Africa Policy Centre

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Bleeding Uganda: on Festo Kivengere’s Preaching of the Doctrine of Reconciliation
(The Africa Policy Centre Uganda Christian University, 2018) Olwa, Alfred
Festo Kivengere once remarked in a sermon: ‘We in Uganda feel that the church is irrelevant if it fails to carry on the message of being ambassadors of reconciliation’.
Developing Library Products and Services to Support Blended Learning at Uganda Christian University and Its Affiliated Campuses
(Africa policy Centre. Uganda Christian University, 2020-07) Kabahizi, Cadreen Barungi
Like the rest of the world, Uganda is suffering its share of economic disruption because of the coronavirus pandemic. Some lockdown policies, used as safety measures meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus, are still in place after four months. As a result, schools are closed, churches are closed, bars are closed, many people have lost their jobs, and many small business owners are struggling to get back on their feet, and even the big institutions such as universities are struggling to remain afloat. A great deal of uncertainty still hangs around the business and work sectors in the country. The gradual easing of lockdown measures may take an unpredictable pattern with possible spikes of reinfections warranting the reinstating of the lockdown measures. As Uganda grapples with the slowing down of its economy, the policy measures implemented may make or break Uganda’s recovery process. In this paper, we examine measures that can be taken to recover the losses Uganda has suffered and to get the economy back on track. These policy measures may also help pave the way forward for higher economic growth thus delivering Uganda into the middle-income category in the near future.
Enhancing the Value of Short-Term Volunteer Missions in Health From Host Country Perspectives: The Case of Uganda
(Africa policy Centre. Uganda Christian University, 2022) Maractho, Emilly Comfort; Lasker, Judith; Alang, Sirry; Austin, Kelly
Short-term medical missions (STMMs), estimated to involve 1.6 million volunteers and US$2-3 billion annually, can be very valuable, but there is a growing critique of practices. Serious concerns have arisen around possible harms to host countries and patients, including medical errors, non-alignment with local systems and priorities, cultural insensitivity, and the high cost compared to benefits. Scholars and practitioners across diverse sectors involved-faith-based, corporate, NGO, and educational-have questioned the value of STMMs and proposed strategies for improving them. Missing from this assessment are voices of host communities and research on host country efforts to control the quality of visiting programs. In this study, we investigated host perspectives on STMMs. The study was driven by the need to examine the regulatory and policy environment as well as to establish the perspectives of all country stakeholders on STMMs with the view of enhancing their value. This research is a collaborative effort between researchers at Uganda Christian University in Mukono, Uganda and Lehigh University, PA, United States of America. A qualitative methodology was adopted, with in-depth interviews as the main tool. A total of 46 interviews with policy makers, Non-Governmental Organisations and those who have engaged with volunteers in the communities were conducted in Uganda. The analysis was computer-assisted and thematic. The study revealed that the health needs of the country are many, and STMMs contribute to closing some of the gaps, although this may be limited given the scope of needs. Some of these health needs include limited infrastructure and budget support for health, low levels of staffing and inadequate resources such as equipment in the facilities. It was further revealed that the contributions made are bi-directional, with host communities claiming that they contribute towards pre-visit preparations, accommodation, local expertise on tropical diseases, and social support while volunteers contribute skills, treatment, equipment, awareness and research. Nevertheless, from the perspective of stakeholders interviewed, STMM volunteers face challenges such as cultural shock, inadequate resources to work with, manpower to support them, high expectations from the communities and delay in clearance for practice. Despite their contributions, the study established that host communities expressed concerns about the nature of STMMs involving lack of experience, hidden interests, misalignment with community needs, security risks, code of conduct and sustainability of support. A review of Ugandan laws reveals many that are related to the regulation of health services, but none that specifically mentions short-term mission trips. Most stakeholders interviewed were unaware of any regulatory oversight of visiting health teams, although some were aware of the need for clearance of visitors’ credentials. It is therefore recommended that in order to enhance the value of STMMs in Uganda, concrete actions be taken involving improving and making known the conditions for licensing and oversight, improving communication, enhancing collaboration and supporting capacity building for local experts.
How AI could transform Uganda’s Eduscape Paving the Path for Blended Learning
(Africa policy Centre. Uganda Christian University, 2020-07) Kabahizi, Cadreen Barungi
As the world enters the fourth industrial revolution, artificial intelligence (AI), an emerging technology, is subtly becoming part of our lives. In many ways, we are becoming increasingly dependent on AI-powered tools and devices. In the education sectors of several countries, we see some cases in which AI has been integrated into students’ personal and school lives. Because Sub-Saharan Africa has not yet fully launched the use of AI in schools, it is of paramount importance that Uganda’s education system looks into this proposition as a means to bridge the historic literacy gaps within the country. Educating students with AI and about AI is also a means to prepare Ugandan students to be competitive in the world market. This is especially important to consider now that Uganda’s education sector is recalibrating the education system as a response to the COVID-19 driven school closures. AI offers the chance for faster recovery of the learning losses that students are currently suffering. It would empower educators, increasing their reach in the number of students taught and thus increasing their efficiency. This, however, does not come without challenges. The biggest of which are ethical concerns and lack of necessary infrastructure. This paper explores ways in which these challenges can be mitigated to bring about the necessary advancement. We encourage the Government of Uganda to run trials to find the best-suited ways to apply AI in the education system. AI application has to be safe, ensuring secure data and privacy of users and it has to be helpful and beneficial, producing positive learning outcomes and increasing the teachers’ efficiency. All this is in hope that AI can provide the avenue to reach through which many uneducated people get access to world-class education closing the historical learning gaps of illiteracy and greatly enriching the Human Capital of Uganda.
Impacts of the COVID-19 Disruptions on Institutions of Higher Education in Uganda
(Africa policy Centre. Uganda Christian University, 2020-06) Kabahizi, Cadreen Barungi
This policy brief gives a short overview of the disruptions of the COVID-19-driven school closures on Institutions of Higher Education (IHE’s) in Uganda. Nearly 170,000 tertiary institution students are at home facing uncertainty not only about their family financial situations but also about their academic future. We surveyed 427 students in IHE’s to find out their perceptions of the impact of school closures on their learning experiences and found that 92% of the students had continued studying albeit by self-initiative. Only 16% of the students were constantly in touch with their lecturers and only 16.5% of the students had access to online learning platforms. The respondents also expressed the challenges faced during the COVID-19 lockdown, the biggest of which was being able to continue their studies fairly normally. The obvious learning losses suffered by these students may in some way never be recovered. The government and all relevant stakeholders have to come together to find the most appropriate ways of going forward. In this study, students give voice to their recommendations most of which turn towards blended learning. We further explore strategies for a new learning system that has the potential to be a game-changer in the country’s education system. A new normal is being planned for and will start being implemented sooner than later. This new system should be more effective at education delivery, be inclusive of marginalized groups, and yet must also be affordable to the students. Furthermore, all this must be carried out in such a way that the standard health measures can be easily enforced. The results of carefully planned policy measures would greatly help in recouping the learning losses suffered during this pandemic and would make great strides in filling historical gaps in literacy rates.
Male and Female Union: The Centrality of Marriage and Family to Creation, Redemption, and ‘the Good of All’
(The Africa Policy Centre Uganda Christian University, 2018-05) Adams, Lawrence E.
“Marriage is honored in all things, and the conjugal bed is undefiled.” (Hebrews 13:4) Advocacy for “strong marriage and family” must be understood not only in the pragmatic terms of empirical benefits. These of course can be demonstrated through adherence to traditional practices, observation, and personal experience, as well as modern research. They include benefits to physical and emotional health, financial stability and provision, personal development and education, and social stability and development.1 But “marriage and family” in Christian terms must be grasped in more “essentialist” and reciprocal ways. Marriage is not an optional “life choice” or a matter only of “personal experience.” It has not been invented by human ingenuity to provide means for the raising of children, economic sustenance, patriarchal dominance, or the personal benefit of partners. Marriage is essential to human well-being because it is integral, at the core, of Divine Creation and of the understanding of what it is to be human. God engaged in the inauguration and differentiation of Creation in order to “proceed” from Himself; and to establish a place for his “image” to dwell and flourish. The purpose of Creation was to enable the true Image of God (his Son) to unite the created image with God. Thus Union with God is expressed in terms of the Marriage of Christ and His Church. The Church is described as the “Household (oikos) of God” and “the Bride of Christ.” The consummation of history is depicted as “the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.” Thus created human life reflects the Glory of the Life of the un-created God – the Unity and Economy of the Holy Trinity – and thereby participates in the life of God. Any understanding of human “flourishing” or goodness is incomplete without this foundation of gift and reciprocity. This understanding is developed in various theological formulations, most notably the “Theology of the Body” of Karol Wotyla/John Paul II, the household imagery of St. Irenaeus, the “nuptial mysticism” of St. Catherine of Siena and others, as well as the rich resources of contemporary political theology exemplified by Oliver O’Donovan, John Milbank, Michael Hanby and others. These theological insights include the “marital structure of the body and the soul” as well as the necessity of social adherence to the Fidelity, Permanence and Fruitfulness of human marriage. Human marriage can only be “binary” – male and female, fatherhood and motherhood, reciprocal and mutually submissive. And this union, matrimony, is the core and foundation of the natural family. Natural Law plays a recovered role in the formation of the essentialist understanding. These and other sources are consulted for fuller development of this theme. The purpose of this paper then is to provide an anchor for this Conference on the Family – held at Uganda Christian University and under the imprimatur of the Church of Uganda and its Archbishop – in the Christian biblical and theological narratives, for the exploration of historical and contemporary developments in the life of marriage and family. The paper, and the research it reflects, seeks to demonstrate that what we now term “marriage” and “family” are temporal expressions of eternal realities, and thus altered or ignored only with great risk and consequence for persons, families, churches and all social structures. It is hoped that this point of reference will contribute to the explorations of the conference by recalling permanent truths and firm foundations for contemporary challenges.
Survey Report on Student Perception of Schools’ Shut-down due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Uganda
(Africa policy Centre. Uganda Christian University, 2020-06) Kabahizi, Cadreen Barungi
Africa Policy Centre, a policy research Centre within Uganda Christian University embarked on a research project on the Impact of the COVID-19 disruptions on Higher Education in Uganda. It is this project that inspired the carrying out of this survey. We were able to gather 427 responses from students in Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) around Uganda between 29th May 2020 and 11th June 2020. This survey was distributed online, sending the link to as many different student social media platforms as possible. Respondents were thus limited to those with access to mobile phones and internet making it a convenience sample. This was a main restriction which may have limited the number of responses from students with low or no access to internet or no cell phones.
Uganda Should Not Liberalize Abortion Laws
(The Africa Policy Centre Uganda Christian University, 2017-10) Africa Policy Centre
This paper explains the solid grounds on which Uganda should stand to refuse the push to liberalize its laws regarding abortions. The first section traces the construction of the ‘Right to Abortion’ in order to provide context. It also discusses the linguistic shift that is taking place in reference to abortion which is purposefully used to gradually change the conventional Ugandan paradigm on abortion. The second section explains the misguided understanding of human rights that underlies the basic push for the liberalization. The third one deals with international and domestic legal provisions on abortion. It explains why Uganda is not legally required to change its abortion laws under the governing domestic or international law. The next section adds more logical and factual evidence why Uganda should not liberalize it abortion laws, presenting viable and serious reasons for this position. There is also a section that discusses the long-term national security threat and human resource problems that may emerge from a liberalized abortion climate. The last section sets out suggestions and recommendations that the Ugandan government could take in order to make its society stronger. Overall, the paper presents the position that Uganda should take regarding the liberalization of its abortion laws. Liberalizing would be counter to the protection of its national interests, values and its cultural norms, as well as being unacceptable for medical, social, economic, and other reasons.

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