WOUGNET Update Newsletter - December 2006

[Dorothy Okello <dokello@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

WOUGNET Update Newsletter - December 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

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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. WOUGNET News
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We take this opportunity to wish you all a happy 
holiday season, a merry Christmas and a happy and 
prosperous 2007. Kindly note that the WOUGNET 
office will be closed from December 18, 2006 and reopen on January 3, 2007.
We would also like to take this opportunity to 
thank all our members and partners for the active 
year that 2006 has been. In 2006, WOUGNET's 
activities continued along the lines of the three 
year program (2005-2007) with the following program areas:
a) Information sharing and networking -- This 
program aims at providing relevant information to 
women and sharing of experiences for purposes of improving
quality of lives.

b) Technical support -- This program aims at 
supporting women organisations to access, utilise 
and apply ICTs in addressing their development problems.
c) Gender and ICT Policy Advocacy --  This 
program aims at building capacity of network 
members to effectively influence the formulation 
and implementation of gender sensitive ICT policies and programs.
d) Rural access -- This program aims at improving 
rural women's access to ICTs, and strengthening 
and building their capacity in ICT use and application.
We say thank you to the many individuals and 
partners that collaborated with WOUGNET in 
support of this program including Association for Progressive
Communications (APC), Bellanet Africa, Dimitra 
Project/FAO, Hivos, GRACE project/IDRC, 
I-Network, Kabissa, Linux Solutions, the new 
Ministry of Information and Communication 
Technology (ICT), National Planning Authority 
(NPA), Open Knowledge Network (OKN), Radio Apac, 
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural 
Cooperation ACP EU (CTA), Uganda Communications 
Commission (UCC), Uganda Development Gateway 
(UDG), Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), UNDP, 
and University of Manchester/ UK Department for 
International Development (DFID).

The next issue of the WOUGNET Update Newsletter will be in February 2007.

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WOMEN ORGANISATIONS IN UGANDA
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= Mukono Women?s AIDS Taskforce (MWATF)
   http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/mwatf.html

Mukono Women?s AIDS Taskforce was established in 
1997 to strengthen the capacity of women at 
grassroots and national levels to influence the 
shape of economic policy for women. Based in 
Mukono District, the organization focuses on 
reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. With the target 
group being women, the activities carried out 
include counseling and guidance, care and 
support, sensitization and agriculture.
http://www.wougnet.org/wo_dir.html#MWATF


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ICT POLICY
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= National Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) 
Consultative Workshop, October 13, 2006
In preparation for the inaugural IGF with the 
theme 'Internet Governance for Development' in 
Athens, Greece, the first meeting of the Uganda 
Internet Governance Forum was held on 13th 
October 2006 at Grand Imperial in Kampala. It was 
formally launched by the Minister of State for 
ICT, Hon. Alintuma Nsambu. Also in attendance was 
Dr. Nii Quaynor from Ghana, whose participation 
was sponsored by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
The theme for the NIGF workshop was "The Road to 
Athens: Issues for Uganda" and the objectives 
were to raise awareness of the inaugural IGF in 
Athens, and the key issues for consideration as 
well as to raise awareness of an African position 
on Internet Governance and identify key issues 
that Uganda should take forward. The event was 
organised by Uganda Communications Commission 
(UCC) in collaboration with the Ministry of ICT, 
WOUGNET and Collaboration on International ICT 
Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).
In order to steer the NIGF forward, the workshop 
recommended that an interim NIGF Advisory Team be 
put in place. The members of the interim team are:
1. Mr. Patrick Mwesigwa, UCC
2. Dr. David Turahi, Ministry of ICT
3. Mr. Emma Mbaine, Motese International
4. Ms. Lillian Nalwoga, CIPESA
5. Dr. Dorothy Okello, WOUGNET
6. Mr. Yusuf Sewanyana, Uganda Police i/c IT
7. Mr. Ken Mwai, Afsat

For more information or for a copy of the report, 
please send email to ictpolicy@xxxxxxxxxxx or 
visit http://www.wougnet.org/ICTpolicy/ug/ugictpolicy.html#NIGF06
Regarding the inaugural IGF, the Prime Minister 
of Greece, H.E. Konstantinos Karamanlis opened 
the meeting in the morning of 29 October 2006. 
The UN Secretary-General was represented by Mr. 
Nitin Desai who is his Special Advisor on 
Internet Governance and Chairman of the IGF.
Africa was represented by high officials, 
including ministers and senior experts on 
Internet policy and technology issues. Other 
officials who took the floor at the opening 
session included Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General 
of ITU, Viviane Reding, Commissioner for 
Information Society of the European Commission 
and Guy Sebban, Secretary-General of the 
International Chamber of Commerce. The IGF was 
attended by over 1,200 participants. The second 
IGF will be held in 2007 in Brazil, the 3rd 
session will be held in 2008 in India, while the 
4th IGF will be organized by Egypt in 2009.

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LINKS & RESOURCES
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a) Development

= Action Line for development (ALFORD)
   http://www.wougnet.org/Links/development.html#ALFORD
Founded in 1998, Action Line for development is a 
local Ugandan non-profit making organization, 
which was formed to improve the social and 
economic welfare of the people for equal 
participation in development. Areas of operation 
include education, health and community 
development initiatives. Operating in Kampala, 
Mpigi, Wakiso and northern districts of Uganda, 
the main target of the organization are 
vulnerable people and the less advantaged 
including children, the elderly and the disabled.


b) Women and Gender

=  Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiatives (GRBI)
    http://www.wougnet.org/Links/aboutwomen.html#GRBI
The Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiatives 
(GRBI) website is a collaborative effort between 
the United Nations Development Fund for Women 
(UNIFEM), The Commonwealth Secretariat and 
Canada's International Development Research 
Centre (IDRC), aimed at supporting governments 
and civil society in analyzing national 
and  local budgets from a gender perspective and 
applying this analysis to the formulation of 
gender-responsive budgets. The initiative strives 
to promote the global objectives and 
cross-regional information sharing through the 
formation and support of a network, further 
development of concepts, tools and training 
materials, global training of trainers, 
South-South exchanges, and collaboration with 
international and regional organizations.

= Women, Ink.
   http://www.wougnet.org/Links/aboutwomen.html#WINK
Women, Ink. has just released its latest 
catalogue of books and training resources on 
women and development. Featuring over 70 new 
books from women's organizations and mainstream 
university and small presses worldwide, this 
catalogue is a "must have" for academics, 
activists and development practitioners who want 
to keep current on new thinking in the field of women, gender and development.



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PROJECT NEWS AND EVENTS
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November 2006

= 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence,

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence 
is an international campaign originating from the 
first Women's Global Leadership Institute 
sponsored by the Center for Women's Global 
Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, 
November 25, International Day Against Violence 
Against Women and December 10, International 
Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link 
violence against women and human rights and to 
emphasize that such violence is a violation of 
human rights. This 16-day period also highlights 
other significant dates including November 29, 
International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, 
December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, which 
marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.
The 16 Days Campaign has been used as an 
organizing strategy by individuals and groups 
around the world to call for the elimination of 
all forms of violence against women by:
- raising awareness about gender-based violence 
as a human rights issue at the local, national, 
regional and international levels
- strengthening local work around violence against women
- establishing a clear link between local and 
international work to end violence against women
- providing a forum in which organizers can 
develop and share new and effective strategies
- demonstrating the solidarity of women around 
the world organizing against violence against women
- creating tools to pressure governments to 
implement promises made to eliminate violence against women
Since 1991, approximately 1,700 organizations in 
130 countries have participated in the 16 Days 
Campaign. This year?s theme was "Celebrate 16 
Years of 16 Days: Advance Human Rights ? End 
Violence Against Women". For more information 
about the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, please contact:
Center for Women's Global Leadership by e-mail at 
cwgl@xxxxxxx or visit their website: http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu.


= I-Network Seminar - Presentation by Manobi, A data Services Operator

During the I-Network Monthly Seminar on Tuesday 
7th November 2006, the Director Operations and 
Co-founder, Manobi, Mr. David Boggio discussed 
and demonstrated the use of Mobile Data Services 
with reference to the already implemented projects around the world.
Manobi is a mobile data services operator, which 
provides added value corporate services to their 
clients to help them generate more revenue save 
costs and improve their business performance. 
Manobi a Mobile data services operator in amongst 
other countries, Senegal, South-Africa and 
France, was chosen at the World Summit on the 
Information Society (WSIS) in 2003 as one of the 
five best World Summit Award project holders in 
e-inclusion and creativity from more than 800 
e-content projects around the world.
One of their projects is a mobile service project 
in Senegal that addresses the needs of Senegalese 
artisan fishermen and individual farmers, is 
implemented in the area of Kayar, one of the 
largest fishing harbours in Senegal. The purpose 
of this innovative project is to enable producers 
as well as exporters and public regulatory agency 
to use a GSM mobile phone, a PDA (Personal 
Digital Assistant) or the Internet in order to 
know in real time the price and arrival status of 
their products at the markets, and the 
availability of these products in the production 
sites. Market data are gathered by Manobi's 
inspectors visiting fish and agricultural markets 
that enter data onto their PDAs and send them 
through the GSM network to a database designed by 
Manobi. The information is then made available to 
professionals in real time by Internet, or SMS 
using GSM phones. Such services enable the local 
players to improve their productivity, their sale 
margins and their quality of life and in return 
encourage the operator to improve its mobile 
network coverage and quality in undeserved areas. 
Manobi is now extending its know-how and 
resources to South Africa where it is in 
partnership with Vodacom and Alcatel to launch a 
new project for rural communities involved with agribusiness in Limpopo.
For more information about Manobi, please visit 
www.manobi.net. For more information about 
I-Network, contact Natalie Kimbugwe, I-Network 
Programme Manager, kimbugwe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



March 2007

= APC Chris Nicol FOSS Prize 2007
  http://www.wougnet.org/Events/projectnews07.html#CNFOSS
The APC Chris Nicol FOSS Prize recognizes 
initiatives that are making it easy for people to 
start using free and open source software (FOSS). 
The prize is awarded to a person or group doing 
extraordinary work to make FOSS accessible to 
ordinary computer users. The APC FOSS Prize has 
been established to honor Chris Nicol, a long 
time FOSS advocate and activist who for many 
years worked with APC. Eligible initiatives are those that:
1) improve the accessibility to, knowledge of and/or usability of FOSS
2) are user-oriented
3) are documented so that others can learn from and replicate the model
4) have demonstrable impact and have increased 
the number of people using FOSS on a day-to-day basis
The prize is open to any person or group anywhere 
in the world who supports or promotes 
user-oriented free and open source software. The 
application form must be completed in either 
English or Spanish however there are no language 
restrictions regarding the language of the 
project. Small-scale activities are encouraged to apply.
The prize prize money of USD $4,000 is offered. 
This may be shared by up to two initiatives at 
the jury's discretion. The deadline for prize 
nominations is March 30, 2007. For more 
information and/or to access the online 
application form,  visit http://www.apc.org/english/chrisnicol/


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WOUGNET News
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= CTA Workshop Report On the Promotion of 
Partnerships (Africa and the Caribbean), Paloma 
Hotel, Accra, Ghana.  6 -10 November 2006
Based on the importance that the Technical Centre 
for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) 
attaches to the development and promotion of its 
Partnership Program, regional meetings have been 
regularly organized since 2002 with local and 
national ACP organizations. This year?s workshop 
was held in Accra and brought together CTA 
national partners from Anglophone Africa and the 
Caribbean. Seventeen participants including 
WOUGNET, attended this year?s workshop. The focus 
for this year?s theme was ?Farmer Innovations?.
The meetings offer a real framework for follow 
up, exchange and mutual enrichment between CTA 
and its Partners, especially those already 
implementing projects through CTA support and 
those interested in the establishment of a 
partnership with CTA. The workshops have 
furthermore enabled the participants to know each 
other better, establish relationships and have a 
better insight of CTA?s activities and procedures.
The objectives for this year?s workshop were;
-         To Inform or remind participants of 
CTA?s mandate, main programs and activities.
-         Inform or remind participants of the 
orientations, project cycle, running rules and 
procedures of CTA?s Local and National Partnership Program.
-         Review projects supported by CTA, take 
stock of their current status, identify problems and define solutions.
-         Work on the identification and 
formulation of projects in information and 
communication for agricultural and rural 
development, and namely through a better 
knowledge of the Priority Information Themes 
(PIT) method and the Project Cycle Management.
-         Take stock of progress in the 
implementation of the conclusions and 
recommendations of the previously organized workshops.
-         Exchange on topics of interest for agriculture and rural development.

For further information, contact WOUGNET at Plot 
53 Kira Road, Kamwokya, Tel: 041 4532035, Fax: 
041 4530474, E-mail: info@xxxxxxxxxxx


= Reminder - Call for expressions of interest: Refurbished Computers

As a result of the WOUGNET - Computer Aid 
Partnership, a shipment of refurbished Pentium II 
and III computers is in Kampala and available for 
sale to NGOs, non-profit and faith based 
organizations, as well as Educational 
institutions. The computers are priced at 100 
pounds Sterling each and come with a 1-year 
warranty. All interested please contact the 
WOUGNET Marketing Officer, Sauce Patty Waigonda, 
by email: swaigonda@xxxxxxxxxxx or 
info@xxxxxxxxxxx or call 0772-513079 or 
041-532035 for more details and to make a booking.


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The Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) website and
mailing lists are hosted by Kabissa - Space for Change in Africa

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

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