In the rear-view mirror - looking back at MS Uganda

MS has been present in Uganda for more than a quarter of a century, only interrupted by Amin’s regime. But what has been the impact and what are the key points of events? Vibeke Quaade spoke with the three directors who so far have coordinated the direction of the organization.

In the beginning of the 1990s and after the wars large parts of Uganda rode on a wave of belief in a new government and a brighter future. Internationally the prewar situation was interpreted as signs towards a democratic Uganda, and organizations which had left Uganda when Idi Amin seized power in 1972 wanted a come back in the 90s.
Danish Volunteer Service was one of them and contrary to most other foreign organisations, which had shut down completely and stopped all cooperation with Uganda, Danish Volunteer Service was fortunate to be able to restart the programme based on the old government Agreement from 1966, which had never been made dormant. The office opened in July 1990. 
John Wayne types
Otherwise everything else had to be built from scratch. Chairs, tables, telefax, landlines, cars, staff - and routines. And there was no help to get at the Danish embassy. It was not yet established in Uganda, and all in all no ready made script on how to open a programme in Uganda was available. But the first Danish volunteers and the coordinator were not easily shaken.
 - The first volunteers were kind of John Wayne types who wanted to break new grounds all over, says Niels Lauritsen, who was the first coordinator in Uganda 1990-95. Most of them did not carry a long MS history. But they had pioneer spirits. They did not mind roughage, dusty roads and the endlessly slow communication. For them it was just another challenge to drive in military convoys to get to work in West Nile.
During the first couple of years Danish Volunteer Service established cooperation with organizations in the northern and northwestern parts of Uganda. The volunteers worked in sectors like agriculture, education and local administrations and trained Ugandan counterparts in practical skills. But this approach changed in 1993, when MS’ volunteer program Danish Volunteer Service changed its name to the "MS in the South" programme" (MSiS) and the country office to MS Uganda. Instead of making use of the volunteers as the key instrument in the development work the partnership approach was introduced where MS and selected organizations worked together towards a common goal.
Welcome to partner strategy
The staff and the routines at MS Uganda were still fresh and the new strategy was quite easily implemented.
- In some of the other MS country programs it was quite difficult to change old habits, but everyone in Uganda welcomed the new strategy, Niels Lauritsen recalls. 
Already in 1993 the first Ugandan program officer was employed and MS Uganda had the first annual meeting ever with partner representatives as well as development workers present.
Also the funds which previously relied on the volunteers activities were now more free to use for programme activities, and when Niels Lauritsen left MS Uganda in July 1995 and Lars Anderskou took over as the country office director, MS Uganda had not only formulated the country programme strategy, it was already engaged in 22 partnerships.
Consolidating the programme
The programme was consolidated the following years. More partnerships were made with CBOs primarily within agriculture and non-formal education, and also with Kampala-based and national umbrella organisations like Deniva and Hurinet which if necessary could speak up for the smaller CBOs, and be of strategic importance for the country office and vice versa. An effort was made to integrate issues like human rights, reconciliation, democracy and access to information in the partnership activities. And exchange of knowledge and experiences among all the MS Uganda partners as well as increased respect for partner wishes and less control from MS Denmark and the country office became the norm of the day.
Hope for Sudan
A completely new area of work was introduced: Southern Sudan. Activities focusing on education and political awareness for Sudanese refugee groups in Uganda were extended to the other side of the border. This setup was very deliberate to support the hope and belief that the war would end and the refugees would be able to return. By the help of contributions from Operation one day’s work four resource centres in Southern Sudan and two in Uganda were initiated to finally be set up by 2001 to provide education material for particular young people. 
Advocacy training combined with political strategic thinking also became an increasingly bigger concern of the programme.  Partners took up training in how to make use of the political space and how to approach local authorities and according to their legal and human rights be part of influencing their own and their communities well being. The Anti Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU) was established with MS Uganda as a founding member. Now the partners who worked with anti corruption had a common and stronger platform.

- Many things happened, but by the time I left Uganda I think the programme’s primary impact was in sensitizing and empowering people to initiate things on their own instead of passively waiting for the government to do everything for them, says Lars Anderskou, director from 1996-2001.
When will you protect the children of Northern Uganda?
An assessment of the programme had just been finalized before Lars Anderskou left MS Uganda and the new director Ulla Strøbech took over. It recommended to continue with two primary goals: Poverty reduction and Good governance for the 2001-6 policy paper. The recommendations were taken up and as part of the Good governance goal  “Peace and conflict resolution” became a focus theme for the programme during the first three years. With MS support, partners took up training in conflict resolution in their own organisations and with local authorities. The training was also extended to understand conflicts at a national level within Uganda. The climax of it all was in 2002 with an ambitious conference in the sense of the topic - and a very diverse audience.
- We had all kinds of participants. They came from South Africa, Kosovo, Tanzania, Lesotho. Children from the war zones of Northern Uganda and a representative from the military were also present. And nobody will ever forget when a young boy stood up, pointed at the man in uniform and asked  if he as a military representative would start to protect the children of Northern Uganda as he himself was protected by his body guard, Ulla Strøbech recalls.
Many other lessons were learned from the conflict resolution theme, also on a more practical level. For instance how to fundraise. This became later a training module for partners, but it was also a great help in another focus theme which MS Uganda took up.
Democracy – a way of life
A textbook about democratic practices had already been published in 2000. And two years later MS Uganda and partners began distributing the first democracy cartoon book “Democracy – your handbook” and the matching posters all by the Tanzanian born cartoonist Sammy Mwangomba. The cartoons were a great success because they emphasized democracy as a way of life, not an election process. And by the time it was decided by a referendum in 2005 to endorse a shift from the one-party political system to a multi-party system the demand for the posters increased in the run up to the presidential election in February 2006.
Uganda’s Local Government Association (ULGA), Ministry of Local Governments and the National Civic Education Programme all approached MS Uganda to advice on or develop democracy material for them. Updated materials were developed by Sammy Mwangomba, but a lorry full of democracy posters where seized by Uganda Revenue Authorities on the way to Uganda from Tanzania where they were being reprinted. Unfortunately the posters were mistakenly perceived as election material for the 2006 election, and few days later 17^th February the daily newspaper the New Vision printed the posters on the front page.
Looking back Ulla Strøbech calls it a blessing in disguise.
- It was a shock to have posters seized which had been used as civic education material since 2002. And the media hype in the following days when the posters became the talk of the town and we tried to explain to the responsible authorities that the poster were about democratic and non-democratic practices, not about the election, were very trying. On the other hand it gave us a unique publicity platform to advertise and explain the posters as the civic education material it was always meant to be. 
Sustainability and advocacy hand in hand
One thing is focus themes. Good governance or poverty reduction remains nice intentions if technical as well as financial assistance is not provided on the institutional level. If there are no funds for anything as essential as seeds and books nothing will be achieved, and the MS Uganda strategy has all along  been double tracked in the sense that MS helps her partners with small funds for their activities and simultaneously try and assist them to build up their capacity in practical skills, advocacy and lobby.
-I would advice all partners but particular the more service oriented CBOs to spend more time on advocacy, lobby and how to approach and deal with local authorities. In he end of the day this will make it much easier for them to influence the daily life for themselves and their communities, says Ulla Strøbech.
With her 35 partners MS Uganda is the largest of the 8 MS in the South programmes (MSiS).

Vibeke Quaade is information officer at MS Uganda and editor of the newsletter. Email: info.msuga@ms.co.ug