I am deeply inspired by the communities’ growing aspiration for better services with each passing day. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for me and service delivery institutions to innovate and remain responsive to their evolving needs.
Martin Watsisi
Martin Watsisi joined the Uganda team to work in the public service space linking policy to practice, identifying gaps that need innovative ways to fill. Martin has spent the last years attempting to connect institutional capacities to improve providing services to grassroots in a way that makes people not only survive but thrive.
A strong believer in systems thinking, Martin understands that effective public services depend on more than technical solutions alone. Lasting change requires an understanding of the dynamics within communities, what is changing, why it is changing, and who influences those changes. Throughout his career, he has worked alongside local leaders, governments, and communities, recognising that meaningful development is built on local knowledge, local ownership, and strong partnerships. He has played a key role in building coalitions and learning alliances that bring together communities, civil society organisations, local governments, and national stakeholders to create shared solutions and drive collective action.
Twenty years of being embedded in Uganda's public service sectors, including Education, Health, and Water and Environment, has given Martin an enriching experience and appreciation of interlinkages beyond one sector. Martin looks to the future of the public service sector in Uganda and Africa as fertile ground where emerging innovations and transformative ideas can be nurtured, connected and scaled. With two Masters’ Degrees in Organisational Psychology and in Institutional Leadership and Management, he sees this as his opportunity to ensure change not only happens but accelerates to meet the growing demand for public services.
Martin is based in the focus district of Kabarole, Uganda
A few highlights
- 15 years building systems leadership and institutional capacities at district and national level in Uganda.
- Leading and facilitating multistakeholder learning platforms bringing transformations into collective action at the district level.
- Linking national-level decision making process and policy to grassroot implementers
- Working languages: English, Luganda, Lusoga, Runyakitara