"CIVIC EDUCATION RE-LOADED": FOWODE REFOCUSING HER CIVIC EDUCATION

Forum for Women in Democracy has embarked on a process that will sharpen the mode of delivering on its Civic Education Program. This will lay emphasis on Civic Education as a component of civic empowerment of the ordinary people to take action. 

FOWODE held an orientation meeting that brought together some board members, members of staff, the FOWODE Young Leaders Alumni Association (FYLAA) Executive Committee and Civic Education Resource persons from the 15 FOWODE districts of operation; Amuru, Amuria, Napak, Rukungiri, Kabale, Kibaale, Masindi, Kibuku, Busia, Mityana, Wakiso, Lyantonde, Abim, Gulu and Luweero. . The meeting intended to refocus the team’s thinking on FOWODE’s Civic Education program, homogenize the civic education materials to be used and prepare the team for the delivery of the program.

 The aim of this enhanced civic education program at FOWODE is to respond to key specific women’s concerns while emphasising the critical role citizens have to play in holding their leaders accountable. It is premised on the notion that citizen is central thus the important role they have to play in shaping the future they want.

Civic education has become cliché in the past forty years with many implementers complicating the program with complicated lingua.

Uganda is at crossroads; political parties are regrouping, and have started fronting their candidates for 2016. However, yet the country Uganda is characterized by high levels of civic deficiency which are a result of our history of conflict, lack of constitutionalism, citizen disempowerment and high levels of apathy. So it is time to examine what contributions we make.

 

Leonard Okello the facilitator of the day broke the cliché that civic education sessions are boring and ineffective. His presentation stirred the participants to action.

He started the presentation by making it clear why human beings are different from other animals on planet earth one vivid factor that came our strongly is that human beings are logical. What makes humans unique is the different interests that each possesses and the opportunities that are presented to them. So it is the role of the government to provide equal opportunities to all its citizenry, and on the other hand, the citizenry have the responsibility to demand for their rights and understand that they are the government and that they hold the future of their government in their own hands. 

He indicated that for good governance and democracy to prevail, citizenship and accountability are key, elections have to be free and fair elections and the citizenry have a mandate to take part in the election yet sadly, 48% of the total populace did not vote in 2011. Mr. Okello challenged the participants to each identify their life mission, from there package messages of hope that will stick in the hearts of the Ugandans. Once this is settled, each human being has the ability to influence five people in their lives then an unstoppable wave of change will be created. Inevitably there will be obstacles but those that are taking on the challenge should be ready to face these challenges

 

The second part of his presentation was based on the assumption that it is difficult for change to happen when poverty still prevails so there is need to mobilize for wealth creation. It is of importance that productivity and saving and investment through saving schemes, SACCOs and cooperatives and investment clubs is part of the agenda to empower the citizenry. This is basically because it is easy to manipulate a group of poor people.

The discussion enlightened the participants about theories that can create change that those going to carry out the civic education must articulate properly if the intended objectives are to be achieved. 

There is a need to understand that policy issues are also political issues and that they can create poverty. In the Ugandan case, many issues have created poverty that is affecting the lives of many citizens need to deal with the issues of corruption without fear or favor.

 

 It was noteworthy that Uganda is experiencing a generational transition. If 78% of the entire population is under the age of 35, then there is need to adopt the politics of change and development that give the young people a message of peaceful transition of politics because hatred politics will mess the country up.

The civic education must aim at informing the citizenry that they own the country therefore the big picture should aim at holding a sovereign national conference that is initiated by citizens, where citizens discuss issues that are geared towards the future of Uganda.

Love for one another and forgiveness stood out strongly in a bid to promote human dignity.

At the end of the day, the participants were geared to making a contribution to building a community of citizens that are ready to have frank discussions about the Uganda we all want.