E-society Centre Support Knowledge Building Programme

Ms Fieke Jansen Programme officer ICT -Media in HIVOS arrived at RIC-NET on the 19th April aboard the RIC-NET so called "chopper". she met the staff of RIC-NET and visited some county information centres. At Kabarole information centre in fort portal municipality she was impressed by the centre set up.

The District Information Officer Kasese John.B.Thawite told the guests at the ceremony that the e-society is aimed at bringing the society of Kasese into a purview of electronic usage for poverty-reduction to improve their social economic, health, cultural and education status of the Kasese community.

‘The e-society will answer the issue of inadequate access to timely and relevant information, a key aspect that limits citizens’ effective participation in the planning and monitoring processes in the district’ Thawite added.

He said that the plan was in place to decentralize the resource centre services to counties, sub-counties and parishes in order to benefit more of the rural people.

Officiating at the ceremony the district chairman Rev. Canon Julius Kithaghenda underscored the need to empower the people with information that can help them to fight poverty.

He noted that without information sharing and giving to the people the fight against poverty would not succeed.

‘I tell you our people are derail and sometimes they vote for people they couldn’t vote for because they lack information’ Kithaghenda said.

He challenged Civil servants to be computer literate so that they can much with the technological developments in the world, proposing that computer-illiterate civil servants be sacked.

The Chief Administrative Officer Kasese Giles Kahika said that his office was drawing a plan of sustaining the e-society resource centre after the donors pulled out and assured the people that it would be maintained and serve the intended purpose.The function was attended among others by Ms Fieke Jansen a Programme officer ICT -Media in

The function comes on the heals of a seminar on knowledge sharing at development that was held at Kagote, Fort portal municipality a week before. In this seminar, farmers and expert shared information on exploring ways of making marketing mechanisms work for the poor. The e-society component opened in kasese and now being rolled in Kabarole District is key on making the information accessible to all stakeholders even market information to the poor people.

Chairperson LCV Kasese commissions the E-society resource centre

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“This is historical moment for Kasese District Local Government” these were the words of almost every speaker at the commissioning of the e-society resource centre at Rukoki District headquarter in Kasese District yesterday the 20^th April 20011.

The e-society is an online platform that has been created by Rwenzori Information centre network (RIC-NET) together with KALI, IWDP and GOOD Hope with support from IICD, HIVOs and Kasese district local government. It is hoped that the e-Society will answer the issue of inadequate access to timely and relevant information, a key aspect that limits citizen's effective participation in the planning and monitoring processes in the district.

While presenting his speech the outgoing chairperson LCV Kasese Rev.Canon Julius Kithaghenda said” if someone offers you a gift, you the receiver must do three things: one receive the gift, appreciate the gift and then use the gift to your benefit” he therefore called upon the people of Kasese district to use the e-society for their benefit since they had already received the facility, and they have appreciated.

Speaking at the same function, the representative from HIVOs Fieke Jansen thanked Kasese district local government for have accepted RIC-NET and RWECO their development partners operating in the area to initiate the e-society centre at the district, she also said as Hivos, they are also learning more from Kasese as per the operation of the e-society. More stories coming soon

RIC-NET IT Team Join RWECO Observers to disseminate their election monitoring report

Let us build our Uganda!
These were the words of the RDC Kabarole District during the dissemination of the election monitoring report presented by Rweco observers.The RDC said every society has its weakness but the best thing to ensure that all Ugandans commit themselves towards building this country. He further said there is great improvement in the way elections are being conducted in this country compared to those of the early 80's.

ric-net 2011

2010 RIC-NET with partners

Ric-net 2010 in pictures

WHY FIRMS MUST BUILD STRONG RELATIONS

Good working relations enhance employee morale and productivity.

Have you ever reached your work place and greeted a colleague, he/ she pretended not to have heard you? Or are you this type of person that aims at doing his/her well and that is all that matters.

There are reasons why organizations or firms need to appreciate that issues like productivity, performance, profit can not be put out from how employees/employer relate with each other at workplace.

How can firms encourage positive workplace relations and benefit from improved performance, coordination and productivity. Here are some of the ways an employer or company can attain this.

Respect;

What you do to show your colleague that you respect them. Anyway, before you respect others, do you respect yourself? This is what we may call self-esteem. We’ve all heard of employers who real don’t respect them selves.

Talking about their qualities is a great start. For instance you could tell a colleague;” your contribution was vital today in a meeting.”

Appreciation;

How do you show your colleague that you appreciate what they do? do you tell them? What else do you do to acknowledge the positive things they achieve? Often in the work place focus is put on the negatives. But if we show more appreciation for the many positives, workers will strive with all there potentials. Hence boosting work morale and relations.

Independence;

What choices do you have in how you do your work? How much choice do you offer others at work? When we provide choices, we are supporting others by giving them power and impendence in how they complete tasks. This enhances relationships and can lead to improved workplace functionality and productivity.

Responsibly;

Do you know your responsibility and how to meet them? How do you encourage others? How do you avoid going into the control mode? Remember adults don’t like being told what to do. So, how do you encourage responsibility without the telling?

Listening;

How can you listen deeply to your colleagues? Will you take more time to ask questions that open a conversation to know their opinions?

Understanding;

Do you really listen to understand your colleagues? Do you really know how they are and how they feel? If you take time to know more about staff, you will get to know more about them as human beings rather than just seeing what they do.

Trust worthy;

How much are you trusted? Are you faithful? Can you keep any secrets to your heart? Or you are this type of person that creates false stories on your colleague? People who are trustworthy are always coordinators in many issues. So, mind the way you treat others because they may treat you in the same way leading to good working relations

Support;

What support do you give or have at your workplace? How do you show support to other colleagues? What are you doing to support a culture of cooperation at work? When staffs feel supported, they are likely to take on new challenges and productivity can improve.

Organizations/firms or employers who base staff relations on the above can build much more coordination and cooperation at workplaces and reap the resulting benefits in better performance, productivity and profits.

By Evelyn-Ricnet.