In any form of communication -- whether popular in nature via TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and the like -- or academic -- via articles in journals, papers presented at conferences or books -- the first thing on which to get clarity is the audience you’re trying to reach.

Like most African countries, Uganda has its fair share of social problems, one of which is an alarming dropout rate among school pupils. A 2010 UNESCO study found that despite the country`s Universal Primary Education policy, which has seen many more children entering school since its introduction in the late 1990s, the dropout rate was the highest in East Africa, ahead of Kenya and Rwanda.

Of particular concern are girls dropping out of school, since the education of girls is considered central to breaking Africa`s cycle of poverty. (See the World Bank`s 2012 Gender Equality and Development Report.)

by Diana Coates

INORMS is an umbrella body for research management associations. Mooted in the early 2000s, four conferences have now been held. More than 400 research managers attended the latest, in Copenhagen, in May, more than 40 of whom were from Africa. The next will be held in Washington DC in April 2014.