APPP’s Local Leadership Stream: Team Uganda aims to do things differently
16 Jul 2009
Welcome to the Uganda training workshop
APPP’s Local Leadership Stream: Team Uganda aims to do things differently
By Bernard Sabiti, Masaka, 2 July 2009
‘The Dutch are mean with their money; the Banyankore are lazy, the Luo are egocentric, the Itesots are arrogant, while the Baganda are tricksters ...’
Welcome to the training workshop of the Uganda Local Leadership stream researchers. It’s break time and trainees are having a laugh over some stereotypes different peoples and tribes hold on one another. Its part of the experience ‘baggage’ the facilitators are discouraging them from carrying to the field when they embark on a research that is aimed at finding out the relationships between local leadership and service delivery.
The Local Leadership stream is one of the several research streams of the Africa Power and Politics Programme (APPP) whose aim is to identify and describe forms of governance that would – if more widely adopted – work significantly better for development and poverty reduction than the arrangements currently in place in sub-Saharan Africa. The Local Leadership stream is looking for forms of local governance and leadership that work better for social and economic development. It is examining differences in provision of public goods in four areas, namely: water and sanitation, physical and human security, markets and enterprise and maternal health. The research is taking place in Malawi, Niger, Rwanda and Uganda.
Perhaps wary of Einstein’s warning about ‘repeating the same thing and expecting different results’, the trainees are determined to explore different aspects of fieldwork that will help them get answers to the key research question of ‘what works for the poor?’ The researchers unanimously agree that the training has equipped them with this priceless ability. Says Hilda Nankunda, a lecturer at Uganda Christian University, Mukono, and one of the researchers:
‘The training has been very useful for me, especially on the observation technique and its importance in this research. I have done a number of studies before but never have I ever given observation so much importance as a tool as it has been emphasised in this training. The aspect of possible linkage between leadership and delivery of public goods has never been clearer to me’.
Andrew Kawooya, one of the lead researchers, agrees. He says the fact that the training emphasised both learning and unlearning was a discovery for him. The reading tasks the facilitator introduced at various intervals during the training, he says, offered him an opportunity of realising how other researchers use these approaches creatively.
The training was facilitated by seasoned researcher and academic, Dr Jan Kees van Donge of the African Studies Centre in the Netherlands.
‘This research has the chance to explain why there are disturbing trends of stagnation on one hand and surprising instances of excellence on the other in service delivery. All PRAs tend to give same results, so researchers should look outside the frame if they are interested in finding out something new’, counseled Dr Jan Kees van Donge.
Dr Jan Kees van Donge addressing the participants
