The Uw News-Brief:  Unveiling Engo Framework To Civil Society Organizations In Uganda 
Kampala, 19th/August/2014; The Unwanted Witness-Uganda, an organisation working towards a safe, open and free internet is introducing the eNGO framework in Uganda. eNGO is a mechanism that seeks to strengthen the access and utilization of web based expression platforms and new media tools for civil society organizations through providing in house capacity building initiatives in IT, online advocacy and campaigns, human rights monitoring, documenting and reporting. The project majorly targets rural based youth and women led Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on issues of governance, human rights, accountability and development among others.

Civil society organizations working at both grassroots and national level are the second largest information depots after the government bodies in Uganda today, especially when it comes to having a rich repository of information about the bottom of the pyramid of Uganda society. Although there’s no clear statistics about the registered NGOs and CBOs in Uganda some sources indicate that there are more than 100,000 NGOs and CBOs operating in Uganda working in different areas. However, more than 70% of them lack a virtual identity and do not even have a basic webpage. Thereby, remaining unknown and failing to earn the much required appreciation and benefit from external sources that could boost their core functioning. In addition, most of the grassroots NGOs also lack basic ICT tools and skills for organizational efficiency and seamless communication.
The eNGO programme which is the first of its kind in Uganda is to help address the dearth of information content issues in Uganda’s poor digital economy by tapping these grassroots institutions that have readily available content but, lack the means in projecting the same. Besides, the eNGO project will also build capacity of NGOs to use ICT tools and also conduct training workshops for the same.
eNGO project introduced by the Unwanted Witness will therefore ensure that such CBOs own websites and domain names in the names of the said beneficiaries and other ICT tools used for advocacy by civil society organizations.
UW believes that civil society organizations should take a leading role in utilizing ICT for development to support their work in a timely manner and ensure their action reach a wider scope. This is a critical moment for civil society organizations in Uganda to embrace ICT through the use of various ICT tools for their e-advocacy, e- campaigns and e-reporting. We thus call upon all those organizations interested, to download the application form from our website (www.unwantedwitness.or.ug)
The Unwanted Witness – Uganda thus wishes to extend its gratitude to The Finnish NGO Foundation for Human Rights (KIOS) for the support she has given to us to implement this pilot project, and recognize our implementing partners including Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) and the Public Interest Registry.
UW pledges to support all organizations in Uganda through ICT, building their technological capacity in utilizing various online advocacy tools to meet their strategic interventions. This it believes will enable many meets their contributions to the national development plan.

For more information, please contact;

THE UNWANTED WITNESS – Uganda
Plot 41 Gaddafi Road, Makerere- Kampala
P. O. Box 71314 Clock Tower K’la
Telephone: +256 414 697 635
Email: info@unwantedwitness.or.ug
Website: www.unwantedwitness.or.ug
Skype: unwantedwitness
Twitter: @unwantedwitness
Face book: unwanted witness Uganda