UGANDA HUB

Hub Director:

Dr Alex Okot

Hub Research Administrator:

Otim Joe Dalton

Hub Members:

Dr Charles Masembe
Dr Kevin Aanyu
Richard Kagolobya
Dr Vincent Muwanika
Dr Twine Bananuka
Joseph Watuleke
Dr Kellen Aganyira
Dr Mwalimu Musheshe
Reagan Kandole
Ahimbisibwe Karembe
Anthony Kadoma

Hub background

The Ugandan hub is one of the original SFA hubs. Its offices are based at Makerere University in the College of Education and Extra-Mural Studies (CEES). Its members come from various university departments, including Education, Geology, Arts, Biology and Environmental Studies, as well as from African Rural University, Apala Widows and Orphanage Centre (AWOC) and ECOaction.

HUB ACTIVITIES

This was the first project that the Ugandan hub members got involved in. It started with data collection using the ‘no method’ approach in 2016. The data was collected in two districts of Hoima (Kibanjwa community) and Alebtong (Apala and Abia communities). The data collected during this exercise was processed and a report written and launched during the 2019 SFA International Symposium in Lira.

Dr Kevin Aanyu presenting the results of the scoping study

The Ugandan hub members worked with Scottish members to publish articles about the environment on World Environment Day. These articles not only introduced SFA and its activities to many people in Uganda, but also shared local knowledge regarding the issues of the environment and sustainability. More details can be found at Daily Monitor.

Following the SFA International Symposium in February 2019, the hub facilitated a stakeholders meeting for community members, sub-county leaders and district leaders, which was held in July 2019. During the meeting, participants discussed issues related to environmental utilization and conservation, food security as well as other issues of mutual concern. The major objective was to bring together various stakeholders to openly discuss issues that affected them and were also highlighted in the SFA country report.

This project was implemented by three hub members: Ahimbisibwe Karembe, Kagolobya Richard and Muwanika Vincent, together with ECOaction, our non-academic partner. The project members organised and conducted a community awareness raising event in Banda East, located in Kampala. Over 50 community members attended this event and the discussion was on how to use art and culture in the management of plastic waste in the community.

Some of the plastic bottles collected during the event

The Uganda hub was privileged to host the third SFA international symposium on 14th-15th February 2019. This important annual conference took place in the beautiful town of Lira in northern Uganda. The 38 participants had a chance to travel by bus from Kampala to Lira, a journey of about seven hours.

The venue enabled participants from all hubs to interact with the local people in the community where AWOC, an SFA partner, does its work. Notably, on the official launch, representatives from the sub-counties and district attended, giving even more significance to the symposium.

SFA co-director Deepa Pullanikkatil visited the hub and offered hands-on training to the partner organisations. During the visit, she was able to meet and interact with the partner organisations’ staff, visited households in Apala and was able to offer technical assistance where it was necessary, specifically in the area of website design and grant application writing to strenghten the capacities of the members.

 

HUB MEMBERS