One of the art works used for the posters for the Kony 2012 campaign. The film made by Invisible Children has been viewed by millions of people around the globe.The film and campaign run by Invisible Children known as 'Kony2012' has created much upheaval in the worlds of online social media, film, human rights, international development and advocacy, just to name a few. Everyone is discussing the film; the way it's been made, the way it went viral online like crazy, the message of the film and the eventual implications of the campaign. Whatever discipline you are working in, it seems everyone has an opinion.

Meanwhile, we at IRT count ourselves lucky that we do the work we doRegistration for the Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) pilot project in Lira, northern Uganda. Families and communities are asked to take part in identifying the issues they are facing and turning those into attainable goals.  and work with the people on the ground who have in a way grounded us. It is easy to get swept away in a media hype such as this, but our partners in northern Uganda have been quite clear on their views: get on with life.

Many of the people we work with in Gulu, Lira, Moyo and Arua have been directly affected by the LRA. However, they do not desire a hype such as this. In the words of one person I spoke to recently: The people are more worried about getting on with life, sending their children to school, and local organisations are frantically trying to meet the Millennium Development Goals in spite of difficulties they face regarding funding and local and national politics.

By no means do we wish to down play the LRA situation. As many of you may already know, we hosted Barefoot Peace Walk for three years running, trying to raise awareness about the LRA atrocities. But let us not lose sight of what is important: moving forward. We are proud to be working hand in hand with Ugandans to do just that.

At IRT we believe that empowerment comes from the people themselves. This is why we are so excited about the Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) approach we are now piloting with a local partner organisation. We believe the only way to sustainable development and empowerment is through people's own initiatives. To learn more about our work with Participatory Learning and Action, visit our Uganda projects page.