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William Tayeebwa

 

  • 2008 Trudeau Scholar

    william.tayeebwa@trudeaufoundation.net

    Current Research

    Joint Ph.D. Communication Studies, Concordia University

    Participatory Communication for Peace-building

    Profile

    While working as a journalist for the Daily Monitor, Uganda's independent daily newspaper, William Tayeebwa covered the armed conflicts in the African Great Lakes region, and he experienced firsthand the profound and devastating impact of war. During his travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo, he realised that during war, not only do humans suffer, but fauna and flora are not spared either. William also witnessed how war provides an avenue for local, regional and international predators to exploit national resources, thus creating even more reasons for some groups to take up arms in a vicious cycle of violence.

    Back in Africa in 2003 after his graduate studies at the University of Oslo, Norway, he concentrated on the journalism training of Africa's future generation of reporters and editors. He did so first at Uganda's national university (Makerere), and later in 2005 as a visiting lecturer at Rwanda's national university (Butare). William tried to inject his students with the peace-journalism vaccine, so that their work may deliberately privilege the voices of peacemakers. He sought to educate them outside of the conventional mold that proposes placing political and official elite sources against each other.

    He strongly believes that a skilled new generation of African journalists will be able to question and circumvent the structural bottlenecks imposed by corporate media, government censorship and media dependence on advertising revenue -- none of which favour a peace-journalism model.

    Trudeau Foundation Themes

    Human Rights and Social Justice » 
    Responsible Citizenship » 


  • Current Residence

    Montreal, Québec

    Languages

    English, French, Swahili and several East African languages

    Degrees

    • M.Phil. Media Studies, University of Oslo, Norway
    • B.A. Mass Communication, Makerere University, Uganda

    Current Research

    Participatory Communication for Peace-building

    In historical counterpoint to the role Rwanda's Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) played in the escalation of the 1994 genocide, this research project seeks to investigate the role amnesty radio programming has played in the management of an armed conflict between the Ugandan government forces and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) that has been going on since 1987 claiming thousands of human lives.

    Past Research

    • Journalism codes of reporting war and gender-based violence
    • Content Analysis and Audience Survey of the Media Coverage of Environmental issues in the African Great Lakes Region
    • Application of the Behavioural Change and Communication (BCC) model in HIV/AIDS prevention in Uganda
    • A multi-sectoral communication model to address the problem of Invasive Alien Plant Species (IAPS) in Uganda
    • The deployment of media and communication to promote energy for rural transformation in Uganda
    • Planned Participatory Communication for Ecodevelopment: A Study of the Discernible Media and Communication Strategy of the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP-Uganda).

    Awards

    • Concordia University: Graduate Fellowship
    • Concordia University: International Fee Remission Award
    • University of Oslo: Norwegian Quota Programme Scholarship
    • Makerere University: Public Speaking Contest Award
    • The French Embassy in Uganda and Alliance Française de Kampala: 2nd Prize of the 3rd Nationwide Photo Competition

    Social Engagement

    • Communications Advisor, African Students' Association of Concordia University
    • Publicity Secretary and online newsletter editor-in-chief, Global Forum on International Cooperation
    • Member, The East African Media Institute
    • Media Advisor and Visiting editor, National Association of Professional Environmentalists, Uganda
    • Member, Network for Environmental Journalists for Lake Victoria
    • Member, Makerere University Academic Staff Association
    • Member and past Assistant Secretary General, The National Institute of Journalists of Uganda
    • Editor, Makerere University Newsletter
    • Pastoral worker, Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) in Tanzania, Switzerland, France and DR Congo

    Work Experience

    • Development Communication Consultant and Researcher for various international organizations
    • Assistant Lecturer/Teaching Assistant: Makerere University (Uganda), National University of Rwanda (Butare) and Concordia University
    • Journalist: The Crusader Newspaper, The New Vision Newspaper and Daily Monitor Newspaper in Uganda
    • System Administrator of an Information Management Software: Concordia University's CURA (Community University Research Alliance) project on "Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide and other Human Rights Violations"
    • Research Assistant: Communication Studies and History Department, Concordia University

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