Monthly Archives: May 2015

From time immemorial education has played a major role in transformation of societies and landscapes. Education has been valued and supported through public and private efforts. Individuals or families have donated land, materials like books, computers, laboratory equipment and/or money. In countries or societies where the culture of giving is treasured many schools, universities and institutes have been built or expanded through donations. Some donate labor during construction or maintenance time, others offer their skills like architects or engineers and yet others provide advice in designing the curriculum and/or money. This is the spirit of giving for free in the interest of the common good. You don’t have to be rich. You just need to have the spirit of giving a bit of what you have as we do during church service. It is voluntary.

It is in this spirit that my family built a church in our community in Rwentondo Parish of Kagunga sub-county of Rujumbura county of Rukungiri district in southwest Uganda.

As I announced recently, I have decided on behalf of my family to donate free of charge land in Kebisoni in Rukungiri district to build a university or institute. The land is available immediately once the formalities have been completed through a memorandum of understanding or something like that that constitutes a binding agreement.

Since my graduate student days at the University of California Berkeley in 1969-71, I have argued endlessly without much success that the easiest and least controversial way to undertake family planning is through the education of girls that empowers women to manage their reproductive behavior without pressure from anybody including spouses. But many individuals and institutions continue to prefer contraception including pills and surgery (sterilization and vasectomy).

The Uganda Parliament recently passed legislation forcing Uganda couples to have no more than three children. This is a violation of human rights for couples to have the number of children they want. That education and empowerment of women hastens reduction of family size can be seen from Iran following the end of war with Iraq.

In Iran women education was a key factor in family planning. “[F]emale education. Not just primary and secondary, but university. In 1975, barely a third of Iranian women could read. In 2012, more than 60 percent of Iranian university students were female. The literacy for females twenty-six and under was 96 percent. Giving women control over their wombs and their education made it increasingly hard to deny them the workplace. By 2012, one-third of government employees in Iran were women”. The acceptance rate of family planning was so high that within two years of implementation, “Iran’s demographers were disbelieving their own numbers”(Alan Weisman 2013).

As I have been reporting the United Nations is preparing the post-2015 development agenda that will run from 2016 through 2030. Below are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will form an integral part of the agenda. Other parts are the introduction/declaration, means of implementation and monitoring, review and evaluation.

Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable