Uganda

=In Uganda social media was embraced to promote voter education. (Giren: Zeynep) =

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In Uganda ** social media was embraced to promote voter education. **The Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) ran a campaign dubbed ‘Honour Your Vote’ prior to the 2011 general elections in Uganda. **This campaign was initiated to urge Ugandans not to accept bribes in exchange for their votes **. The campaign operated a Facebook page which attracted 619 ‘likes’ beyond the election period. **Flicker accounts for the political party itself as well as the political party leader’s fan pages. ** After the 2011 elections the opposition in Uganda mobilized a ‘**Walk-to-Work’ campaign**. This pressure group then referred to as Activists for Change (A4C) **mobilized Ugandans to join in the protest against the high standards of living and continued economic decline so as to pile pressure on the Government and realize reform. The pressure group, utilized social media through its Facebook and Twitter pages and by engaging with citizens, political bloggers and mainstream media and linking to relevant articles and blogs.**
 * __The Return Our Money Campaign __** was initiated after Government had, in the heat of the presidential and parliamentary campaigns, transferred about US$10,000 to the accounts of each Member of Parliament. This money was allegedly to enable them to monitor government programmes.
 * __The campaign’s Facebook members’ page provided followers with updates on government expenditures. __** **In addition, a full list of contact details for Members of Parliament was available. With more than 500 members, the page also linked to other activist groups and pages.**
 * __There were reflections of social media campaigns on the streets __**

In December 2012, civil society actors organized a campaign dubbed “**Black Monday Movement**” **against the theft of funds**. **This movement encourages the citizenry to wear black every Monday in a bid to mourn the corruption in the country**. **Amongst other mediums of engagement is Facebook where their main target group is the youth. They use this page to update their followers and networks on progress, share links on the ongoing campaign activities and give feedback on inquiries regarding the campaign.**