spring quarterly, volume iii

8/14/2019 SPRING Quarterly, Volume III

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EDITION 03 Feb 2010 TheSPRING Quarterlyis published by SPRING, a USAID-funded project. 1

pring

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2009

The third edition ofthe SPRING Quarterlycovering activities fromOctober December of

2009 focuses on BuildingLocal Capacity. Much ofSPRINGs work with im-plementing partners andbeneficiaries aims to im-prove northern Ugandancapacity to deliver vitalservices to underservedcommunities. This issuehighlights several exam-ples: capacity building inrisk assessment planning

for SPRING partners tolearn and apply conceptsof conflict sensitive plan-ning to their projects, KerKwaro Acholis efforts torestore traditional grass-roots leadership as wellas strengthen communi-cation between all Acholitraditional leadershipsand training in Peace Edu-cation and Guidance andPsycho-Social Counsel-

ing for secondary schoolteachers in line with thePRDP. SPRINGs strate-gic support of northernUgandas Civil Society iscritical to providing localleadership and techni-cal assistance to managesustainable peace anddevelopment.

Editorial

QuarterlyAmbassador OfficiatesHandover of SPRING - IRCWarehouses in Kitgum

From Top:

Dancers

perform

after com-

missioning ofwarehouse,

Chief of Party,

Paul DeLucco

and Direc-

tor of Peace

and Justice

Programs,

Jessica Hu-

ber explain

SPRINGs

land tenure

securityprograms to

Ambassador

Lanier and

Kitgum RDC.


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On Monday, 30th Novem-ber, SPRING implementing

partner United Movement

to End Child Soldiering

(UMECS) launched a 21day residential cer-

tificate level training in Peace Education and

Guidance and Psycho-Social Counseling for

93 secondary school teachers from seven

schools and Unyama Teachers College in

Northern Uganda. The training will be facili-

tated by Makerere Universitys Institute of

Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) and

its Peace Education Centre. This training is

part of a program that will provide peace

education, school guidance and psycho-

social counseling to over 6,000 secondaryschool students.

The events guests of honor were the Minis-

try of Education and Sports Commissioner

of Guidance and Counseling and Gulu Dis-

trict Inspector of Schools who pledged their

support toward ensuring the success of the

project. Commissioner George Opira stat-

ed: We would like to thank USAID, SPRING

and UMECS for launching this program when

northern Uganda is at a crossroads and needs

tools to build sustainable peace. The Ministry

pledges its total commitment to this program

to ensure its sustainability.

On Friday, 11 De-

cember, SPRING

and its imple-

menting partner

IRC along with the USAID-

NUTI Project hosted newly

appointed American Ambassa-

dor Jerry P. Lanier to commis-

sion two economic recovery

and development projects in

Agoro Sub-county in Kitgum

District. NUTIs rehabilitation

of the Agoro market stalls and

SPRING and its partner IRCs

agricultural storage facilities sig-

nificantly improve and expand

Agoros market infrastructure.

After touring the facilities, and

personally testing the maizeshellers, Ambassador Lanier

reaffirmed the United States

Governments commitment to

assist Northern Uganda dur-

ing the transition period and

commended the development

partners and communities for

the progress they have made to

date.

The SPRING-IRC AGRILINK

project is addressing challengesof reliable agricultural markets

by empowering farmer groups

to identify and obtain higher

prices through increased bulk-

ing and basic processing as well

as educating farmer groups on

collective marketing strate-

gies and proper post-harvest

handling techniques, including

setting quality standards for

produce before it is allowed

into the bulking center or

collection point. The farmers

groups are also being supported

by other SPRING projects that

work with Agoro farmers to

understand land tenure systems

and mitigate land disputes as

well as to strengthen traditional

leadership to restore Acholi

cultural traditions of coopera-tive farming, non-violent dispute

resolution, and collective

responsibility.

SPRING-UMECS and theMinistry of EducationLaunch Peace Education

and Guidance CouselingTeacher Training

Commissioner George Opira from the Ministry of Education

and Sports addresses 93 peace education, guidance and

counseling teacher trainees


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On Thursday, October 8

2009, SPRING and Ker

Kwaro Acholi signed

a Stability Fund grant

agreement to launch a new project

entitled: Culture as a Tool for Recoveryand Development.The project is in-

tended to strengthen a commitment to

cooperation and traditional nonviolent

dispute resolution among coopera-

tive farmer groups under the SPRING

project. The project will also work

to restore and strengthen the social

bonds between returning communities

and local traditional leaders. It will also

work to strengthen communicationbetween the institution of Ker Kwaro

Acholi and Acholi traditional leaders.

In appreciating the grant, His Highness,

Rwot Acana said, I am grateful that

culture shall be used as a tool for recovery

and development.He acknowledged

the significant roles that can be played

by Acholi traditional leaders during this

recovery period in promoting agricul-ture, cooperation, peace and develop-

ment in northern Uganda.

SPRING and Ker Kwaro

Acholi Sign StabilityFund Grant Agreement

His Highness, Rwot David Onen Acana II with SPRING

staff signing the Stability Fund grant agreement.


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During the week of Octo-

ber 26th SPRINGs imple-

menting Partner GLACCR

(The Great Lakes Center

for Conflict Resolution) conducted a

two day training on Risk Assessment

& Planning (RAP) for five of SPRINGs

implementing partners in Kitgum and

Pader districts. The training exercise

falls under SPRINGS broader RAP

program which aims at enabling USAID

and SPRING Implementing Partners to

learn and apply the concept of conflict

sensitive planning to their projects.

The training exercises led participants

through a process of conducting con-

flict analysis and understanding how

that analysis is linked to all stages of the

project cycle. GLACCR demonstrated

how RAP can help SPRING implement-

ing partners avoid contributing to vul-

nerable situations in the communities

where they work, and instead maximize

windows of opportunity to yield the

greatest impact from their projects.

In the coming months GLACCR will

help these partners practically engage in

making their projects conflict sensetive.

GLACCR will conduct individual proj-

ect site visits to produce specific rec-

ommendations to improve impacts and

mainstream conflict sensitivity into proj-

ect monitoring and evaluation systems.

GLACCR will also offer its RAP train-

ing to district and sub-county officials in

SPRINGs six districts of operation.

SPRING-GLACCR Deliver

Risk Assessment & Planning

Training to SPRING IPs

SPRING IPs discuss conflict issues affecting their projects.


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Professional Expertise:

Development worker and peace building

specialist

Education:

MA Conflict Transformation Studies-Gulu University (Pursuing)

PGD Project Planning and ManagementBA Development Studies

Work Experience:

Peace & Reconciliation Assistant, SPRING-

2009-2010; Program Officer-Peace building,

Mercy Corps- 2009; Return Monitoring

Officer, ARC- 2007-2008; Community

facilitator, NUSAF- 2006

Home:Amuru/ Attiak

Hobbies:

Reading novels, watching movies,

swimming and dancing

Northern Uganda at the moment qualifies

as a post conflict region that requires a lot of

restructuring, reintegration and development.

This can only be achieved through support

for peace and reconciliation activities. I gladly

work to compliment all our implementing

partners work to consolidate the currently

experienced peace.

Emily Lamwaka is the Peace & Rec-onciliation Assistant in the SPRINGproject. She manages grants awarded toGreat Lakes Center for Conflict Reso-lution (GLACCR), a national NGOthat builds capacities of communities inconflict sensitivity; Gulu District NGOForum (GNDF), an umbrella body fornational CBOs, CSOs and NGOs in

the district; United Movement to EndChild Soldiering (UMECS), a nationalNGO piloting peace education andGuidance Counseling in NorthernUganda. She has been instrumentalin the peace building efforts of the

SPRING Staff Profile

Emily Lamwaka

Conflict and Reconciliation

Assistant Advisor

On Tuesday, 8th of Decem-

ber, SPRING held an End

of the Year Celebration

for all of its implement-

ing partners (IPs). A total of 73 partici-

pants representing $3.1 million dollars

in SPRING STABILITY Fund projects

gathered to celebrate the completion

of the STABILITY Fund and to discuss

SPRINGs achievements over the last

year. In his welcoming remarks to par-

ticipants, Deputy Chief of Party, Hayden

Aaronson, commented: SPRING has

made great strides from a year ago, moving

from 0 signed grant agreements to a final

total of 26. Discussions on impact and

sustainability helped frame the chal-

lenges and opportunities that remain

as SPRING moves into its third and

final year of implementation. Addition-

ally, partners were able to learn more

about each others SPRING projects

and network in an informal setting. The

event successfully reinforced SPRINGs

integrated and collaborative approach to

stabilization in northern Uganda.

SPRING End of Year

Celebrations

DCOP, Hayden Aaronson, welcomes participants.

M&E Specialist, Francis Olok, facilitates

discussion on measuring impact for SPRINGs

peace and justice implementing partners.


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In December 2009, SPRINGand its Peace Education andGuidance and Counseling part-ner (UMECS-Uganda) conduct-ed a certificate level training for93 secondary school teachers

from seven pilot schools inNorthern Uganda. UMECS-Uganda has partnered withthe Ministry of Education andSports and key stakeholdersranging from the pilot second-ary schools, NTC-Unyama,Makerere Institute of Adult andContinuing Education, localgovernment to school com-munities.

This is the first time the Min-

istry of Education and com-munity-based NGO have joinedhands to pilot the course insecondary schools and teachertraining systems with long termgoals to mainstream the pro-gram throughout the country.

During the launch of the train-ing, the Commissioner forGuidance and Counseling atthe Ministry, Mr. Opiru George

Wirefred said: The program isthe first-ever in secondary schools

in Northern Uganda and Africa

as a whole. It is so timely and

falls within the Ministry thinking.

The programs will be beneficial

to teachers, students and the

communities as they address the

scourge of two decades of war.

The commissioner also dis-closed that the Ministry wouldtake on the program for itssustainability.

According to a member of

Education Standard AgencyNorthern Region, an educa-tional inspectorate body atthe regional level Mr. LumoroJames: This program is like foodfor you-teachers. You need it for

your bodies, minds and souls in

order to function well in a school

environment and your surrounding

communities

The teachers were equallyexcited about the the program

because they look at it as anopportunity for proper up-bringing and moral guidanceof the future generation:Thetraining has given us the skills and

competencies to help our teach-

ers and students bridge the gaps

and address the academic, social,

moral and ethical challenges we

have been experiencing in our

schools,Deputy Head TeacherLira Palwo SSS Pader district:

The program is aimed at devel-oping, standardizing, scaling-up,replicating and sustainably main-streaming Peace Education andFormal guidance and counselingprograms in Ugandas educationsystem.

Date of Establishment: 2004Location: Head office based in

Kampala, Field Office Gulu DistrictCoverage:

Amuru District: Pabbo sub-countryGulu District: Bardege, Laroo andLayibi, Gulu MunicipalityPader District:

Lira Palwo sub-countryKitgum District: Labuja sub-countryNumber of Staff: 7 (Seven)SPRING Project: Peace Educationand Guidance Counseling in SecondarySchools in Northern UgandaProject Highlight:

Peace Education and Counseling andGuidance in Secondary Schools in

Northern Uganda project is a one-yearpilot project for a peace education

course and school guidance and psycho-social counseling program in secondaryschools to be developed in cooperationwith the Ministry of Education to helpchildren rebuild their lives and improveoverall reconciliation in northernUganda from two decades of the LRAconflict thus enabling building a cultureof peace to prevent new war.

SPRING Project Manager:Emily Lamwaka,Conflict & Reconciliation Assistant,

[email protected]

SPRING Partner Hosts

Dialogue for Heritage

Oil Company and Amuru

Community Leaders

Notes from the Field

Head Office: Plot 1GA Samuel Doe RoadP.O.Box 36 Gulu, UGANDA Tel: +256 (0) 471 433506,Website: www.springuganda.com Email: [email protected]

On Friday, November 4 2009, SPRINGImplementing Partner, International Alert,

facilitated a meeting at Paraa Safari Lodgein Murchison National Park for Heritage

Oil Company and local leaders from Amuru District.This event was part of SPRINGs Building a PeaceEconomy Project, which aims to create higher levelsof trust and collaboration on the part of diverse stake-holders around a common agenda of peace-orientedeconomic recovery in Northern Uganda.

Presentations were made by Heritage, the Ministry ofEnergy and Mineral Development, National Environ-ment Management Authority and Uganda Wildlife

Authority. A question and answer plenary was thenfacilitated on issues ranging from facts about oilproduction, revenue sharing between local and centralgovernments, local employment opportunities andenvironmental impact on the park.

The group agreed to have a similar meeting in the newyear they ended took a tour to one of the sites whereoil had been discovered in the park.

SPRING IP Profile

United Movement to EndChild Soldiering (UMECS)

SPRING Implementing Team;

EMG, AVSI, STF and Cardno Agrisystems

Stakeholder visit to Heritageoil exploration site in Amuru

spring quarterly, volume iii

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