My wife came home one day with an advert in the local newspapers for a course I had never heard about. I was attracted to it because of my interest in ICT leadership. I was further motivated to apply because it had an African development approach giving us a pioneering opportunity as the first cohort in Uganda. What seemed like an opportunity to do a quick course and add it to my resume, turned out to be a new experience into the Knowledge Society and its three pillars. It soon thrust me out of my ICT comfort zone into research in Education and STI. These were areas I had never given much attention nor had I ever imagined had a direct connection to ICT. I was quickly humbled by the amount of new information and knowledge even about my own country that I had never known. I was soon researching and correlating my country information to try and come up with reasonable responses to my sometimes tough assignments. I started to see things with “new eyes”. The group dynamics of leading a diverse team was both exciting as well as challenging. We all saw things differently but had to agree on a common group position and my job was precisely to keep the harmony and vision. We later turned out to make a great team of friends with no drop out throughout the course. We soon learnt the power of numbers and the strength of diverse skills, this is how it works in the real world. The inevitable need to juggle my work, family and the ALICT course soon took a toll on me. Motivated by the end result, I kept on. My team was a great inspiration as we picked each other up whenever the steam went down. We were always encouraged by the GESCI staff mails, we were almost there! It was soon over and we were in Naivasha for a memorable graduation ceremony that put faces to the e-communications we had shared. The presentations, the dancing, the interactions soon brought the satisfaction of hard work and perseverance. Back home we decided it was not enough to graduate and go on with our lives. We started a Facebook forum, maintained an email group and now decided we need to formalize and found the Knowledge Society Uganda Chapter. This is still a work in progress. We believe that the skills, knowledge and networks we attained can make a valuable contribution to the development of Uganda and Africa as a continent. The road to a Knowledge Society may be long and distant but am glad we know it is possible and in sight. I am excited about the future of Africa and its possibilities, I am glad to be an ALICT alumni. By Collin Babirukamu
Head of Information Technology (CIO), National Social Security Fund