TRIALOG Exchange with the Global South: Uganda meets EU13

In November 2014, two Ugandan project partners of Brother and Sister in Need (BSIN)  (Dioceses Innsbruck) – a member organisation of HORIZONT3000 – came to give school workshops on the topic of global development in Austria. TRIALOG approached BSIN to see if the Ugandan partners were interested in introducing their organisations’ work and building up new contacts with organisations in the enlarged EU. They were, and so it came to be that within the TRIALOG Global Exchange activity the two Ugandan colleagues visited development CSOs in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia and Poland.

Mr. Tonny Kyambadde, an agriculture expert working for the Ugandan CARITAS Maddo, and specialised on promotion of sustainable agriculture among small scale rural farmers, was invited to events of the Czech development CSO platform FoRS and its member organisation Glopolis. At a public lecture “Towards Food Sovereignty– Can Africa Feed itself?” Mr. Kyambadde shared his experience in working with local small scale food producers; during a roundtable discussion he engaged with NGO and Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives on the topic of food security. His journey continued to Latvia, where he was involved in global education activities of the hosting organisation Humana People to People, as well as the development CSO platform LAPAS.

Ms Cissy Nakabugo from the dioceses Kiyinda-Mityana shared her experiences in child rights and social protection with development CSOs and students in Hungary and Poland. She met with Polish teachers who innovatively implement Global Education in kindergartens and preschools and visited six kindergartens herself. As an outcome of this exchange activity the Angelus Silesius House in Wroclaw is looking into opportunities of sending volunteers to work on Ms Nakabugo’s projects in Uganda and some of the kindergartens asked to establish partnerships with Ugandan kindergartens.

Both hosting NGOs from EU13 and the Ugandan guests appreciated the opportunity to meet and describe the exchange as a great learning opportunity.

Photo credits: Demnet, Cissy Nakabugo during a workshop with students in Hungary.

Information provided by Elisa Romero and Mirjam Sutrop, TRIALOG