments were organised in and around Kampala, particularly in the five Divisions of Kampala district. Other stand up moments were also organized by different organisations and groups in the districts. The Stand up moments were intended to not only mobilise more people throughout the country to join the MDG campaign but also more importantly to put pressure on national and local leaders to take action in eradicating poverty. A total of 35,872 people were registered as having participated in Stand Up moments around the country.

Schools/Tertiary institutions Stand up Against Poverty

Stand up moments were organized in a number of selected primary and secondary schools. Specifically, extraordinary Stand Up Against Poverty school assemblies were organised in 12 schools. At the Assemblies, a shorter version of the Stand Up Pledge was distributed to all students who read it themselves at the assemblies. Coalition volunteers at each school were given a few minutes to talk about the International Day of Poverty Eradication, the stand up moment, the MDGs and the campaign in Uganda.

At Makerere University, a group of students mobilized themselves and organised a stand up event at the University. The University campus was the coordinating venue for the Kampala central division stand up events

Churches Stand Up in Prayer against Poverty

Stand up moments were also organised in 12 churches around Kampala. As was the case in the schools, a shorter version of the stand up pledge was distributed to whoever attended the religious services. In addition, a Stand Up against poverty Prayer developed by the Coalition was distributed. Both the pledge and the Prayer were read in a stand up moment during the Sunday service. It should be noted that key decision and policy makers and national leaders including judges, members of parliament, army officers, members from the first family etc also that attended the Sunday services also participated in these Stand up moments at the churches. The coalition was therefore convinced that the message and call for action to achieve the MDGs reached home to policy makers but also in terms of mobilizing citizens to d demand for accountability of the leaders.

Events in 2005

WHITE BAND DAY II – 10TH SEPTEMBER

Uganda has started their campaigning for White Band Day 2 with a strong lobby meeting. The coalition organised a High Level Breakfast meeting, which drew over 60 participants, including Parliamentarians, Government Minister, the Academia, Donor Community and Civil Society. At this meeting the coalition launched their report to ensure that these 60 influential people and decision makers “wake up” to their demands before they send a delegation to the UN Summit.

The coalition’s report identifies areas of weak performance, which include the high Infant Mortality Rates (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rates (MMR) which at 88/1000 and 354/100,000 respectively are way off the 78/1000 and 122/100,000 marks that the MDGs set for IMR and MMR - there is no way these targets will be met in the stipulated timeframe. Other targets where performance is below expectations are malaria, which remains the number one killer disease. There are also threats to the environment and access to safe water and associated problems remains a dark spot.

BACKGROUND

Snapshot of GCAP/MDG Campaign Events/Activities.

• July 20th 2005: Public Dialogue on the Commission for Africa to reflect on the far reaching suggestions and how they relate other initiative particularly NEPAD and MDGs. The dialogue is being organised by Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA) in collaboration with Uganda National NGO Forum. The British High Commissioner is expected at the dialogue.
• July 23rd 2005: Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) in collaboration with NGO Forum will undertake campaign events to drive, mobilize, inspire and bring on board religious leaders across the country to take a center stage in the GCAP/MDGs campaign. Among the planned events includes a visit to Jinja Hospital Children and Maternity wings to assess the health care situation and needs; campaign events at a landing site and press conferences.
• July 24th 2005: Civil Society interviews with the BBC on trade, aid and debt particularly on the matter of conditionality.
• July 24th 2005 – GCAP/MDG Campaign and Launch in Teso Sub Region – Eastern Uganda. Over 5000 people from all corners of the region are expected to attend. Capt. Emily Otekat, the Chairperson of Commonwealth Local Governments Forum is the Chief Guest and will be accompanied by Members of Parliament and leaders from the region.
• July 26th 2005: Live TV talk show on “Civil Society Reactions to Debt Cancellation” Representatives from key lead CSOs on this issue including Uganda Debt Network and NGO Forum will participate in the phone in live TV talk show.

FRIDAY JULY 1, WHITE BAND DAY

Photo gallery

Launch of the Civil Society Report “A Long Way to Go – Civil Society perspectives on the progress and challenges of attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Uganda."

In Kampala over one thousand people will be involved in street marching, as well as a series of other events, TV talk shows, different activities. The coalition is also launching a Millennium Development Goals report and will present it to the government.

Read the report: Kampala speaks out (pdf)

• July 28th -29th 2005 – Proposed launch of the Uganda Social Forum.

  Members of the GCAP Coalition Uganda:

· Council for Economic Empowerment of Women In Africa [CEEWA-U]
· African Women’s Economic Policy Network [AWEPON]
· Anti Corruption Coalition Uganda [ACCU]
· Uganda Muslim Women’s [UMWADD]
· Uganda Women’s Network [UWONET]
· RUDMEC
· NGO forum Uganda