Thus far I've used this blog to bring some personal insight to my daily life and experiences in Uganda.. I'm not sure if I've captured the true essence as I read back through my initial entries, it all sounds a bit Western whiny and aw shucks and wow in its perspective. Truly, the accommodations are great, my hosts could not be more gracious, the sights and sounds and smells are Africa and that, after all, is why I chose this place. For all its contradiction in terms, for every complexity and seemingly impossible obstacle, there are a hundred or more positive, initiatives in the works. The work that PFAI has done here with so little is impressive in its scope and the many lives they have touched in such a short time period have shown positive results. I can only hope my small contribution will serve to assist in some growth and exposure for the organization.
And so we get down to work and formulate a plan to develop and deliver training components towards educating people, primarily women and youth, in the Arua district in transparent democratic election processes. The window leading towards the 2011 elections is finite and timing is crucial to complete programming and training components.
As was evidenced by the violence in the primary elections across Uganda, this program is essential to inaugurate as soon as funding can be procured. Primary elections in Uganda were held on August 30, 2010. According to news media reports, nationwide only 60 out of 117 polling districts held smooth elections, 30 had partial elections while 18 had their polls postponed due to improprieties by electoral offices. Some of the gravest concerns for the upcoming general elections as experienced by the primaries are the following: tampering with election materials, violence by candidates and their supporters, late delivery and disappearance of election materials, vote rigging and ballot box stuffing, amongst other violations. It is reported that over 100 party members were arrested including 8 soldiers along with students from a secondary school accused of inciting disruption and violence. Overall, the voting irregularities, on an unprecedented scale during the primaries, give indication that similar occurrences or worse may occur in the upcoming general elections in February 2011, and it is therefore imperative to put into place educational programs and to disseminate information in the promotion of transparent, violence-free electoral processes.
The project scope is designed as an ongoing educational initiative to empower women and youth in instilling leadership capacities towards the future of good governance in Uganda. Our greatest obstacle, of which most grassroots organizations can lament, is funding, so our think tank of PFAI volunteers are compiling lists of funders and sending out proposals to anyone we can think of to aid us in putting wheels underneath the program.
If you are reading this, and have any suggestions or contacts who would be able to assist in this important endeavour, your help would be most appreciated. In the mean time the team is compiling information, making appointments with electoral district officials, religious leaders, clan and tribe leaders and members of civil society to organize attendance at workshops designed to educate voters on good governance, election procedures, voter rights and peacebuilding initiatives. I've heard the word is out in Arua as to our work and that people are eager to participate. We're networking like crazy and hopefully in the next month or so we'll be well on our way to deliverables. Peace out.
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