Pamoya

WOUGNET Update Newsletter - November/December 2009
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A monthly electronic newsletter from Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET)
- http://www.wougnet.org

For comments or queries, contact info [at] wougnet [dot] org

To subscribe/unsubscribe to the WOUGNET Update
Newsletter, send a message to info [at] wougnet [dot] org
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subscribe/unsubscribe WOUGNET Update Newsletter

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This issue's contents:
1. News and Events
2. Tech Support
3. Citizen Journalism
4. Gender and ICT Policy
5. WOUGNET News

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It is this time of year when we take opportunity
to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season, a Merry
Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2010. Kindly
note that the WOUGNET office will be closed from
December 21, 2009 and reopen on January 11, 2010.

We would also like to take this opportunity to
thank all our members and partners for the active
year that 2009 has been. This has been the second
year under the 2008-2010 WOUGNET program that
aims at reaching further out to WOUGNET members
at the grassroots in both urban and rural areas,
focusing and reaching out to more women in terms
of information access and skill acquisition in
ICT, and continuing to advocate for gender
sensitive ICT Policies and programs. The 2008 -
2010 program has three major program areas:

a) Information sharing and networking -- This
program aims at providing relevant information to
women and sharing of experiences for purposes of improving quality of lives.

b) Technical support -- This program aims at
supporting women organisations to access, utilise
and apply ICTs in addressing their development problems.

c) Gender and ICT Policy Advocacy -- This
program aims at promoting and advocating for
gender responsive ICT policy processes in Uganda.

We say thank you to the many individuals and
partners that collaborated with WOUGNET in
support of this program including Association for
Progressive Communications (APC), BROSDI, CIPESA,
Citzen Journalism in Africa (CJA), Dimitra
Project, Hivos, I-Network, International
Taskforce on Women and ICTs, Kabissa, Ministry of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT),
Mountbatten, NEPAD, Radio Apac, Raising Voices,
Tactical Tech, Technical Centre for Agricultural
and Rural Cooperation ACP EU (CTA), Thermocool,
Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), and all WOUGNET members.

The next issue of the WOUGNET Update Newsletter will be in February 2010.

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News and Events
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= Tech Back The Tech Campaign 2009 - Uganda
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/443/1/

WOUGNET in partnership with the Association for
Progressive Communications WomenÂ's Networking
Programme (APC WNSP) is pleased to invite you to
participate in the Take Back the Tech Campaign.

Take Back the Tech is a collaborative global
campaign that calls on all ICT users to take
control of technology and use it to change gender
power relations. WOUGNET will be working to
localise actions of the Take back the Tech
Campaign in Uganda during the 16 Days of Activism
against Gender Based Violence from November 25 to
December 10, 2009. The 2009 theme for the 16 Days
of Against Gender Based Violence is: "Commit -
Act - Demand: We CAN End Violence Against Women!"

Information on how to participate via blogging,
SMS or through a public dialogue is available online at:
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/443/1/

The daily SMSs and other blogs are available at:
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/blogsection/20/216/

= Women in Business Challenge
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/index.php

The "Women in Business" Challenge aims to support
women entrepreneurs providing them with the
assistance, templates, contacts and financiers to
get their business started. Creating a level
playing field for men and women entrepreneurs.
Currently 23% of BiD Network's business proposals
come from women entrepreneurs. The aim is to increase this.

Women in Business Challenge is a new sector
competition developed by BiD Network and powered
by ING and ICCO, this challenge focuses on women
entrepreneurs in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Deadline for application is January 15, 2010.

= Isis WICCE: Nothing About us, without us!
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/435/1/

The Government of Uganda responded to the
challenges created by armed conflicts in North
and North Eastern Uganda by developing the Peace,
Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda
(PRDP), whose full-scale implementation started in July 2009.

Isis WICCE has produced a video clip that voices
womens concerns on the PRDP process and presents
recommendations for all stakeholders involved in
the PRDP implementation. The clip was produced in
October 2009 by Isis-Women's International Cross
Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) on behalf of the
Women's Task Force for a Gender Responsive PRDP,
with the support of UNIFEM and Hivos.

= Coalition Advocacy for Rural Development (CARD) closes project in Apac
http://kic.wougnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70%2...

The Coalition for Rural Development (CARD) has
officially closed its project in Apac district.
CARD is a Non Governmental Organisation in Uganda
that has been disseminating household rocket
stoves in Apac District since January 2009.

= Cassava root rot disease hit farmers in Agweng Village, Apac district
http://kic.wougnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68%2...

Several farmers from Agweng Village, Abedi parish
in Apac district have decried the attack of root
rot disease of cassava that has destroyed their
cassava gardens. The first initial report was
delivered by Mr Jimmy Okello, an affected farmer
in Agweng village who consulted Community Focus,
a early morning live discussions on Radio Apac
about the strange disease. Mr Okello was referred
to the Kubere Information Centre (KIC) offices
with samples of the cassava stem and the disease
was identified as root rot cassava and he was
given detailed information on how to eliminate
the disease. Mr Okello later called during the
KIC weekly (Mondays) agricultural radio programs
after gathering farmers in his village to listen
to the root rot topic discussed on radio and control methods.

= Kubere Information Centre Q and A
http://kic.wougnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=7&I...

A sampling of some of the questions asked by farmers,including:
1. I want to know if it is advisable to burn or
remove grass from the field after first ploughing
2. What is the importance of breeding local goats with improved/exotic breed
3. What should be considered when taking care of young goats (kids)
4. What type of feed is good for feeding goats

For more information about the Kubere Information
Centre (KIC) and/or to serve as a volunteer
expert for KIC's Q and A, send a message to kicinfo [at] wougnet [dot] org

*** UPCOMING EVENT ***

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence
- Public Dialogue, 9 December 2009
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/443/213/

A Public Dialogue will be held on 9 December 2009
as one of the activities for the 16 Days of
Activism Against Gender Based Violence. The 2009
global theme for the 16 Days is "Commit • Act •
Demand: We CAN End Violence Against Women!". The
half day public dialogue will take place at Grand
Imperial hotel starting at 2:00pm. The focus of
the dialogue is to create awareness on how ICTs
can be used to strengthen the fight against Gender Based Violence.

To participate in the Public Dialogue, please
register your participation by sending email
to info [at] wougnet [dot] org or by sending SMS to +256-78-3728899.

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Tech Support
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= The Digital Doorway: A solution to Rural Communities
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/component/option,com_mamblog/Itemid,83/task,s...

The Digital Doorway is a very robust computer
kiosk. It was developed so that it could be put
in rural areas among communities and school areas
so that the communities can just use it to equip
themselves with ICT skills and retrieve local
content relevant to their needs. It is also good
for school children to teach themselves how to use the computer.

= November 2009: Restore Crtl-Alt-Backspace in Ubuntu Linux
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/432/77/

In the last release of Ubuntu (9.04) the
Ctrl+Alt+Backspace key sequence normally used to
kill the X server was disabled by default.
Apparently many people like to kill their X
server this way so a workaround "dontzap" package
was used to enable it. With the latest Ubuntu
release (9.10, aka Karmic) it's even simpler to enable it.

= December 2009: Protect Yourself from E-Mail Hacking
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/category/12/36/77/

Â"Two years from now, spam will be solved,Â" said
Bill Gates in 2004. Since that two year mark in
2006, spam levels have steadily climbed from 56%
to 80% of all email by 2008. While antispam
filters have become more sophisticated, it is
clear that spammers are not giving up the spam
fight. An emerging technique is using hacked
personal email accounts to scam contacts in the address book.

For more information or for assistance in
managing your computer and in using the Internet,
contact techsupport [at] wougnet [dot] org

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Citizen Journalism
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= Citizen Journalism in Africa project: WhatÂ's the way forward?
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/component/option,com_mamblog/Itemid,83/task,s...

The successful end of a project marks a milestone
for any organization. It seemed appropriate then,
that the end of the Citizen journalism in Africa
project was concluded in style in Lesedi a
cultural site in SouthAfrica during the Â"Keep in
touch workshopÂ" organised with support from Hivos and SANGONeT SouthAfrica.

The aim of the CJA project was to increase civil
society organisationsÂ' use of and interaction
with various forms of media. This would help them
maximise their communication strategies and outreach.

= CJA blogs on Uganda available via WOUGNET website

Follow the blogs on the Citizen Journalism in
Africa (CJA) website that are focused on Uganda.
The section 'What's New at the CJA Portal:
Uganda' on the WOUGNET website highlights the most recent blogs at:
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/blogcategory/66/105/

Blogs highlighted include:
- Peoples Concepts about Twins
- The Young Face of HIV/AIDS
- A Lion slain -- outcome of the ?Battered Woman Syndrome'?
- East African Region Gender Equality Is A Reality
- Help! Coffee disease is drying all our coffee
- No Death Penalty For Homosexuals.
- The Importance Of Education

More blogs at can be read at
http://www.citizenjournalismafrica.org/news/Uganda

The Citizen Journalism in Africa project (CJA) is
a three-year initiative funded by both Hivos and
the EU. Hivos is working with SANGONet (South
Africa) on this project. The aim of the project
is to increase civil society organisations' use
of and interaction with various forms of media.
This will help them maximise their communication
strategies and reach. It is hoped that this will
strengthen the organisations' use of media and
increase quality information dissemination capacity using multiple platforms.

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Gender and ICT Policy
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= Gender and Climate Change
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/436/29/

The Global Gender and Climate Change Alliance
(GGCA), which was founded by UNEP, UNDP, WEDO and
IUCN, held its first Africa Gender and Climate
Change Training of Trainers workshop in Addis
Ababa from 15 to 17 October 2009. A team from
UNEP under the leadership of Dr. Janet
Kabeberi-Macharia, the Senior Gender Advisor,
organised the training. The end of the training
was timed to coincide with the beginning of the
meeting of African negotiators in the ongoing
global climate change negotiations building up to
the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-15)
to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) slated for December 2009 in Copenhagen.

= Men too are not immune to gender based violence
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/452/1/

As we participate in the 16 Days of activism
against Gender based violence which run from 25th
November to 10th December every year as well as
celebrate the recent passing of the Domestic
Violence bill in the Parliament of Uganda, we
need to reflect on a number of issues that have
rocked our country in regard to gender based
violence. The global theme for this year is
"Commit Act Demand: We CAN End Violence Against
Women!" whereas the regional theme for Horn, East
ans Southern Africa is Â"Happy and healthy relationships are violence freeÂ".

We need to keep in mind that gender based
violence encompasses a wide range of human rights
violation such as sexual abuse (Rape, defilement,
harassment), battering, human trafficking as well
as negative cultural practices like Female genital mutilation.

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WOUGNET News
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= WOUGNET Participates in the 4th Digital Citizen
Indaba 2009 at Rhodes University in South Africa
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/blogcategory/66/105/

The annual Digital Citizen Indaba (DCI) is a
platform for bloggers, podcasters, vodcasters,
mobile journalists, citizen reporters, new media
practitioners, online industry experts and civil
society representatives, as citizens who try to
empower themselves and their community using new media technologies.

= Knowledge for Development in Africa:
Opportunities and Challenges
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/component/option,com_mamblog/Itemid,83/task,s...

The Knowledge for Development in Africa (Ink4DEV)
workshop ended in Windhoek on the 13th November
2009 with participants discussing knowledge
management as a tool that can be applied within
organisations in light with the current age of
improved information and communications
technologies where organisations are increasingly
inundated with information that tend to overwhelm
them yet such information and knowledge can play
a vital role in improving the efficiency,
effectiveness, competitiveness and impact of such
organisations. WOUGNET was among the
organisations that participated in the workshop.

= Follow WOUGNET on Facebook and Twitter via WOUGNET website
http://www.wougnet.org/cms/index.php

Site visitors can now access WOUGNET on Facebook
and on Twitter via links from the WOUGNET website.

Become a Fan - Direct access to WOUGNET@Facebook is at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Women-of-Uganda-Network/133443013569

Follow WOUGNET - Direct access to WOUGNET@Twitter is at:
http://twitter.com/wougnet

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The Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) website and
mailing lists are hosted by MountBatten a local hosting company in Uganda

WOUGNET is supported by APC, CTA, Dimitra/FAO and Hivos

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For comments or queries, write to: info [at] wougnet [dot] org