On 17th March 2014, our MADM Alumni Gerald Ahabwe was overwhelmingly voted the President for the Association of Ugandan-German Alumni (AUGA).
This is HIS REPORT about AUGA and the election day:
AUGA is a voluntary Association established by individual members who were or are still beneficiaries of various German scholarships at German, Ugandan or international Universities or who studied at least three months at a German University.
Records at the Germany Embassy in Uganda indicate that so far 1,271 Ugandans have been beneficiaries of German scholarships. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has been present in Uganda for 40 years now.
The main objective of AUGA is to strengthen the academic, professional and cultural cooperation among Ugandan and German Alumni.
The election day started with a workshop on Standards for PhD and Master Theses. The AUGA Annual General Meeting started at 5 pm and the election of the new Board was one of the items on the agenda. The election was very tense. I competed for the presidency with a senior colleague, who had been a DAAD scholarship beneficiary at Masters, PhD and Post-doc levels. His CV was by far heavier than mine. We were each given 05 minutes to express ourselves and articulate what we intend to do for the association.
I capitalized on my social science background and the knowledge gained in the "Master in Development Management" (MADM) program at the South African-German Centre for Development Research. I told the members how I was part of the working team that developed the ToRs for the MADM Alumni Association. This made me more appealing and knowledgeable in the running of an Alumni Association. I as well told them about being one of the 20 DAAD Alumni working in the water sector who were selected for a seminar at Oldenburg University in April 2014 under the auspices of DAAD and BMZ (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) . I thus demonstrated continued professional association with DAAD.
Voting was conducted by show of hands. I emerged victorious. The event was graced by HE Klaus Dieter Düxmann, the German Ambassador in Uganda, the Regional DAAD representative for Eastern Africa, Christoph Hansert (director of the DAAD office in Nairobi) and the DAAD Officer in Uganda, Mirjam Gille.
In the picture below, the New Board chaired by myself (in a checked tie in the behind row) pose for a group photo with the Germany Ambassador (behind row in a navy blue tie), DAAD regional representative (extreme left), DAAD officer in Uganda (next to the ambassador) together with the outgoing Board chaired by Prof. Kabasa (second right in the front row).
The election day closed with a reception on occasion of DAADs 40 years of presence in Uganda. At this event, new DAAD scholarship holders were awarded their scholarship letters of offer.
I am writing this small memoir, after just having come back from our first Board meeting where we have deliberated on the work plan.
We want to increase the visibility of our association and make it very vibrant to the stakeholders.
Long Live AUGA, Long Live IEE, Long Live DAAD!
Gerald AHABWE
MADM Alumni (2008-2009) and current President: Association of Ugandan-German Alumni (AUGA).
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