NRU :: Browsing by Author "Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts"

Browsing by Author "Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts"

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Addressing HIV/AIDS challenges in Uganda: does social capital generation by NGOs matter?
(Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 2011) Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts
HIV/AIDS has had devastating impacts in many countries, Uganda in particular. However, Uganda is depicted as one of the most successful countries in fighting HIV/AIDS. Among others, Uganda’s success story is attributed to the open general environment which allows open discussions surrounding HIV/AIDS when other countries such as South Africa and Kenya denied the existence of the disease in their countries. In addition, the success is attributed to the policy which allowed many actors to participate in the fight against the disease. The primary focus of this article is to map the process of social capital generation by NGOs and how social capital benefits enhance mitigation of HIV/AIDS challenges in Uganda. The key to social capital is nurturing relationships. In this regard, HIV/AIDS NGOs play a central role in the way individuals, groups and communities interact, and how various kinds of social relations are forged with people living with HIV/AIDS and especially for those who are HIV infected. NGOs’ success in reducing the number of HIV/AIDS cases in Uganda is based on their abilities to generate social capital. This involves inclusion and building social networks and empowerment at the individual and community levels, and disseminating information to reduce social stigma as well as discrimination. We used a mixed-method strategy to collect data for this study. We used a structured questionnaire having quantitative and qualitative question sets which focused on different social capital measurement indicators. We used observations and in-depth face-to-face interviews. A major finding of the study is that the ways individuals and groups are connected and interact with each other are important mechanisms for alleviating HIV/AIDS challenges in Uganda.
The Contribution of Cultural Institutions in the Social Reintegration of the Formerly Abducted Young Mothers in Post-Conflict Kitgum-Uganda
(Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies, 2022) Mlahagwa, Wendo; Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts
The use of children as soldiers has been a feature of armed conflicts worldwide. Formerly abducted young mothers (FAYMs) are part of the child soldiers. They are the girls who were abducted and forcefully conscripted by the Ugandan rebel outfit, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda in the two decade years’ war (1986-2006) against the government of Uganda. The girls were not only forced to marry and bear children to their abductors, but they were also forced to commit atrocities against their own communities. As they return to their communities are being rejected and discriminated against. Studies have shown that there has been less focus on the role of cultural institution in social reintegration of the formerly abducted young mothers (FAYMs). The focus of this article is on the critical significance and potency of those cultural practices. Using phenomenology research design, guided by interpretivism paradigm, we have relied on individual in-depth interviews from the cultural leaders, the narratives from the formerly abducted young mothers (FAYMs) and key informant interviews from social workers and local leaders to obtain data. Findings reveal that ritual cleansing ceremonies are highly regarded in facilitating social reintegration of the FAYMs. Despite the impact of war on operations of the cultural institution, cultural leaders still play a vital role in mediating between the formerly abducted young mothers and their communities to enable peaceful co-existence and social reintegration. The cultural leaders perform ritual cleansing ceremonies that are considered vital for the formerly abducted young mothers’ social reintegration
Decentralisation in Uganda: Prospects for Improved Service Delivery
(Africa development, 2008) Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts
Since the 1980s, many Sub-Saharan African countries have been undergoing structural reforms with a view to promoting efficient service delivery. Decentrali- sation, defined as the transfer of authority from central to local governments to perform certain duties, is seen as one of the public sector reform strategies to increase service delivery. Decentralisation in Uganda began in 1986 with the coming into power of the National Resistance Movement, which aimed at pro- moting democracy and enhancing local participation. In Uganda, political de- centralisation developed along with financial decentralisation. The goal of po- litical decentralisation was to promote people’s participation in the democratic process of Uganda. This took the form of Administrative Units – Resistance Councils (RC)1 running from the village to district levels. Financial decentralisa- tion, on the other hand, attempted to assign responsibilities and taxes between the centre and local governments, to enable the transfer of grants and other resources to different parts of the country, and to improve service delivery. This paper will review different government, public and academic documents as well as findings of other researches such as UN reports about decentralisation and service delivery in Uganda. Based on these sources the paper will answer the following questions: to what extent does decentralisation increase service de- livery? To what extent does decentralisation increase efficiency, participation, accountability and effectiveness? What are the challenges of implementing de- centralisation in Uganda?
Dynamics of Captivity and Post Captivity Experiences and Implication for Social Reintegration of the Formerly Abducted Young Mothers in Kitgum District, Northern Uganda
(Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies, 2022) Mlahagwa, Wendo; Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts
Uganda’s two decades insurgency (1986-2006) in Northern Uganda between the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government and rebels under Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has seen forceful conscription of children in the rebel’s army among whom were girls. The girls were either raped or forced to become wives of LRA rebels and bore children during captivity and later returned to Uganda with these children. During captivity, they were not only forced to commit horrendous acts against their own communities but were also sexually exploited by the rebels and became mothers at a tender age. In this paper these girls are referred to as the formerly abducted young mothers (FAYMs). Upon return, despite many efforts from many actors, their social reintegration is still problematic. In this paper, we examine how captivity and return experiences shaped the FAYMs long term social reintegration in Kitgum district. We have relied on their individual narratives and those of the community members and key informant interviews from local leaders and social workers (Research Note: Please note that all names used to represent respondents are pseudo names). Findings show that exposure to horrific events in captivity, and negative perception by communities to which they returned have had physical, emotional and psychological impacts that impair FAYMs’ association with their communities and their social reintegration.
Dynamics of women’s Secure Land Rights for Sustainable Rural household Food Security in Uganda
(Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies (JAIS), 2021) Rwangire, Milton; Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts
Food security is a major concern of a global agenda as reflected in the UN Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2000, 2016). Globally more than 2 billion people are food insecure and this situation is on the rise and has turned into a crisis especially in Sub Saharan Africa. Uganda which was the focus of this paper has had multiple food crises in various regions at different times. Isingiro district where this chapter is situated has been experiencing food crisis in recent times. Women who are the main producers of food lack secure land rights to enhance food production. The goal of this study was to explore how women’s secure land rights can be strengthened to enhance sustainable rural household food security in Uganda. Our methodology was largely qualitative. We interviewed 102 respondents including local women, local leaders and key informants. We held three focus group discussions one in each sub-county where we collected data from. Our findings indicate that women have limited land rights with regard to control of land, but majority of them have access rights but with minimal decisions on what to produce. Our findings indicated that barriers to women to secure land rights are from institutional as well as lack of enforcement of the legal frameworks in place. Owing to the sensitivity of land ownership and patriarchal nature of Ugandan societies, Isingiro district in particular, we therefore concluded that secure land rights for women can be strengthened through active sensitization of both men and women on the value of women’s rights to land and its implication on sustainable rural household food security.
Globalisation and Knowledge Production in Higher Education: The Impact of Internationalisation and Liberalisation on University Education in Rwanda and Uganda
(Africa Journal of Public Sector Development and Governance, 2019) Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts; Rwabyoma, Asasira Simon
The role of higher education, as the broad sector of education that includes all postsecondary education including university and tertiary institutions, in development cannot be overlooked. In this paper, the discussion will specifically centre on universities and other degree-awarding institutions. Universities are of specific importance, since as a sub-sector they are mandated to produce knowledge through research and are the only institutions specialised in producing, reproducing and disseminating the new knowledge necessary for development (Cloete and Bunting 2016; Muriisa and Bacwayo 2014). Universities engage in research and searching for the knowledge required to move countries forward. In addition, they engage in research, community service, teaching and producing new generation scholars who can produce knowledge and disseminate knowledge through service to the community. As Kofi Annan indicated, universities have an important role to play in the transformation of African economies
Rethinking the Role of Universities in Africa: Leadership as a Missing Link in Explaining University Performance in Uganda
(Journal of Higher Education in Africa/Revue de l'enseignement superieur en Afrique, 2014) Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts
The subject of this paper is the place of leadership in redefining the role of the university in Africa in general and Uganda in particular. The ‘African University’ today, like any other university, has clear mandates and roles; research, teaching and community service, clearly laid down on paper in many of the universities’ manuals and strategic plans. But, in reality, these roles are not performed at all or are performed in a manner that may not warrant clear roles. Increasingly, it is observed that less quality teaching, less research, and less community service are being done. This situation calls for rethinking what role should universities play. While many explanations have been offered for the declining performance of the university, in this paper I contend that leadership plays a significant role not only in influencing escalation of crises but also in averting them, especially in Ugandan universities. The paper answers mainly three research questions: (i) How do changes and transitions taking place in the university sector affect the role of universities in Uganda? (ii) How does leadership respond to the challenges faced by universities? and (iii) What are the challenges faced by leadership and how do these challenges influence their response to university challenges? Using different documents, and basing on the behaviour approaches to study organisations the study makes an analysis of the role of leadership in the functioning of the university. The paper concludes faced with many challenges, universities have changed course and focus and that they need rethinking their roles. It is concluded that the role of leadership has been overlooked yet they occupy a central role in the performance of the university.
The Role of NGOs in Addressing Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS in Uganda
(Canadian Journal of African Studies/ La Revue canadienne des études africaines, 2010) Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts
The recognition of HIV/AIDS as an epidemic made it one of the human security threats in the 21st century. Gender-based resource imbalance and power relations contribute not only to the understanding of HIV/AIDS as a human security issue, but also the aggravation of gender inequality. NGOs involved in fighting HIV/AIDS are currently embracing gender concerns with a view to promoting gender equality. Research for this article involved an evaluation of two NGOs in Uganda — The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) and the Post-Test Club / Philly Lutaaya Initiative (PTC/PLI) — with the aim of finding out their role in addressing gender inequality and HIV/AIDS. The findings from this research highlight the value of gender-sensitive programs such as couples’ counselling and education and awareness. The research findings show that these programs have facilitated women’s empowerment, enabling them to be more assertive with their male partners in negotiating safe sex. The article concludes that the work of TASO and PTC/PLI has had an important and positive impact on the lives of people in Uganda, especially women.
Social Capital: A Panacea for HIV/AIDS Challenges in Uganda
(Journal of Development Issues, 2010) Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts; Ishtiaq, Jamil
Social capital is one of the most widely discussed and contested concepts in the social sciences. It has received wide attention from development practitioners, policy makers, and academia. Despite its growing importance for analyzing and explaining social economic and political outcomes, there are few or limited studies that have addressed the issues of the process through social capital is built and its eventual outcomes. As such, there is limited empirical research concerning social capital building and its practice in improving people’s health, especially in the context of developing countries. This paper discusses the role of NGOs in mobilising social capital and its effect on HIV/AIDS challenges. HIV/AIDS NGOs play a central role in the way individuals, groups and communities and state agencies interact and in this paper we argue that this is vital for people living with HIV/AIDS and especially for those who are HIV infected. We employed mixed research approaches to data collection and we collected both qualitative and quantitative data. The analysis also combined the analytical approaches. SPSS was used to generate quantitative data, while progressive and thematic data analysis approaches were used to analyse qualitative data. Inferring to this data and drawing lessons from other studies, the paper argues and concludes the mobilisation of social capital at the micro, meso and macro levels by HIV/AIDS organisations such as TASO and PTC/PLI has significantly contributed to the mitigation of HIV/AIDS challenges in Uganda.
The State of Doctoral Education in Social Sciences in Uganda: Experiences and Challenges of Doctoral Training at Mbarara University of Science and Technology 2003 - 2010
(Journal of Education and Practice, 2015) Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts
This paper discusses the challenges and experiences which social science students in Africa undergo to complete the PhD program. Focusing on Mbarara University of Science and Technology, the paper present that many students who register on the PhD program in Africa, are unable to complete the program in the stipulated time. The paper identifies that the challenges which students face can be divided into two categories; institutional and individual students and the supervisors. At the institutional level it involves the nature and the context of the program. This involves lack of resources to support an overall learning environment. At the individual level, the challenges include student and supervisor challenges which they face at individual levels and how they affect completion. To get to discuss these issues, I held one focus group discussion with 7 students enrolled for the PhD program and 1 fresh graduate of PhD at the Faculty of development studies Mbarara University of science and Technology, critical literature review and a review of some of the external supervisors reports for the PhD students who have made an attempt to submit their final dissertations. Basing on the data from the sources identified above, the paper concludes that for students to complete the PhD program, the above challenges need to be addressed especially by establishing training programs in the region and creation of a better learning environment for the PhD students. The issues discussed in this paper and solutions provided provides a basis for improving the training programs in Universities. It is argued in this paper that solutions to completing PhD programs especially in the social sciences will depend on strengthening foundational courses especially in Methodology and theories and most importantly critical thinking.
Synergy in Social service provision: Embeddedness and Complementarity in Fighting HIV/AIDs in Uganda
(Journal of Public Sector Development and Governance, 2018) Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts; Rwabyoma, Asasira Simon
Uganda is among the countries that have managed to control the spread of HIV/AIDS despite of the high number of people living with HIV. Uganda is observed to be on the right track towards achieving the 90, 90, 90 Strategy by 2020 (Agaba 2018). The 90, 90, 90 Strategy is an ambitious treatment target that was launched by UNAIDS and other partners. It is aimed at diagnosing 90% of all people living with HIV, provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) for 90% of those diagnosed, and achieve viral suppression for 90% of those treated by 2020. Uganda has registered success in a number of areas, including: reductions in new infections by more than half in five years from 135,000 in 2010 to approximately 60,000 by 2016, in men and women; in children from 26,000 in 2010 to 4000 in 2016, enrolling more than 1 million people on care and support and about 980,954 on antiretroviral therapy (Ministry of Health Uganda 2016; World Health Organisation (WHO) 2018). The reasons why Uganda, a country perceived to be poor, has been more successful in fighting HIV/AIDS than countries such as South Africa and Botswana, considered economically prosperous, remain a matter of discussion. Countries have responded to HIV/AIDS mitigation by providing information and upscaling treatment and prevention. However, these have failed to address the social, economic and power relations which are responsible for individual risks of infection and ability to protect themselves (Kharsany and Karim 2016). The prevalence of HIV among women in most African countries, including Uganda, is higher than that of men due to power relations. Women are unable for example to negotiate consistent use of condoms due to power relations between men and women. Uganda’s success is also registered in being able to create harmonious relations between various actors engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a relationship that has been fundamental to Uganda’s success in implementing HIV/AIDS policy programmes. Political, social or structural factors play a role in differences between countries about how policy is put into practice (McRobie et al. 2017) and ultimately the successes that may be registered in HIV prevention. In this paper, we follow a framework of synergy which looks at the relationship between society and state in fighting HIV/AIDS. We perceive that Uganda’s success story can be explained by the general framework of synergy. The study uses secondary data on HIV/AIDS prevention in Uganda.

Browsing by Author "Kabeba Muriisa, Roberts"

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