Gulu and Kitgum extend appreciation for their designed online platforms

The long journey across the country that started on Tuesday, all the way from the west to the North of the country (Uganda) did not go unfruitful. With RIC-NET ICT staff Yosia and Charles Asiimwe travelling to Gulu and Kitgum for the training of the District leaders and stake holders on the use and utilization of their websites and E-libraries.

The training that started on Thursday 6^th - 7^th Dec. 2012 was attended by District leaders from Gulu and kitgum and ACORD staff. A total number of 16 participants attended this interactive two days training at Kakanyero Hotel in Gulu Municipality.

Training session 

With a bright Thursday morning, the participants were introduced to the basics and fundamentals of ICT (web browsing). A number of terms were explained to the participants which was like an ice breaker to the rest of the training.

There was later a questions and answers session that was so interactive and interesting and members consulted on a number of issues and solutions were given by the facilitators accordingly.

The second session later characterized by an introduction of web applications used to develop their websites sites was presented to them among which was basics to Joomla since they (District leaders) are supposed to update their sites on their own later after the end of the project in order to sustain them and keep up to date information on the sites.

This was later followed by a number of practical skills where they were showed how it works and how easy it is to use the application to develop their online platforms.

Questions and clarifications were made by end of day and the training ended at 5:00 pm given the heavy load that the facilitators had to give to the participants.

Later in the evening the RIC-NET staff who were also the facilitators in this case were a given a platform by ACORD on 102 Mega FM in Gulu town to explain to the entire Acholi region about the relevance of the online platforms being developed in the “Enhancing Civic competence for Social Accountability project” that is being run in the 25 Districts in the five regions of Uganda.

RIC-NET staff on Mega FM-Gulu

Present for the talk show were Loum Benard from ACORD (Project officer), Juma the radio presenter and moderator for the talk show, Peter Ocen (Gulu District ICT Officer), Charles Asiimwe Sytems Admin.RIC-NET and Yosia Baluku (ICTO-RIC-NET).

A number of issues were explained to the entire community of Acholi which among others include, the history of the website project by UCC, the home pages and how the social accountability project came in to offer support after all had not gone on well previously.

A number of advantages for these online platforms to the District administration, business community and the entire citizens of Acholi were explained and among others included;

Ø  Global publication of the Districts’ opportunities, potentials e.t.c

Ø  Repository for the district information and thus stored safely for long

Ø  Districts adverts and current news updates on time

Ø  Timely and relevant information

Ø  Easy access to public documents

Ø  Help researchers get right information about the status of the districts in which ever department e.t.c

Listeners called in later at the end of the show and gave their views, others appreciated and others were also seeking for more clarification and guidance and also others supplementing.

 Day two started with a recap of day one that was also another interactive and participatory one. This indicated that the participants had grasped a number of issues from the day one training.

Participants were later given more details of the installation of joomla and later sites presented to them. They appreciated the design of the sites and e-libraries that are hosted at www.kitgum.go.ug , www.gulu.go.ug , http://elibrary.gulu.go.ug/ , http://elibrary.kitgum.go.ug/ .

Later the District leaders gave comments, input and suppliments on their sites what to change and what to improve. All changes were noted and promised to be effected.

Members also appreciated the design of the e-libraries and said it was much easier to interact and work with after being taken through the session of login and updating them.

Later a session of the social media that has eased communication and information sharing was presented to them. Skype, twitter among others was introduced to the participants and promised to take them on for easy information sharing.

Way forward

Since there was limited data for their sites they all promised to avail the necessary information to have everything done for their sites.

They also agreed on some login details for their e-libraries to go and do practice

And that also incase of any technical issues they would not hesitate getting back to us.

They also expressed a concern that the two days training was not enough and that more trainings should be extended to individual districts.

In her closing remarks the Deputy Chief Administrative officer Kitgum Ms Oroma Rhoda  expressed gratitude for the training and thanked ACORD that had brought the facilitators on board for the wonderful training and support to the districts.

C.A.O Gulu giving closing remarks

The function was later officially closed by the chief Administrative officer Gulu Ms.Odwar Santa who expressed her sincere thanks for the training and also said it was nice and good for the district leaders. She challenged them to take on the responsibility and share with the rest of the leaders when they go back. She also said the leaders should have gone with enough skills since she had grabbed a number of things for the little time she was there “for the little time I have sat here, I have been able to understand and learn more. So for you who have been here for two days, I believe you should grasped a lot”

She wished everybody a very safe journey back to their destinations and thereafter a lunch on at the very hotel Kakanyero.

Participants pose for a group photo after the training