tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6719829.post8867478007538100240..comments2024-03-27T12:04:05.897+00:00Comments on Rick On the Road: Assessing achievements in Katine, UgandaRick Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07028422984421301184noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6719829.post-28509062731851361282008-02-04T19:15:00.000+00:002008-02-04T19:15:00.000+00:00Hi James and allSome responses to your questions:1...Hi James and all<BR/><BR/>Some responses to your questions:<BR/><BR/>1. AMREF have developed an <A HREF="http://uk.amref.org/silo/files/amref-open-information-policy.doc" REL="nofollow">Open information policy</A>, but have not yet operationalised it. I have been pushing for this to happen as soon as possible.<BR/><BR/>2. I am still trying to get AMREF Uganda/Kenya staff to participate in the online survey, and have been assured they are allowed to. Once this happens I will open up the survey to visitors to this blog and visitors to the Guardian blog, and to a global M&E email list I manage, that has many African members<BR/><BR/>3. I agree it would be useful to find out more about the Millenium Villages as a possible comparator.<BR/> <BR/>4. Re criticims of this sort of project, <A HREF="http://www.odi.org.uk/" REL="nofollow">ODI</A> have started to engage with the Guardian and AMREF, as a critic of the project strategy, and it now is proposed that they engage in an online debate, via the Guardian website<BR/><BR/>5. I suspect Katine people don't have much knowledge about the Guardian, but they do have knowledge about oter aspects of the UK, especially football. You may have seen a story on the Guardian blog about the video room in the Katine market, where people pay to watch TV coverage of UK football. The new AMREF offices in Katine will have a "resources centre" room where the information you are talking about could be made publicly visible. Pages from the Katine website, including blog postings and comments on these, might be made available there.<BR/><BR/>6. I did get a chance to talk to the District Health Service about the annual planning processes and how AMREF does and should fit into those. This will be an issue that I will be following up each visit. There is an official Soroti District website at http://www.soroti.go.ug/index.htm<BR/><BR/>7. There is an association of Tesso people based in UK that sends money back to Soroti district, and who have already funded a number of community level developments. I met an executive member in December, and will be keeping in contact with him.<BR/><BR/>8. The question of how external visitors are handled is an important one. AMREF have limited vehicles at their disposal, and visitors (like myself) stretch these transport resources even further. AMREF is not against visitors, but is concerned about making sure community expectations are not raised unrealistically by a continuing flow of visitors<BR/><BR/>9. I talked about gift giving with AMREF staff in Soroti, and they confirmed my prior view that this is appropriate when visiting family, but not when visiting people you are not related to. Practice may well vary in other parts of Uganda and beyondRick Davieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07028422984421301184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6719829.post-63102538182136771632008-01-12T13:23:00.000+00:002008-01-12T13:23:00.000+00:00Allot more openness on Amref's side. Why are none ...Allot more openness on Amref's side. Why are none of the project documents public? <BR/><BR/>Most of the respondents to your survey where from the UK? How can you open up the process to include more Africans? <BR/><BR/>I also believe that you should visit some of the Milienum Villages, as well as carry out some desk research into what has happened to simmler projects. So that you can compare and contrast what is happening in Katine, with the other ventures. Richard Dowden the Journalist, and head of the Royal African Society has some tales of these sorts of projects having no impact a couple of years after the project has ended. <BR/><BR/>I would also like to know about the knowledge the people of Katine have of the Guardian and its readers. I think it is important that the project should be about both sides knowing about each other. For example does the school get copies of the Guardian Weekly? <BR/><BR/>What are the people, elders, and local MP's plan for Katine? (ignoring AMREF) Aid has never alone got anyone out of poverty... <BR/><BR/>What can the increase of publicity to Katine do to help Katine (again ignoring the Aid dimension). <BR/><BR/>Also does anybody in Katine, have any relatives living in Europe? What can they do to help with the project? <BR/><BR/>What do the people of Katine think about outside visitors? There seams much demand for Guardian readers to visit, AMREF seams to be against this, but it could have a beneficial lasting impact. How do you manage this? <BR/><BR/>Again one of the Guardian journalists said that they where told not to bring presents. In my experience of Africa, this would be viewed as rude. What are the impact of policies like these?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com