E-Society Apac - Uganda

In Uganda it is quite exceptional that governance institutes and civil society organisations work together in promoting transparent governance. The E-Society project improves governance and service delivery through the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and E-governance in the Apac District. Through joint efforts of the interest groups in the district, the project was formulated. By means of ICTs the people of Apac will have access to relevant information to carry out economic activities, to improve educational projects, to district administration and to improve health services. In the E-Society information centre inhabitants of the Apac District, such as farmers, women, youth and fishermen, are trained on how to use computers and the internet. This stimulates them to broaden their network and to improve the performance of their daily activities.

The formulation of the E-society programme is a process that started with a quick scan in November 2006 in Apac district and covered the four sub counties of Apac, Ayer, Aduku, Akokoro and the Town council. The overall objective of the scan was to identify and assess the e-governance structures in Apac District, within the local Government, the Civil Society and the Apac Community.

The findings of the quick scan were the basis for the Round Table Workshop (RTW) that was held in February 2007 in Apac district with all stakeholders. The quick scan consultations had recognized that E-society can make governments more relevant to citizens by increasing participation and involvement of stakeholders information sharing and in decision-making.

Following the RTW, a steering committee formed at the meeting proceeded to develop an e-society programme proposal that would ensure improved service delivery and community participation through Local Government, Private sector and Civil Society collaboration. The programme proposal was a result of a series of consultations and meetings between the steering committee, Hivos, IICD and their local partners, WOUGNET and I-Network.

Read more about IICD’s Uganda Country Programme.

Much efforts - and thus results - have been made towards the ICT components of this project. Results included the establishment of resource centers connected to the internet as well as IT training.

But much remains to be done on the collaborative aspects of this project - initial steps towards that end have only been taken recently and impact can't really be measured.

The overall purpose of the e-society programme is to have an improved service delivery and community participation through Local Government, Private sector and Civil Society collaboration in Apac.

The specific objectives are:

• To improve communication between The District Council, the Town Council/Sub-counties, Civil Society organisations and the entire community through the use of email, radio and the use of Community Information Centres between sub-counties and local communities in order to close the information and communication gap.
• Establishment and use of existing Community Centres at the pilot sub-counties and civil society organisations to improve access to communication and information.
• To build and improve the capacity and information management skills of the community, Local Government and Civil Society Organisations within the district.
• To establish a Financial Information Management System (FIMS) in the district.
• To establish a District Monitoring Information System (DMIS) in the district.

1. Bridge the information gap between the local communities, the district level authorities and the outside world. This will be done by use of Content development, Community information centers and use of ICT tools like Internet, radios, fax, Notice boards etc to help in disseminating information.
2. Promotion of transparency in operation. This is directly link to the operation of the people at the District local Authorities who are trusted by the government to offer services on behalf of the central government to the local people with the CSO’s supplementing what they are doing. The the development of DMIS and FIMS, good record keeping and later monitoring wil be made easy hence promoting transparency and eventually trust.
3. Increase and improve Exposure of Apac to the outside world. With the web development Apac can gain more exposure and depending on the content this might offer some marketing opportunity for Apac to the any interested group of people like doners, investers etc who could be interested in bringing some of their services to the people at grass root level.
4. Anticipate for continues collaboration and understanding between the various stake holders
5. Continuously enhance the ICT and the information management skills of the entire community of Apac
6. To bring closer the various parties ( Up county CSO’s, Lower Local government and the community) in the rural parts of Apac to the main stream of e-Society programme through the Community Information centers (CIC’s) to be established in the pilot sub counties of Aduku, Ayer and Akokoro.

 Read more about IICD’s approach towards Governance.

• Separation in tasks of managment and Board of Advisors to create improved efficiency
• The focus in this project is on collaboration, not ICT
• Support active and strong secretariat/coordination body

1. Improved relationship amongst the various key stake hoders in the community. The Local Government, The CSO’s, Private sectors (Business community), The NGO’s and th entire community within Apac are beginning to see that we can all eat from the same plate by sharing the resources being made available by e-Society programme.
2. Increase in the resource (knowledge) level for the community of Apac. By this is meant, the access to knowledge through the use of the ICT center. Various knowledge and skills are being acquired through trainings, workshops, radio programme etc
3. Improvement in the level of computer skills by the people of Apac. This will in end enhance their performance at their various places of work. 
4. Improved relationship and sharing of Experience amongst the trainees themselves.