New Dimensions in Development of MMF
The formation of Makerere Matters Foundation started in earnest during my visit to Kampala in January 2008. The next few months saw the completion of legalities relating to the establishment of MMF and the confirmation of its terms and reference and most importantly the definition of its accountability and probity as an external agency of Makerere University.
The onset of the worldwide recession led to the delay in the fulfilment of early promises to fund the organisation as a priority African development initiative. True to their commitment, one of the major corporations that have been approached by us fulfilled its obligations to support a major HIV/AIDS project in South Africa. We are hoping to revive our proposals again as soon as the business climate in the UK recovers from the recent scenarios of ‘doom and gloom’. Media focus on the recession, the banking crash and the credit crunch has made fund-raising for a new project in Africa very challenging indeed.
There have been two other lessons. Support for major capital investment projects is now virtually provided by national and international agencies, the UN and agencies of the World Bank. MMF does not fall into these spheres, as yet, suggesting that there could be future options for working with international agencies. The impetus for these is going to come from two further lessons:
a) MMF will seek greater collaborations with faculties at Makerere University, working through the MUPSF, which is chaired my VC Professor Luboobi and headed by Mr Nuha Mwesigwa. A number of project areas have been identified in which Kalwant Ajimal has personal influence as an entrepreneur and a member of various sector groups that are active in the UK. The first of these is Digital Inclusion, or ensuring access to digital technologies for development.
b) The second area of influence in which Kalwant Ajimal has excellent networks and partnership based initiatives on the ground is creative culture, represented by a number of major programmes and projects, consisting of festivals, exhibitions and educational outcomes. The most significant area of Kalwant Ajimal’s success is Ephemeral Arts, details of which are provided in the next post.
c) Taken together, digital inclusion and creative culture provide a sound basis for working with Makerere University until large scale institutional funds can be identified for joint working with Makerere University via MUPSF.
Following this decision, several new links have been added to this weblog. Please see the spaces at the bottom of the text
A final addition is a dedicated weblog for Makerere University Alumni Abroad, notably the Ugandan Asian alumni who are mostly settled in the UK, Canada and USA. A draft weblog has been created and has been sent to a number of alumni for consultation before it is announced here. This weblog will seek immediate action to raise funds for priority needs in various faculties.
