Reader at Kabarole Information Center in Fort Portal, Uganda browses a newspaper.

How do you bring change to the rural areas in Africa that need information the most?

This is a question that a number of organizations in the Rwenzori region of Western Uganda seek to answer. Pamoja Media has been working with the Dutch firm TNO and the Nailab on a Hivos funded project to come up with the Information, Communication and Marketing strategy for six partner organizations in East Africa.

In the Rwenzori Region, two organizations namely Rwenzori Information Centers Network (RIC-NET) and Kabarole Research and Resource Centers (KRC) are working with local communities in building their capacities and knowledge in tackling some of the issues affecting them daily.

RIC-NET has a very powerful yet local method of sourcing and distributing information. The organization has formed a collection of small information centers into one powerful network within Western Uganda. So if a farmer in a parish seeks better methods to grow his matoke or find out a better price for his harvest, RIC-NET can provide him with all the necessary information. They are the source of the internet for this local farmer. Farmers can ask questions which RIC-NET researches online or by talking to experts in universities and the like and get back to the farmer with answers. They also connect successful farmers to the rest of their communities by highlighting these success stories.

John Silco of Rwenzori Information Centers Network (RIC-NET) describes how the Bwera Information Center connects within the RIC-NET structure and the value it provides local farmers.

The project is of great interest to me as it begins to highlight ways in which we can improve the lives of African farmers. There are great parallels to the Rockefeller Foundation funded project which Pamoja Media is working on. The key here is in finding effective ways to get information from the hands of those who are knowledgeable to those who seek it. If I am an expert in growing cassava, I can be of great assistance to another farmer seeking this information while I can learn from a farmer with better market access knowledge.

A successful farmer in Busaiga within the Rwenzori Region describes how Kabarole Research and Resource Center (KRC) helped him scale his operations.

On the other hand, KRC is looking at researching issue pertinent to the daily lives of communities in the Rwezori region. The organization collects data and also finds great ways to impact the lives of different people. Some key projects include building a savings culture amongst the rural community, getting access to credit through micro finance facilities, improving the lives of women, youth and the under served in community through lobbying, knowledge dissemination and social work.

Ultimately, the Rwenzori region of Western Uganda is a much richer place due to the work of these two organizations. If Africa can build a network of such community led initiatives that are wired across the continent through information centers, just how much information and knowledge can we share amongst each other? I think it is the work of Pamoja Media to look at how this is possible and therefore create value through technology in rural Africa.