23 for Tumaini finals

By Gloria Nakajubi

Four journalists are among the 23 people who have made it to the finals of this year’s Tumaini Awards. Tumaini Awards is an initiative by a group of seven non-governmental organisations aimed at recognising and rewarding individuals and organisations that have made tremendous efforts in the promotion of child welfare.

Now in its fourth year, the initiative picks on a different theme each year. This year’s theme was, Providing a child friendly, quality, free and compulsory education to every child in Uganda. The Tumaini programme manager, Sarah Lambie said the four journalists include New Vision’s Caroline Ariba and Daily Monitor’s Brian Butebi for the Print Category while Abdullah Tiff of Record TV and Anecho Sam of Radio Pacis will tussle it out for the Broadcast Category. Refer to graphics on the right for full list of fi nalists.

The shortlisted journalists have written or produced programmes highlighting the plight of especially school children. Lambie said a panel of fi ve judges (pictured above) with expertise in the different nomination categories will select the winners. The categories include education, livelihood, child protection, health and media. She said a total of 167 nominations were received for organisations and individuals across the country, up from last year’s 100.

Selection criteria

Lambie says the finalists were judged on a number of yardsticks such as impact of initiative, spirit of volunteerism as demonstrated by personal sacrifi ce, commitment, time and money spent, effort put in, demonstration of commitment amidst obstacles, future plans among others.

Jury

The jury comprised of experts in the various award categories. Charles Draecabo, the UNESCO National Professional Offi cer, was lead judge for the the livelihood category. Charles Obiero, the UNESCO Programme Specialist, Capacity Development for Education for all in Uganda, presided for the education category while Deogratius Yiga, Senior Consultant with Development Links specialising in child rights and protection and formerly the executive director of the African Network for the Protection and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) was for the Child Protection category.

The health category had Rev. Sam Luboga, Associate Prof of Anatomy, Makerere University, College of Health Sciences; & Executive Director, Learning for Life Africa (LLA), former dean of Makerere University School of Medicine while the media category had Rachel Mugarura-Mutana, Programme Manager, Broadcast and Multimedia Trainer, African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME).

Awards gala

The finalists have been invited to attend an education panel discussion on June13 at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala where the winners shall also be announced. Tumaini has set aside sh50m in cash and prizes as an appreciation and to support the work of the winners. “We want this year’s ceremony to be more engaging for the finalists,” Lambie says. “We will start with an education panel discussion as part of the national convention on the rights of children steered by quality experts on the theme Closing the Gaps and Ensuring Friendly, Quality and compulsory education. “We would like to give our fi nalists a voice on a national platform by attending and possibly participating in this discussion, so their views and recommendations can be captured,” Lambie explains.

The views from the discussions and recommendations by the quality experts shall be developed into a document which will be presented to the African Union, Ministry of Education and Sports and any other education stakeholders.

About Tumaini

Tumaini awards programme was launched in 2011 to recognise and honour individuals, civil society organisations, companies and members of the media who have made signifi cant contributions and efforts to improve the lives of children in Uganda.

The awards is organised and sponsored by the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) Uganda Chapter, Child Fund, Compassion International, Save the Children in Uganda, the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network (UCRNN), World Vision Uganda and the United Nations Children’s Fund.