Can mobile phones help bringing primary school teachers and pupils back into the classroom? Teachers' absenteeism in Uganda is one of the highest in the world, with obvious implications for the quality of education. With absenteeism rates of 20% - 30% varying per districts, teacher absenteeism costs the Ugandan government US$ 30 million every year for paid services that are not delivered (World Bank, MoES). And if teachers are absent, why attend as a pupil? 27% of Ugandan children are not in school at any given moment, despite free universal education. And it appears pupil drop-out is on the rise. Surprisingly, despite these dramatic figures, no routine data is available on pupil and teacher attendance.

Twaweza partner Uganda Radio Network (URN) reaches and informs between 10 and 20 million Ugandans daily with a variety of news and perspectives relevant to their lives and their every day surroundings. URN provides daily news and a weekly audio magazine to more than 50 radio stations in Uganda. News items, including sound bites, are posted on the secure URN website to which radio stations have access against a monthly fee. Subscribed stations usually broadcast all posted news and typically a news item reaches several millions of listeners instantly, often directly translated by local stations into one of Uganda's 58 local languages. This provides URN with an unprecedented outreach and it has a central role in providing of news and insights to rural Uganda. URN plays an important role in protecting freedom of radio journalists operating in Uganda.

Interactive radio talk-shows are the most popular platforms for political debate in Uganda. Twaweza partner TRAC FM builds on the success of these shows and involves citizens in high frequency monitoring of public services, such as reporting on teacher absenteeism, availability of text books, drug stock outs, waiting time at clinics, teacher payments, election proceedings, functionality of water points, potholes etc. TRAC FM combines Radio, Mobile, Print, graphic design and online media to create a new and popular approach to public monitoring of service delivery.

Recognising the powerful potential of music in bringing about social change, inspiring through entertainment, Twaweza is working with some of Uganda's leading artists.