Dear Caleb and team, First of all I would like to thank you for the efforts, time and other resources you have spent coming up with this document. I find it a very important piece of document that will go a long way in streamlining our thinking and making a meaningful contribution to the development of West Nile. I would like to encourage you to continue harnessing the good work that you have started regardless of the challenges that may lie ahead. The issues may sound ambitious but hey, how can West Nile develop if we are not ambitious? We may not implement all of them, but that should not stop us from discussing them, as in doing so, others may pick up on them. Kindly find a few comments below (ignore is some or all of these issues have been discussed or addressed before):
1. I applaud the suggestions on education ranging from scholarships to adult education. You may have discussed this, but I’m of the view that the Foundation needs to address itself to the declining performance of schools in the region. While the list of causes of this can run long, I have been dismayed by the recent development of some primary and secondary school teachers especially in Arua town, riding “boda bodas” during school time to augment their salaries. Secondly, on the issue of scholarships, it may not be necessarily be possible to provide cash to sponsor people *all*interested in further studies, but guidance on search and application for existing scholarships (there are quite a number out there) is possible. For three years running, I have been privileged to sit on the selection committee of an international scholarship programme here in Uganda, and in my experience, the quality of applications are by and large very disappointing and do not much the calibre of applicants! 2. There are many sons and daughters of West Nile in the Diaspora, some of whom are already contributing to discussions on the forum. Is there a way we can harness their resources to the development of West Nile through this Foundation? It may not necessarily be financial but I believe the exposure and connections of these brothers and sisters may have is an important asset to the region. 3. We need to take the issue of environment very seriously as it hinges on our own survival as a region. Although one does not need to fly to notice the problem, those who have been privileged to fly over the region will attest to the worrying state of desertification of West Nile. I think we need deliberate on how we all can, and make our people contribute to reforestation in West Nile in innovative and non-conventional ways. With climate change and environment topping the agenda of international development, such initiatives are easy to sell, although it must be made clear that interventions of the foundation transcend such agenda. 4. Finally, I would like to thank you for coming up with the idea of streamlining discussions on the forum. In relation to that, it may be necessary to further streamline the methods and approaches in achieving our objectives in a candid way. For instance, is the Foundation going for service provision, advocacy, or support (technical, financial and advisory etc.), or is it a mixture of all these? It may also be important to clarify the expectations of members of what the Foundation can and cannot do for them. Clarifying expectations is one crucial non-fiduciary approach to ensuring sustainability to the interventions of the Foundation. Kind regards, Ndugu Xavier Ejoyi On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 1:42 PM, Bernard Bonton Obaa <[email protected]>wrote: > > Colleagues, > > These are great ideas that are potentially transformative. I thank the team > that has assembled these issues and presented them elegantly. The activities > are indeed ambitious..which is great. I like the target for education,150 > PhDs in 10 years! A PhD program takes any where between 3 and 7 years and is > quite resource intensive. To achieve this target, we need massive enrollment > in the next 3-4 years. That brings in the issue of financing. How shall we > fund all the suggested interventions? Perhaps the less developed idea in the > present document is sources of funding. Investments in say a school for the > foundation and agricultural projects will bring returns in the long run, but > what about the start up costs? > > The activities are all essential for the development of the region. Given > their scale, we may need to prioritize, beginning with strengthening > activities that are already underway such as those in the education sector. > We could start by building a strong research, advocay and consultancy team > that would help us focus on activities that have the greatest benefit to the > region. Such a team would also provide leadership in resource mobilization > through such activities as writing grant seeking proposals, lobbying > development partners (donors), etc. > > Once again, thank you for the great job so far. > > Best regards, > > Ben > On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Caleb Alaka <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Dear Colleagues, kindly get time and read this message. Your >> contributions and discussions will change the way we think and do things. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> WestNileNet mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet >> % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ >> >> >> The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including >> attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. >> _______________________________________________ >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > WestNileNet mailing list > [email protected] > http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet > % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including > attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. > _______________________________________________ > >
_______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list [email protected] http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________
