INFORMATION SHARING CAUSES ACTION TOWARDS SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY.

Information is any relevant news or data or facts gathered, processed and analyzed and shared with other stake holders who include among others; the farmers, health officer, political leader, teachers religious leader and members of Public. The role of information officers is to identify such silent issues in the society that can be amplified. The training took place on 28th November at RIC-Net head office in fort Portal.

The focus of the training was how the information we gather can speak out and influence change in the communities where we work. The main facilitator Ms Alice Mushenene Mbayahi mentioned that “what makes good information is the 5W’s”. Information should have content, evidenced based, having facts and based on the community are facing. Information should be shared and should emphasize on a single issue for action to be realize.

She emphasized on the methods of gathering information as observation, discussions, interview and dialogue. Information officer should easily identify the sources, monitor the project or issues in the community, share with other stakeholders, and identify the local government development project cycle.
In doing all this, it was realized that the entry point is important in information sourcing. Create a good social relationship with people, write a simple description of the issue, make follow-ups’ and if no action is done then engage the community in the issue before a dialogue with the authority can be organized.

By the end of the training, the information officers agreed that in order to cause change in the community, there is a great need to develop interest in serving the community, share timely information, improve the means of communication, improve our resource centers with timely information and engage our leaders to practically be accountable to the community they are serving.