Uganda Development Services (UDS) - Uganda

UDS established two pilot Development Support Centres in Kamuli and Mubende Districts based on community need and interest, as articulated by the communities themselves. The project area selections were initially made through contacts with local government. Through this contact, UDS gained enough support to hold stakeholder workshops in each district. At these meetings, UDS identified development needs, then developed a problem tree. Local groups took part in the meetings.

At the Kamuli centre, citizens are free to access training in computer skills using in-house computer facilities, business services (photocopying, typing, and printing), a stationery shop, library facilities (books, newspapers), and a public phone. Local NGOs/CBOs and small-scale local businesses and government offices are also invited to use the centre. In order to inform these groups and individuals about the existence of the centre, introductory letters were sent out.

Capacity-building workshops are designed to make the facilities appropriate to a wide range of people in the local community - from schools to other NGOs to individuals. UDS has recently started a Community Computer Literacy Project: trainers will travel, with computers, to provide training to any group over ten people (and charge 20,000/- per person). One such session was conducted for 15 teachers.

In a 9-month period, UDS trained 70 people including staff from the District administration and the Community Development Volunteers (a CBO). The Rural District Commissioner conducted a training course at UDS. According to organisers, the preparation he undertook in anticipation of this course bolstered his skills, as well as those of his students.

The Empowerment of 400 Women Entrepreneurs is a training project, in partnership with Sustainable Agriculture Farmers Association (SAFA), to provide business-related training for women farmers. The manager of the local bank has agreed that any woman who has attended a UDS business skills course can be eligible for a loan.

Economic Development, Technology, Women.

In 1994, UDS was registered as a UK charity; in 1997, it obtained NGO status in Uganda. UDS is associated with a World Bank-funded programme, "Development of and Information Infrastructure for Uganda" under the direction of Professor Nora Mulira, who is also a member of the UDS Uganda Advisory Committee. In Kamuli, local ICT capacity is poor, e.g., schools have no computers and only a handful of businesses (10) have computers. With some exceptions, the ICT capacity of local organisations can be regarded as non-existent. Uganda as a whole remains basically unindustrialised and, while there is relative growth among the urban population, 90% of the nation's population live in rural areas. War, structural adjustment programmes, and AIDS have increased poverty.

UDS uses reconditioned equipment and experiences equipment failures. A major problem is power outages, which happen sometimes during training courses. To try to deal with the unpredicability in the power supply, UDS has a small UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to enable them to power down machines. An additional hindrance to making the computer facilities applicable to the local populace is that technical language is English. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the resource centre in meeting the needs of target groups is compromised by a lack of "extension" skills and resources (although UDS is now taking training courses out into the community).