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MS Uganda Newsletterer July 2007
The manual on Democracy and Human Rights
At the moment Ministry of Local Government has a new manual on the drawing table. It is about democracy and human rights and is being developed in collaboration with MS Uganda. The manual lives up to the same standard and requirements of the other 26 manuals. Yet it is very different because the training approach is participatory, interactive and issue based, not teacher centered. The reason for the participatory approach is that MS feels that theory and practice have to go hand in hand in the training situation. If the participants are not made aware of what a democratic dialogue is and how decisions are made in a democratic, participatory teaching environment, how will they be able to practice it in real life situations outside class.
Tested in Gulu
According to the plans of the Ministry of Local Government the new manual will be published and distributed by the end of 2007. So far it has reached the stage of testing in four districts and four sub-county councils in the West, the East, the North and Central Uganda.
When the new manual was tested in Gulu district council and Koro sub-county council in April, the Local Government Trainer of Gulu decided to focus on the manuals chapter about democracy and conflict resolution at different levels. He decided on a role play as the participatory teaching methods for Koro sub-county councilors, and he asked the participants to act out a scenario on conflict resolution in the family:
The play
The husband and wife have cohabited for a decade or more and have five children. The husband thinks it is about time to liven things up a bit and decides to take a second wife; new, better looking, much younger at the age of 16 or 17. She can assist in the house hold, take care of the children and of himself. The more he thinks about it, the better a decision it seems.
But his first wife is horrified. She feels trashed and neglected in the decision making. After all this is also her family. Furthermore, everyone in the village knows that the new wife is HIV positive. The wife believes that it is a matter of time before she becomes sick as well. The conflict is clear and the villagers are asked for advice: What is the solution for the husband and wife?
Conflict resolution
Among the participants in Koro sub-county council were both women and men and approximately half of them very young. The conflict of the play divided the group in two. All the women and some of the young men were very sympathetic towards the position of the first wife. All the older men thought like the husband.
The first wife’s sympathizers argued that the husband was irresponsible, that he did not care, that he and probably also his first wife would become HIV positive and that the end result might be that their children would be orphaned. They called the husband a dictator, a non-democrat, who solely listened to himself even when his decision would influence the entire family.
The sympathizers of the husband did not have that much to say. But they clearly felt they were right. A second wife, a third and a fourth is part of the African family tradition, they said. So is the fact that the man is the head of the family. And this is how it should be regardless of democracy and human rights, was their opinion.
How to conclude
Well, how do you negotiate, how do you resolve that kind of conflict? One of the participants in Koro sub-county council tried to defuse the debate and said “this is all something we play”. But then all the others began to laugh and the Local Government Trainer stood up and said. “No, this is not a game; it is against the human rights and the Ugandan Constitution to marry children below 18 years. A conflict in a democracy ought to be solved by respecting the law, others view points and by making compromises which benefits the majority”.
After the training each participant was asked to fill out an evaluation form. One of them read: “The module is veryencouraging because it helps us as leaders to develop democratic practices within the community and sharpens our peace building skills too”.
Vibeke Quaade is Information Officer, MS Uganda and Co-editor of the Newsletter.
Email: info.msuga@ms.co.ug
The Second Wife
Testing the democracy material
By Vibeke QuaadeSince Uganda began the decentralization process, the Ministry of Local Government has published 26 training manuals to build the capacity of the local governments at district and sub-county council level. The themes of the manuals range from Decentralization and Local Planning to Accounting and Computer Training and most of them are developed by the Ministry of Local Government in collaboration partners.
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Cartoon by Sammi Mwamkinga, MS Uganda ©
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At the moment Ministry of Local Government has a new manual on the drawing table. It is about democracy and human rights and is being developed in collaboration with MS Uganda. The manual lives up to the same standard and requirements of the other 26 manuals. Yet it is very different because the training approach is participatory, interactive and issue based, not teacher centered. The reason for the participatory approach is that MS feels that theory and practice have to go hand in hand in the training situation. If the participants are not made aware of what a democratic dialogue is and how decisions are made in a democratic, participatory teaching environment, how will they be able to practice it in real life situations outside class.
Tested in Gulu
According to the plans of the Ministry of Local Government the new manual will be published and distributed by the end of 2007. So far it has reached the stage of testing in four districts and four sub-county councils in the West, the East, the North and Central Uganda.
When the new manual was tested in Gulu district council and Koro sub-county council in April, the Local Government Trainer of Gulu decided to focus on the manuals chapter about democracy and conflict resolution at different levels. He decided on a role play as the participatory teaching methods for Koro sub-county councilors, and he asked the participants to act out a scenario on conflict resolution in the family:
The play
The husband and wife have cohabited for a decade or more and have five children. The husband thinks it is about time to liven things up a bit and decides to take a second wife; new, better looking, much younger at the age of 16 or 17. She can assist in the house hold, take care of the children and of himself. The more he thinks about it, the better a decision it seems.
But his first wife is horrified. She feels trashed and neglected in the decision making. After all this is also her family. Furthermore, everyone in the village knows that the new wife is HIV positive. The wife believes that it is a matter of time before she becomes sick as well. The conflict is clear and the villagers are asked for advice: What is the solution for the husband and wife?
Conflict resolution
Among the participants in Koro sub-county council were both women and men and approximately half of them very young. The conflict of the play divided the group in two. All the women and some of the young men were very sympathetic towards the position of the first wife. All the older men thought like the husband.
The first wife’s sympathizers argued that the husband was irresponsible, that he did not care, that he and probably also his first wife would become HIV positive and that the end result might be that their children would be orphaned. They called the husband a dictator, a non-democrat, who solely listened to himself even when his decision would influence the entire family.
The sympathizers of the husband did not have that much to say. But they clearly felt they were right. A second wife, a third and a fourth is part of the African family tradition, they said. So is the fact that the man is the head of the family. And this is how it should be regardless of democracy and human rights, was their opinion.
How to conclude
Well, how do you negotiate, how do you resolve that kind of conflict? One of the participants in Koro sub-county council tried to defuse the debate and said “this is all something we play”. But then all the others began to laugh and the Local Government Trainer stood up and said. “No, this is not a game; it is against the human rights and the Ugandan Constitution to marry children below 18 years. A conflict in a democracy ought to be solved by respecting the law, others view points and by making compromises which benefits the majority”.
After the training each participant was asked to fill out an evaluation form. One of them read: “The module is veryencouraging because it helps us as leaders to develop democratic practices within the community and sharpens our peace building skills too”.
Vibeke Quaade is Information Officer, MS Uganda and Co-editor of the Newsletter.
Email: info.msuga@ms.co.ug
