The Commissioner of Water for Production Facilities at the Ministry of Water and Environment (MoWE) and sharing the existing water challenges in Uganda and the potential Solutions in relation to food Security
Water resources in Uganda constitute one of its vital resources that significantly contribute to the socio-economic development and poverty eradication. It is one of the most important assets for many households because of its significance livelihood improvement, well-being and wealth creation. The sustainability of key economic drivers of the economy such as agriculture, industry, infrastructure, tourism, energy, mining and extraction, among others. Water is thus a manageable natural resource therefore it should be governed, planned and financed for optimum and sustainably use.
Member participation (Richard Hamba- C.E.O-TEENS ) and Regina Kabasomi _ FRA
The meeting by FRA and partners n 27th February, 2018 in Kampala is aimed to create space for constructive engagement in pursuit of sustainable water resource management to meet the national development trajectory.
Objective at;
i. Creating space for sharing experiences for last year and aspirations for FY 2018/19
ii. Creating space for identification of key intervention processes and spaces for
engagement on water resource issues.
iii. Developing a harmonized road-map for engagement in 2018.
The meeting therefore brings together participants including technocrats from the government, CSOs and academia, media to brain storm on how the national level platform can be strengthened to effectively for an effective engagement that aim at enhancing sustainable water resource management.
Sharing on the importance of the importance of Smart Governance at the International Republican Institute (IRA). According to the United Nations, more than 54% of the world’s population now resides in urban areas – a figure set to rise to 67% by 2050. And these urban centers are becoming increasingly important drivers of national and regional economic growth. Clearly, with cities around the world competing on the global stage for investment and top people talent, harnessing the true potential of urbanization to boost shared prosperity and eradicate extreme poverty depends on having a clear and long-term vision.
Planning meeting at the International Republican Institute (IRI-Uganda) with Strategic partners related to the Critical Reflection on the National Youth Congress (NYC2018#) which focused on Road map, congress program, Partner Engagements The congress has very high considerable knowledge dissemination for understanding the Smart Cities Concept, the New Urban Agenda (Habitat III) and the Green Growth (NGGDS) for Uganda by development partners,local actors, influencers and decision making agent.
With more and more of us living in cities, urbanization is creating significant opportunities for social and economic development and more sustainable living. But it’s also exerting significant pressure on infrastructure and resources and potentially opening the door to escalating social inequality.
If cities don’t work for investors, employers and citizens alike, then the interconnected flows of trade, capital, people and technology will stall. Planning and developing the urban eco-system –
To address a range of infrastructure, transit, utilities and connectivity challenges, city administrators will need to harness data-driven intelligence to identify appropriate priorities and ensure overall liveability for all residents.
But that’s not all. To counter the multiple social challenges arising from urbanization, they must ensure that data sources – which today mostly sit in silos across agencies and departments and commercial third party providers – can be brought together seamlessly. Only then will they be able to ease citizen burden through the delivery of predictive services – getting the right services to the right population cohort, at the right time.
Little wonder then that many municipalities are embracing the ‘smart city’ concept. But the definition of what a smart city is, or should be, varies significantly.
For some, it’s about using technology to optimize city operations and urban flows. For others it’s about initiating smart governance where policy making is more flexible, practical and closer to citizens – enabling experimentation, open dialogue and fast-paced adaption in which policies are ‘initiated from below, and diffused by example’.
Engaging youth urban planning through genuine recommendations for to inform decision making for inclusive cities
“Accelerating the Contributions of the Youth towards the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda – Taking Small Actions for Innovative, Socially Minded and Smart Cities”
“Smart” doesn’t necessarily point to the automated, artificial intelligence of these different systems, but can simply refer to the way in which planners, architects, and city officials approach any number of ubiquitous issues. Being smart about urban design and architecture means understanding economic growth, density and zoning, and how the existing network of roads and grids can be better. It has almost everything to do with the people who live in and are moving to these cities, and what sort of cultural underpinning they represent. Those societal values are vital to determining the direction a city is heading, and how smart it ultimately becomes.
In addition a smart city is a self-aware city, filled with self-aware people who are willing to take on the conscience that comes with being sustainable. Those people understand the impending environmental and social issues facing our future, and understand that if we do not start putting a plan in place to change how we live, things could get bad and they could get bad fast…
Vulnerability reduction is achieved not solely by physical measures to mitigate the destructive effects of a hazard. Social measures that help to reduce negative impacts and enhance the resilience of the population are also essential. Safety and health promotion, environmental awareness, and the strengthening of community organization are essential elements in helping people to become less vulnerable to emergencies and disasters.
Moreover, the success of any technical intervention—whether before or after a disaster strikes—depends on the way that it is received and used by the community involved.
People in community must be consulted about their needs and wishes, and be involved in planning as well as in implementation. Their knowledge and capacities must be acknowledged and strengthened as appropriate. Community participation is thus an essential element in emergency-management planning.
Principles of community participation:
C.E.O of TEENS Uganda sharing about urban transport challenges and opportunities use of creative arts in improving sustainable Transport systems
Community participation means the involvement of people from the earliest stages of the development process, as opposed to simply asking their opinion of project proposals that have already been developed, or for their contribution to the implementation of projects imposed from outside. Participatory approaches have been widely tested in the fields of water, sanitation and hygiene, and experience has shown that involvement of the community can produce wide-ranging benefits. The main principles are:
– Communities can and should determine their own priorities in dealing with the problems that they face.
– The enormous depth and breadth of collective experience and knowledge in a community can be built on to bring about change and improvements.When people understand a problem, they will more readily act to solve it. People solve their own problems best in a participatory group process.
Social inclusion
One of the aims of mobility plans is to give all citizens access to different services throughout a city and its surrounding urban area. The barrier-free public transport, low-floor trams and smart cards attracted elderly people who had been reluctant to travel to the city centre, contributing to better social inclusion.
Green cities
Integrated mobility plans help to ensure a better standard of living for city inhabitants. A sustainable mobility system based on public transport notably means less noise pollution, better air quality, better utilisation of public space and increased road safety for all road users.
Economic benefits
Mobility plans support economic growth. Thanks to better mobility solutions, people can easily access their activities and thus cities become more vibrant and attractive for businesses, employers and tourism; their population increases and they draw the attention of investors.
Place-Making Week in Kampala City from 17-19 January 2018
Place making is inclusive process emphasizing collaborative ‘making’ that builds local capacity and leadership to empower communities committed to “strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value. It is more than just promoting better urban design facilitating creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.
This participatory two-way communication between city dwellers and the local government can be done both offline, for instance through neighborhood assemblies, or online, through different digital platforms. The development of new digital tools has allowed for more agile and open approaches to participatory democracy, making the ability to reach out to citizens easier, cheaper and more effective than ever before. As a result, feedback channels from citizens to local managers have multiplied in the past decades, with many technology companies designing new open source tools to facilitate decision-making and participatory democracy.
Integrated Transport Systems:
An Integrated Mobility Plan is a strategic tool designed to ensure people and places can connect, now and in the future. Integrated mobility plans can be designed at local, regional or national level by the authorities in charge, in accordance with stakeholders from different sectors such as land-use planning, environment, energy or healthcare. The aim of mobility plans is to ensure optimal conditions for successful urban development through better structuring mobility in a city and its urban area. In this respect, public transport should be considered the backbone of mobility plans, since it represents the basis of sustainable mobility.
Why can’t women’s sanitation be taken just as seriously as any other healthcare issue? In a study by UNICEF, 1 out of 10 girls in Africa drop out of school because they cannot afford sanitary towels.
Not making menstrual hygiene products freely available to girls hinders their involvement in development and it limits their ability to run their daily life for example school, work and Teens Uganda as anon-profit organization we have come up with a way to ensure that young girls stay in school……..that is why we have partnered with JAWCU among other partners in a project of making affordable re-usable pads as well as training staff members and other stakeholders on how to make them, this will increase access to sanitary towels for the young girls who are in need and can’t afford the ones on the market this would increase the number of girls in school as well avail them with skills on how make them and keep them clean.
Teens Uganda was privileged mobilize 20people for Oxfam a focused group discussion to pre-test a research tool that was made by Oxford University. Representatives of Oxfam, Makerere University and teens Uganda. The tool was meant show the key roles played by the two genders (men and women), who it burdens the most, who does more of the productive work and how we can adjust our schedules to be more productive and the pre-test was a life changing experience for most of the male participants because it showed men that they had neglected most of the care work in this scenario unpaid care work to women and women discovered they were investing more time in less productive work
PREACH is a project implemented by three (3) collaborating partner organizations including COU-TEDDO, SOCADIDO and Teens Uganda focused to promote adaptation of renewable energy technologies such as use of improved cook stoves, Biogas, Tree planting, among other energy saving technologies. This project aims to reduce the effects of Climate change along the Lake Kyoga Region under the Lake Kyoga Enviromental Protection Porgramme with support from the ICCO –Cooperation. This project is being implemented in the two sub-counties of Labori and Kadungulu in Serere District, formerly part of Soroti District to promote not only the installation and use of improved stoves, but also the application of health and energy related techniques among households using the improved stoves. The project provides energy saving tips and information about measures which can be used to avoid respiratory diseases caused by the indoor smoke as well as other complications to the users.
Teens clubs engaging in activities that explore culture and creative techniques to provide services to communities
Through the Lively Arts for Social Change component of our Heritage Education Programme we have trained over 300 youth since 2011 in various performing arts. This involves learning the actual skills for different art-forms. There are many events, weddings, introduction ceremonies, which offer well-paid jobs for musicians and performing groups, and these talent development initiatives provide access to such opportunities. We have observed over the years how the music industry, in particular, has been able to absorb a lot of youth. Getting into performance arts including music is a much easier process to manage for most young people because it allows opportunity for freedom of expression, a voice to give opinion, and an earlier ways to share information not disregarding lifestyles.”
The Vijjana Generational Troupe which is a brain child of Teens Uganda performing at the Silver Springs and therefore using the Cultural Aspect to depict Human Rights Violation, promotion and sustainability based on expression for cultural and Artistic Rights conservation. This was on March 16, 2016 at the Forum of the Human Rights Center Uganda
