Dialogue in Pursuit of Development - Are you looking for one of ...

270
The Makerere University problem statement
Although Makerere has a long history of making ‘the’ major contribution to
preparing human resources for Uganda, the university has not produced
enough appropriately trained graduates to meet the evolving national needs
since the problems of the 1970s and early 1980s. Moreover graduates have
lacked the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary for successful implementation
of the decentralization programme with respect to both managerial
and service delivery. In view of this situation, and given Makerere’s
strong foundation and historical role, there are challenging opportunities to
introduce training and courses which are more relevant to the needs of
society, in order to provide the critical human resources with skills, knowledge
and attitudes demanded by civil society, especially the districts.
When the grant for implementation was received from Rockefeller Foundation
by Makerere University, the Vice Chancellor transitioned the C-14
(which had hitherto been constituted as a planning committee), into the
implementation committee. The committee acquired a new name: Innovations
at Makerere Committee, popularly known as I@Mak.Com for short. The
appointment of non-Makerere staff to this committee was even more unusual
because in the past the University had appointed its staff exclusively to
powerful committees, especially those with resources to allocate. I@Mak.Com
was entirely a Makerere affair from this point on because members were
appointed by the Vice Chancellor for the purposes of implementing the
programme. The decision making authority rested with the group of Deans
and Directors from the University, because the grant was made to Makerere
University.
The goal of I@Mak.Com is to develop Makerere University into an institution
of excellence in higher education in the area of decentralization
through; a) training of existing and future district human resources as demanded
and according to the needs of government; b) producing more and
better educated graduates to meet the ‘changing’ needs of Ugandan society,
especially in the area of decentralization; c) undertaking research to inform
public policy on decentralization and ; d) developing Makerere as a recognized
centre of and for innovation.
Makerere faculties, institutes and units were encouraged to develop concept
papers of five pages or less containing innovative ideas on how they
could promote the goal. These were read and accepted or rejected by the
I@Mak.Com. If the concept paper was accepted, and 75 per cent were successful,
then the author(s) received $2,500 to undertake a feasibility study.
The results of the feasibility studies were again submitted to the I@Mak.Com
and this time the proposal was scored for various elements by each voting
member, and the score sheet was signed. Each feasibility study which achieved
a score of 65 per cent was funded by up to $10,000 to enable the unit to
undertake a pilot project of the concept. Approximately half of the feasibility
studies were funded. The pilot project was evaluated by the unit, by the