ICT in Uganda
Where are we now?
Impact & lessons learned
IICD in Uganda

Uganda has been referred to as the Pearl of Africa, and you only have to take a look at its emerald hills, snow capped mountains, misty forests and deep, crystal clear lakes, to see why.

Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force, with coffee accounting for the bulk of export revenues.

Since 1986, the government (with the support of foreign countries and international agencies) has acted to rehabilitate an economy decimated during the regime of Idi Amin and subsequent civil war.

ICT in Uganda

The use of ICTs such as mobile phones, fixed telephone lines and internet connections, has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. In the year 2000, just 5 people in every 1000 had a mobile phone subscription. At the end of 2006 that figure had risen to 95 people per 1000, an increase of nearly 2000%. A similar situation is seen with fixed line subscribers, with double the number of lines in 2006 compared to 2000. Given that most of the population live in rural areas (88%), it is not surprising to discover that the ratio of mobile to fixed line phones is 20:1.

Where are we now?

Several positive outcomes have already been seen in Uganda, including three policy processes. The National Planning Authority continues to integrate ICT into the National Development Planning Framework and has introduced local and national awareness campaigns.

The Ministry for Tourism, Trade and Industry (MTTI) has developed a sector policy and implementation plan for ICTs, and whilst IICD is still helping the ministry to source funding for this, the ministry is increasingly making its own resources available for this purpose. The real work of implementation can now begin, and there are already plans for guidelines and standards to be deployed in the sector, along with a central website and registration database for tourist information.

In Uganda, many leveraging opportunities have been found which can be supported by IICD. In 2007, efforts will be made to replicate the Rural Information System project under the Uganda Commodity Exchange, in co-operation with NAADS and another programme in co-operation with SNV. IICD will assist in the replication of District Net in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Uganda.

Impact & lessons learned

There is currently a strong desire from the project partner organisations to integrate the M&E process into their own learning process. They want more ownership for end users, and the ability to measure the impact on them. In this way, they will be better placed to identify their own ways of creating sustainable projects.

The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) approach, as being used today, has been in place in Uganda since 2004. In 2006, a new M&E team was established, with two partners working together. The first partner acts as facilitator and contact person for the programme. The second partner takes the role of collecting and analysing the data, and writing reports. With two people working together on M&E activities, the new M&E team has the advantage of being able to reach a wider target group.

From 2007, projects owners will take responsibility for collecting and analysing data using the online M&E tool. To ensure they have the capacity to do this, knowledge and skills will be addressed, including for questionnaire collection, data interpretation & analysis, reporting and facilitating focus group meetings. To ensure partners can fully and independently participate in the collection, analysis, and sharing of the results the M&E activities will be integrated into the National ICT4D Network, and the project node activities.

IICD in Uganda

The Uganda Country Programme began in 2000. Several features make Uganda stand out from IICD’s other country programmes. Firstly, there is a strong rural focus 88% of the population is rural). Secondly, there is a high level of commitment and self-reliance among IICD’s partners in Uganda.

Today, the Uganda Country Programme has seen success in e-governance, health and livelihoods activities, and is currently implementing seventeen projects to its name in the education, livelihoods, governance and health sectors. Sixty-five information centres have also been set up, some based on health, others on agriculture. Whether or not the information centre has access to the internet, it serves to further promote the use of ICT-enabled activities.

The result of the successful integration of sustainable projects is that the Uganda Country Programme is now moving into the independent, shared dialogue phase. IICD is now busy identifying opportunities for collaboration, preferably with strong development partners alongside local partners. They need to be committed to investing in the projects, and up-scaling them to the national level.

Addressing Uganda’s ICT needs

In 2003 IICD carried out some research on the status of Open Source in Africa (via the EACOSS project). The research indicated that there was a need for certified OSS developers and systems administrators in Africa.

In Uganda most ministries and ISPs were running on Linus, but support personnel were being flown in from abroad, at great cost. This lack of capacity within the country was addressed by IICD in a joint venture with Martyrs University and Linux Solutions Ltd, and resulted in the establishment of a NGO called the East Africa Centre for Open Source Software (EACOSS). Together we established a Training Centre and Resource Centre, aimed at raising awareness of the benefits of OSS, and providing essential training for system and network administrators throughout East Africa. Today, the project has reached the break-even point, and includes internet café activities.

Although training activities at EACOSS got off to a slow start, by June 2005 a break-even point had been reached.

ICT in projects

The Uganda Country Programme supports 17 projects and 65 telecentres upcountry. Projects are currently being implemented in the education, good governance, health, and livelihoods sectors.

Governance

A recent project initiated the development of an ICT policy and an implementation strategy for the Tourism, Trade and Industry sectors in Uganda.

The project sought the active participation of policymakers by organising ICT awareness raising sessions and capacity development programmes for top-level policymakers at the MTTI and its affiliated organisations.

This ICT policy and implementation strategy process focused on “Developing a coherent sector ICT program for the Tourism, Trade and Industry sector in Uganda”, and the policy was officially launched on 22 September 2006 by the new Minister of ICT, Dr Ham Mulira.

Developing Capacity

From 2007 projects in Uganda will carry out their own M&E activities, and use the online tool independently. To ensure the feasibility of this, IICD will provide project partners with training on a range of topics, including questionnaire collection, data interpretation and analysis, reporting, and facilitation of focus group meetings.

Establishing networks

Uganda’s national ICT for Development network, I-Network, has been operational since 2002. I-Network has a clear vision of, and strong commitment to, Uganda's digital transformation to strengthen its position in the world economy. It is working towards creating a better enabling environment for ICT-enabled development in Uganda.

I-Network’s activities include monthly seminars, special events such as workshops and policy meetings, newsletter, website and mailing list, and several small research studies. I-Network policy group is up and running, and following its official launch in 2006 is now a well known group.

An important, and successful, aspect of I-Networks function is to facilitate knowledge and skills sharing. Today, I-Network actively participates in the national ICT for development scene, and is generating plenty of policy ideas.

Participating in policy process

The first steps towards participating in policy processes were taken several years ago, at the first Ministry for Tourism, Trade and Industry (MTTI) Roundtable workshop (Jinja, 2002) when senior officials from MTTI embarked upon developing an ICT policy statement for their three sectors as well as a coherent sector implementation plan for the Ministry and its affiliated institutions.

In Uganda, policy processes have resulted in widespread exposure for ICT for Development issues and IICD. The MTTI developed a sector policy and implementation plan for ICT. Part of this will include ICT training centres and a Trade and Tourism website portal. IICD continues to provide assistance to the ministry, but the ministry is also becoming more independent and finding its own resources. Although acceptance of, and thinking about, ICTs has improved in Uganda, fine tuning is required before this process can move forward.

The I-Network policy group was launched in late 2005, resulting in improved visibility. This launch is a strong signal that ICT plays a crucial role in all areas within MTTI, and the policy guarantees that ICT is at the forefront of policy decisions within the MTTI.

Uganda partners

Since the start of the programme, IICD’s partners in Uganda have built up an impressive track record. Activities include organising projects, policy processes, events and training programmes under the auspices of the Country Programme, often with minimum input from IICD.

Key partners in Uganda include the Ministry Tourism Trade and Industry (MTTI; www.mtti.go.ug), Ministry of Health (www.health.go.ug), Ministry of Local Governance (www.molg.go.ug) and the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). Two national training partners are also active in Uganda: TechnoBrain and the Uganda Institute for Communication Technology (UICT). These local training partners are very committed and organise training events with a minimum of input from IICD.

In the NGO and private sectors, partners include Uganda Commodity Exchange, Uganda Debt Network, WarChild Uganda, and educational institutes such as Kyambogo University

To enable project partners to address their capacity development needs, IICD is working together with three National Training Partners (NTPs): the Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology (UICT), TechnoBrain and Rank Consult.

Use the Search on the right to search for partners in Uganda