Museveni launches National Initiative for Civic Education

KAMPALA - President Yoweri Museveni Tuesday launched the National Initiative for Civic Education in Uganda (NICE-UG).

The launch, which took place during the on-going ‘Africa Now' Conference at the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort is the first structured collaboration between the government, United Nations and non-government actors to promote efficient and effective delivery of national civic education to a rapidly expanding and predominantly youthful population of Uganda.

According to press release from NICE-UG, the initiative responds to the lack of an inclusive and sustained coordination mechanism for civic education in the country.

"As such, the initiative's key mandate will be to coordinate and harmonize provision of civic education by state and citizen-led frameworks. NICE-UG is a Presidential Initiative in the initial five-year phase," reads the press release.

Consequently, Museveni appointed a board of directors for the initiative. The chairman, board of directors is Joseph Biribonwa, a former deputy chairperson of the Electoral Commission. Others include Barbara Katende of Makerere University Kampala, Med Kaggwa, the current Chairman of the Uganda Human Rights Commission and the substantive secretary Crispin Kaheru who is the Coordinator of Citizens' Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU).

The Patron for the initiative is Rosa Malango, Resident Coordinator of the UN System in Uganda.

Additionally, there will be an advisory board comprising representatives from government, civil society, cultural institutions and the private sector.

The interim structure of NICE-UG includes a programme implementation committee comprising civil society organizations, arts industry, cultural institutions, business community and faith-based organizations among others.

NICE-UG will advance partnership and collaboration with relevant local and international frameworks in order to benefit from unique experiences and capabilities. The initiative sets out to innovatively harness the role of formal and informal institutions in civic education.

Upon appointment, Kaheru noted that the launch of NICE-UG represents a very important step in promoting collaborative effective and efficient collaborative delivery of civic education by both the government of Uganda, and the non-governmental actors including the citizens of Uganda.

"As the secretary of this new initiative, I am optimistic that we can now collectively engage the challenge of low civic education in Uganda. I implore all well-meaning people to embrace and support this important initiative through which we can all contribute to building a strong civic culture in our society," Kaheru