Advanced Communications was started out of market frustrations and disappointments. Communications is a rather young profession in Uganda. At the initial stages of the professionalization of the industry (late 1980s to early 2000s), focus was placed more on servicing the business/for-profit sector – providing services like public relations, corporate communications, etc. Communications for Development (C4D) was out of the picture. Yet at this same time, Uganda was witnessing a lot of investment in socio-economic development – both by the Government and development partners. The need to provide communications services to interventions in health, education, gender, governance, livelihoods, agriculture, water & and sanitation, human rights, etc was high. Development needed top-notch communications support.
Our founders – who were managers of communications in various development organizations – witnessed first-hand frustration from lack of expertise and experience in C4D in the market, every time they needed a service provider. They decided to be a solution. They came together to found an entity that would be an answer to the gaps in development communications.
Advanced Communications was that solution. From the start, we were conceived and born to be a solutions provider specifically for actors in development – to ensure that they faced no more frustrations in effective communications/information/knowledge for development. The name “Advanced” was coined to demonstrate our purpose of going beyond communications of what was then ‘ordinary’ (for pro-profit sector). Our motto to be a ‘solutions provider’ also emanates from this history.
Over the years, the need for C4D has grown, and so has our experience, expertise, and capacity. And so have we expanded to new themes and geographies.