Kichwamba Forum Development and Service Delivery Advocacy Forum is a community development organization formed in 2012 to serve the people of Kichwamba, sub county Kabarole District Some of the objectives of the forums are; to advocate for better services and defend people rights.
Why social and public accountability specifically in health sector
Since 2014 we have been monitoring services in various sectors and reporting the challenges to duty bearers through media, physical interactions and online discussions but no serious achievement was seen since we were reporting so many issues at the same time in different sectors.Issues generated/raised from physical meetings will form a discussion using MML e-participation system developed by ToroDev.http://www.mmlonline.org
So this meeting was organized to specially focus on health sector since the sector has been experiencing challenges at Kichwamba HCIII. These challenges are; the maternity ward can’t accommodate the number of women reached at the health centre, there is no staff house, health worker do not have uniforms and name tags for easy identification, the medical store is very small and doesn’t qualify to be a medicine store, no kitchen for patients and staff, the health centre is half fenced with no security gate and there is only one security guard.
Outputs.
- Ninety eight (98) people attended
- Six (6) duty bearers and health department officials attended ( DHO Kabarole, representative of LC5, LCIII, Youth and women councilors, Sub county chief)
- Challenges affecting the health sector ( Kichwamba HCIII) addressed
- Solutions to the challenges identified
- Recommendation set
- Action plan set
Key Comments:
“As a forum we carried out a simple research on the state of service delivery in Kichwamba HCIII and we discovered that health facility is facing challenges which needed quick attention to enable them serve people of Kichwamba well. Some of the key challenges observed included, the small maternity ward which can’t accommodate the number of women received, lack of staff house, Health workers do not have uniforms and name etc, so we asked for support from ToroDev to organize this meeting and bring right people to address the above challenges”. Said Mr.Rwaheru Gilbert chairperson Kichwamba advocacy forum
“We are grateful to ToroDev and Kichwamba Advocacy forum to invite officials from health sectors to come and address the challenges that have been affecting the HC111 and also give an accountability to people this is a great opportunity to hear people’ views and find solution for the challenges” . Said LC111 chairperson Kichwamba sub county Hon Jolly Emmanuel.
“We request the DHO to help us and address the challenge of nurses coming late and leaving the health centre early, this is a great problem here in Kichwamba”. Said Anne Rwaheru
“I appreciate ToroDev for designing the MML system I believe= if this system is well promoted it will help in information sharing and bridging the gap between leaders and citizens. I request ToroDev to continue educating citizens about this system and I believe in the long run it will help in advocating, planning and budgeting for services in various sectors”. Said Lillian Karungi the sub county chief of Kichwamba Sub County during the meeting.
“As ToroDev we designed an online system called ME and My Leader (MML) is an e-Participation platform where citizens can use Internet, SMS and radio to participate in discussions. The purpose of the platform is to facilitate an open dialog between citizens and duty bearers and make citizens more involved in the government decision making processes”. Said David Kugoza ToroDev during the meeting.
David added by using the MML-platform, citizens will also be kept informed about ongoing government matters. The platform is to be implemented in Uganda and Kenya. I encourage everyone to participate and send an SMS to be part of the discussion.
Outcomes of the meeting:
- “I appreciate the work done by the citizens of Kichwamba who are advocating for improved services in the health sector. First of all I will immediately solve the challenge of fencing the facility, by requesting the in charge to use the funds got from developing partners to fence this health centre before the end of January 2018 and I will provide the gate immediately after this meeting”. Said Dr. Mugahi district health officer Kabarole district.
Dr. Mugahi Richard DHO Kabarole delivers a gate to Kichwamba HCIII after the meeting
- Secondly we shall assure that before the end of December we deploy another security guard and pay him on a monthly basis.
- The district has given Kichwamba HCIII a container which will be used to serve as a store for medicine all we need is to transport it from Mucwa to here before this month ends the in charge is the person to follow this
- The DHO and citizens further promised to contribute money to buy 20 iron sheets to build the temporally kitchen for the health workers and solve the challenge of lack of kitchen.
DHO Kabarole district Dr Mugahi Richard responding to same of the concerns from the citizen
Key Action points proposed after the Meeting.
- Employment of another Security guard before 31st December 2017,
- Have a container to act as a medical store by the end of 31/3/2018
- All staff to have uniforms and name tags by the end of March 2018
- 2-3 health workers to be on should be at health centre as early as 8Am
- To lobby for staff house.
As ToroDev we thank all our partners SIDA, NED, SPIDER, ICT4DEM, CIPESA for the technical & financial support and also the advocacy forums we work with for the advocacy & monitoring work done in communities.
