Pamoya

WOUGNET Update Newsletter - April 2004
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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
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This month's contents:
1. Women Organisations in Uganda
2. Links & Resources
3. Project News and Events
4. WOUGNET News

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WOMEN ORGANISATIONS IN UGANDA
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= Grassroots Women Association For Development (GWAD)
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/gwad.html
Operating in Gulu District, Northern Uganda, GWAD's mission is to promote
and build capacity of grassroots women to be able to respond to the needs
of their families, communities, in order to improve the living conditions
of the people in the area of operation.
http://www.wougnet.org/wo_dir.html#GWAD

= St. Bruno Doll Making Group (SBDMG)
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/sbdmg.html
SBDMG's mission is to have a group of women involved in practical work, to
have a fulltime employment and hence improve their standards of living. The
Uganda Investment Authority has accepted SBDMG as investors. SBDMG has also
qualified to attend the American Business Trade Fair due to take place in
Los-Angeles, USA, in September 2004, and are seeking support to enable
their participation.
http://www.wougnet.org/wo_dir.html#SBDMG

= Hope After Rape (HAR)
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/har.html
HAR's mission is to facilitate the recovery of abused children, women and
their families through training, research, advocacy and provision of
psychosocial suport services.
http://www.wougnet.org/wo_dir.html#HAR

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LINKS & RESOURCES
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a) African and International Women Organisations

= African Women's Economic Policy Network (AWEPON)
AWEPON seeks to strengthen the capacity of women especially at the grass
root and national levels to influence the shape of economic policy. AWEPON
owes its beginnings to the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) WomenÂ's
Desk that initiated faith-based consultations on the impact of economic
policies on women.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/africa_int.html#AWEPON

b) Agriculture

= ICT Update
ICT Update is a bimonthly printed bulletin, a web magazine, and an
accompanying email newsletter published by the Technical Centre for
Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) ACP-EU. Each issue focuses on a
specific theme pertaining to information and communication technologies
(ICTs) for agricultural and rural development in African, Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP) countries, includes feature articles by leading scientists
and policymakers, and offers a wide range of annotated links to relevant
projects, organizations, websites and articles.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/agriculture.html#ICTUPDATE

= Rapid (or relaxed) appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems (RAAKS)
RAAKS is a participatory action research methodology and alternative system
of inquiry developed at the Department of Communication and Innovation
Studies, now the Communication and Innovation Studies Group of Wageningen
University, the Netherlands. Originally it focused on action research in
agriculture. However, over time, it has been widely applied to natural
resources management and research and development in Latin America, Africa,
Asia, Europe and Australia. It provides a flexible and participatory
approach to improving innovative performance in agriculture, natural
resource management and rural development.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/agriculture.html#RAAKS

c) Development

= Child Development Foundation (CDF)
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/cdfmbale.html
Based in Mbale, CDF has embarked on capacity building programmes to train
community healthy workers and care givers in handling HIV/AIDS
opportunistic infections. This year's focus is mother to child transmission
of HIV and preventative methods. Participants are to be equipped with the
knowledge and skills to ensure that pregnant mothers do not transmit the
virus to their babies.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/development.html#CDFUG

d) Human Rights

= Institute of Human Rights Communication, Nepal (IHRICON)
The Institute of Human Rights Communication, Nepal (IHRICON) is a human
rights and communication NGO established by a group of media professionals
who have been working actively in the field of human rights advocacy for
more than a decade. Since its inception in 2000, IHRICON has been actively
involved in human rights' monitoring, reporting and advocacy. Our in depth
investigations and research provide intensive and timely reporting to the
public, government and media, and are usually followed by programmes and
projects which address the issues raised.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/rights.html#IHRICON

e) ICT-related organisations and resources

= Community Information Network for Southern Africa (CINSA)
The Community Information Network for Southern Africa (CINSA) is a project
designed to support community ICT initiatives in the SADC region. It is
currently in its pilot phase, which runs for 18-months until the end of
July 2004. CINSA will support community ICT projects through research,
networking, training, service brokerage, facilitating technical support and
project evaluation, and creating an online information resource base.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/ictresources.html#CINSA

= MTN villagePhone
MTN villagePhone extends telecommunications access to rural villages across
Uganda. In partnership with Uganda's leading microfinance institutions, MTN
villagePhone creates opportunities for poor rural individuals to become
Â"Village Phone OperatorsÂ". These Village Phone businesses can be
established in areas where electricity is unavailable and in areas where
the MTN network can only be accessed with a booster antenna. MTN
villagePhone provides special airtime rates to the Village Phone Operators
to enable them to provide affordable telecommunications services to people
in their village. Upcountry, people are now able to make a call without
traveling many kilometers to the nearest town. They can simply go to their
community Village Phone Operator who serves and supports the community by
making affordable communications services available.
MTN VillagePhone is an initiative of MTN Uganda and Grameen Foundation USA
(who implemented a similar model in Bangladesh). The first Village Phone
Operators started business in Uganda in March 2003, and MTN villagePhone
was formally launched on November 17, 2003.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/ictresources.html#MTNVP

= United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI)
The United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) is a
non-profit joint venture between leaders of the US telecommunications,
broadcast and IT industries and ranking officials from the federal
government. The goal of this collaborative effort is to share the United
States' communications, technological and managerial advances on a global
basis by providing a comprehensive array of tuition-free training courses
for qualified women and men who regulate and manage communications
infrastructures throughout the developing world. Over the last 22 years,
the USTTI has made training women from the developing world a priority.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/ictresources.html#USTTI

f) Resources about Women & Gender

= United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
Advancement of Women (OSAGI)
OSAGI's main objective is to promote and strengthen the effective
implementation of the Millennium Declaration, the Beijing Declaration and
the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW) held
in Beijing in 1995 and the Outcome Document of the special session of the
General Assembly on Beijing+5.
OSAGI's website includes a section on gender mainstreaming, providing links
to concepts and definitions, tools to support gender mainstreaming and good
practice examples.
http://www.wougnet.org/Links/aboutwomen.html#OSAGI

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Project News and Events
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February 2004

= Documentation from International Bride Price Conference, Kampala, Uganda,
February 16-18, 2004
Bride price, dowry and other related marriage gifts undermine women's
status, their rights and the rights of their families. This first ever
international conference on bride price and development brought together
human rights activists and experts and key players in the fields of harmful
socio-cultural practices, to develop an action plan to reduce or remove the
significance of bride price as a hindrance to gender equality and
development. Abstracts, Full Papers, Speeches and Publications (in Word
format) are available at:
http://www.mifumi.org/bp_conference/doc_list.htm
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews04.html#ICBPD

May 2004

= 2004 Women PeaceMakers Program, Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace &
Justice (IPJ), San Diego, California
The Women PeaceMakers Program at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace &
Justice (IPJ) is a program for leaders who want to document, share, and
build upon their unique peacemaking stories. Selected peacemakers will
receive roundtrip airfare, housing, and a small stipend to cover expenses
for the eight-week residence (September 25 ­ November 19, 2004) in San
Diego, California. The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice is
pleased to announce its 2004 Women PeaceMakers Program is now accepting
applications. Application deadline is May 28, 2004.
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews04.html#WPP

November 2004

= International Perspectives: Women Leading Change in Public Health and
Technology, November 12-14, 2004, Renaissance Washington DC Hotel,
Washington, D.C., USA
The American Association of University Women Educational Foundation invites
proposals for its third biennial international symposium, International
Perspectives: Women Leading Change in Public Health and Technology. The
symposium will explore new definitions of technology and its relationship
to public health. Presentations will focus on women's experiences in
different regions of the world where access to and knowledge of technology
and health concerns may vary. Presenters will explore the importance of
women's leadership roles, both formal and informal, and how women have used
their education to create changes that concern Public Health, Technology,
and The intersection of public health and technology. All proposals must be
received by May 3, 2004.
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews04.html#AAUW2004

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WOUGNET News
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= Invitation: Knowledge for Development (K4D) Exhibition, ITU Telecom
Africa 2004

On the occasion of the 6th International Telecommunications Exhibition and
Forum for the African region, ITU Telecom Africa 2004, from 4 to 8 May 2004
to be held in Cairo, Egypt, WOUGNET has been invited to participate at a
virtual showcase under the title "Knowledge for Development (K4D)". The K4D
exhibition will present success stories of the development of Africa
through the use of ICT on a giant screen. "The virtual K4D" allows donors,
NGOs and other entities that cannot afford the cost of exhibition space to
showcase their success stories in this field.
In response to this invitation, WOUGNET proposes to showcase the
achievements of WOUGNET and of WOUGNET members at the virtual K4D by
producing a CD that showcases success stories and projects using ICT in the
developmental domain to be broadcasted on a wide screen in The Virtual K4D
area. We thus call upon members that are interested in including their
materials on this CD, to contact Milton Aineruhanga, WOUGNET Program
Officer, to discuss how their material can be included.
The deadline for WOUGNET to submit materials is April 15th. We thus ask all
those interested in having their materials included in the package to
submit these to us by April 9th -- all contributors will be fully
acknowledged. For additional information, contact Milton Aineruhanga at
info [at] wougnet [dot] org or by phone at (041)256832 or (077)411556 or stop by the
WOUGNET office - Room 13, Plot 59 Nkurumah Road (NDA Building).
For information about ITU Telecom Africa 2004, visit
http://www.itu.int/AFRICA2004

= CTO: Implementing the WSIS Action Plan

From March 25-26, 2004, WOUGNET was represented at the "Implementing the
WSIS Action Plan" conference hosted by the Commonwealth Telecommunications
Organisation (CTO) in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference was organised as a
followup to the recent World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held
last December in Geneva, Switzerland, to provide participants with a better
understanding of the way forward for the adoption of respective national
and institutional strategies to bridge the digital divide and to make the
Information Society a reality, throughout Africa and beyond. Participants
were from countries including Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, South
Africa, Nigeria, Canada, UK, Belgium, Bangladesh, Egypt and DR Congo.
Representing Uganda government, Hon. Micheal Werikhe, Minister of State for
Communications noted that ICT is a priority area for funding in the
National Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP). He added that Uganda's ICT
policy developed along the lines of the WSIS Declaration of Principles and
Action Plan, including, the establishment of telephone and Internet points
of presence in all districts by 2005, recognition of the important role of
community radio, and the political will and commitment to create an
enabling environment for private sector investment in ICT.
A report on the conference will be made available.

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