Spotlight on The Katine Project: A Collaboration

Jennings Carney | 07.08.2010 | 09:13:52617 |

July 2010: Over the last three years, the Guardian and Observer has been working with the African Medical and Research Foundation and its sister organization Farm Africa through a program called Katine, named after a rural sub-county in northeast Uganda. The £2.5 million project was launched by Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger and is jointly funded through donations from Guardian readers and Barclays' community outreach and investment arm.

The Katine Project focuses on five areas: education, health, water, governance, and livelihoods. Over the three years of the project, the Guardian has reported continuously on the development of each area of focus. The paper also has worked to put into context each of the stories and its respective goal. "An important part of the Katine project is listening to its residents - finding out about their lives and giving them a forum to express their views, not only on the work of Amref and Farm-Africa in their communities, but also on the decisions made by Ugandan politicians in Kampala that could impact their lives," the Guardian wrote.

To help the community members gain access to the media and as well to other kinds of communication, the Guardian has enlisted the help of the Panos Institute. "For more than 20 years, the Panos network has supported journalists worldwide to report on ignored, misrepresented or poorly understood development issues," the Guardian wrote. "Central to this undertaking has been a commitment to including the views of the people most affected by development - usually the poorest and most marginalized people in society."