On November 3rd 2016, ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) held the 2nd Modular Knowledge and Information Transaction Systems (MKITS) photo and video challenge award giving ceremony which was attended by 86 people from all walks of life at the RAN premises. The purpose of the Challenge was to create awareness and encourage more people to document not only their innovations but also day to-day happenings using short informative videos and talking photos.
The competition attracted 105 applicants for both video and photo categories from all the four Resilient Innovation Labs (RILabs) across Africa. These went through a rigorous screening exercise by a panel of carefully selected knowledgeable judges who used number codes for all participants as opposed to their names for issues related to anonymity and fairness to all. The chief Guest was Mr. Paul Kavuma Nkwanga the Executive Director Wizarts Media, one of the leading media content production Companies in Kampala Uganda.
At the start of the event, Dr. Dorothy Okello, RAN Director Innovation shared an overview of RAN’s objectives highlighting the need for all to participate in the MKITS Challenge. She mentioned that one of RAN’S objectives is toadopt and launch a state-of-the-art massive online learning platform to engage students, faculty, staff and development experts globally in solving well-defined development challenges.
This directly fed into the relevancy of the MKITS challenge.
The Chief Guest in his remarks quoted the amazon founder Jeff Bezos noting that… “There is so much stuff that has yet to be invented, there are many new things going to happen although people do not have an idea yet how impactful internet is going to be and that this is only day one in such a big way” Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos. He also commented that there are people who teach themselves how to become better documenters only by going to the internet like using YouTube to learn through online tutorials. He noted that everyone should also take the initiative to document all processes of a particular undertaking and look for the community challenges in order to together develop possible solutions to address the same. “If we do not document anything we have nothing like Isaac Newton once said that with all that he achieved he did so on the shoulders of giants”.
During this event, four participants were recognized and awarded amidst ululations. These included;
Photo Challenge Category
Overall Photo Category Winner -Bob Byabarema $300
Video Category
Overall Video Category Winner-Peter Kalule $300
On the same event, East Africa RILab awarded the best four competitors. These were;
EA RILab Photo Category
Bob Byabarema $150(Winner)
Mungu Allan Marie $100(1st runner up)
EA RILaB Video Category
Peter Kalule $150 (Winner)
Stephen Kibalama $100(1st runner up)
After the awards, Nathan Tumuhamye Kipande, Director EA RILab, thanked the participants for the efforts that they put into this challenge. He also urged participants to remain on the look-out for another challenge show casing innovations at RAN.
The event came to a close with the official opening of the RAN Multimedia Suite commissioned by Mr. Paul Kavuma and Mr. Joseph L. Mukaawa, RAN Multimedia Developer who noted that “This Multimedia Suit is now officially open to all innovators who needed to do any multimedia productions. With more facilities still coming in, this would help in the promotion of learning and information generation and sharing. Participants then retrieved to a networking evening enjoying the ambience of the RAN Innovation Lab located on Plot 28, Upper Kololo Terrace, Kampala, Uganda.