The contract is coming to an end. To day I have just completed my final report. All in all I was engaged in activities that needed the production of 6 full reports in this four months assignment. Two on Participatory Learning and Action trainings, one on Organisational Change, one on Membership Policy and one for a Participatory baseline - needs assessment for women and youth. Here they are together with the work plan and timeframe plus the certificate for attendance to the PLA trainings.

Merchinsons always has something new. I found this Patas monkey last time I drove through. It was interesting to see it feeding on the ground just like a baboon.

I received a car with this tyre as the spare - a total wreck. Without knowing I drove 1500 km. in often areas with no help in case of emergencies. I could have been stranded somewhere in the bush - but happily I did'nt.

Files and documents dissapear here - why. The answer might be right here in this photo.

A pig was having a good time at the back of HODFAs office. It was having a manicure by some tick birds that were in the area. Every time a bird landed on the pig, it laid down to be tended to. Interesting how both wild and domestic animalt live in symbiosis with each other.

The rain has changed Merchinsons. It is now green and most of the animals that were down at the delta are now up close to the road that goes through the park - the one I travel all the time.

The Oribi are just jumping from one side of the road to the other.


The bird with the red and blue wattles on the face is the abysinian ground hornbill. The fine eagle is most likely a young crowned eagle. Beautiful ar'nt they.

Electricity can be a scarce commodity in Uganda. Happily the rural service stations are well prepared and have pumps that are both electrical and hand driven like this one.

Some thoughts on participation in our activities.
Often a participant list is written and the number of male and female participants counted.

During the PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) field trainings in Nebbi and Apac, it became apparent that the above way of monitoring participation is very misleading. What we monitor is presence and not participation.

Here are two photos from the trainings.
One shows that the women are present in the group but not participating (they are sitting at a side while the men are active around the diagram they are drawing).
The other shows that the women are actively participating in the construction of the diagram.

This might be of use for us to develop other monitoring tools to differentiate between presence and participation. Photographs and videos are valuable.

I am concerned about this as a number of donors and NGOs are giving "incentives" such as food or money for the villagers to be present in trainings and meetings at village level. In my oppinion that is only to keep the "participation" number high to be able to receive further funding for similar activities. The NGO field staff are not actively finding solution to this problem as they also are employed in the system and have to protect their own jobs. They are rarely in the business of eliminating themselves.

I call this whole scenario "poverty maintenence" as there are many politicians, organisations and individuals living of keeping the poor at the level they are.

Community Mapping is a PLA tool that is simple and easy for needs identifications.

In Apac we have been doing field work on PLA (Participatory Learning and Action)
The meeting started in the church and later the farmers compared enterprises on a time line in the sand outside. It is interesting how all the farmers quickly realise the ease of using simple PLA tools.

I am just from Nebbi where I have trained staff and board members in (PLA) Participatory Learning and Action Methodology. After the training we went to farmers groups to practice. Here we are

In Hoima I am doing a needs assessment for women and youth. It means that I am visiting some of the women and youth groups in the area. Here we are doing the work....

Murchinsons Falls from above. I had the oportunity to see the falls from above last time I went to Nebbi. Here they are.

I did a Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) training in Agency for promoting Sustainable Development Initiative (ASDI) Apac. It was an enjoyable 3 days. Everybody were keen to get to the field and practice what they had learnt. We will go to the field and practice in september.

Here two groups are doing a comparison of enterprises


Here the chapatti diagramming is helping in understanding the level of influence other parties have on the organisation. The last photo shows the seasonal calender.

The Organisational Change workshop in Nebbi District Farmers Association (NDFA) was a succes acording to the written evaluation from the participants.
Here we are. Some board and staff members .
We had a long list of learnings on the days programme - one of them was organisational culture. I always compare culture with a hippo as it gives a good positive starting point to a very sensitive matter.
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Home Leave
Alan and I had fantastic summer weather in Denmark, where we spent a lot of time catering for family and friends in our home.