THEY MAKE THE CHANGE HAPPEN

“I am Miss Uganda, I am a U-reporter. My beauty has purpose, and the purpose is to speak out on what is happening in my country Uganda, to  be a role model, to influence and cause social change in Uganda especially for the children and the Youths”  thus remarked Miss Uganda 2013 Ms. Stella Nantumbwe at the U-report second annual conference.

Giving the key note address at the U-report Conference on 12^th Aug. 2013 at Grace Land Hotel, Bunga Kampala, the beautiful, graceful and brilliant Miss Nantumbwe shared her faith in U-report and passion for social change through peaceful and collective means such as U-report. She explained that together makes it best “my position and mandate give me an opportunity for my voice to be heard but being a U-reporter and a member of this big network gives me even a bigger voice, I am happy to be a U-reporter. And I am certain that U-report is an essential platform on which we can share ideas and speak out on those things that others choose to ignore” Miss Stella remarked. She appealed for the recruitment of even more U-reporters to keep the wheel of reporting, sharing information and speaking out on what is happening in our communities for social change rolling. Miss Stella pledged to work with her team of regional misses to recruit U-reporters in their regions every time they go out to work.

The second annual conference which aimed at finding out what U-reporters have been able to do in their communities how they have been able to use the information received was held under the theme Youth Action for Social Change. It was officially opened by the U-report Song that calls upon the youths to speak out on what is happening in their communities. At the Conference the U-reporters from across the Country were engaged in several things; presentations from key speakers, group work and sharing of group work discussions, interface with honorable members of parliament; Hon. Majegele for Bunya East Constituency and Hon. Florence Mutabulye for Namutumba District, also Chairperson Parliamentary forum for children; and entertainment from the Music icons Peter Miles, Lillian Mbabazi and Big Deal. Exciting to note is that both MPs and Music celebrities are official and active U-reporters who too believe that U-report is one platform that effectively gets youth to participate in the decision making processes of this country and also gives them an opportunity to be heard.

Hon. Florence speaking at the conference

In their interface with the Honorable MPs, the U-reporters among other things sought to understand what the MPs and Government were directly doing to curb the increasing unemployment among the youth following the failure of the Youth Fund; to improve the deteriorating state of service delivery in the Country especially in the health and education sectors; and how much they U-reporter MPs are doing in the promotion and utilization of the U-report platform in their day to day work.

Responding to the raised concerns the MPs expressed regret about the failure of the youth fund. They revealed that they too were never given adequate time to debate its details, although they called upon the youth to remain optimistic, study and work hard and also learn to speak out on what isn’t right in their communities if social change must be achieved.

Hon. Majegele speaking at the Conference

About service delivery the honorable MPs noted that government was doing its best to improve it, adding that this is evident in the routine disbursement of funds to lower local governments and the routine monitoring of these services and funds by the political leaders to ensure value for money. In addition to this Hon. Florence said the 9^th Parliament had lobbied the Executive for an increase in the health budget, and this was done. “This year the health budget saw an increase of more than 40billion, this was geared at recruiting more health workers and increasing the salaries of the doctors in hard to reach areas” she noted. Hon. Florence however decried the increasing corruption in the country that has kept watering down government interventions to improve social services. She appealed to everyone to join the MPs in monitoring and reporting on service delivery.

About the promotion and utilization of the U-report platform, Hon. Florence noted that from time to time they have in their different committees tabled and discussed the issues brought to their attention by U-report Officials. And most often the polls and information received has guided their planning and interventions. She also revealed that she had through her district youth leader been able to recruit 50 U-reporters and she is still going to recruit even more.

U-reporters sharing in a group discussion

Smartly clad in their grey U-report T-shirts, and blue wrist bands, coupled with the joy of getting together, the U-reporters in their different groups excitedly and enthusiastically discussed and shared how they are using U-report, what challenges they were facing, how U-report can be used to transform the Community, how best the youth can be engaged in causing social change, what community issues they would want U-report to discuss, and the achievements/ best practices so far registered. Interestingly these group discussions brought out amazing answers, ideas and strategies, for example; about transformation of the community, the groups suggested that the recruitment and involvement of relevant sub county, district and national leaders/service providers as U-reporters would allow for easier access to and sharing of information with them on what needs attention in the community, while leading by example or U-reporters being role models, that is taking action to solve community issues say cleaning water points, clearing drainage systems would also foster community transformation. On the other hand the participants highlighted going to those places where youths hang out the most; places of worship, bars, cinema halls, libraries, market places, and foot ball pitches as one sure strategy of reaching, recruiting and engaging more youths.

U-reporters at the Conference

In addition to this, the U-reporters revealed that they had used U-report to share information received with the communities during meetings or one on one, and also used it to report on what is happening in their communities to their leaders. Several achievements were also shared. They included; increased awareness on the importance of immunization and birth certificates and how these can be accessed. U-reporters form Buikwe, Kalungu, Masaka, Mpigi, Kiruhura Districts to mention but a few were glad to note that more children have been immunized and more people have processed and accessed their certificates since the U-report messages and their continued sensitization of the communities about the same. Other achievements include increased awareness on the dangers and prevention of HIV/AIDS, and restoration of hope amongst the youth, that they too matter, can be heard and also contribute to the decision making processes of this country.

On a sad note though, the U-reporters pointed out that they were facing a number of challenges that are affecting their work. These include poor road and telecommunication network. The U-reporter from Kaabong District revealed that the poor road network limits them from going to deep/far villages to share and also recruit U-reporters while the U-reporter from Kanungu revealed that some messages are received 2- 3 days from the day they were sent or they do not even receive any at all for weeks. The same applies to the response they send, they at times hang, delay to be delivered or at worst bounce back. Other challenges were language barrier. U-report is still largely using English and the lack of phones by most active upcountry youths.

Speaking for U-report/UNICEF, Caroline Barebwoha the U-report Partnership Consultants and Erik  Frisk the U-report Project Manager thanked U-reporters for turning up for the conference and above all for their continued interest in reporting, responding to polls and recruiting more U-reporters.

Erik and other U-reporters pose for a photo with Peter Miles and Miss Uganda

Caroline noted that U-report was piloted in Uganda but because of it’s impact in causing social change and engaging the Youth other countries like Burundi, Zambia and South Sudan had also started it and are continuously inspired by the reports from Uganda.
She was glad to note that one of the U-report partners Conrad Natse of Uganda Scouts Association had in May 2013 recruited the World Bank boss Ban Ki-moon during his visit in the Country. And that the World Bank boss was amazed at this innovative and engaging platform. Carol encouraged the U-reporters to continue reporting for their ideas were being heard , shared  and recognized both nationally and internationally; explaining that U-report in June 2013 was nominated for the annual 3^rd innovation communication awards and was also this year selected to present youth issues in the recently concluded post 2015 MDG consultations.

In addition to this, Erik expressed amazement at the U-report initiative. “It is a mind blowing thing” Erik said. Knowing that over 219,676 youths and citizens can share ideas and speak out on what is happening in their communities at no cost and also be linked to their leaders for action gives enough hope that social change can be achieved. Erik said U-reporters are the makers of the music without whom the platform can’t achieve much or will have nothing to amplify. “You guys make this happen, what you do makes all the sense in the world, just keep on doing it- Send that text to 8500 ” he appealed.

Other key participants at the Conference were the U-report partners, Rwenzori Information Centres Network (RIC-NET), Girls Education Movement (GEM), Uganda Scouts Association, Marie Stopes, Uganda Girl Guides Association.  These organized and coordinated the conference and also facilitated the different sessions.  Over 70 U-reporters participated in this conference.

Lillian Mbabazi rocking with the U-reporters at the Conference

Lillian Mbabazi rocking with the U-report Boss Erik at the Conference