‘The ELSA programme was a real eye-opener’

The Ugandan trade union for the creative sector has changed its working methods completely after general secretary Anita Sseruwgi participated in the ELSA programme of Mondiaal FNV. “Nowadays, we are working with work plans, financial systems, a digital membership administration and we have managed to recruite over 17,500 paying members since then.

Anita Sseruwgi. Photo: Compass Media

During a workshop of the ELSA programme, general secretary Anita Sseruwgi found out that the latest audit report from her union was full of errors. “I felt really bad as I suddenly realised that I was in charge of so many people but still was so weak in finance. In that respect, the ELSA programme was a real eye-opener,” says the 43-year-old leader of NUCPAW, the Ugandan trade union for people working in creative sectors, including the music and film industry.

Survive on subsidies

The union woman – who is also a film maker - also found out that her union was far from being financially stable. “I learned during the ELSA programme that it was very risky for our union to mainly depend on subsidies while hardly having any paying members”, she says. “We were having around seven hundred members in the books but as we were not having any proper system to keep track of whether these members paid, only then I realised that we were not having any idea of how many paying members we actually had.”

Instead of feeling discouraged, Anita went straight to action. The union leader checked the status of all the registered members. She also started to recruit new members all over the country in collaboration with her team, whereby she came up with a method to make her members pay. “We started to organise discussions, workshops and all kind of other activities that attracted a lot of attention. However, since then members have been only allowed to participate after they’ve paid at least for a half year of membership fees”, the union leader explains who managed to recruit more than 17.500 paying members in the past two years.

Digital member system

The trade union has also launched a digital system in which they now register all members with their name and ID number, keep track of payments and register at which activities they participated. The organisation also registers gender and age, so they are able to easily organise activities for specific target groups. Anita also hired an accountant and got additional training in financial management after the workshop of the ELSA programme. “Nowadays, when the auditor pays us a visit, I understand what he is talking about and I can even check whether he is doing things correctly,” she proudly says.

Anita wants to find other sources of income as well. The trade union, for example, has recently bought five hectares of land to build a cultural center where members will be able to meet. “We want to build studios, rehearsal rooms, offices and a small theater that members all can rent. This will give us some extra income while it might also create some kind of community feel that might bind people more to the trade union”, the female leader says.

Getting more courage

The ELSA programme also helped the general secretary to get more courage. “Earlier, I was very shy, especially in front of a group, which isn’t convenient for a union leader”, she tells while smiling. “But because we had to do many assignments in pairs or fours, I felt safe and learned to participate. In the end, the trainers and fellow union leaders persuaded me to give a presentation, which actually went very well. This boosted my self-confidence enormously”, Anita laughs.

The trade union for workers in the creative sector has very different challenges than many other unions in the East African country. “All our members are informal workers. They are nowhere employed and hardly anyone has contracts,” Anita explains. The trade unionist therefore would like to get in touch with trade unions for the creative sector from other countries so that she can learn how to improve things. “I also want to push for the government to start recognising us so they hopefully will also start to take us more seriously. Currently, the government still thinks that all our members are taking drugs. This while our members are fully-fledged entrepreneurs who contribute to the Gross Domestic Product and must therefore be taken seriously.”