Today, only a day after its 14-day lock down which started on April 1st came to an end, Uganda will start a second lock down. Unlike the previous one, the new lock down will last a whole 21 days; it is slated to end on 5th May, 2020.
At CivSource, we have continued to do our work even in these interesting and sometimes, trying times. We do 3 major things – we are a philanthropy support and advisory organization, we do grant making and we also provide capacity strengthening for civil society leaders.
A week before the first lock down was announced, we implemented a work-from-home policy. We reckon that we are among the very few organizations that have the privilege to continue working from home, in a world mostly connected via the internet.
Since the lock down, we have a staff check in three times a week and the various teams have continued meeting online to discuss and implement their work.
Through our advisory role, we have been and will continue checking on each one of the civil society partners that we serve. The intention is to gently remind them that we care, and so we check to make sure all is still afloat. We listen to and document their needs, to learn about how best we can be of support to them. We’ve been a sounding board for some as they figure out how to continue their work in and with communities during the lock down.
The first lock down happened just on the heels of our announcement of the awardees under the Kuonyesha Art Fund that we run. We’ve kept in touch with the artists as we figure out their needs and the broader impact of COVID 19 on the art scene in Uganda. We also look out for and highlight the ways in which various art forms have contributed to the COVID 19 response through comedy, poetry, songs, dance, stories, cartoons and a whole lot more.
It goes without saying that it’s been amazing to see just how active and vibrant the arts have been even during this time. Follow kuoyesha.civsourceafrica.com to read the stories and commentary on Ugandan Art in the time of COVID.
We’ve also reached out to and checked on the leaders that participated in our Executive Leaders’ Retreats. The goal here is to see how they are using the tools they learned during our retreats; these tools we believe should support and enhance their leadership during the lock down.
We are also currently putting together a newsletter of the cohort of leaders that attended the first retreat last year in January 2019. We will share the newsletter on our website once we’ve finalized it.
But also, woven under the hash tag #OmutimaOmugabi (A Heart that Gives), we have for the past week been compiling stories that will highlight all the ways Ugandans are giving during this time. Look out for those stories under the ‘Giving Stories’ tab on our website. We also re-tweet a lot of these stories, so look out for these on our twitter handle @CivsourceAfrica.
Like everyone around us, we continue to implore people to stay home and stay safe. At the same time, we are not immune to the fact that those two phrases mean different things for different people. It’s hard to ‘stay safe’ in situations of domestic violence. It’s hard to ‘stay home’ when home is literally a dilapidated shack in a slum, or if one is homeless. It’s hard to ‘wash hands’ when access to clean water is not assured. It’s hard to ‘stay safe’ when hunger and poverty are causing danger every day.
Our hearts and minds go out to those for whom safety is even more precarious at this time. For the rest of us, this means that our fight for a more just, fair and inclusive world is far from over. We cannot stop now.
By: Jaqueline Asiimwe Chief Executive Officer CivSource Africa