Centre for Basic Research is the IGAD CEWARN/CEWERU National Research Institute (NRI) which is under contract to produce Quarterly Country Specific Analytical Products (including trend analysis) on Governance and Economy Sectors.
The project is funded by IGAD Peace and Security Division, through IGAD Promoting Peace and Stability in the Horn of Africa Region (IPPSHAR) program.
In ay 2021, the IGAD CEWARN launched a book titled ‘Conflict early warning in the Horn: CEWARN’s Journey’. The book is as an eclectic collection of perspectives on the inception and two-decades long evolution of the mechanism. The book has received generous endorsements from Amb. Parfait Onanga, UNSG’s Special Envoy for Horn of Africa, Amb. Mahboub Maalim, Former IGAD Executive Secretary and Prof. Paul Lederach a globally renowned scholar in peace studies. Our Executive Director, Dr. Frank Emmanuel Muhereza has a chapter in the Book titled: “The Dynamics of Pastoral Conflicts and their implications for Regional Peace and Security in the Horn of Africa”, pages 43-52. The e-Book is available for download from (https://cutt.ly/0boWxmY). Alternatively use the QR code in the image in the message below. #hornofafrica #conflictprevention #earlywarning #IGAD #CEWARN #peacebuilding #peace #security
CONFLICT EARLY WARNING IN THE HORN:CEWARN’s JOURNEY
The Centre for Basic Research (CBR), Kampala working in collaboration with the Uganda National NGO Forum (UNNGOF) is undertaking research to write a book on the value of civil society in Uganda’s national development. The research for the Book project is supported by the Civil Society in Uganda Support Programme (CUSP), is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and funded by the European Union (EU) and the Germany Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The aim of the research process is to bring together civil society scholars, activists, and practitioners to present analysis, interrogate new narratives and emerging civil society perspectives and experiences in Uganda.
The research will provide a platform for Civil Society researchers, academics, and practitioners to engage in debates on civil society from a diversity of dimensions that will be anchored in carefully selected thematic areas. The researchers are locating their engagements in cutting-edge theoretical debates and conceptual frameworks relating to civil society at global, regional and national levels that will set the context to foster a nuanced understanding
of civil society in Uganda.
The findings of the research will be published in an interdisciplinary book which will serve as a resource for students, academics, policy-makers, and practitioners interested in national development issues and their interface with civil society. The research is focusing on the following four thematic areas and topics:
A number of Public Seminars will be held between June and August 2021 to discuss the findings of the study, as fieldwork and report writing progresses.
Contact the Executive Director/Project Coordinator at Tel: 0704342987 E-mail: cbr@cbr.ug or
csbookproject@gmail.com
Centre for Basic Research (CBR) was contracted to undertake a study to unravel the nature of forces that were pushing back to reverse many of the gains that had been made for women’s rights and gender equality, as well as to shrink civic space for progressive movements. The study will create the knowledge needed and identify opportunities for women’s rights organizations and other gender objectives within the development policy and practice
This project is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) through the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex University, Brighton, England.
Centre for Basic Research (CBR) has since June 2018 been implementing a project titled: ‘Strengthening Evidence-based Democratic Governance Agenda Setting and Engagement by Civil Society in Uganda’. The project which ends in December 2020 is supported by the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF). The primary focus of the on-going project premised on the assumption that civic education is one of the foundations upon which democracy thrives is to produce, manage and disseminate knowledge in such a way that enables civic education stakeholders and practitioners to pragmatically engage duty bearers and the citizenry to enhance democratic governance practices. This is pursued
through a three-pronged strategy.
The first strategy is to undertake research on pertinent civic education thematic areas analyze primary and secondary data generated, and appropriately package and disseminate the findings of the various researches, via different kinds of publications, media events and activities tailored to inform democratic governance agendas and interventions by civil society engaged in civic education in general, and DGF Implementing Partners (IPs) in particular. This, it is hoped, enhances citizen engagements with government at different levels, which strengthens democratic practices.
10 desk studies on different thematic issues on civic education have been conducted, in addition to the comprehensive review of civic education in Uganda study. Dissemination of the National Synthesis report from the latter, whose field work was conducted by CBR in 20 districts of Uganda between September and December 2018 was held on 30th September,2019. It was intended to contribute to our understanding of not only how civic education was conceptualized by state and non-state actors, but also how it has organized and delivered, as well as the impact it has had over the years.
The second strategy is establishing an elaborate documentation of published and unpublished literature on the broad agenda of civic education that is relevant to the promotion of democratic governance around the intervention areas of DGF’s civic education partners, for use as reference materials during current and future studies and researches on emerging civic education dynamics on the basis of which lessons can be learnt and best practices inferred.
The third strategy, which is complemented by media activities, seeks to encourage continuous debates on different thematic issues regarding civic education including 2 interactive online discussions. This is aimed not only at raising civic awareness and competencies, but also to solicit for and respond to citizens’ views on pertinent civic education issues, as a way to engender greater citizen appreciation and participation in democratic processes based on an increased understanding and acceptance of their rights and responsibilities.
The fourth strategy is to hold Monthly Expert Seminars on critical civic education issues in Uganda. These seminars are considered as an important avenue for the convergence between theories and the practices of civic education in Uganda in general. The Expert Seminars provide opportunities for civic education intellectuals and practitioners to engage with emerging issues from on-going researches to understand not only the contribution to the deepening of democratic governance discourse on civic education that has been undertaken so far by state and non-state actors, its approaches, delivery mechanisms, and impact, but also the intellectual debates on the appropriateness of the civic knowledge generated in which are embodied the country’s core values and principles, on the basis of which civic competencies and dispositions can be nurtured.
The framework of international standards for statistics on informality is currently undergoing a review. This is being done through an International Labour Organization (ILO) working group of experts in labour statistics. Outputs and recommendations from the working group will be discussed at the 21 st International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in October 2023, with the expectation that a new set of standards will be adopted.
The revision and development of statistical standards have benefits substantially from pilot studies and tests as they create opportunity to develop and try different measurement approaches, reflecting the evolving proposals from working group discussions. They also allow those proposals to be reviewed in the light of evidence on the measurement challenges they would create. Reflecting this, and the general interest in improving the availability and use of statistics on informality, the ILO commenced a project at the start of 2021 – Engendering Informality Statistics – to support the development of guidance on the measurement of informality.
In Uganda, ILO has partnered with Centre for Basic Research (CBR) on recommendation of the Bureau of Statistics to implement the qualitative testing to generate evidence and support further development of international standards on informality statistics. The first round of the cognitive interviews were conducted in Mukono District, in the villages of Kayanja (urban) and Namayiba (rural). Cognitive interviews were conducted from 17 th August to 27 th August 2021. Fieldwork was carried out in strict observance of COVID-19 SOPs as guided by the Ministry of Health to protect the researchers and respondents. A Covid-19 Protocol was developed for this purpose. In the month of September results from the first round of cognitive interviews are being analysed. Another round of fieldwork will take place in November 2021.
In official statistics, Cognitive Interviews are being increasingly used by national statistical offices (NSO) in developed countries to inform questionnaire design. This testing by Centre for Basic Research is an important milestone in the development of expertise for Cognitive Interviewing in Uganda. This work will be instrumental in supporting methodological rigor among researchers in Uganda and will also become a useful resource in the development and deployment of labour force surveys in the country. CBR is grateful for the reference from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and looks forward to putting these skills to the disposal of UBOS and ILO – now and in the future.
By
Richard Ssewakiryanga
Senior Research Fellow and Project Lead
