* REPORT : 39

UGANDA REPORT

First Trip : 11 – 15 December 02
India : Shekar, Jockin and Celine.

South Africa : Rose Molokoane, Patrick Magebula, Richmond and Nokangelani

Kenya : Jane, Jack, Chege, Mary.

This visit is part of a 3-visit schedule (in the first phase) meant to take place between Oct 02 and March 03. and will be financed by Homeless International.

1) In the preliminary visit that took place in September members of 3 countries were present. It was decided then that we begin by doing surveys and house counting and mapping.

2) We also decided that we would use this experience to train and build the capacities of the SDI leadership to be able to deal with their new roles in their countries and outside.

On this visit therefore we were going to do both things.

(a) The survey and (b) building the capacities of the SDI leadership.

DAY 1 We sat with the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, which are Sarah Ibanda and her team. Together we walked through both the Kenyan and the Indian questionnaire and then came to some consensus on questions to administer.
There was a reservation from some of the members of the Ministry about asking questions related to being on electoral rolls and also about the kind of documentation people had. They thought these questions were " political in nature " therefore should not be asked.
We realized soon that working through government has its own limitations but the strengths are also many and therefore we should build on them and slowly over time get them to understand why certain information is strategic to have. Sometimes, Sarah saw this and was able to influence some decisions but not all.
I see this as a process as one where we will all have to redefine our relationships and the ideal situation will be if we can create a team of SDI and the government and the community over the next 7-8 months who can have fun working together and use each others resources and skills to get what the cities of Kampala and Jinja need and also for communities to get what they need.

DAY 2 : We had an orientation of the leaders and councilors of the 3 Kiseni parishes. The Ministry conducted this meeting. (Sarah's deputy). At this meeting we clarified WHY the Survey? The SDI leaders explained how they used surveys in their own context and why collecting this information about themselves is important. We then divided ourselves into 3 groups and went in 3 directions.
All of us spent time in these 3 groups doing a slum count, a hut count and slum profiles. Each team had a different experience.
We would then get together to discuss what happened and how to go ahead. Some of the groups came back with some community leaders.
The response of Kiseni 1 group was luke warm and they did not seem very clear of what this exercise was all about. I felt that we needed to spend a little more time orienting them on the WHY and HOW.
Actually the ones who came around were the LC(local council ) leaders of the area and the Councilors of the 3 parishes.
Kiseni 1 has 3 villages so we had to do the settlement profile for all the 3 areas. We were unable to begin to count or number the houses like the other groups did.
Kiseni 2 was divided into A and B as this parish is very large. Here the SDI team started to do the house count and the settlement profiles and
Kiseni 3 seemed to be the one who responded the best. Here the leadership got involved and all excited about the process and started doing the house count and settlement profile on their own. They also started to work on the household questionnaires.

DAY 4: We continued with data collection with Keisen 2 and 3 and there was no response at all from Keseni 1.
Keseni 3 leaders were all organized and completed the house count and the painted the numbers on the structures.

ISSUES THAT CAME OUT OF OUR COLLECTIVE DISCUSSIONS:
The last day the community leaders of Keseni 3 along with the housing department staff and the SDI leaders had a meeting together at the Housing Ministry's office. It was good for the leaders to experience this as it sets the tone of the relationship we would like them to have with government and setting that tone right from the beginning is important. It is an investment in redefining the present relationships between the government and the communities.
There were issues that need clarification. There needs to be a distinction between the LAND OWNER, HOUSE OWNER, TENANT AND SUB TENANT ALSO CALLED THE OCCUPIER OF THE STRUCTURE. It was easier to ask who the landowner was than to ask what kind of tenural form they had.
All felt that this detail is important and needs to be recorded clearly. The area of the house in sq.ft was left incomplete and the leaders felt that they would go back and measure the houses and put this information down.
One structure had several doors and housed up to 6-7 families.
Getting family incomes was a problem and the leaders will have to put it across in a way that they get it.
The department found it very useful to ask about the number of handicapped people in the family and had 3 questions related to that.
There is a need to explain to the data collectors the logic behind these questions so they understand why a particular question is asked.

My Impressions:
1.I think it was very good for the 3 teams from Kenya, South Africa and India to be there working together on a common project. It was a new kind of platform where we all were part of a team with a common agenda. This, I feel if nurtured, will develop in building the capacities of the SDI leadership which will get trained to take on future projects together.We however did not get a chance to sit between ourselves at the end of the day to reflect. We have decided that the next time we live in a place where we could meet and dine at the same place.
If we can invest in this for the next year or two in a focused way we will create wonders together.
I get a very good sense of this.

2. I was really excited to see the leaders of Keseni 3 all geared to help themselves. It once again proves that poor communities if approached differently feel empowered to manage their own tasks.
This was proved with a little discussion we had on money and payments. When Jockin explained to them why they had to work without a payment for their own community they all got it at first shot.
They just got it without any hiccups. We discussed that if they do get involved in a bigger way with other communities then they could get some sort allowance for work done outside their communities.

3. I see Sarah Ibanda who is now the Commissioner of human settlements in the Ministry of Housing plays a significant role in bridging the gap between the community and the rest of her department. She is the voice that will be able to talk to both to the community and her colleagues in government. She therefore is an important actor in this process.
It was agreed that we have a first exchange of mayors and the city governor come with a team to India and we suggested that she comes along to help them interpret the Indian experience in the Ugandan context.

4. Our next plan is to visit Uganda in January to continue with the surveys and data entry and creating the registers. Jack from Pamoja Trust is helping with creating the household registers. A statistician from the Ministry will take over and supervise the data entry in our absence. Jack plans to go back in January to make sure this is working smoothly.

* The actors from the side of government include the Ministry of housing and public works, Kampala city council (KCC) and Jinja city council (JCC).
* SDI members include federation leaders from Kenya, South Africa and India.
* The support NGO’s in these countries include Pamoja Trust, Peoples Dialogue and SPARC.
* The funding partner for this project is Homeless International in UK.