WOUGNET Update Newsletter - June 2006

[Dorothy Okello <dokello@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

WOUGNET Update Newsletter - June 2006
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A monthly electronic newsletter from Women of 
Uganda Network (WOUGNET) - http://www.wougnet.org
For comments or queries, contact info@xxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe/unsubscribe to the WOUGNET Update 
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This month's contents:
1. Women Organizations in Uganda
2. ICT Policy
3. Links & Resources
4. Project News and Events
5. TechTip
6. WOUGNET News
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WOMEN ORGANISATIONS IN UGANDA
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= TEWPA: Teso Women Peace activists
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/tewpa.html
Established in 2001, Teso Women Peace Activists 
(TEWPA) exists to promote empowerment of women, 
tolerance and peace through capacity building, 
documentation, information dissemination and 
advocacy. TEWPA operates in the Teso sub-region 
districts of Katakwi, Amuria, Kaberamaido, Kumi 
and Soroti. Issues addressed include networking 
and advocacy for women?s rights, and income 
generation for women through modern and diversified agriculture.
http://www.wougnet.org/wo_dir.html#TEWPA


= JESTA: Joint Effort To Stop Tears of AIDS
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/jesta.html
Operating in Kikandwa sub-county, Mityana 
District, JESTA?s mission is to help women living 
with HIV/AIDS and their families attain sustainable livelihoods.
http://www.wougnet.org/wo_dir.html#JESTA


= MWENNA: Mukono Women?s Entrepreneurship Networks and Associations
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/mwenna.html
MWENNA was established in 2005 in Mukono 
district, Uganda. MWENNA?s mission is to promote 
the human and economic rights of women for 
sustainable rural development. The organization 
deals with women?s groups and organizations in 
Mukono District operating at micro level and 
development supporting agencies and CSOs working 
on women?s development needs, in areas of Women?s 
Economic Rights, Gender, Governance, ICTs and Business Development.
http://www.wougnet.org/wo_dir.html#MWENNA


= FOWODE: Training workshop in Gender Budgeting, 
12-14 June 2006, Colline Hotel, Mukono, Uganda
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/fowode.html#EAGBN06
Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) on behalf 
of the Eastern Africa Gender Budget Network 
(EAGBN) is pleased to announce activities of the 
EAGBN to take place from 12-14 June 2006 at 
Colline Hotel Mukono, Uganda. The activities include:
a) A two-day Gender budget training workshop in HIV/AIDS
The goal of the training workshop is to impart 
skills and techniques on how to use gender 
budgeting to analyze HIV/AIDS programmes.
b) The 5th regional one-day annual gender budget Network meeting.
The goal of this meeting is to understand the 
progress of gender budgeting in the Eastern 
Africa Region and design strategies on how to 
influence the regional global economic policies and programmes.
The training will run for two days from 12th ­ 
13th while the annual meeting will be held on 14th June 2006.
Self-sponsorship is highly encouraged by 
participants from both foreign countries and host 
country. Cost to the conference will include 
registration fee (US$ 100), travel, accommodation 
and meals. FOWODE will sponsor 10 participants 
from the region: 2 from Kenya, 2 from Tanzania, 2 
from Rwanda, 2 from Ethiopian, 2 from Southern 
Sudan and 30 from Uganda. This will cover the 
cost of travel, accommodation and meals. Those 
interested in participating should submit their 
profiles by either fax or email to the conference coordinator.
For more information contact:
Mr. Mukunda Julius, Program Director, Gender 
Budget Program, FOWODE, P.O. Box 7176, Kampala, 
Tel: 256-41-286063, Fax: 256-41-286029
Email: fowode@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ICT POLICY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

= Report: Open Source Software (OSS) Weekend, 26 - 28 May 2006

The Open Source Software (OSS) Weekend was an 
event that provided an excellent opportunity for 
private companies, NGOs, government departments 
and academic institutions to explore the 
potential of using Free and Open Source Software 
(FOSS) in Uganda. Specific objectives for the event included:
- To increase FOSS awareness among ICT end users, 
policy makers and technical personnel
- To create Linkages and partnerships among the 
various stakeholders in the ICT sector through 
networking to promote sharing of FOSS resources, information and skills
- To build FOSS capacity among ICT end users and 
technical personnel through the provision of 
training, educational resources and software
- To show case innovative FOSS solutions implemented in Uganda
- To enable FOSS practitioners have a greater 
understanding of the public's needs.
Participation at the OSS Weekend was open to the 
public who met with FOSS practitioners in Uganda 
to understand how FOSS can be used to meet 
day-to-day needs. Speakers at the event included 
community-based FOSS practitioners and technical 
experts.  Among the issues discussed were cost 
effective software solutions, FOSS in business, 
the freedom of FOSS, migration considerations, 
and challenges and successes of using FOSS in 
rural areas. There were also demonstrations on 
the Inveneo Communication System as well as on 
how ICTs have aided communication in the Reflect 
Circle Project in western Uganda. In addition, 
participants received free technical training in 
FOSS applications as well as career guidance. The 
OSS Weekend concluded with an installation fest and FOSS software distribution.
The OSS Weekend was organised by EACOSS and 
WOUGNET in collaboration with Linux Solutions and 
Linux Chix Uganda. For a report or further 
information on the OSS Weekend, contact techsupport@xxxxxxxxxxx


= ICT Advocacy in favour of Rural Development

On 24 - 25th April 2006, the Uganda Rural ICT 
Partners Workshop was held under the theme 
?Building Sustainable Partners for Community Led 
ICTs for Rural Development?. The workshop which 
took place at Royal Impala Hotel, Munyonyo, 
Kampala, was organised by Action Aid 
International Uganda, SchoolNet Uganda and 
Ugabytes. Participants, who included 
practitioners of ICT projects for rural 
development, ICT policy makers and ICT managers, 
met to create a roadmap for sustainable national 
ICT efforts for rural development.
The overall goal of the Rural ICT Partners 
Workshop was to promote robust and collaborative 
strategies to enhance and amplify community led 
ICT development in Uganda. The specific objectives were to:
- Share knowledge and innovations from different rural ICT initiatives.
- Map out major strengths, challenges, gaps and 
linkages either in current programmes and 
potential areas of collaboration between projects.
- Map out a common strategic path for 
consolidating national ICT efforts for rural development.
At the end of the workshop, three main areas were 
mapped out as priority areas for collaboration. 
These areas are (1) Knowledge sharing and 
exchange, (2) Content, and (3) Advocacy, and 
organisations were identified to spearhead the 
three priority areas.  Together with the Reflect 
ICT Project (ActionAid International Uganda), 
WOUGNET was selected  to spearhead the Advocacy area.
(Report compiled by Janet Cox Achora, WOUGNET 
Program Officer - Rural Access. For a detailed 
report, send email to info@xxxxxxxxxxx)


= Report: Uganda National EASSy Workshop, 2 May 2006

The Collaboration for International ICT Policy 
for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) is 
currently running national workshops about 
increasing awareness and raising key issues on 
EASSy in regional African countries to raise 
awareness and address major concerns about EASSy. 
EASSy is the East African Submarine Cable System, 
(Proposed international fiber optic network that 
seeks to link the eastern and part of southern 
Africa to the international fiber optic system). 
The countries targeted include: Tanzania, Kenya, 
Zambia, Rwanda and Uganda. Malawi, Burundi, 
Lesotho and Zimbabwe are also targeted for 
similar workshops but with a focus on 
liberalisation of telecom monopolies in those 
countries that have signed up to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
A report that highlights the major proceedings of 
the Uganda workshop held on May 2, 2006 in 
Kampala is now available. The workshop was held 
by CIPESA in conjunction with the Association of 
Progressive Communications (APC) and Balancing 
Act. CIPESA also teamed up with two local 
partners namely; I-Network Uganda and Women of 
Uganda Network (WOUGNET). The workshop focused on 
ICT infrastructure with special emphasis on the 
opportunities that EASSy would provide. The role 
of the NEPAD e-Africa commission and the cost 
implications of EASSy and satellite connectivity 
were also discussed. Key issues raised during the discussion include:
-      Representatives of Uganda Communications 
Commission (UCC) believe that Ugandan operators 
should be ready to accept an open access model. 
In this way, they should be ready to compete not 
on selling EASSy bandwidth but providing services 
that will be enabled by the cable.
-      Given that prices for connectivity through 
VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminals) and 
satellite are falling progressively, EASSy must 
offer bandwidth at lower prices than either of 
the two alternatives. The market, rather than the 
EASSy cartel should therefore be the key 
determinant of the prices at which EASSy bandwidth would be sold.
-      The benefits of EASSy would only be 
realised by ordinary Internet users when fibre 
optic cables are extended beyond the country?s 
handful of major towns. The fact that local calls 
are expensive for the majority of rural mobile 
phone owners is in itself a disincentive to the 
extension of fibre beyond Uganda?s major towns.
-      Although opinion is still sharply divided 
over which model would best suit EASSy, those in 
favour of closed access believe that government 
should never return to doing business in national 
interest as it has proved a failure in other 
ventures in the past. Government?s intervention 
should stop at creating a conducive policy 
regulation environment. In a way, EASSy should be 
a public good run by the private sector with the aim of making profit.
-      Government should set up a Ministry of ICT 
to monitor and support ICT innovations in the 
country since ICT has become part and parcel of all sectors of the economy.
-      Government should also urgently address 
the issue of corruption that has led to the 
failure of similar infrastructure projects like 
Bujagali power project and the Global Fund for 
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria.
-      Government and private sector also need to 
harmonize efforts to address the challenges of 
rural connectivity especially through the 
management of the Rural Connectivity Development Fund (RCDF).
For a WORD/PDF version of the report, send email to ictpolicy@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Addendum: Uganda now has a Ministry of 
Communication and ICT, headed by Dr. Ham Mulira 
and supported by Nsambu Balintuma who is the 
Minister of State for ICT. Mr. Kirunda Kivejinja 
is the Third Deputy Prime Minister, and the 
Minister of Information and National Guidance.


= Report: Proceedings of The Regional 
Stakeholders Consultative Workshop on Cyber Laws 
and e-Justice and Information Security, 25th ­ 
28th April 2006, Grand Imperial Hotel, Kampala, Uganda
Creation of an enabling legal and regulatory 
environment has been identified in the proposed 
Regional e-Government Framework as a critical 
enabling factor for effective implementation of 
e-Government strategies at national and regional 
levels. The Framework further emphasizes that 
operational efficiency of any e-Government 
strategy will need a strong back up support of 
necessary legislation on data security, network 
security, cyber crime, information systems and 
electronic transactions. The East African 
Community convened the Stakeholder's Consultative 
workshops as a follow up on the recommendation of 
the second e-Government stakeholders meeting held 
in June 2005 in Nairobi, where cyber laws and 
e-Justice were identified as key cross-cutting 
issues that need to be in place for the 
successful implementation of e-Government applications in East Africa.
The East African Regional e-Government 
Stakeholders Consultative Workshops in Kampala 
were jointly organized by the East African 
Community, the United Nations Economic Commission 
for Africa (UNECA) and the Canadian e-Policy 
Resource Centre (Ce-PRC), and with the 
collaboration of the National planning Authority (NPA) Uganda.
A report of the proceedings is now available, and 
includes the workshop recommendations as well as 
a synopsis of the plenary presentations and 
discussions. Among the recommendations is that 
deliberate efforts should be made to engender the proposed cyber laws.
For a copy of the report, send email to ictpolicy@xxxxxxxxxxx


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LINKS & RESOURCES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a) Human Rights

= HURINET-U appoints National Co-ordinator
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/hurinetu.html
Human Rights Network-Uganda (HURINET-U) is 
pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. 
Ndifuna Mohammed as the new National Coordinator 
at HURINET-U. Mr. Ndifuna Mohammed replaces Mr. 
Martin Masiga who has served the Network until 
August 2005. Mr. Ndifuna is an experienced human 
rights activist with an interdisciplinary 
academic background that has over the last 15 
years cast him in multiple roles as a University 
Lecturer, OD professional and human rights 
defender. He has also served as the publicity 
secretary of HURINET-Uganda and as Acting 
National Coordinator until his appointment as the 
substantive Executive of HURINET-U.
The Management Committee is pleased that Mr. 
Ndifuna will bring this experience and expertise 
to the service of the network as the National Coordinator of HURINET-U.
We therefore appeal to all our local and 
international partners to accord him the 
necessary support, co-operation and encouragement 
as he takes on the important task of steering the 
Network to realization of its strategic intents.
Signed: Jessica Nkuuhe, Chairperson, HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK-UGANDA (HURINET-U)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PROJECT NEWS AND EVENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July 2006

= World Forum on Human Rights, Nantes, France, 10 - 13 July, 2006
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews06.html#WFHR06
The second World Forum on Human Rights will be 
held in the Nantes Métropole International 
Convention Centre from 10 - 13 July 2006, under 
the theme ?Make Human Rights a reality for all?. 
2006 will be marked by the 40th anniversary of 
the adoption of the International Covenants on 
Civil and Political Rights, and Economic, Social 
and Cultural Rights by the General Assembly of 
the United Nations. As in 2004, topical issues 
relating to Human Rights will be debated by 
policy makers (representatives of States, towns 
and local governments, members of parliaments) 
from all over the world, members of international 
organisations, of academia and representatives of civil society.

= Call for Proposals: UNESCO International 
Program for Development of Communication
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews06.html#IPDC06
The UNESCO International Program for Development 
of Communication (IPDC) is a program to support 
community and media projects via small grants. 
Media organizations such as press, radio and 
television, media training institutes, 
professional journalists' organizations, media 
development agencies, and community media 
organizations are eligible to seek support from 
IPDC. All proposals are processed by field-based 
Unesco Advisers for communication and 
information. Media projects with potential to 
serve as models are especially encouraged. 
Particular attention is always given to proposals 
from least-developed, landlocked and small island 
countries. The deadline for submission of project proposals is 15 July 2006.


July 2008

= 10th International Interdisciplinary Congress 
on Women, Mundos de Mujeres / Women´s Worlds 2008 
(MMWW08), University Complutense of Madrid 
(UCM-Main Campus at Moncloa), Spain, July 3-9, 2008
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews08.html
Women´s Worlds is the most important congress on 
academic research on gender and women and 
feminist social movements. It is a major 
international event with a main goal: to continue 
the fight against social injustice and gender 
inequalities. Feminist researchers, specialists, 
activists and internationally known public 
figures will use this opportunity to reflect on 
important contemporary issues that affect women 
in specific ways. The University Complutense of 
Madrid (UCM) was elected in Seoul (WW05) to be 
the home for the 2008 congress edition. Thus, 
Madrid, the UCM, will welcome thousands of people 
from around the Globe and from more than a 
hundred countries for the 10th edition of the 
International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tech Tip
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Problem: Booting from an Ubuntu CD
(Extract from dialogue with WOUGNET Technical Support Team)

User: Hi, I have some slight problem. My machine 
cannot boot from an Ubuntu Linux CD I want to 
install on my PC. When I restart my machine 
nothing comes on. What could probably be the problem?!!!!!!!!!
Techie: There are several possibilities why it is 
not responding, please explain what happens.
1. When you insert the CD and boot your computer, 
does it just hang, or by-pass the CD and start in Windows?
2. Is your computer setup to boot from a CD?
3. Are you using the Ubuntu Live CD or Installation CD?
4. Is the CD damaged by scratches etc?

User: Well,
1. When I insert the CD and boot it just 
by-passes the CD and then starts in windows
2. I do not know whether my PC is setup to boot 
from a CD, if this is the problem how can I reset 
my PC settings to boot from a CD?
3. Am using both first used the installation CD 
and it refused then tried the Live CD, which did the same thing.
4. No my CDs do not have any scratches or damages because they are new.

Techie:
To setup the PC to boot from CD,
1. Re-start your PC. Before it boots in windows 
press F2, to take you into the setup mode.
2. On the setup screen select the Boot sequence, 
1st from removable devices (such as floppy 
drive), 2nd from CD Rom and 3rd from Hard-drive.
3. Save and exit, then re-boot the computer with 
the Ubuntu installation CD, if you want to 
install, or the Ubuntu Live CD is you want to use Ubuntu without installing it.
If you are doing an installation, please make 
sure you know what you are doing, and that you 
have a back-up of your information, just in case 
you accidentally delete information you need.
This TechTip was compiled by the WOUGNET Technical Support Team.
For more information contact 
techsupport@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit http://www.wougnet.org


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WOUGNET News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

= WOUGNET makes six years

Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) makes six years 
and is surely an organisation on a mission to 
move towards greater success in promoting and 
supporting the use of ICTs by women and women 
organisations in Uganda, so that they can take 
advantage of the opportunities presented by ICTs 
in order to effectively address national and 
local problems of sustainable development. When 
WOUGNET began six years ago she was an online 
organisation, targeting to enable women and women 
organisations make effective use of email and the 
Internet. Now the organisation has since 
diversified, has a physical presence - at Plot 53 
Kira Road, and targets women both on the internet 
and offline - in both rural and urban areas. 
WOUGNET activities are carried out under four programme areas namely:
a) Information Sharing and Networking: This 
program aims at facilitating access to relevant 
information by WOUGNET members in urban and in rural areas.
b) Technical Support: This program aims at 
supporting WOUGNET members to access, utilise and 
apply ICTs in addressing their development problems.
c) Gender and ICT Policy Advocacy: This program 
aims at building the capacity of WOUGNET members 
and partners to effectively influence the 
formulation and implementation of gender sensitive ICT policies and programs.
d) Rural Access: This program aims at improving 
rural women, and WOUGNET members and partners? 
access to ICTs as well as strengthening their capacity to use and apply ICTs.
WOUGNET remains committed to sharing experiences 
and lessons learned with partners and members 
alike. A big thank you to all the WOUGNET 
members, partners and supporters who continue to 
make WOUGNET what it is today. WOUGNET 
appreciates all the input, contributions and 
participation from members, partners, list 
subscribers, seminar/workshop participants, and 
all individuals and organisations that have 
contributed to/supported WOUGNET programs in various ways.

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

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