By Vincent Wamundu
With the recent rise in security scares, security detail was beefed up to protect the world in Kampala. The bell was used as sign to show things were ready to roll in the Victoria ballroom. Since many people from different nationalities attended, translation was a key factor.
In the first meeting on the 29th of June 2011 delegates came in at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, ready for the conference, dubbed “Zipping Finance and Farming” that took place in Kampala.
At the entrance all delegates were obliged to register and get accreditation; however some delegates took this time to get in contact and build networks among the participants before heading into the ballroom in order to listen to presentations and reports presented to them.
Coffee breaks were offered in between the presentations to make sure that delegates were awake and alert through out the meeting and during the afternoon, lunch was also offered.
Getting down to work
After short presentations participants were divided into discussion groups. They were given the mandate to tackle different topics for efficiency in the final document, the key factor being successful initiatives and approaches from agricultural and financial sectors. The groups discussed different topics such as training and technical support tackled funding, draft policy paper on agricultural finance and public sector policy.
According to the program, the workshop was supposed to come up with the so-called Kampala principles for agricultural finance policies in Africa, the draft committees were formed from among participants to discuss the vital principles, intended to convey suggestions for actions on the development of agriculture in Africa.
As they say: work without play makes jack a dull boy. So on the 3rd day of the conference, which was the last day, all laptops, head phones, microphones, pen and paper were put away and all the delegates embarked on field trips around the country.
For sure excitement was clear on their faces, a sign that truly, the conference had met its goal.
Watch Timonthy Ondere’s TV report on the conference below:
Watch an interview by Yvonne Msemembo with Ugandan State Minister for Finance Fred Omach:
Watch an interview by Yvonne Msemembo with Fabian Kasi, managing director of Centenary Bank of Uganda:
Watch an interview by Yvonne Msemembo with Susanne Dorasil, German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ):
Watch an interview by Yvonne Msemembo with Christian Königsperger, head of the financial sector development programme of German Development Corporation GIZ in Uganda:
