Uganda Australia Social Network (UASN) presents

Uganda’s 50th Independence Anniversary Conference 2012

In commemoration of Uganda’s 50th independence anniversary the Uganda Australia Social Network (UASN) is holding a one day conference at Murdoch University. The conference will examine Uganda’s past, present and future.

Date:     13^th October 2012

               9am - 3pm

Venue:   Murdoch University (South Street Campus)

              90 South Street

              Murdoch

              WA

The Conference will be held in the Hill Lecture Theatre, located in the Education and Humanities Building (Building 14502035). The map can be accessed via link,

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&q=hill+lecture+theatre+murdoch+university&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=566&pdl=300&wrapid=tljp1340100046218024&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Presenters include:

Dr John Mugambwa

Dr John Mugambwa is an Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University. He is a graduate of Makerere University LLB (Hons) 1973; Yale University LLM (1975); and The Australian National University PhD (1986).  He previously lectured at Makerere University, National University of Lesotho, University of Papua New Guinea, and James Cook University of North Queensland.  Dr Mugambwa has co-authored
the following books: Law and Population in Lesotho; Law of Business Associations in Papua New Guinea 2^nd ed (1995); Land Law in Papua New Guinea (2000); Land Law and Land Tenure Policy in Papua New
Guinea 2^nd ed (2002); The Principles of Land Law in Uganda (2002).  In addition, he has written chapters

in the area of land law in the Laws of Australia and Halsbury's Laws of Australia, respectively, series.  Although he has been away from Uganda for more than twenty years, he has retained his research interest in the country.  His PhD thesis was "Evolution of British Legal Sovereignty in Uganda with Special Emphasis on Buganda 1890 - 1938 (ANU, 1986, unpublished). He has also written several published and unpublished papers on Ugandan land law.

Associate Professor Barbara Nattabi MBChB, MSc, PhD

Barbara is a medical doctor and public health practitioner with over ten years work experience with rural communities in Uganda and with two years work experience in rural Australia. In Uganda she worked at St. Mary’s Hospital, Lacor, Gulu, for nine years, first as an intern doctor, resident medical officer and then Head of Research and AIDS department. In 2005, she led a team of doctors and nurses who recruited more than 1,000 patients on antiretroviral drugs, the first such program in a conflict region. She later worked for World Health Organization as a National Professional Officer, Disease Control where she was in charge of overseeing all communicable disease prevention and control efforts in Kitgum, a war-ravaged rural part of Uganda. She has significant project management experience, and research experience particularly among vulnerable populations and rural communities. Now at the Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health in Geraldton, where she is teaching and leading a research project around improving quality of sexual health services among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care services.  Her other research interests include refugee and migrant health and rural health education.

Dr Kristen Lyons

Dr Kristen Lyons is a Senior Lecturer in Development Sociology at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Kristen is engaged in research related to the sociology of agriculture, food and the environment, and has focused her research on the sociology of organic agriculture in Uganda for the last eight years. In recent years, she has also begun to explore the drivers, as well as the social and economic impacts associated with foreign investment in Uganda.

In 2005, she held a visiting fellow position within the School of Social Science at Makerere University in Kampala. Kristen also teaches a number of courses in the Masters of Development Practice at the University of Queensland, and is currently liaising with staff at Makerere establishing links with similar programs offered in Uganda (including the Masters of Rural Development).

Dr Jaya Earnest is currently the Director of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Associate Professor of International Health in the Centre for International Health (CIH) at Curtin University in Western Australia (WA) where she coordinates the Postgraduate Research Program. A Social Scientist, Development Educator and Health Sociologist, Dr. Earnest holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from India, an Advanced Certificate in Education from the University of Bath, UK and a PhD from Curtin University.  Dr. Earnest has worked as an inter-disciplinary educator and researcher for 26 years in India, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, East Timor and Australia. In 2010, she was awarded a National Award for University Teaching by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Her central research interests focus on the social and cultural consequences of post-conflict adversity; vulnerability, resilience and adaptive processes among refugee and migrant populations, and interdisciplinary cross-cultural participatory research.

Dr Debra Singh qualified as a medical doctor at Flinders University in South Australia, completed a degree in nutrition and dietetics at Curtin University and a Master’s in Public Health from Sydney University and has also completed her Australian General Practice (GP) fellowship. Having worked in India and Israel, she and her husband moved to Uganda in 2004 where they established the Kimanya-Ngeyo Foundation for Science and Education in 2007 in Jinja. The Foundation focuses on the raising of human capacity through science based educational programs called “Preparation for Social Action”. This youth empowerment program develops scientific, mathematical, language, community development and technological skills merging theory with practice in youth ages between 15 and 25 years.  Its main community development focus is child education, agriculture, the environment and primary health care. Dr. Singh's research interests focus on female and youth empowerment through participation in health care processes and community health worker training.

Ms Janice Ndegwa is currently a group facilitator with Kimanya-Ng’eyo Foundation for Science and Education, a grassroots education and community development initiative based in Jinja, Uganda. As a promoter of community well-being, she accompanies youth and young adults through a process of knowledge generation and application aimed at enabling community-led consultation and social action. Ms. Ndegwa holds a Bachelor’s degree (Magna Cum Laude) in History and African Studies from Mount Holyoke College, USA. She has previously engaged in action-research in northern Uganda and central Malawi examining the challenges to and opportunities for an expanded role of indigenous culture and knowledge in public health interventions. 

Ms Les Emma Akora

 Ms Les Emma Akora holds a BA.Soc.Sciences from Curtin Uni; Grad-Dip in counselling, Notre Dame & Voc.Grad.Dip in Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner, Australian Institute of Social Relations.  She has worked largely in settlement services under the Migrant Resource Centres up to the level of Programme Manager. Her other roles include: Employment Consultant; Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner & currently working as Coordinator Disability Support Accommodation Programme at Multicultural Services Centre.  In volunteer capacity, Ms Akora was the first female President of the African Community in Western Australia (ACWA), where she was instrumental in establishing ACWA Office and employing support staff, amongst other things.  She has participated and presented papers at various international conferences as well as local conferences.  Ms Akora was recognised as one of the 50 Prominent Refugee Women during the 50th Anniversary of UNHCR in 2001.  In 2011 Ms Akora was one of the 100 Prominent West Australian Women inducted in WA's Women's Hall of Fame.

Mr Bwesigye Don Binyina is a Ugandan Lawyer, Executive Director and founder of Africa Centre for Energy & Mineral Policy (ACEMP), an East African think tank promoting good governance, transparency, accountability, policy development and capacity building for stakeholders within the greater East African Community (EAC). Currently he is completing a Master of Science in Mineral & Energy Economics. Mr Binyina has over 6 years experience working in Uganda's Energy sector. During this time, he has engaged key stakeholders like, the electricity consumers, electricity regulatory authority, electricity companies, the legislature, International Oil Companies (IOCs) and mining companies in a quest for efficient service delivery, policy transformations, legislation review and responsible resource exploitation. Mr Binyina has participated in creating awareness and empowering local communities in Uganda's Albertine Graben about their land and economic rights in the Oil and Gas industry. He has authored several media policy briefs and articles that have appeared in both local and international media and reports about East Africa's Oil and Gas industry. He continues to participate in local and international forums and debates about the East African Oil and gas industry.

Mr Binyina holds several consultancies within in the East African Community in the area of socio-economic energy rights. He has dedicated his career as a scholar and socio-economic analyst of East Africa's Oil & Gas Industry.

Dr Peter Mbago Wakholi is a high school teacher working with the Education Department of Western Australia. He is a graduate of Makerere University Bsc., (Bot/Zoo) 1983; Edith Cowan University B.A., B.Ed., (1998); and Murdoch University MEd., (2005), PhD. (2012).  In addition to presenting at conferences Dr Wakholi has published several articles including a book: African Cultural Education and the African Youth in Western Australia: Experimenting with the Ujamaa Circle (2008)., book chapters: African cultural education and the social inclusion of refugees (2007); Festival as an Educational Experience: The African Cultural Memory Youth Arts Festival (ACMYAF) (2011); The Art of Migrant Lives, Bicultural Identity and the Arts, The African Cultural Memory Youth Arts Festival (2011); and several journal articles in the area of migration, identity and the Arts. Dr Wakholi has been involved in various community leadership roles including serving as: Chairperson of the Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre Management Committee (MMRC), Secretary of the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP); Deputy Convenor of the One World Centre (OWC). Dr Wakholi is actively involved in Arts based educational research projects. In his Masters project http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/383/, the African youth involved in the project examined challenges to their cultural identities and alternative liberatory options. His doctoral project http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/7601/  involved organising a festival with young people of African descent in Western Australia. The festival “Negotiating Cultural Identity through the Arts: The African Cultural Memory Youth arts Festival (ACMYAF)” examined ways in which African cultural memory, and the extent to which the arts based approaches benefited the cultural identity socialisation experiences of young people of African migrant descent.

Dr Wakholi’s research interests include: Arts based educational research practises in the context of citizenship, social policy and transnational belonging.

For further information (or RSVP) please contact,

Dr P. Mbago Wakholi.

p_wakholi@yahoo.com.au

Mob: 0427481102

Convenor

Program

No	Time	Item	Comments
1	8.30am	Arrival of participants
2	9.00am	Convenor welcomes guests and participants—Dr. Peter Mbago Wakholi
3	9.05am	Mr. David Doepel Chair, Africa Research Group, Murdoch University and also Chair, Africa Australia Research Forum
4	9.10am	Mr. Mike McKevitt—Honorary Consul for the Republic of Uganda
5	9.20am	Mr. Douglas Brown	Keynote Speaker
6	9.40am	Dr. John Mugambwa (Assoc. Professor)	Keynote Speaker
7	10.00am	Short Break	Short Break
		Session One
7	10.10am	Ms. Les Emma Akora
8	10.30am	Mr. Don Binyina Bwesigye
9	10.50am	Dr. Kristen Lyons
10	11.10am	Morning Tea	@ Club Murdoch
		Session Two
11	11.40am	Dr. Jaya Earnest (Assoc. Professor)
12	12.00am	Dr. Barbara Nattabi (Assoc. Professor)
13	12.20pm	Dr. Peter Mbago Wakholi
14	12.40pm	A profile of Uganda’s History compiled by Ms Mercie Wakholi	Slide Show
15	12.55pm	A vote of thanks (Dr Peter Mbago Wakholi)
16	1.00pm	Lunch	Invited Guests and Presenters E&H 2.21

ABSTRACTS

Ms Lesley Akora

UGANDA’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT LEVELS FOR THE YOUTH, AFTER 50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

In this lecture, attempts will be made to discuss the measures of a Country’s economic development against Uganda’s recent economic achievements and non-achievements.  This discussion will look at : population increase; infrastructure such as roads; hospitals; schools; industries; health; mortality, stability; income per capita; inflation; unemployment levels; literacy etc.? Areas of economic improvement and governance will be highlighted; elements of economic success of a country and determinants of economic success shall be mentioned.  Investors as perceived economic stimulus for Uganda will be examined. 

However, this lecture will mainly focus on measures of Uganda’s economic success through the lenses of the majority population who are largely people living below poverty line.  It will highlight the current demographic profile of Uganda’s population; causes of unemployment and suggest ways to reduce unemployment amongst Ugandans who are aged 25-30 years old.  Role of Uganda’s embassies and high commissions in job creation and economic development shall be discussed. The creation of new districts as a mechanism of job creation and its adverse impact shall be cited.  In particular, the effect of investors on Uganda’s economy under the current government policy; inflation; corruption; the high numbers of orphans in Uganda and their impact on unemployment levels.  The lack of any public housing; lack of public transportation; the ineffectiveness of public hospitals; and the epidemic proportions of hypertension; diabetes; heart disease and cancer on Ugandans and their impact on unemployment levels.  Lastly, this discussion hopes to slightly touch on the literature review and identify gross lack of data on this topic and will make a call for partnerships between Ugandan universities & Australian universities to carry out research on social issues in Uganda.

Mr Don Bwesigye Binyina

This paper is about policy and governance challenges the Ugandan Oil and gas industry has encountered since commercially exploitable Oil and Gas reserves were confirmed in the country by Wildcat International Oil and Gas exploration and production companies in 2006. It analyses the challenges of exploiting Oil and Gas in an unregulated economic framework, conflicting ideologies between the Executive and the legislature, capital gains tax disputes between the government and Oil companies, cases of corruption and lack of skilled government technical personnel to protect government interests. An insightful examination of the current economic overview of the country is given. In context, the paper recognises the importance of the Oil and Gas industry in servicing the country’s budget deficits and as an engine of economic infrastructural development. The paper analyses the central banks expansionary fiscal policy implemented in 2011 to control stag inflation at the time. It provides graphical Economic data showing economic decline in the country since the Global financial crisis in 2008. Emerging economic partners in Asia and Middle East are discussed. China’s involvement is Uganda’s Oil and Gas Industry and as the leading supplier of the country’s imports are discussed. The last part of this paper explores the various policy and governance solutions and recommendations necessary for Uganda’s Oil and Gas industry to become and engine of economic development and infrastructural development in Uganda.

Dr Kristen Lyons

Foreign Investment in Uganda’s Green Economy: Local Impacts and Policy Recommendations

There is growing enthusiasm worldwide for foreign investment to facilitate sustainable rural development in the Global South. In Uganda, various government authorities (including the National Forestry Authority and the National Environmental Management Authority), and including President Museveni himself, have articulated a commitment to policy and practices that will assist to support foreign investor activity. Yet despite the promises, international investor activity raises socio-economic and environmental issues and concerns.

In this paper I explore the activities of one international investor – Green Resources, a large Norwegian reforestation company – and their impacts for Ugandan smallholder farmers. Green Resources have secured two fifty-year licenses in forest reserves in North and East Uganda, planting timber trees for saw logs and carbon trading. Despite optimism from some actors that such private investor activity may assist to re-forest degraded forest reserves, many community members who live in and amongst these newly established plantations are constrained in terms of their access to land and other resources. This has delivered adverse livelihood outcomes, including adverse impacts upon food sovereignty, as well as intensifying conflict related to land rights and resource access.

Drawing from insights from this case study, the paper concludes by identifying some of the limits to current policy and practice that articulate unbridled – and uncritical – commitment to expanding foreign investment in Uganda’s green economy.

Dr Jaya Earnest (Associate Professor)

Intensifying a dialogue among women and men in rural and peri-urban Uganda

Authors: Debbie Singh¹, Janice Ndegwa², Jaya Earnest³

^1&2 Kimanya-Ngeyo Foundation for Science and Education, Jinja, Uganda

³Centre for International Health, Curtin University, Western Australia

Uganda has undergone numerous changes since its independence in 1962. The rapid population growth in Uganda over the past 50 years has led to ever growing health needs. The effects of social and political instability are particularly visible among rural and peri-urban populations who rely on subsistence agriculture as their main source of income. Participants noted that the realities of a large population and greater dependence on the market economy have led to decreased availability of land, food insecurity and unstable incomes. Moreover, unequal power dynamics, as evidenced by accepted social norms surrounding decision-making processes about finances, enable mistrust between family members to thrive.

Using the lens of modernisation, this cross-sectional study documented changes in gender roles in courtship and marriage, education, health, agriculture, choices including family planning in rural and peri-urban Uganda.  22 men and women in central eastern Uganda participated in 4 focus groups (young men and women, older men and women) and completed questionnaires.

Women shared that even though they do the bulk of work such as farming, household chores and caring for children, they are still unable to make decisions about use of surplus funds. Men felt that women and society as a whole expected too much of them. They were supposed to protect and provide for their families even when unemployed and tilling small and increasingly infertile plots of land. There are, however, evidences of progress. Formerly fixed gender norms are becoming more fluid. Women in some households have a larger role in decision making and are gaining increasing respect for their education and expertise, while men are more involved in subsistence agriculture and increasingly subscribe to the use of family planning methods.

The participants observed the need for increased communication and dialogue between family members, particularly during e process of decision-making.  Additionally, they expressed a need for a grassroots discourse on modernization, development and equality that would enable men and women to articulate a way forward for a “developing” rather than merely “modernizing” society. Such a discourse would also provide some guidance on how men and women can best support each other in Uganda for community enhancement.

Dr Barbara Nattabi (Associate Professor)

Title: What is ailing Uganda’s health system and what can we do about it?

Fifty years after Uganda gained independence and the health system is ailing. Her British colonists left Ugandans with strong health system and both public and curative services were strong and delivered services to the population. However 50 years on and the system is categorized by high levels of corruption, uncontrolled epidemics and crippled hospitals with many patients at the mercy of incompetent, merciless and underpaid health workers. Monies meant for vaccinations line the pockets of government officials, highly paid government officials go abroad for treatment while children in North Uganda are nodding to death and Mulago National Referral hospital is worse than it has ever been before. In her discussion Barbara Nattabi will discuss the main problems ailing the health system; she will explore the evidence of the failure but more importantly she will discuss what Ugandans can do about their health system. She will use examples from her work in Northern Uganda to show that accountability, hard work, competence and motivation of health workers can deliver the health care that Ugandans desire and deserve. Participants will be encouraged to think how best Ugandans in the Diaspora can work together to improve the lives of our people.

Dr Peter Mbago Wakholi

Title:  Transnationality, Belonging and Engagement with Africa’s Futures through the Arts

As a migrant of African (Uganda) descent my research interest and social- cultural engagement has been mostly with young people of African descent living in Australia. In particular I have been involved in exploring the use of arts as a vehicle for strengthening the young people’s sense of being both African descendants and Australians. In this presentation I will be drawing on the experience of working with young people, government agencies and civil society to facilitate cultural dialogue and agency amongst young people towards a productive engagement with Africa through the arts.

The first part of my paper examines the notions of transnationality and belonging as tools for moral and spiritual engagement with Africa’s futures. This is followed by examining the arts as important contexts for evaluating culture and developing empowering pedagogies that inform African connections and engagements with it.

The paper concludes by asserting that productive engagement with Africa may be informed by artistic practises and cultural policies that we devise in the Australian diaspora. Arts offer an appropriate framework through which to build communities and further they enable those involved to explore issues and devise solutions in a fun but educative approach.

Sponsors and acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the following people and institutions that have made it possible for this event to take place:

• The Keynote Speakers and presenters.
• Murdoch University in particular Mr. David Doepel.
• African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific in particular Dr. Tanya Lyons
• The African Professionals of Australia in particular Mr. Tommy Adebayo, the National President.
• Ribbons of Africa in particular its founder Ms. Taku (Mbudzi) Scrutton.

The Wakholi family for sponsoring the lunch.