Part four of "Destined to Triumph", which is titled "My Calling To Higher Levels Of Reaching Out", explores the thoughts of Institute of Knowledge-driven Economy Governance, IKEG, a Ugandan NGO [http://knowledgedriveneconomy.blogspot.com]. IKEG advocates for building Uganda's knowledge-driven national economy through graduates' self-employment in Small and Medium Enterprises [SMEs] because there are hardly jobs to absorb hundreds of thousands of university and college graduates who are produced each year in Uganda.
In the link below, The Observer rightly features IKEG's observations:
In the link below, The Observer rightly features IKEG's observations:
The May 05, 2012 Saturday, New Vision featured the outcry about Uganda's education system in an article titled, "Technocrats want education system changed" http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/630754-technocrats-want-education-system-changed.html
Really? Then, they have taken too long hearken to my calls, which made in my various articles that I wrote in the New Vision between Aug. 2009 and Feb. 2010. Take a look at them by visiting the following links:
1.
“Universities
can help end unemployment”, in the New Vision, February 25, 2010 (http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/711046)
2. “Uganda’s
solution to poverty is a knowledge-driven economy”, in the New Vision, January
4, 2010 (http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/708294)
3. “Government should help graduates start
businesses, in the New Vision, November 25, 2009” (http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/702187)
4. “Build a knowledge economy to develop Uganda”,
in the New Vision, October 30, 2009 (http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/699462)
5. “Government, universities, industries should
link up to create jobs”, in the New Vision, August 13, 2009 (http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/691080)
Many people have been asking me as to what happened for me stop writing about the graduates’ unemployment problem in which I had soaked my feet and head during last quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010. I have not been quite. Instead I have stepping up the advocate thanks to a master piece, “Destined to Triumph”, which I have been working on and, I have come up with. The book is a wisdom cache tough life experience of an Africa child who has seen it.In “Destined to Triumph” [page 62] with there is title reading “Farm School Could Make St. Leo’s College A Model School” under it I wrote emphasizing, “St. Leo’s College, Kyegobe could have been a model secondary school for the whole of Uganda, given that agriculture is the backbone of our country’s economy. The school had a fleet of tractors, which were used in an extensive banana plantation. It also used to grow a number of other food crops, such as maize and cabbages on a large scale. The school also used to rear pigs on a large scale. It had a farm of over 300 pigs. It was a well capacitated school relevant to our agrarian economy. Most of our schools today teach students abstract things merely to pass exams.
These days, the ‘disassociated from any specific practical instance’ secondary and university education partly explains the low standards of living among our ‘farming communities’ as well as the alarming levels of school-leavers, college and university graduates’ unemployment in the country. Secondary school and university education has not been tailored to serve farming communities, who are the rural people, constituting more than 80% of Uganda’s population. This is paradoxical given that Uganda boasts of a competitive edge in education among the East African countries.”
Prof. F. R. Banugure’s presentation on IKEG, which is one of the millstones
of “Destined To Triumph” at the launch of the book on 12-Oct-2012 at Hotel Africana:
GOOD ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND THE MISSION OF THE INSTITUTE FOR KNOWLEDGE
ECONOMY GOVERNANCE ( IKEG):
Let me start
my remarks on the role and mission of IKEG by stating the obvious but important
idea, that the global economy is now characterized as a knowledge economy in a
knowledge society. What does this fact, mean for, the most developed countries
(MDCs) and the least developed countries (LDCs) like Uganda? For the former, it may mean that technological
innovations is the key to their future growth and continued dominance of the GE,
or that they must use their K-power to capture more market spaces world –wide. For the latter it means
that LDCs must develop their human resource as their major source of
livelihoods and that to grow their economies in a competitive world, they must
use smart and K–based policies and
management practices. MDCs and LDCs are highly interdependent and their future
prosperity is even more so.
Mr. Babyetsiza’s initiative to start IKEG was
informed by this reality. When he introduced it to me 2 years ago, he
discovered that he was talking to some one who had reflected on the issue and
was greatly concerned with the quality of economic governance in Africa in general
and Uganda in particular. Our concerns were summarized into 3 key questions.
Ø Do policy makers and their economic
advisors really understand how the peasant economies work and how they can be
effectively transformed to achieve prosperity for all? (THE VILLAGE ECONOMY
QUESTION)
Ø Are we using the right knowledge package
to understand and manage our national economics right knowledge package to understand
and manage our national economies right from the village/community level to the
sector markets and the macro –economy levels?
Ø How can we improve our knowledge
–base to address the management challenges of LDCs economies with a view to
achieving prosperity for all in the shortest time possible?
RATIONALE FOR IKEG
In searching
for answers, Julius focused on the issue of graduates’ unemployment problem,
which he himself had faced on returning from his studies in the former SOVIET
UNION. He discovered that the economic policy bureaucracies of Uganda were not
responsive to the changing economic needs of Uganda’s society, especially so
for the needs of the youth who are just entering the labour market. Perhaps
this lack of responsiveness was due to some gaps in their K –base, or to even
lack of on thinking culture, or even
to use of wrong knowledge and wrong policy –making processes? We quickly
realize that there are, indeed questions of development management, which
needed the attention of the relevant professionals in communities of practice
as well as communities of K-generation and dissemination .This led to the birth
of IKEG as a starting point to spread awareness about good economic governance
for inclusive growth and prosperity for all
MISSION OF IKEG
The mission of IKEG, therefore, was designed to focus on:
Ø Research and knowledge for Development,
leading to publication on economic policy management and the structure and
performance of the village economies.
Ø Awareness seminars and training
workshops on economic governance, economic policy management; management
information systems, and communication strategies for effective net working and
learning for development.
Ø Social and management innovations (solutions)
to economic governance, and community based development.
CONCLUTION: WAY FORWARD TO TRIUMPH
By starting
IKEG, Julius Babyetsiza, has embarked on a journey of learning for development “. There are
many forms of success along this road, for example, as social innovators, as a
theory matter, as a great teacher. He can follow the footsteps of prof. Waagari
Mathai and other great achievers in social enterprenuareship. He may follow in
the footsteps of professor Kaniyeihamba who has served society with both intellectual
excellence and highest standards of ethics and integrity. The key is to be a visionary
for good governance, both economic and political. But he must remember that it
is important not to betray you vision after vigorously disseminating it and
sharing it with many .Yes, Mr. J. Babyetsiza
is destined to triumph, in one way or another, as a famous thinker and activist
for good economic governance and knowledge management. Let us wish him the best
on his journey of service to Uganda and humanity.
It is now my duty and privilege to
invite Julius to briefly tell us the story of his life and how he was inspired
to set up IKEG.
