'The ELSA programme professionalises our union'

The ELSA programme from Mondiaal FNV was of ‘enormous value’, states Juma Mwamula of the Ugandan private education union. He learned, for example, to improve the financial sustainability of his union and also developed ‘valuable friendships’ with other union leaders during the programme.

Juma Mwamula. Photo: Compass Media

It was a big shock for Juma Mwamula during one of the ELSA-workshops, when he had to calculate how long his union would survive if external donors would suddenly pul-out. “After only three months we would be bankrupt”, the general secretary of the Ugandan private education union UPTU says. “This exercise was a big eye-opener for me.”

Roadmap for financial sustainability

The participants of the ELSA programme also had to create ‘Individual development plans’, called roadmaps, whereby they had to come up with solid plans to make their unions more financially sustainable organisations. “That’s a major problem within our union”, the 40-year-old UPTU leader admits. While as many as 50,000 people work in the private education sector in Uganda, only 2,700 are currently a member of the union. “Fortunately, I learned during the workshops how to recruit members more effectively.”

The UPTU also would like to implement a digital membership system. “Currently, we still carry paper forms to each school to be filled in by new members and end up with huge piles of papers. We also use Excel-sheets for some overviews, but this is far from effective”, Juma adds. He was very inspired by a Tanzanian trade unionist who visited one of the ELSA workshops to talk about the implementation of their management information system. “We also want to introduce this as soon as possible so we can track our members and, for example, whether they paid their fees or not.”

Generate new income

The union tries to find other sources of income as well. “We have started, for example, to deploy some of our members – who are mostly teachers – as consultants. They can work, for example, as examinators at schools, while through the fees they receive we will generate some extra income for the union”, the general secretary explains.

Aside of the lessons learned, Juma believes that it was also very valuable to have such intensive contact with other Ugandan trade union leaders during the workshops. “Many of them I had met before during earlier official meetings, but everyone was very timid during those occasions,” says the trade unionist. “The ELSA programme, however, encouraged us to share our problems and challenges. That's how we built friendships. And I’m sure that I can now contact any of them in case I need help. That’s why these partnerships are extremely valuable.”

Trainings like the ELSA programme are much needed

Juma believes that trainings such as the ELSA programme in Uganda are much needed. “The number of unions have increased over the past fifteen years. As a result, many of the new general secretaries are not experienced enough in leading a union in a professional way”, the general secretary states. “However, the ELSA programme trains and professionalises us as union leaders, after which we can also professionalise our union. Our members, at their turn, will also benefit from this.”