Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?- Marianne Williamson

PRAU Nite

PRAU NITE

PRAU is introducing a new engagement on its events calendar. The event dubbed "The PRAU Nite" will launch on Friday 5th August 2011 and thereafter occur once every quarter.

The "Nite" has been established to create a platform for PR practitioners to engage and interact with each other as professionals and raise the profile of PR as a profession and practice.

It will be a forum for networking, acquiring knowledge and entertainment as high profile individuals approach topics, themes and debates with the ultimate aim of informing the audience, creating a strong PR fraternity and fostering professional development.

The topic for this inaugural PRAU Nite is "THE NEW TWIST TO PUBLIC RELATIONS, COMMUNICATION IN TRANSITION FROM AN ART TO A SCIENCE, INCREASING PR RELEVANCE IN A SCIENTIFIC & RAPIDLY CHANGING ENVIRONMENT". The speaker is Dr. Githingi Gitahi, MD, Monitor Publications.

Entrance is UGX 80,000 per person and 750,000 for a corporate table. To book your tickets, call 0772406135

 

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PRAU Nite

PRAU NITE

PRAU is introducing a new engagement on its events calendar. The event dubbed "The PRAU Nite" will launch on Friday 5th August 2011 and thereafter occur once every quarter.

The "Nite" has been established to create a platform for PR practitioners to engage and interact with each other as professionals and raise the profile of PR as a profession and practice.

It will be a forum for networking, acquiring knowledge and entertainment as high profile individuals approach topics, themes and debates with the ultimate aim of informing the audience, creating a strong PR fraternity and fostering professional development.

The topic for this inaugural PRAU Nite is "THE NEW TWIST TO PUBLIC RELATIONS, COMMUNICATION IN TRANSITION FROM AN ART TO A SCIENCE, INCREASING PR RELEVANCE IN A SCIENTIFIC & RAPIDLY CHANGING ENVIRONMENT". The speaker is Dr. Githingi Gitahi, MD, Monitor Publications.

Entrance is UGX 80,000 per person and 750,000 for a corporate table. To book your tickets, call 0772406135

 

Walk to work campaign triumphs over the weak Government PR strategy

Walk to work campaign  triumphs over weak Government PR strategy

Walk to work campaign started by Activists for change (A4C) has exposed weaknesses in overall Government PR strategy. Although it's largely a political fight, NRM government still lacks a clear strategy to win without shooting its self in the foot. The walk to walk campaign has still shown the absence of a systematic coordination of information sharing in the all government structures. Every day the chief walker Dr.Besigye walks to work or tries to and is  arrested, he wins goodwill and sympathy globally for his cause while the government displays unprofessionalism and brutality thereby reaping negative image.

The government has failed to study and manage the psychology of the Walk to work campaign tactics. It is not common for anyone to be arrested for walking or hooting anywhere on earth. The government has failed to devise a psychological solution to inflation and the riots.

The government communicators have decided to use Propaganda and Spin forgetting that lies cannot survive in an informed society Uganda has become. Even when facts are clear to even a kindergarten child, the government still invests in propaganda and violence to crash the voices. Government PR strategists should be thinking how do we create Goodwill towards government in such a trying time rather than hate.

The government has failed to grow with the crisis or even think ahead the Activists for Change. There is need to orient some of these security officers on how to act during a crisis. I don't think Gilbert Arinaitwe understood the effects of his violent act on Uganda's image as pearl of Africa. The government chooses to read the outside picture and unleashes violence. NRM Strategists should be thinking how to change from citizen discontent to citizen support. The respective government PR practitioners must think beyond a press conferences but activities to revive "brand Uganda" and goodwill the NRM government enjoyed immediately in 80s.

The Uganda Police which is at the centre of all the walk to walk demonstration seems it was caught unaware. There is need to change the Uganda police force name to remove force, uniforms and professional training. I have always argued that the Uganda Police Force Urgently needs rebranding. Now should be times for the police to reposition themselves as human rights defenders. They have vans but still it opts to throw suspects on double cabins

Messages issued by government are outrageous. Most of the messages are meant to intimidate citizens rather than reassure, inform or show political will. From the onset of the walk –to –work campaigns the government's responses have carried an element of insensitivity. The Government spokesperson then Kabakumba says; "There .is nothing the government can do" even if there was nothing it can do, she needed to say something else to show that there are in charge or buy more time. This reminds me of Annette, wife to French king who told masses  during famine that if they cannot have bread, let them have cake too during famine. The minister says there is nothing the government can do about but the government is spending 1.7trillion on fighter jets and 2.8billion on a one day's presidential swearing in ceremony.

The Messages from government officials have continued to be inconsistent especially on the official position of government. Those at media centre should start dictating  uniform official government statements for all concerned ministries to share with the media . The president Museveni justifies brutal arrest Of Besigye while senior security government officials condemned the police for brutal arrest of Besigye and other suspected rioters. Controversy and contradictions are delicious to the media. Media is simply looks for gaps in messages and stripe you bare for all to see .Why should we  have top security officials condemning   police's brutal arrest of Besigye while government maintains there was nothing wrong with smashing Besigye's car

The true enemies of Uganda's recovery are in Government not the media as the President argues. The former internal affairs minister Kirunda Kivejijna with background of violence is picked to speak on Besigye brutal arrest. A Competent court of Uganda found him guilty of election violence. Kivejinja issues a statement to local and international media saying "the Uganda police has powers to shot to kill". Wonder if he is aware of International human rights charters. Managing reputations will remain a major challenge for the NRM government .The government needs to notice PR's Role in building and maintaining reputations.PR has moved from spin doctoring towards the protection and nurturing reputation. Again the government will use tax payer's money to market Uganda on CNN.

There has been no or less remarks on the inflation situation by NRM historicals? Where are all these NRM historical who fought? NRM has still failed mobilize its people to appear massively on all these talk shows to share the NRM position.

Abraham Lincoln once said. "What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself". The government fails to hold positive publicity opportunities to their advantage. The government media teams persistently releases unpopular stories to the media and down plays positive ones. Police fails to glorify Alfonzo Mutabazi, formerly O.c Jinja Road police who showed desired professional image of the police by peacefully walking Otunnu to his office. The government decides to defend Bwana Arinaitwe Gilbert's inhuman acts of smashing Besigye's Car window with a pistol and redeploys Mutabazi to the Police mechanical workshop. The government therefore smears their dirt on their foreheads for all to see.

Police rushes to secretly fix Besigye's car, doesn't that still burry police image alive. Why didn't police plan a public apology and invite media along the repairing exercise as a sign of goodwill. Sometimes the goodwill needs to be made public. Such an activity during this crisis can help divert media attention.

In any crisis, someone has to take the blame to calm it. Is it hard for government to suspend or force resignations of security and finance line officers as government repositions itself as caring? The police has on number of occasions apologized and compensated victims for reckless shooting by its officers including BebeCool. Why can't the police do the same for all the riot victims? This may not work for long if the culprits within the police are not timely produced in court or punished. Government PR strategy should be beyond exonerating themselves from any wrong doing but be pillar of hope to all Ugandans. Obama gave hope to Americans during trying time of the credit crunch

May be the spokespersons will speak from an informed angle when they decide to also walk to work as they visit teargas. The locations of the press conferences should leave media centre to scenes of violence or less formal environment that is too controlled.

The governments from the word go failed to identify their key audience and keeping them happy. While Activists for change started with low class who could walk now they have changed to hoot campaign which has brought on board the general Public who can hoot or find any thing to hit. The government has only identified one audience as those from opposition. This has helped the Opposition own the court of public opinion (in taxis, schools, markets and offices) and media coverage

We all know that social media can drive more awareness quickly. Ironically the government considers blocking social networking sites like face book instead of embracing them. The media centre works with young people who write letters and commentaries but how often do they share the same information on social networking sites. How often does Media centre update its face book page or blog? Just a tweet reaches millions in seconds. The ICT ministry should direct all government institutions to join these social networking sites.

The Government PR strategists need to critically analyze the mood on the streets and draft sincere attempts to address this in their general PR strategy. Effective PR practice is arrived at if correct feedback is collected from the court of Public opinion. Hope the new cabinet will prioritise their Public Relations as some members of old cabinet were dropped.

Ivan.N.Baliboola,kampala -Uganda

Lessons from the walk to work campaign (Activists for change) A4C

Lessons from the walk to work campaign (Activists for change) A4C

Activists for change started a campaign of walk to work   over the rising prices of essential goods like fuel in Uganda. They called upon all Ugandans to walk every Monday and Thursday till the government did something about inflation. The campaign has since been characterized by riots and brutal acts of security agents in trying to calm the situations.

Lessons

• Campaign has gotten international and local attention.
• Got the goodwill of the people
• It has united the opposition which   has always been disunited.
• Overwhelming People support without buying them to support the chief walkers.
• Exposed unprofessionalism within Ugandan security agencies .One wonders why there is chaos even when  high ranking officers  are in command
• Arrests and other acts by the security organs paint a bad image about our  Rule of law, constitutionalism   and the independence of the judiciary.
• The civil society of Uganda is still weak. Apart from the Uganda law society and Inter -religious council which condemns all brutal acts of the police and lack of respect for the rule of law.
• Role  of the media in protection of human rights  and democracy
• All the reactions by the government to the Walk to Work campaign showed that Uganda is not ready for multiparty Politics. It still operates like the movement system.
• Government has failed to give hope to the citizens. It has only created fear and violence. The Activists for change have some hope to the masses.

 

 

Ivan.N.Baliboola

Before printing, think about your responsibility and commitment to the Environment

Google opens up space for Ugandan software developers.

 

14th April 2011, Kampala. Ugandan software developers will have a chance compete in building innovative local Android mobile applications and stand a chance to win 60,000,000/= (UG shillings). Every day more than 300,000 Android devices are activated globally. A growing number of these mobile device activations are in markets across Africa, making local African mobile content more relevant and important than ever before. In recognition of this, announced it's Google Android Developer Challenge, inviting talented and creative developers in sub-Saharan Africa to design and build original Android applications for mobile phones that will delight users.

Categories for entries include entertainment, media and games; social networking and communications; and productivity, tools and lifestyle. Winners will each receive an Android phone and $25,000 (USD).

"In the past year alone, we have met with over 10,000 developer and techies across Sub Saharan Africa. We are continually impressed by the ingenuity and enthusiasm of this community to solve real problems with technology," says Bridgette Sexton, Program Manager at Google. "At every Google event in Africa, Android is the most popular topic - as Android users multiply, so does the appeal for developers to build apps on this free open source platform."

Participants can submit applications via the challenge website:  http://code.google.com/android/adcafrica  by 1st July 2011. The winning application will be announced on September 12th 2011.

Ivan.N.Baliboola
mediasurgeon.ug@gmail.com

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Ivan.N.Baliboola
0752304274,0777675942

Google opens up space for Ugandan software developers.

 

14th April 2011, Kampala. Ugandan software developers will have a chance compete in building innovative local Android mobile applications and stand a chance to win 60,000,000/= (UG shillings). Every day more than 300,000 Android devices are activated globally. A growing number of these mobile device activations are in markets across Africa, making local African mobile content more relevant and important than ever before. In recognition of this, announced it's Google Android Developer Challenge, inviting talented and creative developers in sub-Saharan Africa to design and build original Android applications for mobile phones that will delight users.

Categories for entries include entertainment, media and games; social networking and communications; and productivity, tools and lifestyle. Winners will each receive an Android phone and $25,000 (USD).

"In the past year alone, we have met with over 10,000 developer and techies across Sub Saharan Africa. We are continually impressed by the ingenuity and enthusiasm of this community to solve real problems with technology," says Bridgette Sexton, Program Manager at Google. "At every Google event in Africa, Android is the most popular topic - as Android users multiply, so does the appeal for developers to build apps on this free open source platform."

Participants can submit applications via the challenge website:  http://code.google.com/android/adcafrica  by 1st July 2011. The winning application will be announced on September 12th 2011.

 
Ivan.N.Baliboola
mediasurgeon.ug@gmail.com

Google launches free mail to phone SMS service for Uganda.

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Google launches free mail to phone SMS service for Uganda.

 

Google has today launched Gmail-to-SMS, Uganda's first PC-chat-to-mobile-text service, which allows Gmail users in the country to send and receive chat messages, for free as text messages.

 

While announcing this development, Google's Business Development Associate for Uganda, Elijah Kitaka confirmed that the service was being launched in Uganda, following successful launches in Senegal, Ghana and Kenya, in partnership with three Ugandan operators including MTN, Orange and UTL.

 

"We are very proud to be launching SMS in Gmail Chat today," said Kitaka. "SMS in Gmail Chat has been specifically designed with the African consumer in mind and will bring a new level of flexibility and mobility to Gmail Chat. Google appreciates the vibrancy of Uganda's ICT sector and has launched this service to make the internet even more useful to Ugandans on a daily basis. This once again demonstrates our commitment to Uganda and to the region."

 

With SMS in Chat, a Gmail user can send a text message from the desktop interface directly to phones via SMS. In return, these contacts may respond to these text messages and the response will appear in the original sender's Gmail interface. The service will eventually support all cellular networks and the standard network charges will apply for any communication from phone to desktop, but SMS in Gmail Chat is free from desktop to phone.

 

SMS in Chat is easy and convenient to use: Just type in a phone number into the new SMS box in Gmail and your message and send it off. In addition, contact phone numbers can be stored within the Gmail address book, which allows immediate access to them anytime an SMS needs to be sent simply by typing the contact's name in the chat box and selecting "SendSMS".

 

Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia

 

 

 

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Ivan.N.Baliboola
0752304274,0777675942