ABSTRACT

1. ABSTRACT THE COMPLENTARY ROLE PLAYED BY COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTRES/COMMUNITY LIBRARIES TO ACHIEVE PROFICIENCY IN LITERACY: THE CASE OF NAMBI SSEPPUUYA COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTRE In Uganda, there are Community Libraries (CLs) and Community Resource Centres (CRCs). In the Paper, both terms are used. How these institutions are created, their guidelines and functions are exactly the same.. Community Resource Centres are a new phenomenon in our education s and information service system. They complement the efforts of other actors in the fight against illiteracy. Among other actors are Public Libraries which have been here for long and are, therefore, better known. The Paper attempts to define a C R C, how it differs from a Public Library though both play complementary roles. It explains why R Cs are being set up. The role they play in fighting the four known society ills, namely, illiteracy, ignorance, poverty and disease; their contribution to quality education, academic performance, participation in community development, sensitization and training activities among both young and old. Examples of C R Cs elsewhere are looked at. The challenges faced and attempts being made to overcome those challenges. It discusses in some detail Nambi Sseppuuya Community Resource Centre.

2. Nambi Sseppuuya Community Resource Centre is a community initiative with a Mission to fight illiteracy, ignorance, poverty and disease through education, training and provision of reading and research materials. The Paper with illustrations and examples, demonstrates the contribution the R C is making towards improving academic performance and achieving proficiency in literacy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Uganda, like many other developing Countries, has a poor reading culture. Few people read for pleasure. Few, read for general information. We visit Book stores mainly to purchase school prescribed textbooks for our children. Newspapers are read mainly by a privileged few who work in offices where those papers are purchased by the organizations. But even those look for specific pages, sports, other forms of entertainment, may be advertisements for those looking for jobs and little bit of politics. Books and other information resources found in libraries are sought after mainly by students, those pursuing further academic qualifications, people doing research or writing project proposals.

3. Others look for space in a quiet environment where they can revise for an examination or do school homework. These are the categories of people that have acquired the skill of reading and proficiency. Where proficiency means, according to Oxford dictionary “being able to do something well because of training and practice”. These are people who have had some reading skill imparted to them, had the opportunity to access some reading materials and perfect that skill through constant practice up to the level of proficiency One of the ways through which Government has contributed to promoting the culture of reading and the eventual acquisition of proficiency is through mainstream formal education from early childhood to tertiary education. Universal Primary Education ( UPE) (1999) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) (2007) gave opportunity to bigger numbers of children/students to acquire formal education and the possibility of an opportunity to access reading materials and eventually acquire proficiency in literacy. Unfortunately, studies have shown that large numbers of children have dropped out of school before completing primary 7 where it is expected that by the time they leave that class they would have acquired the reading skill. Sadly, studies have also shown that a big percentage of those who finish primary 7 are unable to read and write for a number of reasons:

4. Released Uganda National Examination Board Results indicate that the quality of education has been declining over the years. For example, immediately after the implementation of the UPE Programme, an assessment was carried out by the National Assessment of progress in Education for Social transformation (NAPE) and it was discovered that there was decline in the quality of education basing on the core subjects, namely, English and Mathematics. This was attributed to, among other reasons, the declining interest in reading by pupils. This decline was confirmed by UWEZO in a recent study. According to the Study “less than half the pupils in primary 3 up to primary 7 have acquired the competence to count or read a Primary 2 material”. It is pointed out that only 33% of pupils evaluated could perform all literacy and numeracy tasks they were given. These findings are not any different from the four studies UWEZO has done before”. ( Daily Monitor, Friday June 3, 2016: P.6). Of the P7 pupils assessed, 74% could read a P 2 Level English story and correctly a P2 Level division”. These are P 7 pupils many of whom are likely to leave school at the end of the year. This means, they have left or will leave school with hardly any reading skill. • Large numbers of primary school pupils have no access to reading materials while still at school to practice even the little skill they have acquired. Government has made some effort to encourage the acquisition of the reading skill by equipping schools with text books and supplementary readers. This would instill the reading habit in school going children. Unfortunately, these books are hardly accessed by the pupils.

5. According to Bategeka and Okurut (2006:4,) “due to lack of space, books are kept in stores under lock which makes it impossible for pupils to access them. The most affected schools are those in rural areas and urban slums.” The former Minister of State for Primary Education Hon. J.C. Muyingo did confirm this state of affairs.” Government has over the years been stocking libraries of primary schools and there should be no excuse not to read.” New Vision Wednesday June 1, 2016 p.23). According to Juuko and Kabonesa, (2007:36), “Due to high enrolment rates, books are never enough. For example, in 2004, it was reported at national level that text book copies for primary four were on average 238,475 to 1,045,514 enrolled pupils which is equivalent to 1:23 pupils, followed by primary three with an average of 214,217 to 1,150,525 pupils. Primary five with an average of 187,725 to 923,759”. • There is no doubt whatsoever that Hon. Dr. Muyingo knows what a library is. However one wonders how many primary schools libraries, particularly those in rural areas and urban slums Dr. Muyingo visited during his term of office as Minister of State for Primary Education. Of those he may have visited, what caliber of school libraries they were. A library is not just a room or building, it must have all it takes to be called a library. Hon Muyingo goes ahead to admit that “Head Teachers actually lock up books instead of making them available to the pupils. Why lock up books that keep new for decades!” Hon. Muyingo wonders. (New Vision Wednesday June 1, 2016 p.23).

6. What the Hon. Minister doesn’t seem to appreciate is the fact that government has failed to have at least one Librarian post on the school establishment to organize, manage and develop a school library for purposes of making books sent to schools readily accessible to the pupils/students. Management and ‘development’ of school libraries has been left to one of the teachers who has been designated, ‘Teacher/Librarian. The same teacher is handling a class of over 100 kids from morning to evening, Monday to Friday! This is the teacher who is expected to organize the books the government sends to schools, regularly get them from the head teacher’s office or store and make them accessible to the pupils/students. Is that realistic? A draft School Library Policy document submitted to the Ministry of Education and Sports in 2003 must be gathering dust somewhere in the Ministry of Education and sports office. The proposed Mission of that Policy was to promote the development, use and effective utilization of library and information services for sustainable quality of education and lifelong learning in Uganda. One of the school library functions according to the draft policy, was to support and develop information literacy skills targeting not only pupils/students but also the wider communities around educational institutions. One of the guiding principles was that there shall be at least one library staff in charge of library and information services in each school. In 2009, the then Minister of Information and national Guidance KabakumbaMasiko promised that schools were to have a common Library Development Policy to help in the development and optimum utilization of school and public libraries The School Library Policy Document 2003 noted that school library maters have no place in the Ministry of Education and Sports structure.

7. Talking about improving the quality of education, the NRM 2016-2021 Manifesto makes no mention of libraries. In Chapter 11.3.1 of the Manifesto, Primary Sub-Sector. Way Forward. (p.168) “Having registered the above achievements, the NRM target in the next five years will be improving the quality of education. Specific interventions in primary education will include…”, 15 interventions, (a) to (n) are listed. On books and scholastic materials, (p168:d) “Continue to increase the budget allocation to text books and scholastic materials with the view to reduce the pupil-text book ration in line with the set standards” “Provide free scholastic materials such as mathematical sets, exercise books, pens and pencils” ( p.170:o ) Although it has been observed by the former Minister of State for Primary Education, (New Vision, Wednesday June 1, 2016 P.23), Bategeka and Okurut (2016) that books sent to schools are simply locked up in head teachers’ offices and /or stores, no mention is made in the Manifesto of arrangements being made to ensure that these books are accessed by the pupils. Yes, the Manifesto make mention of “strengthening inspection in schools and training institutions” ( P.169:f). “Increasing community participation in the affairs of the schools in their respective areas” ( P.169:h). It is very unlikely that (f) and (h) or any other interventions proposed under 11.3.1 will make any significant contribution to the accessibility of reading materials by the pupils. 3. Considering the financial standing of the majority of ordinary Ugandans, reading materials are simply not affordable for many Ugandans. Options for someone, young or old who cannot purchase something to read or access it in a school library to perfect one’s literacy skill

8. 1. Public Libraries A public Library is defined as “that is accessible by the general public and is generally funded from public sources such as taxes” (Wikipedia Encyclopedia). Public libraries are considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. One important role of public libraries is to provide a pre-school story time to encourage early literacy as well as encouraging appreciation of literature in adults. Public libraries in Uganda started in colonial times. The East African Literature Bureau was established in 1948 under the East African High commission to provide public library services. In 1960, a report produced by S.W. Hockey recommended that each East African country, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda develops her own public library service. The Uganda Library service was therefore born. Two years into independence, Uganda had already realized that the country could not achieve much with the majority of the population illiterate. The government started to channel efforts towards nurturing a reading culture. As a result, the Public libraries Act 1964 was passed, leading to the establishment of Public Libraries Board charged with establishing, equipping, managing and maintaining public libraries ( IkojaOdongo 2004 169-181) It is important to note that public libraries which were set up were located only in major urban areas.

9. These are the places where administrative officers, people who had been to school and therefore could make use of these facilities worked and lived. According to Charles Endra former Deputy Director Public libraries Board and a long serving librarian when talked to narrated, “in the early years of the Public Libraries Board, Ugandans thronged public libraries to borrow books. For some reason, government enthusiasm slowly declined. Money to stock, manage and develop library service around the country started dwindling. The service started depending on donated reading materials much of which was out of date or irrelevant. Inevitably, readership started declining because of the inappropriate reading materials”. The political turmoil of the 70s made matters even worse. The author of this paper once went to Bank of Uganda to follow up some papers which had been submitted for the allocation of foreign exchange to purchase reading materials for the Institute of Public Administration (IPA), currently Uganda Management Institute (UMI). Someone I had been to University with at that time working with bank of Uganda asked, “are books a priority?” I was not sure whether he was just being cynical or asking a genuine question. The foreign currency was eventually secured but it was not until the intervention of the Minister responsible for the affairs of IPA was sought.

10. Two things should be noted: • It was not enough to get allocation for books in the organization’s budget. After the money had been secured in the local currency, one had to struggle to obtain foreign currency in order to purchase reading materials from abroad. • An institution like IPA which was getting all grades of public officers including members of the military for in-service training had to struggle to get the necessary funds for the acquisition of training materials. Public libraries, therefore, were inconsequential. • Unfortunately, public libraries have hardly recovered from this decline. With the principle of decentralization and evolution of Central government powers and functions to Local Authorities, Public Libraries Board was dissolved and Central Government absolved itself of responsibility for public libraries. Public libraries were given to local governments to be managed by local committees. Sadly, local governments have not given adequate attention to proper management and development of public libraries. There is no money to purchase reading materials. Nor do administrators in most local governments taken keen interest in making libraries a priority in their budgets. Given the poor funding, public libraries can ill afford stocking relevant and up-to-date reading materials in print and/or electronic format for their readers.

11. Due to poor funding or lack of it, public libraries lack adequate staff to open their doors to readers beyond regular working hours of 8.00am to 5.00 pm. This gives working people and students very little opportunity to use the available facilities. Very few public libraries have their own premises. Most are in rented premises where they can be evicted any time. While others are allocated a small room by the mother organization which room can also be taken away if the organizations finds some ‘better’ use for it. This, naturally, make proper planning for development of the library services like providing for shelving, technical and other services difficult. I have found it appropriate to give colleague a rough picture of public libraries in this country in order to appreciate the contribution Community libraries/resource Centres are making to making accession of knowledge and skills in this country possible or what has been termed their Complementary Role. 2. Community Libraries/ Resource Centres I should mention here that although the names community Libraries and Community Resource Centre are used, the aims, objectives and functions of these facilities are exactly the same. Before we talk about Community Resource Centres, it is important to note that the early days of Uganda’s independence saw what were known as Community Centres established by the Government under the Ministry of Community Development.

12. At that time, the country had only one radio station known as Uganda Broadcasting Service (UBS). Later the government set up a television station, ‘Uganda Television’. There were very few homes with radios and much fewer homes with television sets (black and white). There were very few newspapers. Community Centres therefore, were places where members of the community gathered to listen or watch news and educational programmes. Community development clubs used these community centres for meetings and other community development activities. At a time when Cinema halls were only available in urban areas and only affordable by the middle class, these community centres served their purpose of places where ordinary citizens could go for information, education and some form of entertainment. Unfortunately, these community centres were short-lived. The Community Resource Centre Concept Community Resource Centres compared to public libraries are a much newer concept in Uganda. It is hardly 20 years old. As stated earlier, public libraries were established and developed in urban areas. They were established on the Western model of public libraries. Community Resource Centres or Community Libraries as most of them are known came as a result of the realization by members of some rural communities that in order for their areas to develop a facility where they can go for the acquisition of knowledge and skills was necessary. Like many other development ideas, it required the foresight of some members of the community to bring the idea to the rest of the community.

13. “For sustainable and rural development, people in rural communities should be literate so that they can actively participate in community affairs. Rural Education And Development (READ) approach focuses on education development of rural people through Community Libraries” (MohidJubair Jan 14, 2009) A Community Resource Centre is more than a library. It is a local institution outside the formal education system in a rural community; where community is “a group of people who live in a particular area or place.” A resource centre is set up and managed by the local people to provide various learning opportunities for community development and improvement of people’s quality of life. The concept of community Resource Centre, therefore, is that of a community owned centre for lifelong access to educational materials. While at one hand, it serves as a store house of knowledge and information, on the other hand it works to create space for the community’s young and old to collaborate on a range of development initiatives. People of a community look at a resource centre as a place where they go to meet one another and do things that benefit them as individuals and as a community. A community resource centre helps members of the community to develop sound reading habits by providing reading materials to all age groups and people from different interest groups with easy access to modern information technology.

14. . Members of the community become literate and develop their skills. This turns villages into viable places to live by creating jobs and access to technology. Thus balancing the urban-rural opportunities. Mostert B.J. (1998) points out, “ A rural community resource centre has moved away from the Western public library model towards active service oriented system based on the needs of the community as a whole. They are agents of development and empowerment for its users”. (p7) • It is common knowledge that over 80% of Uganda’s population live in rural areas where the average information access is still very low. Since information is said to be power, lack of information service facilities is widely believed to be one of the primary causes of illiteracy, ignorance, poverty and disease. community resource centres should, therefore, be looked at as a necessity. • Rosenburg has offered two potential models of Community Libraries / Resource Centres. • “One which provides reading materials and acts as a referral centre that provides advice to citizens. This type of establishment is supported by the community financially and administratively. (p.29) • The second model is where the centre is part of a public library system making use of pre-existing structure to provide services and meet user needs”

15. The majority of community resource centres in Uganda fall under the first Rosenburg Model but they do a lot more than merely providing reading materials and acting as referral centres offering advice to users. Rural community Resource Centres are ensuring that they develop an all inclusive service to all members of the community. According to Mostert (1998), “The passive services (the act of merely providing materials with little or no feedback from the community for instance) provided by the early public libraries in Africa was geared towards the middle class `and those who were literate and excluded the newly literate and those who could not read and write” (p.72) Seymour and Lane (1979) pose an interesting question about rural libraries, “how do you make library services available to people who have no motivation and characteristic of conventional library users? How do you reach people who if they think about their library at all view it as an alien and fearful world which may be perhaps accessible to their children in school but certainly not to them?” (p.105). I was faced with a similar question when we were trying to establish Nambi Community Resource Centre which I shall be talking about later in this paper. A radio station owner in Jinja thought I was craze putting a facility in a place where people neither read nor are interested in reading. My response was simple, “those who are well do not need a doctor.” The point I was making is, we cannot and we should not always consider giving something good only to those who are familiar with or have it.

16. It is like, ‘giving even more to those who already have”. To Bible readers, these are very familiar statements. • Kempson (1986) offers three guide lines for community resource centres: • “They should not solely be based on the provision of printed materials as many rural users are not used to utilizing materials because so little of it exists in the community. • Community resource centres of any type should be rooted in the community and for the most part facilitated by members of the community • The service should be a charnel for transferring information both to and from the community. • The role of the staff in charge is critical. The community resource centre staff have great responsibility in the development, promotion and the management of the rural community resource centre • Emphasizing point number 4 of the above guidelines Stillwell (1989) points out, “ the person responsible for the management of a community resource centre often lives in the community, is known and trusted by members of the community and is able to identify and meet the needs of the community.” • Birth of Community Resource centre in Uganda • Resulting from continued dialogue between the Ministry of Education and Sports officials and other stake holders, a national book Policy Workshop was organized on 24th June, 1999 at Fairway Hotel . Kampala.

17. The Stake holders included Publishers,, Writers, Booksellers Printers, Librarians and other concerned bodies. During the workshop which the author of this paper attended, librarians made three recommendations. Recommendation No 2 specifically addressed the question of rural libraries or community resource centres. It stated, “the Book Policy should encourage the establishment of rural libraries or resource centres in all districts for proper information flow, development of a reading culture and enhancing the quality of education”. Sixteen years down the road, no such policy is in place. However, some librarians for professional reasons and national interest took the recommendation seriously. Fortunately, there are also non-librarians who saw and still see the need to set up and develop such a facility in the areas where they live and have set up those facilities.

18. Uganda community Libraries Association In 2007, Uganda Community Libraries Association ( UgCLA) was formed to further the aims of Community Libraries/Community Resource centre. The Association was registered as an NGO the same year. The Association’s Mission states, “to complement Uganda’s Education system by promoting literacy practices through the growth of community libraries/Community Resource centres. The Association also teams up with national and international organizations whose mandate includes promotion of literacy for development. Article 4 of UgCLA Constitution lists 15 objectives. Of particular significance to this paper are sections 4.1, 4.4 and 4.7: 4.1 To promote a reading culture in Uganda through the establishment and development of community libraries 4.4 To initiate and support research into issues pertinent to the development of literacy practices and the use of libraries 4.7 To support and encourage literacy activities especially in rural areas. The Association was registered in 2007with only 14 member libraries/resource centres. By 2010, there were 67 community libraries/resource centres scattered throughout Uganda. Currently there are over 100 member libraries/community resource centres. This rapid increase provides strong evidence of their perceived need Member Resource Centres are organized in into regional clusters. So far there are 7 Clusters with the following membership: Mbale 8; Jinja 10; Mukono 8; West Nile 11; Western 10; Masaka 7 and Kmpala 15.

19. Nambi Sseppuuya Community Resource Centre ( NSCRC) • Nambi Sseppuuya Community Resource Centre building)

20. Nambi Sseppuuya Community Resource Centre building foundation stone • NSCRC was put up in memory of Irene Christine Flavia Nambi Sseppuuya, a member of the Kiyimba family who passed away in April 2002 leaving a little girl, her only child who was going to make two years the same year. • Irene did Mass Communication at Makerere University and was working with the New Vision as Sub-Editor at the time of her death. She was a singer and a composer of Christian Music. She loved to inform, to educate and to entertain. Something put up in her memory, therefore, had to be something that reflects the things she cherished. It also had to be something that benefits the community where she lived as a young person, a community she loved and deeply loved her.

21. NSCRC Mission • An initiative to fight illiteracy, ignorance, poverty and disease through education, training and provision of reading and research materials. • Although the idea of a Resource Centre was a Kiyimba family idea, a number of opinion leaders in the community were consulted. Together we looked for the land initially from the local government. It was after realizing that local government officials were frustrating our initiative that that Kiyimba family resources were used to acquire the land on which the Resource Centre now stands. • Location of the Resource Centre. • The centre is located on Igombe village, Buwenge Sub-County, Jinja District, approximately twenty kilometers on Jinja Kamuli road • Centre’s broad objective • To contribute to the development of Buwenge Sub-County and the country as a whole by acquiring, stocking and making reading materials available to the young people in and out of school as well as adults. • To organize and facilitate training and income generating activities in order to empower members of the community and live decent lives. • To contribute to the development of the culture of reading through functional literacy activities

22. Activities. T o fulfill its mission, the Centre has done the following: Children’s Library The children’s library has so far been stocked with a variety of children reading materials, ages 3 to 12 years. The reading materials comprise of school prescribed textbooks, supplementary readers in English and the two dominant local languages’, namely, Lusoga, Luganda to the tune of over 70,000 books and children games. These books and games are utilized by both school and out of school children. School going children make regular visits to the Centre organized by the school. According to our records the centre’s Children library receives on average210children per week. The Adult Library, ICT and the Periodical sections have a user population of 150 per week, on average.

23. SUMMARY OF LIBRARY USERS SEVERED AT NSCRC IN 2015

24. Adults in a community development discussion

25. Part of the Children's Library

26. Children participating in a read aloud day.

27. Children participating in Book Week celebrations

30. The Resource Centre organizes a Reading Tent for children of Primary 1 to primary 7 at least once a term The Centre has also started a Mobile library Service coined, “Reading on the Street” where the Librarian takes books to some distant schools and local communities. The Mobile Library was launched in March this year. It has two sections, a box with wheels where reading materials and mats for readers to sit on are placed. Some readers prefer reading while standing. The second section is a bicycle. The box is fixed on to the bicycle and the Librarian rides to some planned location either a school or community. This project was initiated and funds sought by a Canadian Internee, Nicole Ternoway who spent six months at the Centre participating in various Resource Centre activities as well as fundraising for this project. The Resource Centre is now able to reach schools and communities that cannot easily access the Centre’s reading materials due to distance. The Mobile library has caused a lot of excitement especially among children who are unable to access any form of reading material. It has both popularized the Resource Centre as well as encouraging more users to visit the Centre.

31. The Librarian on his way to Rural Communities

32. Mobile Library visiting Rural Schools

35. Reading on the 'street'

36. We have now started a system where pupils who come to read at the Centre or read books taken to a school are left to go with the books to enable them complete the stories they have started reading. The books are either returned by the school or the Centre arranges to collect them using the Mobile Library. We do the same when the Mobile Library visits a school. Children are left with the books to complete their stories. The books that are left behind are either returned by the school or collected by the Centre’s staff. We are unable to lend out books to those out of school for lack of a follow up system mainly due to manpower. We, however encourage those out of school to come to the centre.

37. Part of the of the Adult Library • 1. The Adult Library has reading materials to the tune of 5665

38. 2. Adult literacy classes are conducted

39. AnAdult ICT Literacy Class

40. Adults and youth groups convene weekly discussion sessions to discuss issues that concern them as a community, hold sensitizations seminars and participate in income generating activities like handcraft making, catering, etc.. They watch educational Movies on the Resource centre television. They perfect their reading skill using the abundant resource centre literature.

41. Sensitizing the community on matters of cleanliness: Washing hands after visiting the toilet.

42. ICT CLASSES One important section of the resource Centre is the Information Communication Technology Laboratory. Through this section, the Resource Centre has demystified ICT in this rural community by giving all categories of the community an opportunity to have access to ICT and acquire basic computer skills. A computer is no longer a strange piece of equipment only available to office workers. Women with babies strapped on their backs come to the Laboratory to acquire computer basic skills. Three offline databases have been installed on to the over 40 computers in the ICT laboratory to facilitate teaching, learning and research. These are: 1. Kiwix Wikipedia is a general release of around 47,300 articles taken from all subject areas using systems developed by a group of volunteers from the Wikipedia community in late 2010 2 Rachel Repository with mathematics and Science Video library and an instructor. (Khan Academy.) Teacher resources from Unesco. International institute for capacity building in Africa. HIV/AIDS Electronic Library- electronic resources for teachers 3. Digital Science and virtual laboratory software. Cyber School technology Solutions covers Ordinary level Science Subjects. It has a video and an instructor. Both the ICT and the Periodical section of the Centre do facilitate acquisition of general education, teaching learning and research.

43. Acquisition of Computer skills by the Community Members in the ICT Laboratory

45. Part of the Periodical and Research Section

46. Women and Youth Groups Two groups of users have organized themselves formed associations and got them registered at the Sub-County and National offices. They are Nambi Sseppuuya Women’s Association, Igombe and Nambi Sseppuuya Youth Association. According to their constitutions, the major objective of both the Women and Youth Association is, “To raise the standard of living of their members through provision of services that promote house hold income”. The Resource Centre organizes income generating knowledge and skills short training courses, Seminars, workshops, and discussion groups for these two Associations and other people.

47. Members of Nambi Women Association engaging in Income Generating Activities/projects

49. Ready crafts made by the members of the women group

50. Challenges Community Resource Centres/Community Libraries face similar challenges because they are all set up by rural communities whose income is known to be generally very low. These facilities therefore, inevitably suffer from lack of financial resources to support their activities, manage and develop them NSCRC is no exception. The Resource Centre was put up using Kiyimba family resources assisted by relatives, friends, well wishers and the community. At that time I was still working with a salary and had access to loan facilities ( Salary Loan ). I was, therefore, able to make some sacrifices by using part of my salary to put up and develop the Centre. This is no longer the case and, of course, there is a limit to what relatives, friends, well wishers and the rural poor can do. As already explained, the Resource Centre is carrying out a number of actvities.These initiatives good as they are have their constraints. One such constraint is the strain they have placed on the small and poorly remunerated staff. If the Centre is to continue offering the services it is offering, expand those services and sustain them, then something has to be done.