Africa-Press – Uganda. This is the kind of journalism where the reporter, editor, and publisher seek to find solutions to existing problems in the community and write about them, in the hope that others will pick a lesson and try it out.
The team does not just chance upon a solution and write about a great fix to a country or village’s problem.
Instead, they go out interviewing people, researching in different places, and trying to experience what solutions people have come up with to help solve particular difficulties they are facing.
A good solutions journalism story will talk about what the problem is, who came up with a solution, what good it is doing – with actual data – what challenges it is facing, and what support it needs.
It might do good, therefore, for different stakeholders including the government, private sector institutions, villages, and individuals to start thinking about solutions for various problems, especially the small ones. Big ones tend to overwhelm people and may have more nay-sayers than needed. Small problems on the other hand might need small solutions, which can grow bigger and invent even bigger solutions. Also, because small solutions are easier to achieve, they provide encouragement and inspiration for people to tackle the bigger ones.
The government, for example, could decide to get much cheaper modes of transport placed in different regions where people have to walk far to get medical attention. Building more health centres might be more expensive but finding cheaper modes of transport for the community might help the transport situation and give people faster access to the hospitals.
The private sector could join arms for a specific cause. Many Ugandans still struggle to get the three necessary meals a day. Imagine if after research, more than 100 companies come together and put a percentage annually towards providing ways to help families be able to plant crops. This would help the family provide daily nutritious meals to its members as well as save some for other basic needs. It would also save many children from malnutrition, a widespread condition in this country.
If individuals in a neighbourhood sat down and agreed on how to decently handle petty theft, alcoholism, and errant people, they are likely to have more peaceful nights and the police in the area will be left to attend to more difficult problems such as robbery.
By seeing what others are doing successfully and tweaking their solution to fit our situation, we are likely to see some results. And yes, sometimes it will not work. It will fall flat on its face. But at least then we will know that particular one does not work, and then go to the next. It will be a whole lot better than folding our hands in resignation with the myriad of problems that surround us.
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