Ma adripi Aggrey Adrale, Thank you so much for the succinct article you have written in response to the above subject, the Role, Values and Responsibility of NGOs in nation Building. I think your presentation is very spectacular with simple, and yet very relevant examples that truly fit reflect on what you are trying to explain. You were able to distinguish and bring out the role and the relationship between NGOs, the Government and the ordinary citizens they serve in developed countries. Although, John provided a little perspective of the role of NGOs in development countries, he fell short of providing a perspective on how NGOs in the developed countries relate and interact with their respective governments and the citizens. You were able clearly explained why the activities and relationships of NGOs in developed countries with their governments are different compared to what we have in Uganda or West Nile. If you remember a few weeks back we had a good discussion with you on such examples from developed countries being used in our discussions on the forum which is a good thing, but without providing a clear picture or analysis of such example and how they relate to our environment (Uganda, or West Nile), does not illustrate the point in the discussion which someone may have wanted to present. I particularly liked your statement in the second last paragraph or your article, "*If ones intelligence cannot translate into practical solutions to manipulate or improve ones environment then the intelligence is vanity". T*his statement sounds harsh, and some people may probably misinterpret this statement in or as a bad faith, and may not feel good about this statement. I personally think that this statement is loaded with some realities of the truth and a sincere lesson and caution to all of us, that inspite of our knowledge, degrees, professions, etc we must come together as stakeholders in partaking to understand our problems and/or attempt to generate solutions or both, and that one may not do all but one can do something. That we must continue to *learn,* *encourage and empower ourselves and our rural folks to learn and continue improving ourselves within our potentials". *
This brings me to the issue of WNF as an organization (NGO). In the Draft Strategic Plan document of the WNF, the mission of WNF is to spur sustainable socio-economic development that promotes sustainable living and improves the quality of life of the communities in West Nile. From this mission, it is very clear that our partners and stakeholders in WNF are people and communities in West Nile. The question which has been asked before many people on this forum and I still struggle with internally within myself upto now is , What is the relationship and interaction between the WNF as an organization and its stakeholders/partners (the people and communities in West Nile)? Mr.Okuti Boroa on the 19th of January 2011, wrote a wonderful article in which he expressed the the need for WNF as an association or organization to develop a Leadership Team which will be responsible for the thorough mobilization and making the stakeholders/ partners see the benefit of being in this association. He stressed that everything needs promotion, selling and acceptance, which in my view or understanding meant that a well constituted leadership team is needed to promote, sell and make WNF acceptable to its stakeholders/partners. The question that lingers in my mind is, since the registration of WNF sometime last year, how far has the organization have gone in the direction of establishing a well constituted Leadership structure of WNF. While we may have provisional secretariat (I am not sure if these people were appointed or elected), the organizational structure of WNF is not, and can not only be limited to the President, Secretary and Treasurer. There is a greater need to establish a full Board of Directors, and various Committees that can and should begin planning and tackling the immense issues we have in terms of the development of West Nile. As many have alluded to, we may be poor as a people, but we have a highly skilled human resources within our community which if properly utilized can help to deliver us from some of the development paralysis we have experienced for such a long period of time in West Nile. We have analyzed, discussed and written about so many of our problems, and in some cases have suggested some possible solutions. I believe that the only way we can begin to positively plan addressing some of the problems we have discussed through WNF is for this organization to have a well constituted Leadership structure so that we have an integrated approach to the the various development issues of West Nile. If my memory will not betray me, I can remember sometime last year (about November 27, 2010 or so) the President of WNF documented 9 points in a response to a discussion that time about the need for Leadership Structure for WNF. In his 9th point, he stated: " *9. So members, we have come from a long way. our generation has at least done some thing, At least we have united our people even if it is via cyberspace. Lets not pour scorn on the efforts of those who have sacrificed a lot. Even the hosting of the Virtual Net Work is not mere manna from heaven. We do not know who pays for it or why the person hosts the same. Lets be grateful for what the Lord has given us. But now the debate should be about payment of the annual subscription fees so that he/she who has become a member at law by being a fully paid up member can legitimately question the leadership of the organization and participate in the process of electing the leaders of the organization. But as of now, those who are claiming that we need to elect leaders have no voting powers, they are not members and have no mandate to question any thing save for those who were the initial subscribers to the Memo and Articles of association and those who have ever contributed funds for affairs of the Foundation who have a right to demand for account abilities of monies collected from them and who have a say in how to use the money So lets prepare ourselves to have a real say in the affairs of WNF by becoming paid up members first. The registered documents indicate that membership is 100,000/= for those in Uganda and 50 US Dollars for those abroad. We hope members can begin paying their subscription to Anguzu Rogers and get membership cards fro 2011 since the period of transition ;lapses by Dec. 31st 2010.* ** Later on that same day the President of WNF added this piece of information: " *Colleagues,* * * *I had forgotten one thing. I believe it is not right for us to imagine that we can run the affairs of West Nile Foundation casually like what some members have suggested that during the family reunion day, adults can informally agree on certain things about the WNF. Members, WNF is a gateway to the Development of West Nile as per its Mission statement. This means that its the equivalent of Teso Development Agency, The Bakiga Development Forum, The Buganda Forum and the Zulu Bantu Association. We cannot discuss issues pertaining to this association on a cup of tea or a bottle of beer. This Association should in the near future be in position to attract Highly placed persons from West Nile including top civil servants, academia, politicians, religious leaders,cultural leaders and ordinary people. So any thing to do with binding decisions should be done within the legal frame work of its Articles of Association which is its Constitution. Lets not be desperate and imagine that we haven't done any thing. As the Chinese say a journey of one thousand miles begins with one step.* Since then we have upto this day not resolved two issues, that of (1) who is a member of WNF and (2) what is the agreed membership fee for one to be considered a member of WNF. While the President was able to clearly state (see above) that the issues of WNF can not be casually discussed in a family reunion meeting (which infact was actually a family reunion of West Nile Community) or on a cup of tea or a bottle of beer, it was interesting to observe recently in January, that the deliberations on the establishment of WNFIC was done in a bar during a Science Cafe educational presentation which in my view is contrary to his statement in November last year. (3) Will paying membership to WNFIC constitute membership to WNF as these two seem to be two different entities which all require membership? I may be proved wrong with time, but I sense an issue of conflict of interest between membership in WNFIC and WNF. While the committee members for WNFIC are busy working on TOR of WNFIC (hopefully), the issues of establishing a proper organizational and management structure of WNF as outlined in the strategic plan is very much not in the picture at this time. I tend to think that the establishment of a Functional organizational and management structure of WNF is vital and a necessary step we have to take if we are serious about the development issues of West Nile. It is my view that the formation of WNFIC would have been a project of WNF under the Finance Committee. The success of whatever WNF will attempt to do to develop West Nile will require an integrated approach from various different fronts, and this will require a deliberate integrated planning, constantly working at the issues with a clear purpose, direction and oversight under a well organized and established structure of WNF. WNF must be able to relate and interact with people and communities in West Nile in a medium where there is a constant feedback mechanism between the organization and the stakeholders/partners in planning, decision making and implementation process. The people and communities in West Nile must be looked at as the stakeholder/partners, but not as adversaries of WNF to whom issues are dictated without their views and contributions in the planning, decision making and implementaion process. The people in the communities in West Nile may be poor, but they are not easily fooled as some people may perceive them to be. Vasco Oguzua. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
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