By Julius Businge A new survey released by the World Bank and other partners- Uganda Service Delivery Indicators (SDI) indicates that Uganda is still failing to achieve optimal performance in schools and health centres. The Independent’s Julius Businge interviewed Ritva Reinikka, the World Bank’s director for Human Resource Development for …

By Darius Mans How Africare, ExxonMobil and the NBA are using sports to empower African youth for success in life Growing up in Detroit, Michigan, I was fairly sure I’d never make it as a basketball star. I played for my high school team, but most of the time my …

By Michael Buteera Mugisha No country has developed economically without the governments actively setting the right fundamentals for growth Andrew’s article titled; “Inside the fair trade movement”, carefully exposes the potential pitfalls of fair trade but does little to offer any reasonable or relevant solutions to our biggest development challenges. …

By Ronald Musoke New report warns Uganda on dire effects, calls for immediate action Joyce Logiel, an affable 39 year-old mother of seven from Lokirimo in Natopojo Parish, Nakapiripirit District falls in the category of Uganda’s millions of subsistence farmers who depend on the benevolence of Mother Nature to get …

By Stephen Kafeero As it stands, Kampala City Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago’s fate appears to have been sealed; it will indeed be easier for the proverbial camel to go through the eye of a needle than for him to wiggle out of the conundrum in which he is entangled. But …

By Melinda Gates Investing in data will go a long way towards helping countries design and implement effective family planning programs My job as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation requires a lot of travel. I don’t always like being away from my children, but I know I …

By Peter Nyanzi It’s in the best interest of society that everyone has the freedom to choose and practice their religion without undue restrictions The freedom to practise a religion of one’s choice is universally accepted as a fundamental human right. However, the impunity with which this right is being …

By Donald Kaberuka Africa’s growth imperative should not exclude an environmentally friendly approach Typhoon Haiyan, which has so ravaged the Philippines, reminds us how vulnerable parts of the world are to the vagaries of weather. Although climate change is not believed to have caused the typhoon, similar levels of devastation …

By Pascal Lamy and Ian Goldin 21st Century challenges require urgent review and renewal of international institutions When the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions were established nearly seven decades ago in the aftermath of World War II, economic and political power was concentrated in the hands of a …

By Ronald Musoke Experts say scaling up pneumonia interventions plus innovative diagnostic technologies are key to containing the disease Jane vividly remembers the day her first child died sometime back. After a motorcycle ride in cold weather one evening, she realized that her baby had started developing a breathing problem. …