Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region, lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally modified equatorial climate. As of 2023, it has a population of around 49.6 million, of which 8.5 million live in the capital and largest city of Kampala.
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa. A member of the Commonwealth with a population of more than 47.6 million in the 2019 census, Kenya is the 28th most populous country in the world and 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi, while its oldest and second largest city, which until 1907 was also Kenya's first capital city, is the coastal city of Mombasa which includes Mombasa Island in the Indian Ocean and the surrounding mainland. Kisumu is the third-largest city and also an inland port in the Winam Gulf which, along with its numerous bays and human settlements, is one of the important maritime transport, fishing, farming, commercial, history and tourism hubs on Lake Victoria. As of 2020, Kenya is the third-largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and South Africa and hosts the United Nations, UNEP and UN-HABITAT headquarters in Africa. Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast and is host to two of the world's largest Refugee camps at Dadaab and Kakuma. Kenya's geography, climate and population vary widely, ranging from cold snow-capped mountaintops with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates in western and rift valley counties and further on to dry less fertile arid and semi-arid areas and absolute deserts.
The culture of Kenya consists of multiple traditions and trends. Kenya has no single prominent culture that identifies it. Its cultural heritage and modern expressions of culture instead consist of various cultures, shaped and practiced by the country's different communities.
The system of education in Uganda has a structure of 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education, and 3 to 5 years of post-secondary education. Education in Uganda is administered in English. All throughout the levels in the education structure, modules are taught and assessed in English. The government of Uganda recognizes education as a basic human right and continues to strive to provide free primary education to all children in the country. However, issues with funding, teacher training, rural populations, and inadequate facilities continue to hinder the progress of educational development in Uganda. Girls in Uganda are disproportionately discriminated against in terms of education; they face harsher barriers when trying to gain an education and it has left the female population disenfranchised, despite government efforts to close the gap.
Makerere University is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of nine colleges and one school offering programmes for about 36,000 undergraduates and 4,000 postgraduates. The main administrative block was gutted by fire in September 2020 and the cause of the fire is yet to be established.
The Iteso are a Nilotic ethnic group in eastern Uganda and western Kenya. Teso refers to the traditional homeland of the Iteso, and Ateso is their language.
The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university located in Ubungo District, Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in 1963, shortly after Tanzania gained its independence from the United Kingdom. In 1970, UEA split into three independent universities: Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Calestous Juma was a Kenyan scientist and academic, specializing in sustainable development. He was named one of the most influential 100 Africans in 2012, 2013 and 2014 by the New African magazine. He was Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of the Innovation for Economic Development Executive Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Juma was Director of the School's Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School as well as the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His last book, Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies, was published by Oxford University Press in 2016.
Professor Thomas Risley Odhiambo was a Kenyan entomologist and environmental activist who directed research and scientific development in Africa.
David William Cohen is Emeritus Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He specializes in East Africa and is a leader in the emerging field of historical anthropology. He is Honorary Research Fellow, Archive and Public Culture Initiative, University of Cape Town.
Horace G. Campbell is an international peace and justice scholar and Professor of African American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, he has been involved in Africa's Liberation Struggles and has campaigned for peace and justice globally for more than four decades. From his years in Toronto, Canada, to his trips to Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom and parts of the Caribbean, he has been an influential force offering alternatives to the hegemonic ideas of Eurocentrism. In an attempt to theorise new concepts of revolution in the 21st century he has been seeking to expand on the ideas of fractals and the importance of emancipatory ideas. He currently teaches in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University.
Kitengesa Community Library is a small and successful library in central Uganda. It is part of the Uganda Community Libraries Association and the Friends of African Village Libraries. It received international attention in October 2010 when BBC correspondent Mike Wooldridge did a special report on it for BBC News.
Yashpal Tandon is a Ugandan policymaker, political activist, professor, author and public intellectual. He has lectured extensively in the areas of International Relations and Political economy. He was deeply involved in the struggle against the dictatorship of Idi Amin in 1970's Uganda and has spent time in exile. He is the author and editor of numerous books and articles and has served on the editorial boards of many journals.
The National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU), founded in 1997, is a non-government organization that brings together associations and institutions within Uganda’s book sector to promote authorship, publishing and a culture of reading in Uganda.
Cavendish University Uganda (CUU) is licensed and accredited by the Uganda National Council for Higher Education (UNCHE), and was established in 2008. It is ranked 20th best university in Uganda and 10593th in the world.
Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril, born 5 October 1961, is a former Kenyan cabinet secretary, lawyer and a diplomat of Somali descent. She is the immediate former Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Heritage and Culture in Kenya. She previously served as chairwoman of the International Organization for Migration and the World Trade Organization's General Council, as well as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. She served as the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Kenya from May 2013 to February 2018, when President Uhuru Kenyatta, after re-election, moved her to the Education docket. In March 2019, she was moved to the Sports Ministry replacing Rashid Echesa. The KNEC Director, George Magoha replaced her in the Education docket.
Barnabas Nawangwe, is a Ugandan architect, academic and the current vice chancellor of the Makerere University, the largest public university of Uganda. He served his first five-year term from 2017 until August 2022. On 12 August 2022, the Makerere University Council re-appointed him for a second term of five years.
Paul Kipchumba, in Chinese Chen Pu (陈朴), is a Kenyan author, businessman and philanthropist from Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya. His other names are Kipwendui and Kibiwott. He speaks Chinese, English, Marakwet, and Swahili. Magical Kenya News called Kipchumba one of the best Kenyan writers of all time.
George Ladaah Openjuru, also George Ladaah Openjuru, is a Ugandan educator, academic and academic administrator, who serves as the Vice Chancellor of Gulu University, a public university in the Northern Region of Uganda, since 13 January 2018.
Margaret Gathoni Karembu is a Kenyan science educator and science management specialist in the fields of technology transfer and the applications of biotechnology in Africa. She is the Director of the AfriCenter division of the ISAAA, a non-profit international organization that shares agricultural biotechnology, focusing on genetic engineering. She is the chair of the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology Programming Committee, Kenya Chapter.
