Thanks JohnAJackson, Indeed we have a lot to get involved in lobbying. We need the various segments of society to play their roles. It is only unfortunate perhaps that some key persons like the people's representatives don't seem to be members of this forum or that they may not be aware of the existance of the WestNileNet. If only some of our member had their contact it would be of use to attempt to involve the representatives through this forum and other means. As for the roadblocks or the check-points they are really more of a revenue issue (by URA and they have stayed for too long at certain points making us feel as if we are crossing into Uganda or getting out of it into the West Nile country) and also to check on the management behaviours of the bus owners on our routes. On a sad note, my sincere condolences to the West Nile Foundation, the entire fraternity and the bereaved family on the loss of our dear member, friend, sister and mother Mrs. Josephine Finia Aridru. We had such an immense mourning or rather celebration of her life in Arua. The turn up at the burial was over-whelming, with an estimated 5,000 people. Thanks for your prayers and that of the other forum members who could not attend. We had journey mercies with a safe arrival in Kampala at 3:00am last night. May the good Lord grant her eternal rest. Wishing you the best of the week. Aggrey Adrale
--- On Fri, 4/2/11, JohnAJackson <[email protected]> wrote: From: JohnAJackson <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [WestNileNet] WestNileNet Digest, Vol 30, Issue 18 To: [email protected] Date: Friday, 4 February, 2011, 16:51 Thanks guys for your excellent ideas. Whether we have PhD or not, we should not weep. PhD is not a ticket for problem solving. There are millions of people who have no PhD but have emerged as successful corporate or social enterprenuers. Though it is wonderful to have PhD, it may not necessarily save us or save West Nile as we have seen. Therefore, my words are to encourage and empower us to focus on problem solving. As brother Adrale and Vasco have put it correctly, NGO in the G8 countries lobby their governments for whatever funds they get. The money does not come without sweat. We should all get involved and learn to apply these skills to LOBBY our government in Uganda for change. If we all become proactive in solving problems, some of the things we see will change one day or change one by one. In the G8 countries, when people donate money to NGOs or churches or for whatever purpose, the donor's tax liability is reduced so that his/her income is reduced. Such policy change requires lobbying key decision makers. Removing road blocks on the Arua- Karuma , Pakwach to Kaya, Gulu to Atiak, Kitgum road etc involves security decisions people on the ground may know best as Uganda recovers from the Konyi era. Perhaps putting out MP's behind the wheel to work with key security officers in Uganda may alleviate the problem. My guess is that there is still some perceived security risks. On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 4:26 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: Send WestNileNet mailing list submissions to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to [email protected] You can reach the person managing the list at [email protected] When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of WestNileNet digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Subject: Re: Role, Value and responsibility of NGOs in Nation Building (aggrey adrale) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 12:25:44 +0000 (GMT) From: aggrey adrale <[email protected]> To: A Virtual Network for friends of West Nile <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [WestNileNet] Subject: Re: Role, Value and responsibility of NGOs in Nation Building Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Dear Vasco, ? Thank you for your contribution to the above topic and the compliments. ? I further thank you for having dug into the archives and bringing out some of the unresolved issues regarding the structure,?activities and operations of WNF as well as the partinent questions you have asked. I want to dwell on the questions and I won't single them out. ? To the questions I offer just one general answer: the WNF plane has been airborne for too long, perhaps a superjet very efficient with fuel or with mechnisms of refuelling airborne. Time has come for it to land or?crash-land or crash. ? I think?landing will be the better option. The Interim Leadership of WNF has to call for an urgent meeting where we physically and sorberly?resolve on?the core?issues regarding the constitutional issues such as membership, leadershsip, administration. During the same or subsequent gathering we could?propose and concretize on projects and work out practical strategies of interfacing with the communities resident in West Nile. ? Until we do?the above?my fear is staying airborne and crashing! ? Aggrey Adrale --- On Fri, 4/2/11, Vasco Oguzua <[email protected]> wrote: From: Vasco Oguzua <[email protected]> Subject: [WestNileNet] Subject: Re: Role, Value and responsibility of NGOs in Nation Building To: "A Virtual Network for friends of West Nile" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, 4 February, 2011, 1:22 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". This 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. -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list [email protected] http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ 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. _______________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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