Dear JohnAJackson, Thank you for your article.It could have been spot on but there are still some gaps here and there. I would like to bring some thing out here that apart from organizations like the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies, the Rotary Clubs, the Lions Clubs, some Churches and Business entities a good number of NGOs, World Vision inclusive are actually rendering services using funds from governments in the so called G8 countries. Governments in those countries have demonstrated their effectiveness by providing some funds through completitive means for the activities of the NGOs. World Vison, CARE, CRS, Save the Children, etc are big time beneficiaries of USAID, DFID, CIDA, SIDA, the Japanese and the Deutch development funds for example. These are tax payer monies deliberately budgeted by the home governments of those countries to foster 'development' and some of these monies are dispensed through the NGOs because the caring governments achnowledge their inefficiencies in some context! It may also be interesting to note that for the role played by the entreprenuers, corporate and so on there are quite appreciable incentives and/or benefits such as tax and other concessions accorded by the G8 and other developed governments to such people. There is therefore a deliberate effort by the governments in the such countries to encourage the private sector participation in development. Actually to put it in a nutshell, a lot of the seemingly goodwill gestures extended to us by the entrepreneurs and the NGOs in the developed countires are by far to promote markets, profits, employment, and obtain leverage on certain otherwise stringent policies in those countries. In Uganda as noted by some of our forum members we have skewed policies, which tend to favour foreigners and certain regions of the country. when people say that either we have skewed policies or the way the policies are implemented are skewed they have a reason. One simple example of a skewed policy or skewed implementation of policies is the travel restrictions on our roads. I travelled by bus from Kampala to Rwanda on a couple of occasions last year; the only checkpoint or restriction I got was at Katuna border post at the cross over. Similarly I have travelled a couple of times from Kampala to Bukoba and it's only at Mutukula border post that we had some restriction. Take the road from Kampala to Nebbi, Paidha, Arua, Koboko, Yumbe how much inconveniences does one meet on the way as an ordinary traveller yet one is not crossing the border. What can these inconveniences translate into in the ordinary sence and in business? The location of West Nile is almost similar to that of the south-western enclave; all bordering with three countries. Help me to understand why the restrictions. It is not simply a blame game but some bare facts people are bringing out. I agree with you when you wrote that we may not have money, but we have lots of highly educated people. We have highly skilled human resources that we need to effectively use. It is in this context that we regard our PHD holders and other highly skilled folks as persons who could help us understand our problems and generate sustainable solutions that we could tap from, be it at a fee or whatever cost.
It is true, we need to unite our efforts, focus our attention on changing things we can change, lobby the government, HE, Government Officials where they are serving in order to change things that we cannot handle. Therefore the lamentations of the folks in this forum are by far not blame but a memorandum from which our leaders who care could pick some facts to start or strengthen lobbying. Our weakness perhaps lies in failing to bring out clearly and educate our communities on the things that we could do or change within our potential means. The last thing I would like to write is a 'take it or leave it' message, not for you Jackson but for all of us. If ones intelligence cannot translate into practical solutions to manipulate or improve ones environment then the intelligence is vanity. This is the basic reason for descibing man as the most intelligent creature. PHD holders, entrepreneurs, folks and all other stakeholders let's partake of understanding problems and/or generating solutions or both; one may not do all but one can do something. Let's do what each one of us can just do for the sake of that one perceives can render continuous improvement to one's self and society; encourage our rural folks to do just the same within their potentials. Mr. Jackson, there are some areas where I may have chosen to diverge in opinion but I think there are many common grounds where we agreed that we need to do more in our indiviual capacities and collective efforts and lobby for that we have inadequate resources for. Thank you. Aggrey Adrale --- On Wed, 2/2/11, JohnAJackson <[email protected]> wrote: From: JohnAJackson <[email protected]> Subject: [WestNileNet] Role, Value and responsibility of NGOs in Nation Building To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, 2 February, 2011, 21:40 While NGOs' do not substitute the role and responsibility of Government, we should realize that NGOs have have been integral part of development in the world for many centuries. There are thousands of NGOs in the G8 countries performing various tasks in the nation building for instance: Red Crosss, Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis, World Vision, Churches, every sector of human endeavour. While the role of NGOs is simply emerging and maturing in Africa, G8 countries have thrived side by side with NGOs for many centuries. Does it mean that these governments are in effective? First of all, governments cannot provide every human need. NGOs and business people fill these un met gaps. What we need most is effective Enterprenuers and NGOs that are serious about their business. AS many of you have seen, Enterprenuers and NGOs come and go. Well managed businesses and NGO continue to thrive and survive despite the economic odds. If we simply continue with the blame game, our situation will never change or take a very long time to change. We should encourage ourselves, empower ourselves to be problem solvers rather than problem watchers. Let me give you one example. In USA, many African Americans have been trapped in blamming the Whites for enslaving them nearly two-three centuries ago. Many successful African Americans have taken up the challenge, they work as hard as the white folks, many are millionares or billionares. People who love blamming still remain where their great grand papas.mama's or parents where hundredes of years ago. They still live in santy towns known as ghetos. Ladies and gentlemen, negativity has no purpose in life. We may not have money, but we have lots of highly educated people. We have highly skilled human resources that we have never effectively used. We need to unite our efforts, focus our attention on changing things we can change. Let's lobby the government, HE, government Officials where they are leading to change what we cannot handle. It's ordinary people like you or me who can change the world and not necessarily PhD holder. Have you ever come across some PhD holders who cannot even teach when put infornt of a class? I am sure you have seen many when you were in college or universities? Even their TA were far better. How many African PhD holders have published two or three academic books? Very few? Does it mean that someone with PhD is a great problem solver? They may be very intelligent in their academic discipline but can they really solve every problem? -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list [email protected] http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list [email protected] http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________ -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
