Norway Registers Development AS (NRD AS) has partnered with Uganda Technology and Management University (UTAMU) in a bid to address challenges of sustainable development in the East African Region. The parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together in order to support economic reforms in the region by promoting strategic ICT investment and contributing evidence based research, impact assessment reports and policy advice on specific subjects of interest, such as: investment strategy, industrial policy, business environment improvement, better regulation and public procurement, among many others.
The MOU particularly emphasized the potential of information and communication technologies or e-governance to decrease red tape, increase transparency and improve public service.
“Business friendly environment does not mean absence of regulations as it is commonly mistaken. On the contrary, businesses need well regulated environments, which are rational, predictable, uniformly applied. We will seek to help policy makers to create such business environment in Uganda while sharing our know-how and developing local capacities for sustainable growth”, commented Mr. Rimantas Žylius, NRD AS managing director.
“At UTAMU, we are dedicated to nurturing a new generation of leaders in business and public sector with deep understanding of technologies and their impact on human behaviour. The partnerships with NRD AS is one sure way for us to achieve this goal”, said UTAMU Vice Chancellor Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba. “It is important to note that without understanding motivations of the people and other “soft” factors, technology will not be used to its full potential. With this Memorandum we are creating capacity to uncover and understand why some initiatives do not take off despite millions of dollars invested, and how should they be done to succeed”, commented Prof. Baryamureeba.
According to Prof. Baryamureeba, UTAMU will integrate the special focus areas of the MOU into its curricula and develop academic and applied research in these areas.
MoU parties plan to launch small investment high impact projects which would consolidate efforts of public institutions and non-governmental sector as well as technological and academic capacities of MoU parties. They aim to achieve breakthrough in the areas of tax payers’ base expansion, access or promotion of entrepreneurship, and others.
MoU parties invite policymakers to use capacities to produce higher impact policies. Please contact us at: rzy@nrd.no or better-policies-for-uganda@utamu.ac.ug.
Interested parties are invited to join efforts and offer your contributions.