Affordability is a big issue for many people | #speakup barometer | Uganda | DW | 16.11.2018
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Users on digital participation in Uganda

Affordability is a big issue for many people

Gira Emmanuel is a citizen journalist who leads the “Common Community” project, a radio soap opera that won the Rising Voices citizen journalism micro-grant in 2014.

Gira Emmanuel

Gira Emmanuel is a citizen journalist who leads the “Common Community” project, a radio soap opera that won theRising Voices citizen journalism micro-grant in 2014. He is based in Lira, a city in Uganda’s Northern Region, and uses the Internet in his journalism work.

In our office we use a modem to access the internet – a very simple mobile device – and mobile phones and a laptop. For our mobile phones we buy internet bundles like ordinary people, but they’re very expensive. Affordability is a big issue for many people. So is the acceptance of the Internet. Many people still don’t want to use the Internet since they don’t see any use for it and don’t think it improves their daily lives. Another problem for us in the office is Internet quality and speed. We live in an upcountry region where the services of telecommunication providers are not very efficient. That’s why radio is still the most popular medium, also because it is exactly tailored to people’s needs in terms of local languages.

 

The #speakup barometer is a DW Akademie project that examines the connection between digital participation, freedom of expression and access to information. Learn more at www.dw.com/barometer

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