Advocacy for Smart Urban Planning and Development:
Invisible Spaces Launch during the People’s SDG Festival 2023, at Lugogo KCCA Grounds
The organization use some its new initiatives such as “INVISIBLE SPACES” to promote smart urban planning and development in Cities, Municipalities and Town Councils in Uganda.
Kampala like many other secondary cities in Uganda suffers from increasing informality in housing/settlement, access to basic services, trade and in transport due to gaps in regulation, the lack for public order, unstable prices due to lack of price ceilings, among other actors.
Invisible spaces is an initiative to bridge this gap by joining with urban practioners in urban development to promote better land-use planning in the country through the Smart Cities concept.
Among our partners is the National Planning Authority, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum, the Nnabagereka Development Foundation, Advocacy for Public Spaces, the Bavubuka Foundation, and Sisters for Peace. This initiate is supported by the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda and the Global Green Growth Institute.
Active Mobility in Cities:
Open Streets Day on the 26th October along Namirembe Road at the NMT Corridors
The organization promotes Walking and Cycling as alternative mobility options for majority of the people in Kampala and in the Secondary Cities of Uganda.
The organization with partners therefore host and promotes Car Free Days since 2011, Open Streets, Place making and fun cycling critical mass campaigns to promote the rights of users of multiple mobility options.
Due to the high informality characterized in Uganda’s transport, our activities enable participants get exposed to universal Design principles promoting access for pedestrians and cyclists. Such platforms therefore help ensure that pedestrian access (NMT) is adequately addressed in the planning, implementation, regulation and enforcement of in both rural and urban road infrastructure.
The activities at the open streets included cycling, street games, dancing, Open Mic, walking, some dialogues and streets interviews. Even in cities where public space and public transport are safe and reliable, this can be difficult; it is especially so in places where these amenities are unsafe, unaffordable and unreliable. This is where temporary interventions such as car-free days can unlock a whole new approach to movement and mobility.
Workshops/ Conferences and Learning Exchanges
ITDP Team conducting a training on Street mapping and Design
Together with partners, the organization conducts open dialogues, workshops/conferences on topical issues of the calendar year to reflect on development gaps and actions to meet our education, training and empowerment objectives.
These engagements are premised on the need to bridge the gap between lack of information and the need to promotion activism and implementation of actions. This is sometimes moved further into the advocacy plans for youth and communities while informing policies from areas of research.
Some of the key issues arising help inform communities or generate key messages to peer groups among youth in and out-of-school that are served by our organization as well as through the Young People’s Think Tank.
Urban Manyata (on-line TV) : Smart cities are forward-looking, progressive and resource-efficient while providing at the same time a high quality of life. SC-TV will promote social and technological innovations and link existing infrastructures. They incorporate new energy, traffic and transport concepts that go easy on the environment. Their focus is on new forms of governance and public participation. Intelligent decisions need to be taken at the strategic level if cities want to become smart. It takes more than individual projects but careful decisions on long-term implementations. Considering cities as entire systems can help them achieve their ultimate goal of becoming smart. Smart cities forcefully tackle the current global challenges, such as climate change and scarcity of resources. Their claim is also to secure their economic competitiveness and quality of life for urban populations continuously on the rise.
Other opportunities:
East African Youth Resource Center (EAYRC): EAYRC is both Online and Physical space created (2018) to further support the youth led and support agencies across the region (EAC) to facilitate data access, resource coordination as well as capacity programmes for and by youth.
The idea was motivated the Youth People’s Think Tank (YPTT) dialogue for continuity of active and meaningful engagement in promoting purposely knowledge space through debates, online conservation and open dialogue.
Volunteers and Internship Placements:
Interns and Volunteers Open Streets 2021
The organization offers both internships and volunteer opportunities for youth in Uganda and across the world from different fields of learning and education backgrounds.
Each year, the organization trains more than 50 student interns from local universities such as Makerere, Kyamboga, MUBS and some other tertiary institutes in Uganda and more than 100 from other parts of the world seeking to apply their knowledge to create change in communities.
Research and Training
