SchoolNet Uganda recently (? hugh ) organised a workshop for the local Knowledge Workers of the Open Knowledge Network on Participatory Rural Appraisal and Evalauations. The purpose of this workshop was to improve the monioring and evaluation of OKN’s projects in Uganda.

The Open Knowledge Network (OKN) is a human network, which collects, shares and disseminates local knowledge and is supported by flexible technical solutions. OKN is not something new. It is a synthesis of tried and tested ideas; building on what is already happening in many different fields and joining up the dots. http://www.openknowledge.net

SchoolNet Uganda is the local partner for OKN, and implements OKN’s activities in Uganda. The venue was Lubiri Seconday School in Kampala.

Here are some photos from the workshop (Sadly, I couldn’t stay on the last day of the workshop, as I’d fallen victim to those mosquitoes again!).

After I returned from Africa Source 2 workshop, I went over to Ngora High School in the Eastern Region of Uganda for a 5-day workshop. It’s a pity how time flies and I’m not able to update this blog as often as I’d like to. There are a thousand and one reasons for this. But at long last here goes the update.

The recently ended Microsoft Partners in Learning Workshop at Ngora High School was one of five (5) concurrent workshops that took place throughout the country. The program is a partnership between Microsoft (through the Partners in Learning Programme) and the Ugandan Ministry of Education, with SchoolNet Uganda as the implementing body.

This forms part of the Education Mnistry’s broader vision to equip every Ugandan teacher with ICT skills by the year 2010.

I recently attended Africa Source II, an eight day hands-on workshop aimed at building the technical capacity of folks working with and within NGOs on the African continent.

The workshop took place in one of the most beautiful parts of the Kalangala Island on Victoria Lake in Uganda from the Jan 08-Jan 15, 2006 …. and saw over a hundred participants from all over the continent and beyond.

There were three main thematic tracks, viz …

• NGO Migration
• Education Migration, and
• Information Handling and Advocacy

In addition to these main tracks, there were a plethora of skill-share events, with most of the topics chosen on-the-fly as people demanded them and people with the skills to share were found.

With four delegates from SchoolNet, we thought it wise to split up and get a little bit of a feel from each main track, instead of all four of us being in the Education Migration track.

I followed the Information Handling and Advocacy track. I thought I didn’t know much about advocacy and was going to be a mere observer. OMG … how wrong I was! I ended up being a leading contributor in most of the discussions, especially on ICT tools for advocacy.

That’s a big lesson I’ve learned. From hindsight, I know I could have done a much better job facilitating most of the tracks and skill-shares that I participated in. But I didn’t find myself ‘fit’ to do that when I was applying for the workshop.