On 19th July, 2018 ToroDev held a rural radio debate/magazine from Harugongo sub county Kabarole districts with an aim of capturing women and youth issues on service delivery under health, education, economic development and water sectors. The women and youth were reached to be given chance to participate in the governance processes of their communities since they rarely participate on the ToroDev’s supported live radio talkshows which are aired late in the evenings. The objective was capturing the voices of rural women and youth in hard to reach communities and give them chance to actively engage their elected leaders/duty bearers with an ultimate goal of improving services in their communities. The women and youth were from the villages of Kyakaigo, Busaiga, Bulyambuzi, Harugongo, Mukagogo, among others.
Over sixty (60) women and youth participated in the rural radio debate and their voices were recorded by Mr. Mukonyezi Wilfred a moderator of ToroDev’s supported ‘’Listeners forum’’ weekly talkshow that is aired every Sunday 8:00pm to 10:00pm on Jubilee radio and the voices will be amplified live on 22nd July 2018 during the live talkshow for duty bearers to pay attention.
“We don’t have government aided secondary school in the whole sub county the ones we have are private owned yet the government policy is to have a government aided secondary school in every Sub county. Parents have failed to pay school fees for their children especially those who have completed primary level due to high cost of fees in private schools. We request our leaders at the district and Sub county levels to work hand in hand and lobby for a government aided secondary school something that will keep our children in school especially those that cannot afford fees in private schools, this will also reduce school drop outs and theft cases in the area caused by children who keep loitering in trading centers’’, Said Suzan Kabakwenda from Kyakaigo village in Harugongo Sub County during the rural debate.
’As women we have been affected by the issue of lack of safe and clean water in the sub county. We walk long distances including our young children looking for water sources. We drink dirty water which has increased diseases especially in young children where they get running stomachs quiet often. The whole parish of Nyantabooma has one borehole and it has been not functioning for a months now. We request our leaders to repair the boreholes and shallow wells to reduce diseases and save time for other development activities’’, Said Birungi Stella from Nyantabooma during the rural debate.
“At Nyantaboma health centre III there is no enough supply of drugs yet it is the only health facility in the Sub county. The facility is still receiving drugs for health center II yet they call it HC III. Absenteeism of health workers, early departure, late coming of health workers and failure to work on weekends have affected services at the facility. We request the duty bearers to elevate the facility to HC III so that it can receive drugs for a HC III facility to meet the demand for drugs and improve health services in the Sub county’’, Said Elizabeth Kahinju from Kyamahuli zone in Harugongo Sub County during the rural radio debate.
“Operation wealth creation program has done less in our sub county. The managers of the program supply seeds/seedlings which have not been requested by the farmers and the worst is they bring them late when the planting season (rainy season) has ended or about to end. We request that if our leaders can lobby for a bottom-top approach where farmers are involved in the planning of the farm inputs to help farmers benefit as the intended objective of increasing household income. For example you find a group of 20 people is given I heifer, when will all the members benefit and increase their household incomes from the program?’’, Asked Stella Kabanya from Busaiga parish during the rural radio.
“Our women walk long distances to access antenatal checkup at Nyantaboma health centre III which is far and most women who don’t have enough financial support forego this exercise. This has increased maternal mortality rates in the Sub county because mothers have resorted to traditional birth attendants (TBA) and sometimes have failed to handle some complications leading to death of babies and sometimes mothers. We request our leaders to work hand in hand with the district health department to lobby for more health facilities at least in every parish of Harugongo Sub County to improve health services in our communities”. Said Mugenyi Dan during the rural radio debate.
“In this Sub county issues of Domestic violence are on the increase because of men marrying more than one woman. Poverty, early marriage and school dropout have also contributed . development has been negatively affected because people spend much time in settling disputes than actual work. We call upon leaders to sensitize citizens and also parents to be supportive to their children in terms of providing for meals, scholastic materials, etc so that they can stay in school and become important people when they complete’’, Said Yusta Kyenge Sub county councilor during the rural radio debate.
