CONCEPT NOTE The 5th Intergenerational, Cross-cultural and Multilingual Literacy Learners’ Conferences in Uganda Theme: Supporting Out of School Literacy practices (Informal Literacies) for Socio-Cultural, Economic and Political Transformation of the Ugandan Communities and Meeting the Challenges of 21st Century Dates: February 20th–25th, 2017 Venue: St Aloysius College Nyapea, Nyapea Sub County, Zombo District, Northwestern Uganda Introduction The National Intergenerational, Cross-cultural and Multilingual Literacy Learners’ Conferences in Uganda are community literacy events the Uganda Rural Literacy and Community Development Association (URLCODA) initiated in 2008 in the West Nile region to complement Uganda government’s efforts in promoting patriotism, voluntarism and non-formal learning in the framework of lifelong learning.Community literacy is used in this document to refer to a set of activities around understanding and composing texts within a community which ranges from the complex social relations and actions to making and communicating meaning around issues of common concern throughout the community. It is usually implemented in partnership with various Central and District Local Government Agencies, other Civil Society Organizations andPrivate Sector Organization to enable the voiceless, poor and mainly unschooled members of the community to access non-formal and informal learning opportunities structured around people’s every day experiences. Theaim is to provide open and free learning space for people of all walks of life from diverse educational, socio-economic, ethnic and cultural background to share information, skills, experiences and knowledge. URLCODA - S.5914/4845; is a volunteer-led indigenous NGO registered with the National Non-Governmental Registration Bureau under the NGO ACT, CAP 113 (Registration No. 4486). Its activities are overseen by a competent Board of Directors under the chairmanship of Dr. Rogers Ayiko who is currently serving as a Principal Health Systems and Policy Analysis Officer with the East African Community in Arusha. Background and Context The failure by global community to realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 made the United Nations re-conceptualize the eight MDGs into 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets covering a wide range of issues namely: poverty, famine, and extreme hanger; health and education; sustainability of cities and communities; climate change; and conservation of our oceans and forests. Embedded in the 17 SDGs are the 5Ps namely: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships. Unfortunately, the developing countries have remained the most affected by issues the UN is seeking to address through the SDGs. African countries - Uganda inclusive have continued to experience poverty; famine and extreme hunger, illiteracy; environmental degradation; ethnic tension; sustained armed conflicts; refugee crises, HIV/AIDS etc. Success in combating these challenges can only be registered through a whole hearted commitment by individuals and state as well as non- state actors engaged in pursuing learning as a lifelong, life-wide and life-deep process. This calls for every relevant Agency to direct their efforts towards the provision of inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all – an important goal the global community failed achieveunder the MDGs because of overconcentration on formal education which is just one form of learning. If the present generation is to realize SDG 4 and target 4.6 which aims to ensure that all the youth and substantial proportion of adults, both men and women acquire basic literacy and numeracy by 2030, there is now need to adopt multiple lenses and perspectives to literacy and abandon the single lens approach to literacy learning and education. It is on this basis that URLCODA and its partners conceptualized the 5th national intergenerational cross cultural and multilingual literacy learners’ conferences in Uganda slated for February 20 – 25, 2016 at St Aloysius College Nyapea in 1 NyapeaSub County Zombo district.Previous conferences successfully took place in 2009 and 2014 (in Arua district), 2010 (inKamuli district) and 2011 (in Masindi district). The nature and organization of the conference This conference will be organized by URLCODA volunteers in partnership with the State Ministry for Northern Uganda in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Makerere University Centre for Lifelong Learning and Maendeleo Foundation. This will be an open event involving a range of activities. Neither academic presentations nor complicated intellectual discussions are expected of the participants. Instead the activities of the event will be simply structured around ordinary people’s everyday lives. The event will therefore be interactive, intergenerational, cross cultural and multilingual in nature. Participants will be expected to express themselves using their local languages with volunteer University students serving as interpreters when the need arises. Member of Queen of Heaven in Yumbe District displaying Makerere University students helping non-literate adult their uniform during the 2010 conference held at women learn computer literacy during 2014 conference at Namasagali College in Kamuli District St. Joseph’s College Ombaci in Arua District The events are deliberately made interactive, cross cultural and multilingual because community literacy events by definition are a set of activities entailing interaction with and an understanding of texts within communities which more broadly range from complex social relations and actions to making as well as communicating meaning around issues of common concern throughout the community such as gender inequalities, ethnic differences, inequitable distribution in resources, cultural differences etc. This means several organizations – cultural, religious, academic, governmental, non-governmental, and private sector will be approached to seek their involvement in different ways. For instance, the Alur, Kebu, Lendu, Acholi, Madi, Lango, Lugbara, Buganda, Bunyoro, Busoga, Toro etc. Kingdoms or Cultural Institutions shall be invited. Possible Universities to be involved shall include: Mountains of the Moon University, Muni University, UTAMU, Gulu University, Uganda Christian University, Bugema University etc. Other CSOs that the organizers are contacting include: National Environment Authority (NEMA), the US Embassy in Uganda, UNHCR, the National Commission of UNESCO in Uganda, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), the State Ministry in the OPM, Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns (VEDCO), Literacy and Adult Basic Education (LABE), ACORD, Gaa Gaa Enterprises, KK Transporters Ltd, St. Joseph’s College Ombaci Old Boys Association (SJOCOBA), St. Aloysius College Nyapea Old Boys Association, Uganda Tourism Board, Sugar Producing Companies in Uganda etc. Aim of the conference This conference aims to create an open and conducivespace to enhance integrated learning opportunities structured around out-of-school literacy practices in order to foster socio-cultural, economic and political transformation of the Ugandan communities so that they can survive in the current globally competitive environment. The idea is to adopt multiple lenses for viewing and understanding informal literacy and numeracy practices of the participants so that policy and programme designers and implementers are able to come to terms with the realities on ground and be able to tailor development programmes to the really needs of the people and in the long run ensure sustainable communities. This calls for dismantling the existing ethnic, generational, linguistic, cultural, technological, information and knowledge divides through establishing local and global 2 partnerships. Hence the event will bring together people of diverse educational, socio-cultural, economic and political backgrounds to enhance non-formal and informal learning needed to effectively respond to the challenges facing the current generation in the rapidly globalizing world driven by ICTs, where survival is contingent on one’s ability to continuously learn new skills and unlearn the obsolete ones for which a positive change in attitudes is necessary. In so doing, the event will aim to contribute to the realization of the SDG 4 in general and target 4.6 in particular. Objectives of the conference 1. To create a platform for multi-sectoral and inter-agency collaborations and partnerships to efficiently and effectively mobilize and utilize scarce resources in order to complement government’s national development efforts 2. To rejuvenate the traditional African values, norms and practices where the able and young generation used to voluntarily support the old, vulnerable and disadvantaged sections of the communities with a view to fostering the spirit of hard work, patriotism and self-reliance to ensure sustainable livelihoods in Uganda 3. To foster University - community engagement so as to bridge the gap between Universities and local communities in Uganda through action oriented research and capacity building training in ICT, environmental management and M+E using intergenerational, cross cultural, multilingual and lifelong learning approaches with a view to understanding the context and appropriately responding to the local and global challenges facing the current generation 4. To propagate the spirit of love for one another so as to promote harmony, peaceful co-existence and free