Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Nancy Muturi / The country of Uganda has an HIV rate of approximately 6.3% countrywide, but in northern Uganda rates have been significantly higher (UNAIDS, 2011). In northern Uganda, a region that has faced decades of war and conflict, 1.2 million people live with HIV. The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) are used as the theoretical framework in examining how on the ground development practitioners create programming that is the most beneficial in behavior change. Both theories have been used extensively in the design and implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention programs. However, there tends to be little consistency among scholars on what types of behavior change approaches are the most effective, especially in those countries that are most impacted by the AIDS epidemic. The goal of this study was to examine the views of practitioners who work directly with recipients and identify some of the most effective strategies and messages tailored for Northern Uganda based on the EPPM and SCT. A qualitative approach was used in the study. A sample of current, or past long-term (at least two years working in the field) development practitioners from international agencies such as the United States Peace Corps, USAID, International Rescue Committee (IRC), among others. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews, which were conducted online due to geographic constraints of the interviewees, with selected participants currently scattered throughout the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. The study reports practitioners’ views on most effective communication strategies and messages based on experiences while working in northern Uganda. Some of the variables examined include the strategies for changing the belief systems of the population that curb the spread of the AIDS epidemic; self-efficacy strategies; and the nature and level of fear appeal appropriate for the Northern Ugandan situation; and their overall view. Findings of the study indicate respondents feel fear appeal messaging may be ill suited for use in Northern Uganda. Culture-centered approaches may be of best use during the transition from war to reconciliation. Results of the study will help to inform future HIV/AIDS prevention programs on best practices that are both theory and research based.

This study was conducted on the premise that if quality business information is provided to business enterprises, socio-economic transformation could be achieved. The study emanated from the documented problem where business enterprises in northern Uganda were found to depend on "word of mouth" rather than any meaningful formal mechanism for accessing information efficiently. The aim of the study was, therefore, to design an information system for northern Uganda business enterprises. The study makes use of document analysis, questionnaires and interviews. The Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs), information providers and business policy-makers in northern Uganda constituted the population of the study. The data which was collected was edited and analysed to produce graphs, charts and percentages. The main findings indicate that business activities in northern Uganda are diverse - covering almost the entire sector of the economy. The SMEs need information on finance/capital/loans, local markets, business management skills, appropriate technologies, business competitors and security. They are lagging behind in using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). There is a lack of familiarity with changing technology - especially the Internet. Although the SMEs are making a fundamental contribution to Uganda's economy, they face serious challenges, such as insecurity, inadequate electricity, lack of trained information professionals and appropriate technology to access electronic information. The findings further indicate that respondents want business information to be selective to address their needs. The study concludes that the SMEs need an efficient, effective mechanism to provide the required business information. Hence, it is recommended that a business information system (BIS) design be implemented to address their needs. The BIS should provide business information in terms of legal, technical and economic information as well as contact information and management skills. Information should be processed by means of radio broadcasts, the telephone, short text messages, posters, online and CD-ROM formats - as required by the SMEs managers. To facilitate access, BIS should have telephone services; Internet-based services; online small business workshops; business start up assistant; and Talk to BIS services. BIS should have a flexible interface. / INFORMATION SCIENCE / DLITT ET PHIL (INF SCIENCE)

This doctoral project, entitled 'Displacing AIDS: Therapeutic Transitions in Northern Uganda' examines the biosocial transitions engendered by the treatment of HIV, focusing on antiretroviral therapy (ART/ARV) interventions, and the ways these are intertwined with the social transitions of conflict, displacement and return. The research involved an inter-disciplinary qualitative study with internally displaced communities living with HIV in northern Uganda, during 10 months fieldwork between 2006 and 2009. Northern Uganda has experienced a two decade civil war between the government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (1987 to 2006). In 2006, after a cessation of hostilities was signed, hundreds of thousands of the displaced began returning ‘home’. The effects of conflict and social displacement were to significantly shape both the social and medical aspects of ART provision. I argue that northern Uganda was significantly excluded from widespread national community-based responses as a result of the war during the 1990s and early 2000s. Given this background, ART interventions were to engender rapid social transformations among those with HIV, but also in relation to the perceptions of HIV/AIDS in the broader community. I explore these intersecting biosocial and displacement-induced transitions through several streams: the social transitions of forced displacement and the return process; the transitions from illness to a precarious health; from social exclusion to a contested inclusion; transitions between local and biomedical understandings of healing; transitions in authority and biopower; as well as continually shifting forms of identity, support and affiliation. I give particular emphasis to forms of socio-spatial and medico -moral transformations. I argue that ARV interventions have been nested in the social and moral spaces of displacement. In particular the spatial configurations of encampment, involving extreme congestion and lack of privacy, have shaped patterns of disclosure and community and identity formation. The influence of Catholicism, shaped by missionary histories in the region, has also had a strong impact. Themes of militarism, lack of productivity, and encampment have shaped the language and perceptions of HIV and AIDS. Theoretically I engage with debates around biosociality, stigmatisation and ‘clientship’ within the emerging literature on ARVs. I trace the intersections of these questions with those in forced migration studies regarding the social transformations of displacement and return. Furthermore, I use this social analysis to engage with public-health perspectives on ARV provision. I argue that community-based strategies require adaptation to the social contexts of displacement. Such adaptations, involving attentiveness to the socio-spatial specificity of displaced contexts, are critical for the long-term provision and sustainability of antiretroviral therapy to displaced communities. In particular the return phase has created unexpected challenges for treatment continuity, arising from large-scale population movements. The thesis has a strong narrative focus and traces the experiences of several people living with HIV through the paths of displacement and return.

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Educational discourses, practices and institutions are increasingly shaped today by forces and envoys of a globalised world. Research suggests that functional integration into a neo-liberal world economy compels many nation-states to eschew indigenous educational priorities in favour of a globally structured agenda for education. This thesis explores the emergence of new educational policy responses to this agenda, with a particular emphasis on the practice of policy ‘borrowing’. While numerous studies have explored educational issues including curricular convergence and mass schooling in the context of policy borrowing, few have explored health education from a similar theoretical perspective. This thesis applies the Globally Structured Agenda for Education (GSAE) approach to the study of Uganda’s efforts to borrow an abstinence-only educational intervention as the nation’s primary HIV/AIDS prevention strategy. Uganda is regarded by many AIDS researchers and public health professionals as one of the world’s most compelling success stories in the battle against HIV and AIDS. From the early 1990s until 2003, the Ugandan government actively promoted a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention, encouraging Ugandans of all ages to observe the ‘ABCs’ of sexual health (Abstain, Be Faithful, use Condoms). Unlike the vast majority of its sub-Saharan counterparts, Uganda then experienced a rapid and extraordinary decline in rates of HIV prevalence. In 2004, however, the government of Uganda abruptly abandoned the popular ABC approach in favour of ‘policy borrowing’ PEPFAR, the model of sexual health education advocated by the United States. This exclusively promoted the benefits of abstinence until marriage. The sudden shift in education policy and public discourse in Uganda is the focus of this research. Two forms of documentary analysis are used. The first explores the borrowing process in detail, examining the interests and motivations underlying cross-national policy attraction, decision-making, implementation and ultimately, indigenisation in Uganda. The second explores the social, educational and health consequences of an abstinence-until-marriage approach in the context of Uganda’s localised AIDS epidemic. A discourse-historical approach is utilised to examine the ways in which language and rhetoric establish a narrative correlation between premarital abstinence and HIV prevention in Uganda, and to analyse the extent to which public discourse legitimately reflects the social, economic and epidemiological conditions in-country. The findings suggest the discourse on HIV/AIDS prevention in Uganda focuses mainly on (i) the severity of the national epidemic, (ii) the scope, nature and success of the ABC approach, (iii) the virtues of pre-marital abstinence, and (iv) the prophylactic inefficiency of condom use. The various arguments in support of abstinence-until-marriage education are found to be largely motivated by the political ambitions and economic aspirations of key power elites in Uganda. This finding suggests the neo-liberal, capital-driven imperatives of a global education agenda have indeed come to supersede local health needs in Uganda. The study concludes that Uganda’s efforts to halt the spread HIV/AIDS through abstinence-until- marriage education fail to adequately address the prevention needs of the nation’s adolescents and adults. This is evidenced by the fact the largest percentage of HIV-positive persons in Uganda are married, divorced and/or widowed women. Rather than marriage being seen as – in the American model – a ‘safe haven’ from the virus, it is instead the very place where Ugandans are most at risk. This has profound implications not only for education and health policy-making in Uganda, but also raises serious questions about the efficacy and relevance of ‘borrowing’ policies whose origins, ideologies and political contexts emanate from elsewhere.

The process of determining outputs and outcomes plays a key role in the setting of global targets, in defining national sector policy and strategic plans and in ensuring a continuous, safe supply of affordable water. Each of these actions, are integrally linked by aggregated data sets generated through an effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) process. This thesis examines the various components of M&E across three case studies: Global, Kenya and Uganda, including aspects such as whether roles and responsibilities are realistically assigned and whether there is a recurring set of core indicators being monitored and reported. The research has also sought to establish an evidence base of the associated costs and efficacy of use of M&E. Through purposive and snowball sampling, fieldwork was undertaken across the case studies with 85 key stakeholders. Programme, national and global level data sets were collected through structured literature reviews, document and data archive reviews, key informant and semi-structured interviews. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods were applied. The results demonstrate that despite having a recurring global goal and associated target, the number and variety of indicators reported against has grown over time and at each level. In turn this is placing a burden on already resource constrained countries. Regardless of the various principles of harmonization and alignment, countries are still required to manage internally and externally driven parallel systems. Whilst the research suggests the costs of M&E are escalating, the full extent of this increase remains unknown as does the extent of efficacy of use of M&E. Despite evidence that country-led M&E processes are at some level achieving their objectives, with the continuing complexities of the sector particularly around the accompanying aid architecture, M&E is not currently ‘fit for purpose’ for use in the WASH sector and is unlikely to be providing value for money.

There are many existing programs and initiatives in Uganda supporting small businesses, but tend to suffer from a number of weaknesses. In particular typically small businesses find it difficult to do research and development; commercialize their results in markets (innovation) as fast as they should. For micro, small & medium enterprises to be dully competitive in a competitive economic environment requires that they develop internal capabilities to effectively assimilate, use and adapt product and process technologies for their businesses to survive on an ongoing basis. To overcome this drawback, the concept of Business Incubation has been proposed. This concept has gained large interest in the research community. The key idea is to create and nurture new businesses for growth by providing services and infrastructure required by utilizing the external knowledge sources (open innovation) and triple-helix model which assist formation of business and industrial clusters. A business incubator is an organization that supports the creation and growth of new businesses by providing services and infrastructure that is required by the targeted clients. Given that most firms in developing countries start too small to compete especially in international markets, a pre-requisite to industrial development, governments and policy makers should give particular attention to the constraints and needs of MSMEs. This can be done by adopting a mix of policies and framework conditions to reduce on the obstacles that hamper technological innovation, collaboration and business growth. In particular is access to finance and enhancing technology and business capacity development through training, linkages and networks. This Licentiate thesis discusses and reviews the initiatives and programs aimed at supporting the development of MSMEs with a view to stimulate industrial development in Uganda. The main aim of this research is to examine the process of business incubation and explain the contribution of open innovation business incubators to entrepreneurs/ start-up firms within the broader context of developing entrepreneurship, promoting science, technology and innovation and creating employment. This research focuses on the roles and relationships of government, university and research institutions and the private sector as sources of knowledge for technological innovations. Literature review, theory understanding, and participatory methods including group discussions with questionnaires, meetings and interviews, were used to achieve the objectives. From the findings, it was revealed among MSMEs that due to their sizes, limited managerial and technological skills, and inadequate functional business support services have had adverse effects on their upgrading and growth. There was little linkage and follow up between industry and other public research sectors i.e. government agencies and higher institutions although there are quite a number of support institutions with poor coordination. The research analyzed a wide range of issues that are related to the desired structural transformation of the Ugandan economy towards industrialization process. Finally it will propose strategies for the most appropriate model for Uganda.

Over the last fourteen years the construction industry in Uganda has experienced an annual average growth rate of 7.8%, markedly higher than the national GDP of 5.5%. However, the disparity bet construction information and the lack of an organised system of sharing it betwweeneen industry partners has resulted in the poor performance of construction projects. This is due to the fact that it is inadequate, inaccurate and inconsistently disseminated. This research project investigated the effectiveness of using a web portal to enhance information sharing in the Ugandan construction industry. The work is meant as a step towards the establishment of a web portal for the industry. It is envisaged that the web portal will improve construction project planning and management through the provision of basic construction information. The study population consisted of 233 construction and consulting firms. A multi-method approach was employed in the research. This included the conducting of a questionnaire survey of 80 (Le. sample size) firms, and an interview survey of 9 representatives of key stakeholders in the industry. A systemic approach was used to elicit the perspectives of stakeholders in the industry and to develop a holistic view of the research problem. The results of the research have shown that the Ugandan construction industry participants have adequate IT infrastructure and Internet access capacity to benefit from the web portal. 97% of t~e participants have computers and 77% are connected to the Internet. 83% consider the web portal to be an effective means of sharing information and 93% are willing to share the information produced by their organisations. During the study, two conceptual models (a user's information needs model and a data flow model for stages of a construction cycle) were developed and validated by six experts in construction industry practices and communication. The research underscores the fact that the successful implementation of the web portal will not only depend on the "hard" (or technical) factors but also on the "soft" (or people) factors, such as changing the users' thinking and methods of work, developing trust and building partnerships amongst participants. In essence, the project proposes the establishment of a building information centre to house and coordinate the web portal and,its related activities. / Thesis (M.Sc.ConstrMgt.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

Today there is no agreement as to how developing countries can achieve sustained economic growth and wellbeing. Over the last 50 years many suggested policy panaceas have failed. Policy makers are now faced with growing economic challenges and confusing policy prescriptions. Against this background, the re-emerging study of institutions now offers new promise in explaining why development has so far eluded so many countries, and consequently, what can be done about it. This thesis deals with questions which to date have only received partial or cursory attention. The study asks: What really are institutions? Why do they matter? What can we learn about them that can help us deal with the current challenging development debacle? This study starts by reaffirming what institutions are. It shows that institutions are inescapable influencers of the way we relate to each other, and the effects we have on our societies’ economic development. Yet so far, scholars and policy makers have not yet fully taken up the opportunity of identifying and utilising the insights that the institutional perspective offers. This study deliberately picks up the challenge. Using the experience of the Uganda coffee sector, it shows that the nature of institutions can be better understood, and their role and impact, better addressed towards pressing development questions. The study shows that by integrating old and new institutionalist perspectives and theories of institutions and institutional change, it is possible to make much more progress towards understanding, explaining and addressing the role and influence of institutions in the development of an economic sector. In so doing this study goes beyond existing works on definition, taxonomy and explanation of institutional influence. It raises new insights to be considered as we face today’s contemporary development challenges. This research should therefore be of interest and value to researchers, students, policy makers and entrepreneurs concerned with economic development and the factors that shape and influence it in practice.

This research examines faith-based mediators and their usage of mediation strategies, in relation to durability of peace agreements and it is guided by the following research question; Why do some faith-based mediators succeed to aid the creation of durable peace, while others do not? In order to find an answer to this question a hypothesis, suggesting that faith-based mediators applying the fostering, rather than the forcing, strategy will be more successful, is tested. This hypothesis mirrors the causal logic, suggesting that faith-based mediators have the potential to contribute to the creation of durable peace agreements, through the usage of facilitative and formulative techniques. The methodological design makes use of tools provided by Mills Method of Difference and Structured Focused Comparison. These tools aid the analysis of faith-based mediation in Uganda and Sierra Leone. The findings indicate that the application of the fostering strategy has a positive effect in relation to the process of creating durable peace agreements. However, this positive effect comes with one condition, the faith-based mediators have to be influential in relation to the peace process.