Uganda

Uganda was one of the first countries in Africa to develop a policy on universal access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) and to implement a universal access fund, designed to support initiatives aimed at improving poor and rural populations' access to ICTs. Today, Uganda's universal access policy and rural communications development fund are generally seen as "best practice".

This book presents the Ugandan experience – an experience that was unique because of the country's early liberalization of the communication sector and explosion in the use of mobile communication technology. Regulators, policy advisors, and government officials, both within and outside Africa, will find this book useful as they develop their own policies, strategies, and implementation plans for universal access.

Some 500 girls were circumcised in Sebei region over the Christmas period! This is an alarming rise in Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) because the number of mutilated girls stood at 90 in the previous circumcision season.

The media are awash with news of defilement. Defilers traumatise and predispose their victims to the risk of HIV infection. Last year 12,230 defilement cases were reported to the Police, while in 2006, 15,385 cases were reported. Many more cases go unreported for fear of shame.

Much as the Government should be applauded for the Presidential Initiative for AIDS Strategy Communication to Youth programme which has expanded HIV prevention education to primary schools, more needs to be done to eliminate defilement in schools and other predisposing factors like exposure to pornography.

It is cynical that a nation whose motto is For God and my country has its print media flooded with tabloids. Furthermore, the advertising media industry has exposed the nation to unprecedented levels of pornography and obscenity.

Pornography refers to any graphic (pictorial) or any other forms of communication that is intended to incite sexual feelings. It has spread to schools, universities and offices.

In rural areas, video shacks operating battery-controlled equipment show pornographic movies.

Women's labour supply is very inelastic, and additional labour burdens on women are likely to be detrimental to the well-being of others in household. Thus increased NTAE production, in the absence of additional inputs, must come from crop switching or an increase in men's labour. The field research found some indication that the gender division of labour is less rigid than is often believed, and that men are prepared to participate more fully in all aspects of agricultural production if the incentives to do so are adequate. But will this imply that men will "take over" women's crops to the detriment of women's position in the household? This remains an open question. Indeed, there is also some indication that women do not welcome the loss of autonomy resulting from more co-operative household production systems.