Tagged: Development

Katine.

A rainstorm just began in Kampala. Washing away ash, grit and smog. The orange glare of the wall out of the office window damp. The sound of the rain hitting the cement outside; thick red dust now a paste over the sidewalk.  Went to S.’s work at the Refugee Law Project a few hours ago. There was a beautiful Somalian woman in the doorway, bony face and a purple shawl tightly wrapped behind her ears and over her hair. She stood besides a Congolese man. I briefly spoke in French with him: it’s nice to have proper conversations in a language you feel is shared.

I visited AMREF’s offices yesterday. I’ve been curious to learn more about the Katine project since it was first launched. After all, media and development have never been so connected.

I met with Steve, the Communications Officer, who ran me through some details. I then met Joshua Kyallo, the AMREF Country Director.

We had a brief, but interesting chat. His vision for the Katine project, along with the Guardian’s, is very straightforward: community integration and empowerment in the process of development. The Katine project is also fairly unique in its approach: they are developing five aspects of the village simultaneously. Governance, water, education, livelihood, and health. I remember hearing a lecture from Jeffrey Sachs a year or two ago at the Millennium Development Goals conference. He had done a similar experiment (integrated development) in a village, however, without media coverage like Katine.

There’s a lot of criticism flying about Katine. Sustainability is questionable, though Kyallo emphasized that the village was being equipped with the governing structures necessary to take care of itself in the aftermath. I also previously said the isolation of one village for development might be questionable. However, Rick Davies was kind enough to point out that “The Katine project is focusing on one sub-country (Katine), not one village. There are, I think, about 50 villages within the sub-country. Villages are the smallest administrative unit. Katine sub-county was chosen by AMREF in consultation with local government, because of its relatively greater needs, from amongst all the sub-counties within Soroti district.”

As Kyallo says, there are thousands of ways to go about development projects. Combining the media, an international organization and a whole community is one new, innovative approach. Media has always had a role in development, but this takes it to a new level. It forces the media to put long-term attention on an area of the world the majority of people wouldn’t care about. The Katine website truly personalizes development, and offers what Kyallo calls the “human face.”

Apac women.

WOUGNET recently visited some of the rural villages in Apac district, Uganda. These areas have very limited access to proper infrastructure, health care, education, Information & Technology (ITC) and agricultural tools and information. While other areas of Uganda are in a similar situation, the ancient cultural and social code of the villages visited have put a heavy strain on women. Men assume the position of “head of family,” make all decisions and can dictate what their wives can or can’t do. Women have to both fulfill domestic duties and work-related duties. In Apac, this means a majority of women are farmers who work in the fields 10-12 hours a day on top of caring for their children, trying to send them to school, cooking, cleaning and washing. A majority of men have refused to help in domestic chores (even as simple as buying soap) and go to the bar to drink all day with the extra money their wives make (they are obligated to hand it over). Check out this, almost humorous, article in today’s New Vision. After reading the research report, it was clear that the women, despite lack of education and connection to urban centers, had a clear idea of what they needed: information on market prices and where to get higher yield seeds, tips for planting and harvesting, how to use fertilizer effectively, information on education and health (what to feed themselves and their kids). It was also obvious that these women are facing obstacles every step of the way. For example, joining a local organization which supplies seeds only happens after they pay several levels of expensive (compared to what they earn) memberships. They ask that they can have the seeds first and pay back the organization after with a portion of the surplus. They can’t. When it comes to women’s rights and equality: a women can throw her husband into jail if he beats her, but she has to pay the 50,000 shillings to get him out of jail (plus, it’s dishonorable to report your husband and would breed more resentment). If a woman is raped, she has to pay every person along the war (police, judge, lawyers) to let her case be heard and processed. I was talking to S. bout this last night and he pointed out that traditionally men have had all the power in Uganda. However, aid organizations have found women more reliable and efficient with aid money and have therefore focused primarily on this gender (that and obvious gender equality problems exist.) However, this has stripped many males in the household of what they see as their duty/right – to assume the position of household head and initiate breadwinning activities or at least feel like they have some control – read input – in these activities. A person writing her thesis on the above research, pointed out that men need to be as involved in women’s group as the women. Itseems that inclusion is one of the remaining options. Obviously a majority of men won’t be enthusiastic about this idea, but some might participate and it could set a precedent. That and educating teenage men on how and why playing equal parts to women is beneficial.