EPIC-Africa Program Interviews | Mbale City
By: Jonathan Kroeze
During the EPIC-Africa Learning Event at the University of Pretoria in February 2025, EPIC-N facilitated a number of interviews with our members to highlight their experience implementing the EPIC Model, along with their successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Our first interview is with Andrew Gilbert Were, Doctor of Urban and Regional Planning at Makerere University, and Daniel Woniala, local volunteer for Mbale City. Andrew and Daniel have been critical in advancing the EPIC Model in Mbale City, Uganda. Read their interviews below:
Andrew Gilbert, Doctor of Urban and Regional Planning at Makerere University in Uganda
Introduction:
My name is Andrew Gilbert. I’m a Doctor of Urban and Regional Planning from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Makerere University in Uganda. I’m also a lecturer and coordinator of graduate research and graduate studies in my department.
I have experience with the EPIC Model since 2008 [not EPIC itself, but the “Model”] up until today. We have implemented a series of projects, mostly in Mbale City and Jinja City, as well as other upcoming urban and rural areas—particularly with students of Urban and Regional Planning—carrying out structure planning, detailed planning, and action area planning.
Q: Can you share a success story or key achievement from your city’s EPIC project? Any specific project that you want to highlight?
A: One of the first projects was the Better Slum Upgrading Project. We worked with slum communities in Mbale City on neighborhood planning projects. From these, communities implemented some of the proposals, including public toilets, rainwater harvesting, and tiling drain channels.
Out of this proposal also emerged the Community Management Fund, where communities themselves select contractors to implement projects. They actively participate in these projects and manage the funds.
Another project focused on solid waste management, where communities were given cows. However, the cows generated a lot of dung, so we developed a project to repurpose the waste. From the dung and cow down (and some charcoal dust), we made briquettes for cooking. This project was helpful because communities stopped cutting down trees, preserving the environment. It also provided employment. Now, we aim to expand the project since there’s excess dung and limited capacity to utilize it.
Another project was in Jinja City, where students prepared a proposal to convert alleys and service lanes into pedestrian and cycling lanes. This would reduce congestion on main streets, where street vendors selling meat cause traffic and commotion. The project aims to:
- Provide working spaces for street vendors in these alleys, generating revenue while promoting livelihoods.
- Improve pedestrianization and cycling infrastructure, as cycling currently lacks dedicated lanes.
- Reduce congestion on main streets and promote tourism, which is vital for job creation and local government revenue.
These are some of the key projects we’ve implemented using this Model. We’ve also partnered with multiple organizations, such as SCOOP (Circling Out of Poverty), which provided lunch for
students during fieldwork. I’ve compiled a comprehensive report designating every service lane and alley for specific uses, both for tourism and as working spaces to support livelihoods.
Q: Based on your past experience, what would you tell someone who’s new to EPIC or the EPIC Model? What would be your one piece of advice to them?
A: I think one piece of advice is to just start. Work with communities, identify their challenges, and use academic knowledge, whether from students, courses, or government collaboration to develop solutions tailored to those challenges.
Go with the goal of building trust and an open mind. Recognize that communities possess valuable knowledge; the key is optimizing that knowledge for their benefit.
Daniel Woniala, Local Volunteer in Mbale City, Uganda
Introduction:
I am Daniel Woniala from Mbale, Uganda. I am a volunteer manager who collaborates with local authorities to address community environmental and developmental issues. The EPIC Model was introduced to me by Dr. Andrew Gilbert in 2023 and has been operational since. It builds on prior work we undertook with Makerere University students and lecturers.
About the Model:
It’s a good model, and allows hands-on interaction with communities. It’s designed to be applicable and integrated into government programs to advance the SDGs, both in Uganda and internationally. The EPIC Model truly fosters community participation. It’s bottom-up planning, not a model where someone sits in an office and plans for the community.
Q: Based on the projects you’ve done with EPIC, what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned, and how can you apply it outside the project?
A: The most important lesson is community ownership and the strengthened collaboration between communities, the university (lecturers and students), and the city council at all levels—from local councils to the city level.
Second, it has helped me and others learn how to seek social funding for identified projects. We’ve also gained skills in issue identification, analysis, and resource mobilization to ensure communities benefit.
Q: What was the biggest challenge in implementing the model, and how did you overcome it?
A: The main challenge was limited funding while trying to engage more stakeholders. With more funding, we could expand and achieve greater impact.
Another issue was focus group discussions. Due to funding gaps, we couldn’t include all stakeholders to ensure their views were captured—especially on waste management and daily activities. Communities now ask, “Why collect information if it’s not used?” More effort is needed to support community-identified issues and proposals through stakeholders like the council.
Timing was also a challenge. In urban settings, budget proposals are submitted by August. If community issues aren’t raised early, they miss integration into the council’s planning cycle and central government funding. We must plan ahead—gathering data as early as January—so community priorities are included in the budget.
Final Remarks:
I am very proud of the EPIC Model. It has changed the city. It has improved the relationship between the community, the stakeholders, such as the mayor, the town clerk, but also Makerere University students. Now, they are not just seated in offices, but they can be in a position to identify with us the issues affecting the community.
If it is a planner doing a course for regional planning, that person can really explore what has been happening on the ground. But also, I would also call upon stakeholders to ensure that whatever information is collected is put to use by all stakeholders. But also, there may be a need for funding to ensure that these issues are addressed.
Because whenever you collect the information and you keep it, and the issues are not addressed, and again you go back on another project, the community will always say, “You collected the information, but you did not address the issues. Now you have come back, but we are not ready.”
Written by: Jonathan Kroeze
Edited by: Ada Inman
