Tag Archives: Patricia Akankwatsa

Kampala, Uganda | Patricia Akankwatsa | Uganda’s youthful population is increasingly being pushed into a digital economy many are still ill-prepared to navigate, prompting fresh efforts by private sector players and development organisations to close the country’s widening digital skills gap. At the Kabalagala Youth Centre in Kampala, 58 young people …

  Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Uganda’s first commercial export of canned pineapple to China is being presented as more than a ceremonial trade breakthrough. Government officials, investors, and development agencies say the shipment reflects a wider attempt to reposition Uganda from an exporter of raw agricultural commodities to …

  Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda have transparency laws, but corruption persists   NEWS ANALYSIS | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Uganda records some of the lowest levels of compliance with access to information requests in East Africa, highlighting a persistent gap between transparency laws and their enforcement across the region. Between 2018 …

Asthma is responsible for more than 450,000 deaths globally every year, many of which are preventable   Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Uganda’s response to asthma is facing growing scrutiny as health specialists warn that thousands of patients are still unable to access essential inhalers, even as global treatment …

    The country-specific data remains limited, but the scale of sickle cell disease suggests the implications are considerable   Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA |  For two weeks, a 16-year-old girl living with sickle cell disease was treated for what appeared to be a stubborn chest infection. She had …

Uganda confronts new development reality Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Declining global aid flows and shifting geopolitical priorities are forcing a rethink of how Africa finances its development. Participants at the ninth Kampala Geopolitics Conference said this week, warning that traditional models are becoming increasingly unsustainable. The conference, held at …

Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | A flagship agricultural cooperation programme between Uganda, China and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations formally entered its close-out phase, with officials signalling a shift from implementation to scaling and sustainability of results achieved over more than a decade. The …

Bugweri, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Every Saturday afternoon, farmers converge at the home of Nathan Mununuzi, turning his compound into an informal training ground where poultry is taught not as subsistence activity, but as a structured rural enterprise. What is unfolding here is part of a broader shift under the Food …

Mbarara, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Uganda’s livestock sector has long been constrained by slow-growing local breeds and inconsistent market supply. At the Mbarara Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MBAZARDI), scientists are evaluating the Jianzhou big-eared goat, a Chinese breed introduced under the FAO–China South–South Cooperation (SSC) Project. Preliminary findings suggest …

Moroto, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | In Karamoja, livestock is not just an asset class; it is the operating system of the local economy. Cattle and goats function simultaneously as savings, insurance, food supply, and social capital. It is within this context that vaccines often treated as a narrow veterinary …