Country Feature Uganda

This month we would like to introduce you yet again to a range of interesting FOSS projects and actors - this time all from Uganda.

As you can see in the contributions by Wire James Lunghabo and Richard Okuti, which we appreciate greatly, there is a lot going on in Uganda and we hope this Country Feature will provide you with some new insights into Uganda's FOSS ecosystem and encourage you to participate and engage in FOSS activities wherever you are!

We have also included an overview of the ict@innovation activities taking place in Uganda: past, present and future as well as information on how to use the ict@innovation website to get in touch with FOSS actors from Uganda. If you feel like you have your own interesting story to contribute, either from Uganda or another country, please do not hesitate to contact us. We would be more than happy to share it with the rest of the ict@innovation community!

Overview of content:

Reflections from a FOSS-pioneer: An Interview with Wire James Lunghabo

“FOSS training must be expanded to almost all learning institutions.” - An Interview with Richard Okuti on his experiences with FOSS-businesses in Uganda

Ict@innovation activities in Uganda

Interesting FOSS projects and activities in Uganda

Reflections from a FOSS-pioneer: An Interview with Wire James Lunghabo

Wire James Lunghabo is a true African FOSS-pioneer. As an entrepreneur as well as an active FOSSFA-member he has contributed to the development of the FOSS-scene in Uganda specifically and Africa in general. Wire James Lunghabo has also played an active role in ict@innovation in his role as FOSSFA-Council Co-Chair from 2008-2010. ict@innovation has interviewed him, to gather insights to his experiences working with FOSS and how FOSS has been developing in Uganda.

In a video-presentation on transmediale.de you mention the following: “Ever since I have discovered Free and Open Source Software, my life has never been the same again.” Could you describe how you discovered FOSS?

Wire James: I always wanted to do business right from my days in University. I learnt about FOSS at the time when I was in my final year at University in 1997. However, I only made the decision to go the FOSS-route a year later. At that time I was battling with myself on whether I should build my skills based on the more common proprietary software or FOSS. Eventually, I opted for FOSS. At that time I was one of the pioneer FOSS practitioners and enthusiasts in Uganda. I am glad that today, we have a very vibrant FOSS community in Uganda and East Africa that I have helped build. Today, there are over 20 FOSS solutions providers (companies) in Kampala City alone. I am now taking a back seat letting those that have been converted to carry on the work. I think I had my time to make a contribution and now I prefer to pursue policy related issues in order to see that FOSS gets entrenched in Government.

When you started your FOSS-business, was there a visible demand for the services you offered?

Wire James: When I chose to take on FOSS, I had realised a need in the market for low cost yet cutting edge solutions in ICT. Many organisations couldn't afford the cost of proprietary solutions like Mail and File Server solutions. I also realised that lack of FOSS support services was always being highlighted as one of the challenges of FOSS adoption. I decided to take the bull by the horns and offer these services.

Based on the COMESA study, which you have conducted, how do you consider the use of FOSS in Africa?

Wire James: The use of FOSS is still minimal especially in government and this has been caused by lack of knowledge about FOSS as an alternative. There is a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt that has been spread over time and most MIS personnel in governments have a negative bias about FOSS. The lack of skilled personnel in most countries is also a big challenge.

How do you see the FOSS climate in Uganda? Are policy-makers aware of the advantages FOSS can have on communities?

Wire James: Uganda is one of those countries where FOSS awareness is relatively high. Today, you find adverts in newspapers for IT admins with Linux experience something which was unheard of five years ago. This has led many tertiary institutions to introduce FOSS training for their Computer Science students. Policy makers are more aware today and there is no doubt that they have seen it in use too. During the Nepad e-schools project, FOSS workstations were used in some of the schools and today there are a number of government bodies using FOSS especially at the server end.

In 2006 in a report of the Ugandan Ministry of Tourism Trade and Industry on the East African Marine Cable System (EASSy), you are quoted as follows: “Even if the EASSy project is completed and the service provided free to Uganda, we shall not benefit because the Government has adamantly refused to open up the telecommunications sector”. How do you consider the situation from today's point of view?

Wire James: The Telecoms sector is now open thanks to the eventual steps taken by the Government. The current fibre cables from Seacom and Teams are doing a lot to improve connectivity to the rest of the world. EASSY is also going live soon and its design is looked at as being more versatile for African countries that are participating. In terms of international connectivity, the situation is looking very good. However, we still have challenges with the last mile and this is where it might take a while to sort out.

LinuxSolutions (Link) : Linux Solutions is solutions provider in Uganda and prides its self as an Open Source Software Solutions pioneer in the market. The company is involved in continuous research and development on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Since its establishment in Uganda in the year 2000, Linux Solutions has been involved in consulting, computer networking, training & Capacity building, I.T support & maintenance and IT Security Services for Private Sector companies, Government, Academic Institutions and NGOs.

“FOSS training must be expanded to almost all learning institutions.” - An Interview with Richard Okuti on his experiences with FOSS-businesses in Uganda

Similar to Wire James Lunghabo, Richard Okuti has been one of the Ugandan FOSS early-birds. Richard has also been involved in the foundation of Linux Solutions and today plays a similarly important role as Head of Business at the East African Center for Open Source Software (EACOSS). EACOSS was founded in 2004 and has since taken an important position in the promotion of Free and Open Source Software as a means to lowering the barriers of access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) within East Africa.

When and how did you find your way to FOSS?

Richard: My entry in ICT started in college and when I I joined an ISP as a sales person after finishing my studies.There, I learned to work with Linux Servers, how to add email accounts, edit passwords and eventually some minor trouble shooting. Together with some friends from AIESEC I later started a company called MailNet which partnered with Metrocomia Denmark to form one of the biggest web development companies in the region – Metrocomia East Africa, this is where I first noted that there was the concept of Free and Open Source Software through the various web servers, database servers and programming tools used. The company wasn't a success though. In the same time we had set up a network solutions firm named Linux Solutions which was tasked with setting up FOSS based networks. So by the time I came to EACOSS in 2008, I was well versed with the concept of FOSS.

What is the background behind the foundation of EACOSS?

Richard: When we conceived the idea of EACOSS we believed that this organisation could help Uganda in several ways including enhancing technical ICT skills and increasing the software developers base. We knew that the philosophy of available source code would help and make learning easier, since students would be able to see how applications were programmed but also join communities and work together. The idea was, therefore, to contribute to training and software customization thereby increasing usage as well as facilitating the development of local software support companies.

What is the business model EACOSS operates with?

Richard: EACOSS given its start as an IICD supported project had major oversights. The company entered a comfort zone during the period it had funding and did not implement plans for financial sustainability over a longer run. So during 2004 – 2007 it was clear that the company was surviving due to the original fund and not market revenue. It, however, was making impact through training, supply of software, creating awareness among others.

EACOSS can still play a role in promoting, implementing and supporting FOSS use in Uganda and has revamped its operations we hope to become self sustaining by the end of 2010.

What has been the impact of your work? In how far do you think that the use of FOSS in East Africa has changed since the foundation of EACOSS in 2004?

So far, the impact on East Africa has been limited. We believe for African to achieve the critical minimum mass of software developers FOSS training must be expanded to almost all learning institutions. EACOSS does offer training to Ugandan and Tanzania based practitioners. A mechanism to track the impact was lost along the way so it is not clear how much the trained people influenced their organisations and people.

The East African Center for Open Source Software (EACOSS) launched a certification programme with the aim to cooperate with various partners your and to train students for the FOSS certifications.

How is this programme advancing and how successful has the search for partners in East Africa been?

Richard: The local certification was set up firstly due to the nature of the local needs in the region, most techies wanted to relate with their local situations, networks, equipment, power issues, and software among others. Secondly, it was difficult to get pro-metric testing centres for international certification which is still believed to be the better option. The international certifications are also known to be expensive. The search for partners in the region has been very successful and EACOSS has actually had to slow down on partnering because of the weaknesses in the technical department, where there is need to retain skilled and senior trainers for continuous curriculum improvement and innovation. Makerere University, Ruaha University College, Comboni College & Kiterrede are some of the partners that we have made.

Do you think that the Ugandan government's policies are encouraging a wide spread use of ICTs and with that the use of cost effective IT solutions?

Richard: Yes very much and they are very keen to continuously improve policy to make ICT work for development of the country. EACOSS is also widely known in government circles.

How was your experience of the ict@innovation training of trainers programme? In how far has it helped your personal and / or professional development?

Richard: I attended the trainings first of all by mistake and was pleasantly surprised because I have had a very bitter feeling with counterparts in FOSS who seem to believe in the technology aspects only and forget the business, marketing, development and governance aspects of applying ICT. So the training was very exciting because it was looking at these issues. Our challenge is to implement the good learnings we had there. We developed a model at the training which I am currently trying to implement: The idea is to promote a local FOSS-certification to all learning institutions and support them with marketing and learning materials as well as train their trainers by implementing the EACOSS courses in their institutions. We would then simply share the revenue from the student in a 50/50 manner. Such that EACOSS continues to advocate for and market the courses and as well as develop learning materials and an e-learning platform. The partnering institutions carry out the trainings. We hope that with the current sales drive we may raise more funds to do this.

Ict@innovation activities in Uganda

AVOIR node Uganda Uganda Martyrs University

http://www.fiuc.org/umu/

Networking with the ict@innovation Community

Since the launch of this website, a number of people and organisations working with or interested in FOSS have joined the ict@innovation community by registering a profile.

Through the General Search:

You can find people working with FOSS from Uganda who are part of the ict@innovation community and

You can also find contacts to and information about all the organisations who have registered on ict@innovation.

There are several ways to use ict@innovation to network with the community: If you are interested in the persons or organisations FOSS activities you can send messages via ict@innovation or the given contact information. You can also use the ict@innovation websites to create groups on topics of your interest – such groups provide a forum, a wiki, and a document sharing space. And of course, You can share your FOSS story by blogging on ict@innovation.

Interesting FOSS projects and activities in Uganda

Fixed in Uganda

Fixed in Uganda is a competition that awards people for their involvement in FOSS and Creative Commons projects. When the competition starts, anyone in Uganda can register on this site. Registration gives you a unique banner that you can leave all over the Internet when you get involved in FOSS projects, Wikipedia, Openstreetmap etc. Every forum post, Wiki contribution, mailing list answer, bug-fix & commit to real world FOSS projects will earn you points. By the end of 2010 the person with the most points wins a cash prize. There will be special prices for young participants, female participants, documentation writers and translators.

Website: http://www.fixedinuganda.com/

Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET)

Women of Uganda Network is a NGO initiated by women`s organisations in Uganda to develop the use of ICTs among women as tools to share information and address issues collectively. While their emphasis is directed towards Internet-based technologies, they are also interested in how these technologies can be integrated with traditional means of information exchange and dissemination including telephones, radio, video, television and print media.

Website: www.wougnet.org

Linux Users in Uganda

The Linux Users in Uganda mailing list is for those working in the IT field in Uganda and are interested in and use Open Source Software.

Website: http://linux.or.ug/

Kompyuta ne Yuganda

Kompyuta ne Yuganda is a Luganda translation project to enable any literate Luganda speaker (and probably speakers of some other bantu languages) make use of the power of electronic computers and information technology.

The Translation Project: http://translationproject.org/html/welcome.html

FLOSS Tools Uganda Digital Education Resource Bank: SchoolNet Uganda

A helpful resource catalogue of FLOSS tools. Website: http://www.uderb.org/category/floss-tools

Mountbatten

Mountbatten is a company that was founded in March 2005 in Uganda, serving East-Africa with working solutions in the field of organisational development. It has an international network of professional consultants in ICT Information and Communication Technologies. Mountbatten prefers the use of FLOSS, although they do not limit themselves to it. Working with FLOSS gives them the possibility to provide independent advice.

Website: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/rss/abstract.asp?j=elea&aid=2880

Full text: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/validate.asp?j=elea&vol=3&issue=3&year=2006...

Coders without Borders (CWB)

Coders without Borders (CWB) is an association that brings together programmers, software developers, designers, project managers, students, faculty, and anyone that wants to pick up a couple of coding tools to build stuff. We want to promote learning of programming, the creation of software projects oriented around developing ICT and cababilities of communities and societies around the world.

Website: http://www.coders-borders.org/