1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1 The Challenge of Rural Poverty

Nearly 75% of the world’s people who live on $1 or less per day live and work in rural areas. Although urban poverty is more often the focus of public attention, hidden is the rural poverty that drives it.  Around the world impoverished people in rural areas face enormous challenges.  Not only do they confront limited economic opportunities and underdeveloped markets, but they also tend to have less access to public infrastructure and services such as health, sanitation and education, and are less able to engage in advocacy with decision makers. Resource pressure and environmental degradation create additional challenges to rural communities and their livelihoods, exacerbating conflict prone situations and accelerating rural-urban migration flows.

Enterprise & Community Development Trust [ECODET] believes that alleviating suffering and poverty requires a focus on the needs of rural populations, and has committed to focusing its work in rural areas in the selected target project sites in Rukungiri District and Mubende District of Western Uganda and Mid-Western Uganda respectively.  ECODET’s constituents in Uganda, many of whom themselves have rural farming roots, help make this work possible through their financial, material resources and advocacy support.

SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT

ECODET’s development programs build, increase and expand core community assets – enduring resources such as labour and skills, health and a sustainable environment – needed to pursue productive lives.  As such, ECODET supports development programs that attack the root causes of suffering—the environmental, political, social and economic factors that can make certain communities vulnerable to crises or trap them in endemic poverty.  The goal is to identify local solutions to poverty that can be replicated and scaled up to reach an ever increasing number of people.

Rather than tackling each symptom of poverty one by one, ECODET instead looks holistically at innovative approaches to foster sustainable livelihoods and communities based on asset building.  We apply our Sustainable Rural Development programming in the context of our related work in Risk Management.  All ECODET’s work attempts to both meet the needs of and respect the rights of impoverished peoples.  Through our work with Risk Management, programs aim at enabling communities to identify and manage their individual and collective risks in order to increase their resilience – which in turn improves their ability to further develop their core assets. 

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A Holistic Approach to Poverty Reduction

In its work to build sustainable communities, ECODET focuses on increasing and expanding core assets in three broad areas: livelihoods, environment and health. 

Livelihoods Core to the communities’ development is their capacity for productive work. Agricultural production, and access to financing, collective bargaining, and the market are all critical community assets.  ECODET works to increase and expand these assets by:

Ensuring productive and profitable agriculture and livestock:  ECODET works to help farmers diversify and increase crop yields, develop organic farming and integrated pest management systems and techniques, and improve livestock ownership and management. 

Building and strengthening microenterprise:  ECODET understands that access to capital, business development and collective bargaining capacity are critical to rural livelihoods.  As such, ECODET operates a micro-credit programme by which poor rural famers are identified and given an agricultural production kick-start package in form of essential production inputs such as animals, high-yield crops, training, crop production and animal husbandry support, soil water conservation [conservation tillage], and other sustainable agricultural practices that collectively add up to provide the first key step to help them acquire capital, confidence and assets to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty.

Increasing fair trade and market access:  In addition to supporting improved production and business development, ECODET works with local rural communities to help increase marketability and market access at the local, regional, national and international levels.  This element is just one aspect of enabling the rural poor to earn a living with dignity in ways that are capable of withstanding the challenges of, and taking advantage of, the opportunities afforded by globalization. 

Environment/Sustainable ResourcesIn addition to productive work, central to the community capacity is its ability to protect and control its natural resources.  ECODET’s work focuses on:

Ensuring a safe and sustainable environment: ECODET works to support community efforts to improve and protect their natural resources, especially those that are vital to livelihoods. Reforestation,

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soil conservation, watershed protection and irrigation, organic farming, and the use of alternatives to chemical fertilizers and insecticides are all elements in ECODET’s efforts to promote good stewardship of the earth and ensure sustainable community–based natural resources necessary for both human living environments and agricultural production.

Expanding community understanding of environmental issues and impact:  ECODET works with partners on environmental education programs that help communities in its areas of operational mandate to develop strategies for sustainable use and protection of natural resources.

HealthIn order for communities to be productive and sustainable they need healthy foundations.  If people cannot work due to illness, or must sacrifice productive hours searching for clean water, the community’s asset base is eroded, increasing the obstacles to development.  ECODET works to build community health assets by: 

Promoting good health: ECODET works with communities to strengthen their capacities to provide basic community health promotion, teach communities about food security and nutrition, and to prevent and control the spread of malaria.

Ensuring adequate clean water:  Ensuring community access to sufficient quantity and quality of water for human consumption and agricultural needs is a critical component of healthy, vibrant communities. ECODET works with partners to address water security by developing water harvesting systems, promoting watershed management, protecting springs and water sources, and reducing water contamination. 

Combating HIV/AIDS:  HIV/AIDS has devastated and disproportionately affected Uganda’s rural poor. ECODET works with partners to increase HIV prevention efforts, provide social and economic assistance to people living with AIDS – with special help for orphans and vulnerable children – and support advocacy efforts for justice for those infected and affected by the disease.

1.2 Key Success Factors

Requirements for the success of this project are:-

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The first requirement is the availability of competent partner/counterpart NGOs to work in the project area and establishing a good communications and flow of information between the village communities, SHGs, private sector and the PMU.

Second is the positive response from the private sector agencies for collaborating with the project and providing market linkages for the produce and in this respect, the creation of a favourable operating environment for their operations.

The third key requirement is preparing the target groups and all other stakeholders through motivation, awareness raising, training and capacity building.

The fourth is the capacity of ECODET’s Project Management Unit [PMU] to plan, supervise and monitor the progress of the project interventions and provide effective support to and coordination with the Community Management Committees [CMCs] and Self Help Groups [SHGs] and the private sector agencies.

1.3 ECODET’s Approach and Work

ECODET works in rural areas in Rukungiri District and Mubende District seeking to make an impact and build sustainable, resilient, productive and just communities through programs that:

Alleviate human suffering in situations of both acute and chronic distress;

Reduce the vulnerability of communities to natural and human-caused emergencies;

Assist communities in satisfying their basic human rights for liberty and security, education, food, health, and livelihood, in ways that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable; and,

Help communities become empowered to influence decision-makers on issues that affect their dignity and rights.

We approach these four goals through programming in emergency response, risk management, and sustainable rural development. These three aspects of our work are integrally linked, each building on the other symbiotically to meet the needs and defend the rights of the community. Together, they work to increase rural community independence, augment the means to pursue and achieve productive livelihoods, and strengthen rural community voice in decision making processes, while reducing rural community vulnerability to external forces and events.

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1.4 Dynamic Complementarity

ECODET centres all of its work in a philosophy & framework called “dynamic complementarity.” Rooted in ECODET’s deep-rooted tradition that believes empowerment and justice happen only by ‘standing with’, rather than ‘doing for’ others in need, dynamic complementarity is a dynamic relationship between diverse partners with complementary resources and skills working together to empower poor communities to improve their lives. It recognizes that all poor communities already have resources and assets that can be harnessed to improve their own wellbeing. Building on these pre-existing assets, dynamic complementarity is based on shared values and objectives, and uses jointly-developed strategies with flexibility and openness to achieve sustainable results. Characterized by mutual trust, respect, accountability, and transparency, the relationship contributes to each partner’s growth and learning while carrying out its primary goal of improving the well being of the poor.

In its community-empowerment and development work, ECODET uses dynamic relationship to work through existing structures and organizations (“partners”) where and whenever possible to foster community empowerment and to ensure resources are used to maximum effect. ECODET seeks to be a catalyst for, and facilitator of, development and social change led by local organizations and impoverished people. Dynamic complementarity is not only a relationship between ECODET and its partners, but a process of working together. It uses a rights-based approach that relies on participatory and appreciative methods, leading-edge development techniques, effective program management, and organizational capacity building.

2.0 PROJECT BACKGROUND

2.1 The Poverty Context

Africa has the greatest proportion of people living in extreme poverty—more than 40 percent or roughly 300 million people living on less than $1 a day. The continent's environmental, epidemiological and geographical challenges—including low-productivity agriculture, a high disease burden, and high transport costs—render African rural communities most vulnerable to persistent extreme poverty. This means that to collect safe drinking water and firewood for cooking, people must walk several miles every day. It means that a child in sub-Saharan Africa dies of malaria every 30 seconds, and that 1 in 16 women die in childbirth. With these rural communities stuck in a poverty trap, they are unable to make the investments

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in human capital and infrastructure required to achieve self-sustaining economic growth.

The following facts depict the gravity in numbers:

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of undernourishment in the world, with one-third of the population below the minimum level of nourishment.

At least one million people in Africa die from malaria each year, 90 percent of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

A woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy. This compares with a 1 in 3,800 risk for a woman from North America.

More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.

In one out of four African countries, half the children enrolled in the last year of primary school do not pursue their studies the following year.

Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] project offers a bold, innovative model for helping selected rural communities in Mubende and Rukungiri Districts lift themselves out of extreme poverty. Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] is proving that by fighting poverty at the village level through community-led development, rural communities in Uganda can achieve the Millennium Development Goals—global targets for reducing extreme poverty and hunger by half and improving education, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability—by 2015, and escape the extreme poverty that traps hundreds of millions of people throughout the continent.

With the help of new advances in science and technology, Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] works with people in Bulyankuyege Village – Kamusenene Parish [Mubende District] and Nyakiju Parish [Rukungiri District] to create and facilitate sustainable, community-led action plans that are tailored to the villages' specific needs and designed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Simple solutions like providing high-yield seeds, fertilizers, medicines, drinking wells, and materials to build school rooms and clinics are effectively combating extreme poverty and nourishing communities into a new age of health and opportunity. Improved science and technology such as agro-forestry, insecticide-treated bed nets, antiretroviral drugs, the Internet, remote sensing, and geographic information systems enriches this progress. Over a 5-year period, it is anticipated

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that community committees and local governments will be able to build capacity to continue these initiatives and develop a solid foundation for sustainable growth.

2.2 Background Information about ECODET

Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] is an organization of Ugandans dedicated to helping people of Uganda and Africa at large joining the modern world in development projects. Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] is a voluntary community based organization, which got registered on 22nd September 2007 and began its operations in the following month of October 2007 simultaneously in Kamusenene Parish – Kiganda Sub-County of Mubende District and Nyakiju Parish – Buyanja Sub-County of Rukungiri District. ECODET is under a highly-motivated and strongly-inspired leadership assisted by a well-trained and skilled staff. For the last one-and-a-half years that ECODET has been in operation, it has emerged to become a strong grassroots membership-based organization, medium-sized, and professional CBO working to reduce poverty and improving on the livelihoods of the poor communities within the respective designated areas of its operations. Through a number of activities so far undertaken, ECODET has established itself as a “leading CBO and key actor” within the civil society in Uganda, contributing to sustainable livelihoods of the resource poor, good governance in development resources management, sustainable development and poverty reduction among the poor communities and the entire country Uganda. The profile of the organization as an important partner and actor in fighting rural poverty among the needy groups and communities has certainly been established.

Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] bases its core activities in the fields of social-economic development such as environment protection and management, production which includes agriculture improvement, introduction of new crops to revive the old ones, Health which includes fighting malaria, HIV/AIDS, health awareness and sensitization campaigns, family nutrition and disease-prevention education, access to clean and safe water, improved sanitation; Income-Generating Activities like Bee keeping, livestock rearing and many more others.

ECODET is thus playing a complementary role with the existing government efforts, as an external agent (catalyst), in community development initiatives and the new co-management system and thus contributing to the overall national development goals / agendas. ECODET undertakes this through the provision of services / assistance in defining problems; providing independent advices, ideas and expertise; guiding joint problem-solving and decision-making; and continuing to advocate for appropriate policies.

Beyond this, ECODET has continued to undertake the following; training and

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education on (leadership and organizational management); situational analysis and problem-solving; consensus building; livelihood and enterprises management; conflict management; advocacy; facilitation; networking; socio-economic monitoring and evaluation; and facilitation in the development of good communication channels and open discussions as well as the promotion of dialogue between the needy groups and community members and governments (national and local governments) through meetings and for us for discussions.

ECODET is an active member to both national and local organizations and has managed to make friends from USA, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. This has enabled ECODET to network, share information and experience as well as link national, regional and international issues in practice and to shape policies at all levels. ECODET has, therefore, emerged as a credible voice for the resource poor needy groups and communities in Uganda.

3.0 INTRODUCTION

3.1 Genesis and Evolution of Project

The institution of this project draws inspiration and guidance from the trailblazing, compassionate and exemplary work of helping the disadvantaged and under-privileged segments of the community that was conducted with a great deal of passion, commitment and enthusiasm within the designated project areas in the past by the late Mzee Yeremiya Nyakairima [grandfather to Mwesigwa David Rwamatungi – the principal project promoter of ECODET]. A deeply religious and devout personality with a philanthropic aptitude for reaching out to the poor and disadvantaged in society, the late Mzee Yeremiya Nyakairima devoted his time and energies to initiate such projects basing on local church support structures

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and jurisdictions. In using this sort of approach to initiate and implement rural community socio-economic enhancement projects, the principal idea was to simplify the process of project programme uptake and fast propagation of project activities within the targeted communities by utilizing the local community church leadership and mentoring roles, organizing and mobilization capacities so as to influence the rapid achievement of project objectives, principles and concepts within a limited timeframe. It was also felt at the time that churches have a lot of external connections and network linkages that can be put to good and productive use in generating the requisite resource envelopes and facilities necessary in motivating and expediting this kind of rural community socio-economic development project work in the most deserving areas.

Basing upon this church-oriented rural poverty-eradication perspective, the late Mzee Yeremiya Nyakairima seized the initiative by co-founding the local church Nyakiju C.O.U.] in Buyanja Sub-County – Rukungiri District [which still stands strong up to today] as a functional base upon which to advance the cause of the desperately poor and disadvantaged in society by constantly and pragmatically addressing the root causes of socio-economic injustices, inequities and inequalities through conscientious and diligent grassroots-based community-development projects. It is also upon the same foundational structures that ECODET has fashioned, crafted and directs its current rural community development work so that it can beget a more far-reaching and meaningful impact for the targeted communities as a cost-effective and practical way of lifting themselves out of the dynastic forms of poverty, neglect and social exclusion in which they find themselves.

3.2 Project Context: Mubende & Rukungiri, Poverty & Livelihoods

The economy of these two districts is predominantly agrarian with the primary sector contributing more than 70 percent to the districts’ domestic product. It is characterized by unevenly exploited natural resource endowments. Some rich and exploitable resources like forests and dense vegetation cover are locked out through national policy for the sake of national environmental conservation. Thus, the two districts bear the burden of maintaining the bio-diversity and ecological balance of the entire mainland and are unable to utilise these resources for economic upliftment of their people. Consequently, people have to look for alternative economic support, which is insecure and unsustainable.

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Some 95% of the two districts’ labour force is in the informal sector, and do not have secure and sustainable livelihoods. There is severe under-employment and surplus agricultural labour.

A number of reasons contribute to livelihood insecurity and marginalisation of people in these two districts. There is high dependence on declining natural resources. Agriculture is largely at subsistence levels.

Other characteristics of Project districts:

Absence of mature markets and poor penetration of agriculture extension and input services.

Lack of non-exploitative sources of credit for consumption and investment needs.

Traditional skills of locals are now largely lost or become redundant. The poor have only labour to sell.

The Project seeks to address vulnerability of local people living in Bulyankuyege and Nyakiju Parishes, which are remote and largely underdeveloped.

ECODET aims to scale up and deepen the approach of working in collaboration with local Church of Uganda [C.O.U.] establishments as an institution to enhance the livelihoods of poor people in Bulyankuyege and Nyakiju Parishes respectively. It aims to do this through various activities, including building the capacity of local communities, support to livestock and crop activities, improved access to financial services, improving people’s awareness of and access to social protection. ECODET has a strong focus on ensuring equitable access to resources by both men and women, and on specific activities to reach the poorest. It aims to ensure that in the decision making and planning process, the project takes into account social and economic inequalities that deprive the poor of access to natural resources, productive assets, government schemes and decision-making and planning processes.

Typical issues that the Project will seek to address:

Intermittent income flows, especially where they are related to seasonality of agriculture/ natural resource-related labour

Poor and under-productive resources combined with little or no access to inputs and extension

Lack of micro-enterprise opportunities in these areas

Limited entrepreneurial skills/marketing opportunities/financial access

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Poor representation of vulnerable groups in decision-making bodies, leading to poor targeting and the absence of a strong pro-poor focus of programmes (social and economic exclusion).

Indebtedness, which in turn leads to several related problems like land alienation, exploitation (under-pricing of produce/over-pricing of credit)

Distress migration

Information, knowledge and awareness gaps

Although central and local government allocations for rural development and poverty alleviation have increased over the years, proportionate effects are not visible. There is a need to revisit existing schemes/ programmes and improve their relevance and impact on the most vulnerable. This project could enhance the effectiveness and impact of several existing initiatives by complementing and supplementing them

Success of the Project will be judged on the basis of progress made on these several fronts.

3.3 Principles

Flexibility

Capacity-building

Process-orientation

Participatory decision-making

Sustainability through ownership

Experiential and experimental learning

Sharing of learning with a wider forum

Decentralisation of finances

Efficiency – as related to financial and other resources

Leveraging and combining resources from various sources

The Project is designed to be different from other projects in following ways:

It will provide untied funds/resource inputs in a graduated manner in response to community needs, as capacities accumulate (for planning and management) and downward accountability develops.

It will fund realistic and well-designed/directed projects and activities.

Funds/resource inputs will be injected mainly at the village-level, esp. through C.O.U. affiliated structures.

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There will also be a number of independent complementary initiatives (at sub-county and project levels) to build capacities at all levels, with particular emphasis on villages and communities, for which separate allocations of funds will be made.

The Project will develop mechanisms and practices leading to greater co-ordination between village development committees [at Local Council I level] and line departments working at the public-government interface. It will develop horizontal linkages across separate and hitherto compartmentalized programmes, develop synergies and provide gap-filling resources and support (including funds) where necessary.

The Project will emphasize 'processes' rather than merely targets.

It will catalyze and develop institutions rather than structures, develop sustainable systems and practices rather than ad-hoc procedures that may not survive end of project.

The Project will enable learning and spin-off initiatives.

The Project will follow an ‘Area Development Plus’ approach combining area development and individual beneficiary development, including entrepreneurship.

The Project will seek to improve conventional approaches (like watersheds and Joint Natural Resource Management) through experimentation.

The Project will seek to shift the initiative from government to village communities, encouraging people to explore innovative ideas for livelihood generation. (An Innovation Fund will be used as a catalyst).

The Project will manage a Livelihood Forum that will bring together diverse agencies and actors involved/interested in poverty and livelihoods within the target project areas and elsewhere.

3.4 Project Partners & Associates

At village level, the project works directly with:

the poor (especially, small/marginal farmers, the destitute/'assetless' and those who migrate in distress), the socially disadvantaged (women, SC/ST) and provide relatively small amounts of resources to their micro-organizations, focusing on demand-led capacity building, improving leverage in village community development foci.

LCIs, LCIIs, and LCIIIs increasing commitment of resources as they become more sensitive to priorities of the poor

other grassroots institutions developed by other programmes, projects, initiatives

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At District & Sub-County Levels

The district administration

PRIs [Project Resource Institutions]

Line departments

Markets

CBOs

Other institutions

In the wider context, the project also works with a range of academic, research and other institutions with expertise in livelihoods.

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4.0 PROJECT MISSION AND GOALS

4.1 ECODET’s Mission

The MISSION of Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] is to work towards ensuring that the rural grassroots, marginalised and the most vulnerable people affected by poverty, diseases, discrimination, and social exclusion have access to healthcare, fundamental rights, education, safe and clean water, sanitation, adequate shelter and food and working with the community to bring about transformed development and poverty eradication.

4.2 Vision

The VISION of Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] is to have a well-organized and vibrant rural community, with the capacity to advocate for their concerns, needs, interests and rights towards sustainable development. Also to have a transformed set of communities in all major areas of life with settled life styles, a community with a common goal in pursuing integrated developmental programmes and results-oriented poverty-alleviation schemes in general, that are both sensitive and responsive to the environmental in which they live.

4.3 Goals

ECODET has two GOALS in its perspective:

The first GOAL is to instigate and push for the formation of a national collection of community-based development organizations with a fundamental mandate to strengthen and empower resource-based community organizations with good governance structures and broad layers of supportive grass root communities to drive and advance, on a sustainable basis, rural community development processes aimed at improving their livelihoods. This will be achieved through community-wide mobilization and organization campaigns, socio-economic and demographic issues awareness and sensitization programmes, resource-mobilization strategies, advocacy and lobbying, training and research plus networking and information sharing.

The second GOAL is to achieve sustainable improvement in the living standards and welfare of and for the people, with the accompanying social discipline, through the application of a blend of the centuries old traditional community development approaches and modern guidance practices, with contemporary development strategies.

5.0 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

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1. Poverty-alleviation and Social Development Issues

1. To fight poverty among the rural grassroots people through introduction of development projects.

2. To carry out awareness programmes on issues pertaining to health, poverty-alleviation and development.

3. To improve on the living conditions of the needy groups.

4. To stimulate, promote and support economic activities in the rural communities that improve the well-being and quality of life of disadvantaged groups, rural women, rural youth and other marginalized groups.

5. To tackle the social aspects of life that limit community development especially the HIV/AIDS pandemic, poor sanitation and health related issues in general, in the rural communities.

6. To create and provide chances for employment opportunities of the people.

7. Set up, management and implementation of social development projects and programmes including health, education, training and public utilities.

2. Food Security and Nutrition

1. To integrate the component of nutritional support and food security in all ECODET’s activities.

2. To increase household incomes through improved food production practices that promote sustainable use of natural resources in our areas of operation.

3. Community Health

1. To increase access to HIV/AIDS specialized care and support services within the project operation areas.

2. To advocate for policies and programs in order to improve care and support for the people living with HIV/AIDS [PLWHAs].

3. To prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and its mitigation effects.

4. Assist in implementing any community-initiated HIV/AIDS programmes.

5. Sensitizing communities about HIV/AIDS prevention and care for PLWHAs.

6. To engage in general health awareness and sensitization campaigns.

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7. To promote family nutrition and educate communities on disease-prevention strategies.

8. To fight the spread of malaria through provision to free mosquito nets [ITNs] and treatment/care.

4. Environmental and natural resource management, provision of sanitation and safe clean water

1. To promote environmental programmes and proper sanitation and access to clean and safe water for the target areas.

2. To mobilize and organize rural communities into community-based organizations and build their capacity to undertake and participate in natural resource management and development processes [including environmental protection and management].

5. Institutional Capacity-building and Partnerships

1. To promote skills development and project management capacities with the partner CBO’s and other agencies and their networks.

2. To promote Income-Generating Activities (IGAs) as a process for sustainable development.

3. To build, strengthen the capacity of community institutions such as community-based organizations in order to improve on management and planning at local level.

4. Apply a group-lending, revolving funds system to provide micro-credit to village community-centred groups

5. Partnerships with the following objectives:-

Assess the market opportunities and potential for establishing market linkages;

Improve the capacity of the staff and provide facilities for improving the capacity of the rural poor and the farmers; and

Prepare end-to-end subprojects to capture market opportunities.

6 SHG Formation & Development aims at converging and supporting the livelihoods and enterprise development approach of the project with the following objective:

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To organize women for their empowerment and building resilience in the households.

6. Marketing Linkages & Sustainable Agriculture

1. To improve agricultural production by availing the necessary resources [including microfinance loans].

2. To introduce new crop varieties.

3. To improve agriculture through extension services and marketing.

4. Pro-poor market linkages and value-chains with the objective of providing ‘equitable and non-exploitative marketing outlets and value chain establishment for selected commodities’.

5. Sustainable agriculture development including in situ water conservation, farming system development and cattle breed improvement with the following objectives: To promote sustainable agriculture and provide the framework for farmers to

be able to increase cropping intensities and productivity under rainfed conditions.

To focus on agricultural practices that will reduce the cost of production in a sustainable manner and reduce the risks through diversification of the farming system.

Breed improvement of local livestock thru: (i) creation of gainful employment to the rural poor through dairy and livestock development; (ii) creation of awareness regarding socio-economic benefits of improving the local cattle and goats; and (iii) income generation through enhanced production of milk.

7. Community education

1. To promote Functional Adult Literacy and computer skills to the rural communities.

2. Promoting computer skills as part of the necessary Information Technology to the community.

8. Women, youth, children and disabled people

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1. To establish links with rural women groups with a view to assisting them in developing initiatives that secure sustainable livelihoods and ensure food security and creation of Income-Generating Activities (IGAs).

2. Promoting group work among women groups.

3. To help the orphans and other vulnerable children [OVCs] in education and any other material support possible.

4. Promoting the well-being of disabled people.

5. To attract and induce back the energetic youths from towns and the city to where they have migrated in search of employment and high standards of living. The project intends to achieve this objective by creating a conducive environment and incentive-based production system within the target areas of its operation where the youth can be actively engaged and absorbed in gainful economic employment projects and also educating their mothers and fathers about this. The association will target the youths as they are the fathers and mothers of tomorrow.

9. Networking, advocacy and lobbying work

1. To network with any organization or agency that has similar objectives and aims both locally and internationally.

2. To mobilize resources and facilities from key stakeholders, government and donors so as to implement desirable community programmes.

3. To advocate and lobby government and other development partners to formulate and implement policies and programmes that are relevant, supportive and address the multifaceted concerns, needs and interests of the rural communities.

4. To build and strengthen strategic alliances and networks for joint efforts to maximize and effect change.

10. Humanitarian and Sociological Issues

1. To identify critical gaps in policy areas and facilitate participation in activities that foster understanding of all aspects of human rights issues, peace, unity and solidarity in the grassroots communities for national development.

11. Monitoring & Evaluation

1. To strengthen ECODET’s monitoring and evaluation component.

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12. Project Management

1. To strengthen and enhance staff expertise to provide services to stakeholders on sub-project development and financing.

2. To try to converge agricultural interventions established in the project area in both the public and private sectors.

6.0 SITUATION ANALYSIS

Causes of Poverty

A lot of research has been carried out by both the GOU, academic institutions and the civil society organizations. Selective review of literature on socio-economic

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indicators and patterns in rural Uganda indicates that poverty is perceived as a complex phenomenon, which manifests itself in various forms at the individual, community and regional level and occurring during different seasons. In Mubende and Rukungiri Districts poverty varies from locality to locality, with the urban centres better off than the countryside and the educated people having better access employment opportunities than the semi/illiterates, and business proprietors earning better income than those in agriculture. Such variability in poverty requires complex, selective and sometimes an integrated approach.

People tend to experience poverty at a given time of the annual calendar. The peak is mainly the month of January, February, May and June, September and October (Department of Sociology, Makerere 2002). The months of January and February are characterized by low earnings, low harvest, dry spells, which normally coincide with high household expenditure on diseases, school fees, visitors, tax etc. And worse still most of earning must have been spent on end of year festivities (Christmas, New Year, last funeral rights and weddings). Similarly, the months of May and June, September and October were reported to be ‘worse’ due to school fees obligations.

Participatory poverty study findings in Uganda indicate that Poverty is regarded as: Inability to meet the basic necessities and social services. Lack of basic income or income earning opportunities. Lack/limited access to productive assets (land, credit, roads and

communication) Poor health A state of helplessness or lack of social support, especially among the

vulnerable groups.

Table 1: Causes of poverty in UgandaIndividual and Household Causes Community level Causes

Ignorance of opportunities Lack of goals and targets in life Polygamy and large family size Laziness among the youth and

gambling Overspending on alcohol Desire to produce many children for

security, bride price, labour Asymmetric access to household and

community resources between man and woman

Lack of change agents (due to rural-urban migration) to serve as role models and facilitating community development.

Inability to mobilise local resources Lack of solidarity and jealousy Geographical isolation and neglect. Declined self-help spirit (Bulungi-

bwansi) Interference of local politics in

development activities especially the issue of tax and community work

Degradation of moral and integrityEducation Sector Health Sector and WATSAN

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Low levels of education and limited access to functional adult literacy

Long distances to schools albeit UPE Poor education standards partly poor

planning of school location and increased enrolment

Inability to meet scholastic material due to income, alcohol and attitude among parents

Parents' attitude towards education Poor career-guidance Weak performance in science due to

few science teachers and science equipment

high rate of girl-child drop out due to early pregnancy, peer influence, and parents neglect

Limited access to secondary, tertiary institutions including technical schools

Few and poorly qualified teachers and low morale

Poor information management Computer illiteracy

Inadequate and/or un-even distribution of health facilities resulting into long distance to health facilities

Limited capacity of the existing facilities (medical and counselling staff, medicines, modern equipment)

Inadequate knowledge and practices on causes and preventive measures.

Chronic diseases and high medical cost (on AIDS, T.B, Malaria etc)

Low levels of knowledge on nutrition, family planning services and early child development

Logistical problems in procuring the drugs and transporting the sick

Lack of health insurance even among the working class

Limited access to livestock water supply in drought-stricken belts

Low levels of personal hygiene and sanitation

Lack of essential auger equipment and skills for drilling the shallow wells

Low safe pit latrine coverageAgriculture Production Support

Limited number of acres under cultivation per crop

Pests and disease that has affected banana, coffee, cassava and livestock

Lack of production and tools Limited access to knowledge on

modern farming techniques Limited access to agro-industry and

processing Adoption of exotic species and breeds

that are less resistant to harsh physical-ecological conditions and threatening food insecurity

Limited guidance on food security methods, aquaculture and conservation

Climatic conditions and depleted soil conditions

Lack of storage and post-harvest management

Unfair markets Limited access to initial capital/credit

opportunities Poor access roads due weak

enforcement of by-laws by the local leadership

High tax burden Limited access to productive assets

(land) especially by the youth. Failure to form Community Based

Organisations (CBOs) intended to improve household incomes and the quality of life

Limited access to appropriate technology for agriculture, food security, transport and communication, processing an alike

Lack of cooperatives to facilitate transportation, marketing, and access to agricultural inputs and

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Limited access reliable and safe water sources (geographical distribution, amount, and quality); and poor home-based water harvesting practices

credit Weakened cultural endowment and

entitlement resulting in weak community based social safety-nets

Off-farm Activities Intervention Failure

Predominance of subsistence farming with 75% dominated by agriculture.

Weak off-farm activities in form home-based employment (brewing, handcrafts, repair), trade, fishing, construction, casual labour.

Failure to promote community tourism

Failure to guide population of what to produce, when and how market it, and where to invest the profits and surplus.

Low utilisation of the local leadership in mobilising the community.

Emphasis on delivery of social service delivery giving inadequate attention to production.

Failure to translate needs assessment into appropriate action

Failure to co-ordinate actors participating in the delivery of economic and social services

7.0 ROLE AND INVOLVEMENT OF THE CHURCH IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

7.1 Introduction

The local church in most cases has not been involved in the development process in most African countries. What usually happens is that development departments are set up at the church denominational levels and are given the responsibility to carry out development programmes at the community level. In some other cases, para-church organisations carry out development programmes at the community

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level. These organisations employ staff who are posted to serve in various communities. Although in many cases, the development workers go through the local churches in order to reach the communities, the local churches do not see such development programmes as part of their ministry. Rather, they see themselves as part of the beneficiaries of the programmes. The local church is only asked to give support to the efforts of the development department or the para-church organisation but it is not seen as part and parcel of the development process. In many cases, the local church is by-passed and the Christian development organisations deal directly with the local communities.

Although many pastors have received training on the role of the church in development, most of them are yet to translate that into involving the local church in the development process. Most local churches see their ministry as limited to evangelism, teaching and discipleship. Social work is often limited to financial and material assistance to the needy. Little or no efforts are made to mobilize communities to take action to solve common problems that affect the community. It is often felt that it is the responsibility of the church development department to carry out development programmes.

This lack of involvement of the local church in the development process has made the church not to be truly the light and salt of the community in which it is situated. It has also made the church not to have a positive influence on the community. It also makes the church’s evangelistic efforts less effective as the church tends to look over look many needs in the community. The lack of involvement also makes the church to be more inward looking instead of being outward looking; reaching out to the people around and beyond.

The local church should see development programmes as part and parcel of their ministry. As the local church is part of the community, it should embark on community mobilisation programmes aimed at enabling people identify, analyze, plan and take action to solve their problems so that people can live fulfilled lives as intended by God. If local churches are involved in this way, then the role of church development departments would then need to change from direct involvement with communities to building the capacity of local churches to carry out holistic development programmes.

For this change of approach to succeed, there has to be awareness creation among the church leaders/pastors and re-orientation of church development departments/para-church organisations involved in development work. Denominational church leaders, leaders of church development departments, local church pastors, Christian development organisations and Christian donor agencies would need to understand and agree with the concept of focusing on the local church as the primary development agent.

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7.2 Rationale for Local Church as Primary Development Agent

Jesus Christ came and established the church that is the visible body of Christ represented by those people who have accepted him as their Lord and saviour. John Stott describes the church as “the chosen and beloved people of God, his own special treasure, the covenant community to whom he has committed himself for ever, engaged in continuous worship, a haven of love and peace, and a pilgrim people headed for the eternal city.” This describes the ideal church. There is the universal church that refers to the body of all Christians world - wide. There is also the local church which refers to the body of Christians in a specific local setting. Our focus is on the local church which is in direct contact with the local community. Because of the direct contact with the local community, the local church is strategically placed and has a great opportunity to minister to the needs of the members of the community be they spiritual or physical.

God called and equipped the church not to minister to its members only, but to reach out and minister in a holistic way to needy people who are outside the church. The mission of the church is to declare and demonstrate the gospel (Matt.28:18, 19; Matt.22:37-39) to a sinful and a suffering world unto the building of the Kingdom of God. There is always the tendency for the local church to be inward looking and not outward looking thereby concentrating its programs on its members forgetting about the needy people outside there. Jesus said we (the church) are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. (Matt.5:13, 14). This means the local church must have a positive influence on the community in which it is situated. The local church must therefore be prepared to go out where the people are, listen to them, find out what their needs are and together with them design programs to meet their needs.

For the local church to effectively minister to members of the surrounding community, it must first of all be a model of the Kingdom of God in every aspect of life. This must be characterized by love for one another which should result in social justice, righteousness and economic prosperity. For the local church to be a model, efforts must be made to build their capacity to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate holistic community based development programs. This should be the main role of church development departments and other Christian development organisations.

If every local church effectively carries out holistic community outreach, the impact of this both at the local and national levels would be great. It would mean a wider range of communities would be reached and transformed to the glory of God. In this way, the church would positively influence the society at the national and international levels.

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Involving the local church in the development process will be more cost effective as there would be more use of volunteers rather than full time workers. The local churches would be less dependent on donors as many local churches are able to generate funds which could be used to support the work of the volunteers. This would make the local church programmes more sustainable. Where some local churches are not able to raise sufficient funds, the church denomination could make arrangements in such a way that financial assistance can be given to them with funds from the richer churches.

7.3 Stakeholders

The stakeholders in the whole process of enabling the local church to serve as the primary development agent at the community level would be the following:

Denominational Church Leaders.They would need to fully understand and agree with the concept of the local church as the primary development agent at the community level and give their full support for this to be successful.

Leaders of Church Development Departments and Para-Church Organisations.They would also need to fully understand and agree with the concept of the local church as the primary development agent at the community level and give their full support for this approach.

The Local Church.The local church would need to be sensitized to see itself as the primary development agent in the community where it is situated. The local church would need to understand and agree play this role.

Local Church Pastors/Leaders.They would need to understand the role of the church in development and give their whole support for the involvement of the local church at the community level.

Church Development Departments/Christian Development Organisations.Their primary role would be to support and build the capacity of local churches to carry out holistic and community based development programmes. Their capacity building efforts would include training, counselling, technical support, and

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networking. There would be a need for reorientation of these organisations to play these roles.

The Local Community.The local community would need to be mobilized by the local church. For this to happen, there must be a cordial relationship between the local church and the community.

Community Leaders.They would need to understand the importance and need for community development efforts to improve the quality of life of their people and give their full support for community development initiatives.

Local Church Development Committee.This Committee would have the responsibility of planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the development programmes of the local church.

Local Church Development Facilitators/Animators (Volunteers).These are volunteers from the local church who would assist in mobilizing the community for community development programmes.

Community Development Committee.Members of this committee would be elected by the local community and would be responsible for the implementation of community development programmes as agreed by the entire community.

Theological Institutions.They would have a key role to play in the training of pastors and church workers on holistic development, biblical basis of development and the role of the local church in development.

Training Providers/Consultants.These are organisations or individuals that would provide training for the church development departments and Christian development organisations that assist local churches in the development process. The training provided would be wide ranging including strategic planning, leadership, management, holistic and community based development approaches, monitoring and evaluation. They would also provide follow up support and counselling.

Christian Development Associations and Evangelical Fellowships.

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These would play the role supporting and training church denominational development departments and Christian development organisations in holistic and community based development programmes.

Donor Agencies.They would need to understand this approach and provide financial and technical support to some of the stakeholders for this approach to succeed.

7.4 The Role of the Local Church

There are 2 main roles that the church should play in the development process at the community level. These are values transformation and community organizing.

Values Transformation.One of the first programmes that churches should embark upon is moral recovery through intentional values transformation based on the Bible the infallible word of God. It is clear to any discerning person that some moral values previously up held high are being lost or watered down. People should value the good and best aspects of their traditions and culture and work at enhancing them. Valuing the best that there is will motivate them to positively envision the future and work towards actualizing it.

Value systems must be transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit. This should be done through consistent and in-depth Bible study and preaching on various themes related to values.The values that must be in place to enhance poverty alleviation and community transformation would include the following:

Love for one another. Honesty and sincerity. Community spirit. Accountability. Decision making by consensus. Hard work. Discipline. People’s creativity. Indigenous/appropriate technologies. Justice.

Community Organising.Community organising is the process of getting people to identify and solve their community problems through collective actions that will neutralise or eliminate the immediate or radical causes of the problem and constraints to a holistic quality of life of the community. They go deeper to find out the root causes of their poverty

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and find possible solutions to them. All members of the community are involved in the whole process. Community organising values the worth, dignity and capability of people as human beings created in the image of God. Through this process, people are actually awakened, empowered and organised to identify their own problems as they assess their situations and take initiative and responsibility in finding solutions and in using their own resources. Given the opportunity to develop and organise themselves, the powerless poor are enabled to collectively advance their common interests and aspirations before the powerful - those who have the wealth and control of resources both internal and external of the community. Thus, the community begins to have a hand in decisions for their community life and freedom to direct their destiny for a better quality of life.Since the main goal of development is the empowerment of people, it is paramount that the people are enabled to organise themselves to form community or people’s organisations through which they can exercise control over their affairs and undertake activities that will lead to the benefit of all concerned. Community organisations could take the form of self-reliant cooperatives, savings and credit associations, women and youth groups, farmers associations and trade associations. The important thing is that they must be mutual benefit organisations that derive their legitimacy on their abilities to serve their members interests. In addition, they must have democratic structures that give members ultimate authority over their leaders. The members must be able to hold their leaders accountable. They must also be self-reliant in the sense that their continued existence does not depend on outside initiative or funding. When properly managed, these community organisations should be able to carry out both economic and political functions very well thereby empowering the people. They can organise training for their members based on their needs. These community organizations can and should form alliances at various levels depending on each country’s structure of government.

The local church should play a facilitative role in the whole process of community organizing with assistance from Christian development organisations.

7.5 The Role of Christian Development Organizations

For local churches to play their roles as primary development agents, they must be adequately supported or assisted by Christian development organizations. The main role of Christian development organizations in this approach would be to assist in building the capacity of local churches and community organisations to facilitate and undertake holistic and community based development programmes. In order for the Christian development organisations to be able to play this role effectively, they would have to be trained in various aspects of capacity building. The capacity building role to be played by Christian development organisations would include the following:

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Training.Training should be provided for the local churches on holistic ministry and the role of the church in development. In addition, training should be provided in areas such as: Community based development/Participatory Rural Appraisal; leadership and management; resource mobilisation; financial control and accountability; appropriate technologies; monitoring and evaluation. Training should be participatory, learner-centred, experiential and contextualized. Community organisations too need to be adequately trained in various aspects of development work as mentioned above so that they can carry out their responsibilities effectively.

Follow-up/Counselling.Christian development organisations should make themselves available to the local churches for giving advice and encouragement especially at the initial stages of the programme. At the initial stages, local churches would need a lot of coaching on how to play their facilitative roles in the community organising process especially considering that mistakes could be made and discouragement could set in. There is also the need to build their confidence in applying the various methodologies. This would entail constant visits by staff of the Christian development organisations.

Networking.Different community groups and organisations should interact together for the purpose of sharing and exchange of information, ideas and experiences. Access to basic and relevant information is very crucial towards enabling communities to develop themselves. Very often, development is hindered by lack of adequate information. The information required could be in the areas of agriculture, health, housing, appropriate technology, water and sanitation, etc. Networking helps to provide this basic information. Christian development organisations should therefore promote networking among community groups and organisations by organising exchange visits, creating forums for regular meetings.

7.6 4-D Strategy for Community Development

Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] uses a 4-step strategy for doing Christian Community Development in a given area. This strategy will lead to long lasting growth and change in a community. Our biblical convictions concerning ministry to the poor are the foundation of this practical strategy.

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1. Define the geographic boundaries of an economically disadvantaged community to serve

Target your resources to a specific area

[The areas we have chosen in Mubende and Rukungiri Districts are entire parishes with more than 10 square miles each. These two pilot project areas are some of the most poverty-stricken areas in Western and Mid-Western Uganda with very low social and demographic indicators as well as low per household incomes.]

2. Describe the needs of the community, giving special consideration to the felt needs of the people living there

Study the area's demographics and life situation Determine the food, housing, clothing, education, safety, job training, counseling and spiritual

needs

Identify which people to serve

Survey the community and determine other programs serving area residents

[Even our ten square mile areas are an endless ocean of need. Rather than scatter our efforts randomly over the target pilot areas, we believe it is more effective to focus on key families/households that are responsive to building relationships with us. They, in turn can assist others.]

3. Distribute resources and services to the community through relationships with the people

Share resources, skills, and services to match the described needs Develop programs that allow people to build relationships

Establish criteria for interacting with other agencies and churches

Initiate relationships with other churches and agencies that wish to participate

Create and use various ministries and programs to help distribute resources

4. Develop responsibility among people in the community, especially the youth, for its continuing development

Target the young children to prevent damage from gang involvement, lack of education, and drug addiction

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Use programs that develop Christian community leaders

Raise up community members who walk with Christ, graduate from high school, pursue higher education, get jobs to provide for their families, find decent & affordable housing and become leaders in their community

8.0 EXPERIENCE

ECODET has successfully started, engaged and propagated a number of self-initiated community development programmes since it commenced its programmes in September 2007. In the fields of health [malaria prevention], agriculture and animal husbandry [goat production and multiplier project], micro-finance [laying the foundations for village-based savings and credit co-operatives societies], IT development under the computer literacy project, and Environment.

ECODET has developed a reputation for actively involving the rural resource poor women, men, youth and other marginalized groups such as orphans and the community at the grassroots level to effectively participate in their own development programmes such as:-

Sensitizing communities about HIV/AIDS prevention and care for PLWHAs.

Promoting environmental programmes and proper sanitation for the target area;

Networking with organization and agencies with similar aims and objectives both locally and internationally;

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Promoting group work among women groups;

Promoting the well being of disabled people;

Increasing household incomes through the community goat production and multiplier project and promoting sustainable use of natural resources in our areas of operation;

To advocate for children’s rights, change social and economical factors governing them, generate public sympathy for them, and reduce the condition which disadvantage them.

In furthering our mission, ECODET has strongly undertaken the building of strategic alliances, networks and partnership at both grassroots, local, national, regional and international levels. ECODET’s strong commitment in reducing rural poverty and improving the livelihoods of the rural communities especially the poor women, orphans, infected and affected people with HIV/AIDS in Uganda is recognized nationally, and internationally as always being able to reach out to the poor and marginalized groups to play its catalytic role in the community development process and working more closely with them, even at the short notice, on time and within budgetary limits.

9.0 LOCAL OWNERSHIP

Critical to the sustainability of the ECODET project programmes is the need to empower the entire community, including women and vulnerable groups, by building local technical, administrative, and entrepreneurial capacity. In conjunction with improved health and education, this transformation encourages women and men to establish their own businesses, to take advantage of microfinance and micro-enterprise opportunities and to explore income earning possibilities beyond farming.

Participatory, community-led decision-making is central to the way the ECODET project programmes work and is also fundamental to sustainability. Establishing community agreement to become one of the ECODET project programmes sites takes place through a series of discussions with elected and appointed officials, community committees, and open forums at the local level. Discussions entail a description of the planned project programmes, and the concept behind the ECODET project. This village dialogue is a means of assuring transparency and carries through the course of the entire project.

Once agreement is established, specific committees and community members begin the process of identifying and evaluating project possibilities with the support of a scientific team and local partners. Together they create a package of village-specific project initiatives that are deemed most appropriate and cost effective.

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They also produce a community action plan for implementing and managing these projects. All along, the ECODET projects foster and empower democratic practices, and actively promote gender equality in decision-making and allocation of resources.

On-site facilitators in community management and oversight, agriculture and the environment, and health and infrastructure are hired through the village budget. Wherever possible these facilitators are hired locally. A training center is also established in the community.

Technical capacity building, beginning at the onset of implementation, provides villagers with the skills they need to sustain the project initiatives in the long-term. Training courses for health and nutrition, agriculture and environment, energy and transport services, water resources and sanitation, and business and communications provide villagers with the skills they need in each area.

The participation and support of the central government [GOU] is also key to the success of the ECODET project programmes. The conceptual thrust of the ECODET project programmes is to win the national leadership’s support and engagement with the programme. Agreeing on cost sharing from the outset and making sure the programme is consistent with broader national development plans ensures that the government [GOU] is a full and complementary partner in the project in both the short- and long-term.

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10.0 BASIC PRINCIPLE AND VALUES

The priority plans stipulated below will be implemented using basic principle and values that will guide the future existence, survival, and resilience of Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET]. These basic principles and values will serve as catalyst in programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and resource mobilization. These principles will be:

Honesty and Integrity: being realistic about the capability and competencies of the project administration, programme components and individuals to undertake certain ventures, and where possible to seek external technical backstopping resources that are readily available within Uganda and abroad.

Transparency and accountability: providing unrestricted access to the people and agencies we are accountable to so that they can scrutinize the utilization of resources and the resultant impacts on the community. One of the strategic interventions will be to put in place strong financial and administrative structures and streamlining systems, procedures and practices, as well training the staff in financial analysis, management and reporting procedures.

Cost-effectiveness: Effective and efficient utilization of resources so that any given amount of resources yield maximum benefits for both the ECODET administration and the ordinary person. Use of locally available human and physical resources will be maximized using the goodwill of the projects and its exponents.

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Team Work: In both horizontal and vertical integration, development actors and partners will be expected work closely in planning, implementation, and M&E, and resource mobilization in order to achieve the ECODET goals.

Consistency: The prime objective of this year is to achieve harmonization and cohesion of development plans and programs so that programme components and stakeholders have one voice on one enemy (poverty) and one action (reduction) under the leadership of the project administrative structures, and under the coordination of the local C.O.U.

Voluntarism, dedication and sacrifice: Tackling poverty with meagre resources demands maximum utilization of human resources, with the pilot project areas people are required to donate their skills, talents and time without immediate financial and material reward for their efforts. The spirit of voluntarism will be inculcated in the youth especially those in education institutions and technical people occupying important positions for survival and self-sustainability of the project depends on these.

Charity: A spirit of sharing our livelihood with the less advantaged will be fostered, respect and value the concerns of the marginalized, the poor, the aged, women and the disabled will be encouraged in order to promote social justice.

Result-oriented Output: The management style will be based on the desire to achieve outputs (tangible or intangible) within a given time-frame and space. The local C.O.U church leaders and the project itself will be expected to set process and impact indicators to measure the extent to which results have been achieved, and how they impact the local community including men, women, children, disabled, elderly, orphans, People with AIDS (PWAs).

Community based Development: The planned and on-going programmes are intended to improve the quality of life of the community and mobilizing the local resources so that the community becomes self-reliant. The community development process will entail community work by the community, for the community, about the community and in the community. And, such can only be possible if we mobilize the available resources (finance, labour, physical material) spearheaded by the project leadership in liaison with the church institutions [both local-based and external church-based development agencies] as well as local and central government structures and institutions.

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Networking: Community development will be undertaken in close collaboration with the local church establishment, local administration, and the development partners and stakeholders. The ECODET’s project development work is intended to supplement rather than substitute the existing development action.

Sustainability: All those principles are intended to achieve sustainability of the development programmes with limited external support. Sustainability will mean optimal utilization of resources, productivity, cost-effectiveness, saving for investment, improved technology, gender equity, environmental conservation, and timely and effective response to the ever changing local and global operating environments.

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11.0 PROJECT RATIONALE

Numerous adequately-funded government programmes [especially under NAADS] for development and propagation of sustainable agricultural practices [including introduction of new high-value, high-yielding crops varieties and livestock breeds; introduction of farmer-to-farmer extension services; better land utilization practices; the use of appropriate technology to modernize agricultural practices and farm output; improvement of soil moisture conservation techniques in rain-fed areas; the diversification of cropping patterns and the transition to organic farming] are now available. However, due to a lack of design and implementation capacity, these resources are presently under-utilised. The development of women- and youth-centred SHGs is an on-going programme and there is an opportunity and a need to further strengthen this to reach a higher proportion of distressed households. There are also opportunities of focusing on agriculture-related and off-farm micro-enterprises to diversify household income sources. There is a policy framework which aims at reducing the distress situation, first by the provision of emergency packages to affected households and by generic measures in the credit sector and secondly by a shift in focus in agricultural development towards low-input cost crops and organic farming.

The ECODET Project will support the development and propagation of modern sustainable agricultural practices [including organic] farming, the production of on-farm bio-inputs, strengthen the transfer of technology with the involvement of other networking CBOs and the private sector and is thus in line with Central and Local Government policies. This focus notwithstanding, in line with IFAD [International Fund for Agricultural Development] strategy, the ECODET Project will assist in technologies demanded by the farmers and not just modern sustainable agriculture and organic farming. The ECODET Project is fully aligned to the IFAD’s strategy for Uganda: capacity building, facilitating access to resources and diversification of livelihoods and also in line with its policies of involving the private sector in the rural development and poverty reduction campaign.

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12.0 PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION

The Principal Objective of the ECODET project programmes is to achieve sustainable improvement in the living standards and welfare of and for the people, with the accompanying social discipline by the year 2011. ECODET recognises the important role that everyone can play in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of community development programmes. The ECODET project programmes comprise of four pillars and these are:

Social Sector ProgrammesThese programmes are intended to promote social development, and they include; community development, health and education services, and water and sanitation.

Economic Sector ProgrammesProgrammes under this sector are intended to create and expand income-earning opportunities and these include; Sustainable Agricultural Development, Investment and Industrial Promotion, Micro Enterprise Development, and Land as an Investment Asset.

Production Support Sector ProgrammesThese comprise all those programmes that support or facilitate effective implementation of the three programmes outlined above. These include; Micro-finance, Appropriate Technology Development, Training for skills development, Community Sensitization and Mobilization, Information and Communication Technology.

Social Assistance Sector ProgrammesThese programmes are specifically intended to assist the disadvantaged social groups such as women, youth, orphans, street children, and people with disabilities, internally displaced people, the elderly and alike. It aims at increasing access of these vulnerable and disadvantaged groups to social services and productive assets.

While the central government is directly in charge of establishing macro-economic stability and fostering good governance, ECODET is intended to directly contribute the two pillars of PEAP [Poverty Eradication Action Plan] namely; improving the incomes of the poor and improving the quality of life. However, effective implementation of the four sectoral programmes indirectly contributes to macro-

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economic and political stability through civic stimulation of production and empowerment of the civil society.

The primary beneficiary of the ECODET project programmes in 2009/10 will be all people/communities in Mubende District and Rukungiri District, which have a combined estimated population of 1 million with majority [about 70% of the population] being subsistence farmers living in rural areas. The secondary beneficiary will be communities living outside these two first project target areas through the spread-effect of development activities.

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13.0 COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MICRO-CREDIT SUPPORT

13.1 Introduction

There are certain misconceptions about rural poor people that they need loans at subsidized rates of interest on soft terms; they lack education, skills, capacity to save, credit-worthiness and therefore are not bankable. Nevertheless, the experiences of several SHGs [self-help groups] reveal that rural poor are actually efficient managers of credit and finance. Availability of timely and adequate credit is essential for them to undertake any economic activity rather than credit subsidy.

The Government measures have attempted to help the poor by implementing different poverty alleviation programmes but with little success. Since most of them are target-based involving lengthy procedures for loan disbursements, high transaction costs, and lack of supervision and monitoring. Banks often suffer from poor repayment leading to a high level of non-performing assets NPAs [non-performing assets].

Since the credit requirements of the rural poor cannot be adopted on project lending approach as it is in the case of organized sector, there emerged the need for an informal credit supply through SHGs. The rural poor with the assistance from CBOs have demonstrated their potential for self-help to secure economic and financial strength. Various case studies show that there is a positive correlation between credit availability and poor rural community empowerment.

13.2 Empowerment Concept

According to the literature in the field, the empowerment is defined in different ways. But we are considering that the most appropriate concept for community empowerment is the definition included in the World Bank Operational Source book:

Empowerment is the expansion of assets and capabilities of poor people to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control, and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives.

The main characteristics of community empowerment are the following

Freedom of choice and action Control over the adopted decisions and financial resources

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Control over the institutions that affect the people life Increased human capabilities [access to health and education] Increased social capabilities [social belonging, leadership, capacities to

organize] Increased political capabilities ( access to information, capacity to represent

oneself or others, form association, participate in political life)

Returning to ECODET’s objectives, we would like to note, that empowerment of poor rural communities is achieved through community capacity building and direct access and control over financial resources for solving the most stringent community need.

13.3 Community Empowerment Impact

First of all, community empowerment through the ECODET Project will have social impacts at different levels:

National Community Individual

a. Community empowerment impact at the national level consists in:

Contribution to the creation of new bi-directional relationships between local and central governments. ECODET Project communities will have the confidence in their forces, the feeling of programme ownership and self reliance. As a consequence, they will try to make the central Government more accountable to them.

Development of new market relationships between communities and different institutions and organizations. A good example in this field would be the creation of relationships between rural communities and private service providers. In this context, buildings and other physical assets would constitute the local public administration property. The private service provider would be responsible for installations and other input elements associated with the physical assets. The local communities, provide the captive market by which the private service providers generates income and other service-sustaining resources.

Promotion of new relationships between communities. They become more open and are oriented towards communication, learning about others’ practices. A good example of this is the initiative of community networking.

b. The impact of empowerment at the community level consists in:

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Improved access of the poorest to better social services Improved access of the poorest to new educational programs Improved management and planning capacities of local public authorities and

school principles Development of the civil society in the rural area Partnership development between different community actors Development of the sustainability approach at the community level Development of the community’s own resources and generation of new

investments

c. Empowerment impact at the individual level consists in:

Self–confidence and self-reliance Self-respect and dignity Feeling of being a part of a community as a whole Feeling of responsibility to the community members Feeling of ownership and decision making person Increased participation in decision making process and community actions

13.4 Background

The activities and programmes of the ECODET Project were designed for the economic empowerment development of the poor and economically-disadvantaged sections of the community in Mubende District and Rukungiri District respectively. These two districts have a high percentage of their population who are technically classified as living below the poverty line [BPL] and have no ownership or access to productive assets – mostly the unemployed youth who constitute the largest segment of the population more than 60 percent of the local population]. The two districts do not have any major industries apart from a few agro-processing units. They also generally lag behind other districts in Uganda in terms of basic amenities. The rapid growth of population has aggravated poverty, unemployment and environmental degradation in Mubende and Rukungiri Districts respectively. Some of the government-sponsored anti-poverty programmes [e.g. PAP and PEAP] have not proved to be not quite as effective at tackling rural poverty, as they are more bent on target achievement rather than human development. Moreover, the rural poor have not been involved in the stage of programme planning to the stage of programme implementation and evaluation meant for their socio-economic emancipation.

13.5 Objectives

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The main objective of the ECODET Project micro-credit intervention programme is to adopt such a strategy, which would bring into fold the poor in the development process. ECODET believes in the following:

1. Involvement of poor in the entire process of development from planning to monitoring.

2. Identification of priorities by the poor themselves.

3. Empowerment of women as a key to self-sustained development of the poor.

4. Provision of community infrastructure as an essential pre-condition for self-sustained growth.

5. Development of agriculture and related activities using local knowledge and local resources apart from modern techniques to reduce the incidence of poverty and unemployment.

ECODET considers the following four interventions as crucial for the poor to reach the stage of social consciousness and empowerment.

a. Human resource development [by way of massive education, skill upgradation, health services, safe drinking water, sanitation etc. for the disadvantaged groups]

b. Economic development [through propagation of modern agriculture and technology, family based asset creating activities and waste land development]

c. Attitudinal changes [to promote greater gender equality, self-reliance and environmental sensitivity]

d. Self-management and momentum [for the promotion of saving and credit, community management of infrastructure, leadership and self-help].

13.6 Community Centred Activities

To tap the potentialities and managerial capacities of poor rural communities ECODET will have to implement several activities. ECODET has as of necessity to play an instrumental in organizing the rural poor people to show their strength and defend themselves for their rights with the formation of Community Management Committees [CMCs]. These CMCs will have to work under the direct supervision and guidance of ECODET and also, get regular information about Government programmes, bank financing, marketing trends etc. The main output of this approach is that the successful working of CMCs will result in the formation of a large number of Self-Help Groups [SHGs].

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For the rural poor to get gainful employment especially belonging to the integral ECODET Project programme components, the ECODET Project will provide training facilities and generate innovative programmes. The vocational skills, thus acquired, help the rural poor [especially the women and youth] to be self-reliant.

13.7 Growth and Performance of SHGs

The successful working of Community Management Committees [CMCs] will result in the formation of a large number of Self-Help Groups [SHGs]. A significant feature of this system was that a large number of the economically-marginalized and socially-deprived people will shift their borrowing from traditional moneylenders to SHGs at reasonable rates of interest. Moreover, the ECODET Project will link with national micro-credit finance disbursing agencies [e.g. NAADS, NEMA and the Association of Micro-Finance Institutions of Uganda] to mobilize funds. The ECODET Project will use the secured micro-credit funds to lend it to informal rural community groups [such as SHGs] for generating economic activities and other forms of community-based enterprises. It is expected that such informal community groups will make prudent and informed investment decisions based on their local resources, knowledge and collective productive assets to generate credit and create gainful employment opportunities for themselves within limited time frames. Some of the notable features of this scheme will be a high percentage [over 90 percent] of repayment, utilization of funds for income creating activities and generation of savings by the members in the SHGs.

13.8 Constraints

Lack of support from male members (of the families) as well as banks

Large magnitude of the target group of poor people

Attitudinal rigidities

Difficulty in creating awareness among people

Limited resources with the CBOs

Large requirements of training and sensitization of issues

Limited number of experienced intervention agencies

Diversities of situations due to wide coverage

13.9 Overall Impression

Use of resources (credit) for income generating activities

Adoption of non-traditional activities

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Improvement in the income levels of SHGs members

Nearly 100% recovery of loans

Generation of small savings in the rural sector among women and youth

Use of local knowledge and resources in productive activities

Reduction in transaction cost for both banks as well as SHGs

Maintenance of minimum records in the form of registers

Maintenance of proper accounts by the SHGs

Regular meetings of the SHGs members to tackle problems among themselves

Healthy relation and coordination between SHGs, CBOs and banks

Grant assistance by banks to CBOs for capacity building (towards strengthening and monitoring of SHGs, training, computerization, etc.)

Support services to CBOs by banks for networking with other smaller CBOs

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14.0 PROJECT LOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Narrative Summary Verifiable Indicators/Expected Results [by end of project unless otherwise specified]

Means of Verification/Performance Measurement

Assumptions and Risk Indicators

Strategic Goal of ECODET

To contribute to improved agricultural productivity and production through market-oriented agricultural development and the promotion of community-based enterprises as a means for empowering the rural poor to sustainably enhance their income and food security and reduce their poverty in the project area [Mubende District and Rukungiri District].

Impact:

Improved agricultural productivity and production within functional market-oriented agricultural production systems in and beyond the project area as means for achieving improved and sustainable livelihoods for rural populations.

• Improvement in household food security(reduction in length of lean/hungry period, orincreased number of meals per day or week).• Improvement in household assets.• Reduction in child malnutrition.• Reduction in rate of illiteracy.

Reduction in numbers of men and women below the poverty

• Conduct of periodic field case studies, surveys and evaluations.• Use of Uganda Bureau of Statistics [UBOS] agricultural and rural development data/information.• Regular monitoring data from district-level management and information system.• Country portfolio reviews/evaluations.• Progress report of programme interventions.• Benchmark and completion evaluations/assessments.

Other poverty and social impact assessments

Suggested Performance Indicators of Impact Achievement:

1. % of cultivated area

• Continued government focus on rural areas and poverty reduction as priorities.• Adequacy of ECODET Project budget funding for the micro-credit component and agricultural development support component.• Effective coordination and monitoring within the framework of ECODET Project interventions.• Stability and security to life and property prevails.

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line [BPL].

Positive change in District human development indicators.

Improved access to and use of services and schemes by poor households [especially micro-credit facilities]

People with access to sanitation

People with sustainable access to an improved source of water.

under cash crops, and household gross production value.

2. % increase in volume of each priority commodity, crop and/or livestock, which is sold.

3. % increase in volume of produce moving outside of the focus project areas [i.e. Buyanja S/County – Rukungiri District and Kiganda S/County – Mubende District.

4. % increase of women’s share of commercial sales within households and/or communities.

5. % of area treated with soil and water conservation [SCW] measures adopted by households.

6. % of crops grown with commercial varieties.

7. Reduction in risky behavior with respect to

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HIV/AIDS.

8. % increase in yield per hectare or number of households owning goats.

9. % increase of women in valued- added activities involving priority commodities.

10. Extent to which gender, HIV/AIDS and environment are integrated into the DAs activities and/or Work Plans scrutinizing planning documents.

11. Behavioural changes of communities and households towards role of women.

Project Objective/Purpose

1. Improved health status of the target group

� Reduction in the incidence of infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis) (RIMS3).

� Reduction in prevalence of

As above As above

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2. Improved food security and nutritional status

3. Improved household productivity and returns to productive investments [especially agriculture and livestock]

4. Coherent, supportive national policy/strategy; institutional and material frameworks for smallholders provided.

child malnutrition (weight for age) (RIMS3).

� Reduced morbidity for the under fives.

�    Number of households that have a reduced period of lean/hungry season (when food stocks have run out and daily meals decrease).

�    Proportion of households accessing protein rich foods.

�    Proportion of households with three meals per day.

�    Number of households with improved dwelling units.

�    Number of households with increased facilities.

• Collaborating donor agencies and amount contributed in support of programmes.• Increase in budgetary allocation by the Government in support of smallholder sector. Legislation/regulations/policy

decisions approved and effective.

District reports and budgets. Policy documents of Central and local Governments. District Livelihoods Forum Reports.

Independent social audit reports.

No major external fiscal shock.

No major natural disasters.

Political commitment to

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5. To increase gender-balanced capacity of farmers, pastoralists, community based organizations [CBOs], and private organizations to improve market oriented agricultural productivity and production, and to improve and sustain livelihoods.

Enhanced capacity of farmers, pastoralists, community based organizations [CBOs], and private organizations to improve agricultural productivity and production, and to improve and sustain livelihoods through the adoption of strategies, technologies, processes developed in their respective project areas.

Impact assessments carried out against baseline and control areas.

Programme reviews and evaluation reports.

Specific studies tracking impact on female-headed households and poorest 20% of target population.

5.1 Level of adoption of technologies [products, methods and processes] by women and men farmers and pastoralists.

5.2 Extent of involvement of ECODET Project and other private organizations in the delivery of services [e.g. input supply, credit, etc.]

5.3 Number of other networking CBOs and private organizations involved in the delivery of

prioritize public expenditure on pro-poor sectors.

District local governments [DLGs] integrate lessons and evidence into rural development policy making.

District local governments [DLGs] continue to support Community Management Committees [CMCs] and SHGs in terms of their role in decision making, and resource allocations.

There will be support from ECODET Project, households and local administration within the project areas [Low Risk]/Ensuring uniformity of project activities with community priorities.

Low project risk

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services within the project area.

Results/Outputs

1. Sector-wide programmes successfully implemented, uniting government and donor efforts in providing a basis for smallholderdevelopment, especially relating to:

(a) access to improved technologies;(b) access to land;(c) access to finance;(d) access to markets.

2. Improved technical and management capacity of local groups and

• Beneficiaries adopting new agricultural technologies.• Farmers reporting yield/production increases.• Storage/processing facilities established.• Households provided with long-term security of tenure over land resources.• Rural organizations/groups established/strengthened and functioning.• Community groups with women leaders.• Men and women attending functional literacy classes.• Outreach of functioning microfinance institutions servicing rural areas/communities.• Increase in local, national, regional and international sales of and trade in farm produce/products.

�    Number of community workers / volunteers trained.

As in Strategic Goal of ECODET

As in Strategic Goal of ECODET

Gender issues and and HIV/AIDS mitigation measures mainstreamed in rural development interventions

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communities [all components]

�    Number of people attending literacy classes.

�    Number of community workers still operational (for literacy, health, water, sanitation, education).

�    Number of interest groups formed /strengthened.

�    Number of people belonging to groups by type of group.

�    Number of groups with women in leadership positions.

�    Number of Community Action Plans prepared.

�    Number of women on management committees.

�    Number of persons receiving group capacity building services.

�    Number of community projects functional by type.

�    Number of operational

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3. Improved access to safe domestic water for targeted communities

groups supported by the project by type (agriculture/livestock, health, water, savings/credit).

�    Number of persons receiving domestic water services.

�    Number of water points established for domestic water.

�    Number of households served by water points.

�    Number of functioning water points.

�    Baseline data on water resources obtained.

�    Standards and guidelines for water project design and implementation developed.

�    Access to clean and adequate water supply improved.

�    Capacity and efficiency of water officers improved.

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4. Improved knowledge and skills for environmental

�    Capacity of water management by communities improved.

�    Community awareness on environmental hygiene and sanitation increased.

�    Increase in cost effectiveness and quality of work produced during implementation.

�    Increase in number of households with access to clean and safe water.

�    Increase in number of water projects completed.

�    Increase in number of active water user associations efficiently managing own water projects.

�    Increase in number of households adopting sound environmental hygiene practices.

�    Number of persons receiving environmental

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conservation and conservation farming

5. Improved knowledge,

conservation services.

�    Ha of land improved through soil and water conservation measures.

�    Number of trainers trained by gender and type.

�    Number of people trained by gender and type.

�    Ha of common property resources under improved management practices. 

�    Number of households practicing composting.

�    Increase in percentage of terraced farms.

�    Number of agro-forestry tree nurseries.

�    Number of farmers doing conservation tillage.

�    Number of persons receiving livestock services.

�    Number of animals distributed.

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skills and inputs availability to increase livestock productivity

�    Number of farmers reporting increased herd sizes.

�    Number of farmers reporting production/yield increases.

�    Number of persons trained by gender.

�    Number of farmers participating in livestock research trials.

�    Number of livestock demonstrations held on farmers’ land.

�    Number of people accessing project technical advisory services.

�    Number of farmers adopting recommended technologies by type and by gender.

�    Number of new livestock breeds introduced.

�    Number of households

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6. More and better rural financial services [micro-credit] provision.

conserving fodder.

�    Number of persons receiving rural financial service.

�    Number of active savers by gender.

�    Value of savings mobilized by gender.

�    Number of active borrowers by gender.

�    Value of gross loan portfolio.

�    % of portfolio at risk.

�    Number of shares mobilized.

�    Reduced attrition rates of CFSAs [Community Financial Saving Associations].

�    Increase in number of borrowers.

�    Increase in frequency of loans per member.

�    % disbursement of

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7. Effective PM&E, project management and administration systems

8. Enhanced capacities of Self Help Groups [SHGs] to plan and manage resources in a transparent, effective and accountable manner in response to community driven demands.

ECODET Project micro-credit funds.

�    % of AWPBs and Annual Reports submitted on time.

�    % of audit reports submitted on time.

8.1 80% of Self Help Groups [SHGs] in target areas have regular participation of bottom 20% of BPL households at village assembly and committee level; 8.2 80% Self Help Groups [SHGs] who identify the poorest and take action to respond to their specific needs. 8.3 50% BPL know the legal roles and provisions of the Self Help Groups [SHGs] and can explain how funding mechanisms work. 8.4 80% of Self Help Groups [SHGs] manage and use the disbursed credit funds in transparent, socially responsible and equitable ways; 8.5 80% of Self Help Groups [SHGs] actively engaged in drawing up, implementing

ECODET Project Management Unit [EPMU] and district level documentation, using both qualitative and quantitative data.

BPL surveys.

Annual and mid-term assessment of financial management capacities of Community Management Committees [CMCs].

Programme evaluations.

Regular social and spot audits.

Broader capacity initiatives for rural community social- and economic-empowerment initiatives continue through other central/district programmes.

Decentralisation is able to promote increased accountability and transparency in the use of funds at village levels.

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9. Improved access to assets, employment and services that support the livelihoods of over 1 million rural poor people in target project areas.

and monitoring micro-plans; plans enable convergence between different programmes; 8.6 The ECODET Project institutionalizes regular financial and social audits of the Self Help Groups [SHGs] and Community Management Committees [CMCs]. 8.7 40% leadership role within the Self Help Groups [SHGs] and Community Management Committees [CMCs] fulfilled by women; women issues reflected in Community Management Committee decisions.

9.1 70% of BPL households in project areas with improved access and utilization of services, through more responsive and pro poor: Financial services (credit,

savings, insurance, remittances)

Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) and non-farm income generation

Livestock and crop development;

9.2 60% of migrant

ECODET Project annual reports.

Annual perceptions survey of transparency of Community Management Committees [CMCs] and responsiveness of service providers.

District poverty assessment reports.

Detailed impact reports provided by partners (e.g. on financial services).

Commitment within target project area District Local Governments to take up successful innovations and replicate elsewhere as appropriate.

Increased demand, combined with transfer of skills, translates into improved basic service provision.

Capacity improvements generated and livelihoods service providers are sustained.

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households with improved access to job and wage related information; and information on entitlements and services;9.3 At least three documented examples of more effective and innovative Natural Resource Management [NRM] (grazing and forestry), which enhance livelihoods of the poorest, particularly women, and can be replicated and scaled up;

9.4 Quality of Natural Resource base maintained in target areas:

20% decrease in area of unproductive wasteland;

10% increase in area under cultivation through water harvesting or supplementary irrigation;

No decrease in availability NTFPs and area of forest.

9.6 60% BPL households with improved access to water for safe drinking and irrigation.

Periodic evaluation reports against annual ECODET Project baselines.

Line department strategies and reports.

Specific programme monitoring and impact reports from partners implementing the sub-component; data for control areas collected and compared.

NEMA & District Environmental Monitoring reports.

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10.1 At least two innovative social protection mechanisms piloted, in order to feed lessons into District level policy/practice.

10.2 Mechanisms for identifying the poorest and most excluded are refined, tested and implemented and used to steer MPRLP Phase 2 to focus on poorest.

10.3 20% of migrant households able to access specific initiatives (Public Distribution System, primary schooling, basic health care).

10.4 BPL lists refined in target villages to reduce errors of exclusion/inclusion.

10.5 80% BPL households able to access their full entitlements under specific schemes [Public Distribution System, pensions, etc.]11.1 Comprehensive

ECODET Project Management Unit reports

Evaluation reports.

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10. Effective mechanisms for social protection which reduce vulnerability and build assets of the poorest, and reduce constraints to produce activity.

Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy/Operational plan implemented and reviewed regularly.

11.2 50% of poor women in target areas feel more empowered.

11.3 Gender issues mainstreamed at Community Management Committee [CMC] and Self-Help Group [SHG] level, within Project Facilitation Teams (PFTs) and programme management structures and human resource management.

District-level Livelihoods Forum reports.

BPL Below Poverty Line] lists held by Community Management Committees [CMCs] and at District levels.

Impact assessments, comparing with control areas.

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11. Women and men have equitable access to and benefit from resources, decision-making and opportunities to enhance livelihoods.

ECODET Project Management Unit documentation

Annual Impact assessment reports.

Annual Reviews

ECODET Project able to attract, induct, train and retain capable and experienced staff with skills to engage on gender and inclusion issues at the grass roots, as well as at sub-county and district levels.

Activities/Inputs

3.1 Establishing project implementation areas that

3.1 The base project implementation areas

3.1.1 Number of target project areas with analyses

3.1 That there will be a willingness of communities

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are strategically linked to the priorities of District Local Government [DLG] Development Plans.

3.2 Strengthening the capacity of farmers, and pastoralists, and staff from counterpart private organizations active in the project area, including the procurement of materials and equipment.

3.3 Identifying, assessing, implementing and monitoring participatory market-led development programs based on

established in Buyanja Sub-County [Rukungiri District] and Kiganda Sub-County [Mubende District] that are strategically linked to the District Local Government [DLG] Development Plans.

3.2 Increased knowledge, awareness, understanding and skills of farmers, pastoralists, and staff from counterpart private organizations serving in the designated project areas.

3.3 Technologies, processes, markets and institutional innovations identified and applied in the targeted project areas.

or diagnoses and Work Plans completed.

3.1.2 Congruence of target project area Work Plans with the priorities of the District Local Government [DLG] Development Plans.

3.2.1 Extent to which women and men farmers and pastoralists become market-oriented.

3.2.2 Level of satisfaction of women and men farmers and pastoralists with the services delivered to them by the ECODET Project and other counterpart private organizations.

3.3.1 # of technologies; # of processes; # of markets; and # of innovations identified.

3.3.2 Extent to which these technologies, processes,

in the targeted project areas to integrate improved management into their livelihood strategies. [Low Risk]/Ensuring that the technologies and practices are in line with community priorities and are demand-driven

Low project risk

3.2 There will be a sufficient quality and quantity of trainees available. [Medium Risk]/Introduce broad-based nomination of trainees across PAs within the targeted project areas.

Low project risk

3.3 That communities will be willing to present demands to institutions and institutions will be willing to listen. [Low Risk] / Facilitating the

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identified priority commodities in farming systems in the targeted project area using innovative processes.

3.4 Monitoring and guiding implementation of the prescribed intervention programmes and project activities.

3.5 Promoting the scope and opportunities for addressing and advocating the interests and needs of smallholders and rural communities in national and sectoral rural poverty-reduction policy/strategy and programme arena.

A total investment of USD 806,470 spread over two years and comprised of:• Marketing linkages and sustainable agriculture – USD 78,298.• Integrated community development/empowerment projects – USD 247,156.• Institutional capacity building; networking/advocacy + humanitarian and sociological aspects of project – USD 110,127.• Project Management and Monitoring & Evaluation component – USD 115,463.• Project infrastructure + running inputs and other capital items – USD 255,426.

markets and innovations are applied in the target project areas.

creation of joint for communities and institutions to discuss issues of common developmental objectives.

Low project risk

• As above.• Availability of central government financing.• Availability of other donor agency financing.

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15.0 PROJECT BENEFITS AND BENEFICIARIES

The overall project ERR [Economic Rate of Return] is about 20%. Sensitivity analysis of Net Streams of investments and benefits under two scenarios: one, the investment costs excluding the convergence investments by the government, and two, investment stream excluding the convergence investments by the government. In the analysis, a positive NPV is obtained under the current Opportunity Cost of Capital and it remains positive even for a 15% discount rate. The switching values indicate that the ERR is robust even under extreme scenarios of increasing costs and declining benefits. Sensitivity analysis of IRR under above-mentioned two scenarios indicates that the ECODET Project remains robust both to decreases in benefits and increases in costs.

Beneficiaries: Under Phase I, the project will cover about 300 villages that are targeted for soil and water conservation [SWC] and organic farming demonstrations over a two year period. Some 164 households in each of these villages will be directly benefited by SWC measures and technology transfer demonstrations and training. The remaining landless households will be benefited from interventions and facilities such as, SME [small and medium enterprises] training and orientation, cattle & goat breeding training, marketing, establishment of non-farm activities, women self-help group (SHGs). Thus the total number of households that will benefit by the project is about 49,200 or roughly 250,000 million people.

Benefits: The benefit will come from modest increases in crop production due to training and demonstrations. On an average, a household’s food production benefits will increase from 1440 kg/household to over 2652 kg at full development and incomes from the current less than UShs. 1 million/year to well over UShs. 12 million/year. The enhanced income is largely due to reductions in costs of production, which ranges between 20 and 25% over the existing levels as a result of introduction of sustainable agriculture practices, introduction on new higher-yield crop varieties, increased livestock ownership and better animal husbandry practices, and marginal production increases due to in situ moisture conservation and other agronomic practices that are demonstrated to farmers in the targeted villages.

In qualitative terms, minimized soil erosion in the cropped area, reduced runoff and increased infiltration, and organic contents of the soil are some of the benefits, which have not been quantified. Improvement in farming practices and land management is brought in slowly but steadily by involving the farmers: from about 5,400 ha in year 1 to 12,200 ha in year 2. Enhanced soil moisture will result in increases in cropping intensities from 104% to 109.5% at full development. Increased livestock ownership coupled with intensive animal health care support,

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will see dramatic increases in livestock reproduction and multiplication rates for the benefit of the rural poor in the project target areas over the project period. Households will also benefit by way of being supported to grow food crops and commercial crops [e.g. coffee, vanilla, spice crops], creation of IGAs, community health, environment protection through planting of trees, provision of safe and clean water and improved sanitation facilities, education support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), marketing of agriculture products and livestock. This will enable them to increase their income and hence access and enjoy improved standards of living.

16.0 TARGET AREA, TARGET GROUPS AND TARGETING

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The Project area under Phase I of the ECODET Project will include the three counties of Mubende District [Buwekula, Kassanda and Busujju Counties – and 11 Sub-Counties], and the two counties of Rukungiri District [Rubabo and Rujumbura Counties – and 11 Sub-Counties] with a combined population of 1.015 million persons, of which nearly 45% are below the poverty line [BPL]. There are about 700,000 farmers [representing about 161,500 households] operating with an average farm size of around 2.6 ha. [about 6.4 Acres]. More than half of landholdings are in the marginal and small size group of less than 2 ha. Overall, the small marginal farmers, landless labourers/farmers, uneducated/unemployed youth, and physically and socially disadvantaged and economically deprived women constitute two-thirds of the rural poor. Some 27% of them face food insecurity. Of the total poor households, about 75% are landless; some 14% of the poor households with land, they hold less than 1 ha. Plots and mostly depend on rain-fed farming practice.

In all, 300 villages will be identified and covered under the end-to-end projects including in situ water conservation and sustainable agricultural development including organic farming. Marketing and pro-poor market linkages will be targeted in response to market signals and private sector preference. Self Help Groups [SHGs] and Community Management Committees [CMCs] will also be set up in these villages but may have some more villages due to overlapping. Villages will be selected using the pre-determined selection criteria and response from the respective village communities.

The project’s target group will be the rural households belonging to (i) uneducated, unemployed and economically-marginalised youths, (ii) landless labourers/farmers, (iii) the rural women, (iv) the small and marginal farmers and (v) the farmers under agrarian distress.

First level targeting will be the selection villages with predominant population of the BPL [below-the-poverty line] households. Within these villages, the project will identify the poor and their needs using the bottom-up approach, where households will be facilitated to join SHGs and strengthen their own organisations. Selection of households will be on the basis of their BPL status. To control the possibility of capture of benefits by the correspondingly better-off among households, a prioritisation process will be set up. These processes and the resultant list of identified households will be placed before the Community Management Committees for validation. These processes will also be extended while identifying the target groups for pro-poor linkages between producer groups, who will be eventually converted to producer companies, and the private sector.17.0 ANTICIPATED RESULTS/PROJECT INDICATORS

At the end of two years [Phase 1] of active project work implementation and engagement with the concerned stakeholders, the net change result will not reflect

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in overall changes in the portfolio, but rather in changes in the various activities comprising the portfolio.

General Assessments

Market opportunities for farm produce and potential for market linkages through private sector agencies and market players.

Commodity profiles for 20 potential commodities prepared and more than 120 sub-projects designed and validated for use by stakeholders.

Technical and managerial capacities of some 200 SHGs, 120 joint liability groups, 30 producer companies with seed capital support [micro-credit project facilitation support], over 90 community development committees enhanced with seed capital support[micro-credit project facilitation support] to provide value chain services in an inclusive manner.

Livelihoods opportunities facilitated through support to some 600 agri-based enterprises and 150 livestock-based enterprises within the Phase 1 target project areas.

Equitable and non-exploitative marketing facilitated and value chains established for selected commodities through 120 negotiated partnerships, several contract farming in organic coffee, maize and beans, vegetables and fruits, vegetable oil crops, and facilitating vocational training to 3,600 selected village youth achieved.

Convergence of agricultural interventions in public and private sector ensured through staff training and orientation and skill upgrading to provide services in an inclusive manner.

Agriculture

More than 80 percent of the households in the project areas are expected to be involved in agriculture. There will be indicative changes in cropping patterns because of project interventions, with the incidence of cultivation of better-yielding crop hybrids. The introduction of higher yield crops varieties will be one of the focus areas of intervention in many of the project districts.

The project will positively impact on the level of access of services related to agriculture in comparison with pre-project situation. Improved access will be significant especially for availability of improved seeds, fertilizers, credit, trainings etc. The increase will be maximum (6 times) for agricultural related information followed by seeds (more than 4 times) and fertilizers (3 times).

Almost 60 percent of the households in the project villages are expected to undertake soil and water conservation activities in their agricultural fields compared to the almost 0 percent under the present circumstances. About 50 percent of the households in the project villages are expected to report change in the seeds used for cultivation. Both of these are indicative of the increased access to agricultural services and information that will be the focus of project interventions.

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Two years down the road, and incident to the project interventions, approximately 20 percent of households in project villages are expected to have visualized increase in production of agricultural crops. The increased production will be for maize, beans, upland rice, sweet potatoes, irish potatoes, cassava, matooke [plantains], and vegetables crops. The enhanced level of production will be incident to the project interventions.

At the end of two years of project work, a regression analysis will be taken-up to establish cause-effect relationship between increase in agricultural production reported and causal factors. It is expected that the same project interventions used during the project implementation period will feature as the most significant contributors for the change.

Livestock

After two years, it is expected that approximately 90 percent of the households in the project villages will experience an increase in livestock ownership and its related multiplication thereof [especially goats and milking cows].

There will be a large increase in the number of households accessing veterinary services within the project villages.

Approximately one-fourth [25 percent] of the households in the project villages will report that that the interventions - especially exposure to veterinary camps will have led to reduced mortality rate and better livestock health. Reduced incidences of diseases are expected to be reported by over 70 percent of the project households.

Traditional skills vis-à-vis wage labour activities

One of the project outputs is to engender transition from “wage labour to micro enterprise or self employed service provider”, the same being achieved through household members upgrading their skills or starting an enterprise.

A significant impact of the project interventions will be that a sizeable proportion of the households in the project villages will have members who will have started their own micro-enterprise [IGA] or up-scaled existing traditional enterprise in the project duration. Out of these, about 80% of the households will have earlier been involved in wage labour activities.

Out of these 10 percent households who will have started on their own or up-scaled traditional skills, more than 30 percent households will report that they have discontinued wage labour activities they were earlier engaged in.

Inclusion in groups

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A very high percentage [over 90 per cent] of households in the project villages will indicate that they have gained membership to any community based organization.

By associating with the locally-based Self-Help Groups [SHGs] and village-based savings and credit co-operative schemes active in the designated project villages, the rate of savings among the targeted households is expected to jump up significantly than is the case at the present.

Credit

There will be an increased rate of loan uptake during the project implementation period by households/individuals within the project villages.

Access to institutional credit in the project villages will also increase as result of the project interventions.

This increase will be found to be maximum from ECODET as a credible and reliable credit institution. The enhanced access from other institutions providing credit facilities viz. SACCOS, other Micro-Credit Institutions, and village Banks will also increase to some extent.

Food security

There will be quite a significant reduction in food deficient days in project villages as sharply contrasting with the pre-project situation. By that time, most of the households will have the ability to cope through the crisis but only on the expense of some financial, human, or social resources.

Common land resources

A much higher proportion of the marginalized segments of the communities in the project villages will be able to access, own and have direct control of their own productive assets [e.g. land as a result of higher savings that will enhance their financial capacity to acquire such productive assets].

Drinking water and Sanitation

More that 80 percent of the households in the project villages will have access to safe and clean drinking water as a result of having nearby access to Hand Pumps and protected springs.

The sanitation situation will radically improve for the better – with at least 90 percent of the households in the project villages having their own pit latrines since such a facility will be used as the basis of qualifying and providing

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production input support and micro-credit to each one of the households in the project villages.

Changes in household income

Approximately 70 - 75 percent of households involved in crop-cultivation activities will report a significantly enhanced income from these sources over the previous two year project intervention period.

Not less than 80 – 90 percent of the households involved in livestock rearing will report an increment in income from this activity.

There will be a significantly scaled-up activity in agro-based micro-enterprises and related spin-off benefits including, but not limited to trade in agricultural and livestock products, supply of production inputs, transportation business and the like by some of the households in the project villages.

In the project villages, at least 10% of the households are expected to report increased returns from Non-Timber Forest Products [NTFPs].

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18.0 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

PROJECT ACTIVITY  YEAR 1 YEAR 2

A. ESTABLISHMENT Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 PERSONS/ORGANIZATIONS

1. Agree with communities in Project Areas DIR, CMCs

2. Develop & Sign MoU with contractors DIR, FAA

3. Solicit and form partnership with DLG & relevant actors DIR, M&E, DLG, NGOs, CBOs

B. ACTUAL PLAN

1. Discuss best practices with communitiesDIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

2. Create Community Management Committees M&E, PIO

3. Train Community Management Committees M&E, PIO

4. Educate HH & communities on safe water usage & good hygiene practices PIO, CMCs

5. Drill bore holes and install solar water pumps CONTRACTOR

6. Periodic maintenance & repairs of water works CONTRACTOR, CMCs

7. Carry out awareness programmes on issues pertaining to health, poverty-alleviation and other social

M&E, PIO, CMCs

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development issues

8. Set up, management and implementation of social development projects and programmes including health, education, training and public utilities DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs

9. Provide and increase access to HIV/AIDS specialized care and support services within the project operation areas

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

10. Sensitize communities about HIV/AIDS prevention and care for PLWHAs

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

11. Engage in general health awareness and sensitization campaigns

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

12. Educate communities on disease-prevention strategies

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

13. Provide mosquito nets [ITNs] and malaria treatment and care

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

14. Promote environmental conservation programmes PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

15. Induce and facilitate the formation of Self-Help Groups [SHGs]

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

16. Promote skills development and project management capacities DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs

17. Improve agricultural production by availing the necessary resources [including microfinance loans]

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

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18. Improve local agriculture through extension services and marketing

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

19. Promote Functional Adult Literacy in the communityDIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

20. Promote computer literacy and skills as part of the necessary Information Technology to the community

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

21. Create, activate and facilitate Self-Help women groups to engage in Income Creating Activities through micro-credit support

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

22. Actively engage in networking activity, advocacy and lobbying of key stakeholders, government and other development partners

DIR, M&E, PIO, CMCs, DLG, NGOs. CBOs

C. MONITORING & EVALUATION PLAN

1. Define baseline information needs M&E, PIO, CMCs

2. Design baseline & analyze data M&E

3. Design M & E system M&E

4. Prepare quarterly monitoring report M&E, PIO, CMCs

5. Conduct annual evaluation & plan activities with Project Village Committees M&E, PIO

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6.Prepare annual Cooperating Sponsor Results & Request Report DIR, M&E

7.Conduct mid-term review & analyze findings M&E

8. Conduct final evaluation, analyze findings & share information M&E, DONOR

 

KEY: DIR = Director – Projects, PIO = Field Projects Implementation Officer, FAA = Finance and Administrative Assistant, M &E = Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, DLG = District Local Government, NGOs = Non Governmental Organisations, CBOs = Community Based Organisations, CMCs = Community Management Committees

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19.0 PROJECT MANAGEMENT, ADMINISTRATION AND SECURITY

19.1 Programme Management

ECODET will have governance and management structures in place at both the headquarters and branch level. Headquarters will guarantee the proper coordination and sound resource management and also link up to other participating community welfare improvement and empowerment organizations and networking agencies in funneling and directing technical and logistical support to the intended beneficiaries in the selected project rural areas.

At the expiry of each community welfare improvement and empowerment programme component, an M&E assessment will be carried out and where possible community-based mitigation and rehabilitation measures undertaken by ECODET.

19.2 Administration

ECODET operations systems will be managed by a cadre of field staff and programme officers headed by the Director General and assisted by the Director of Projects. At the Headquarter level, coordination and direction of programme activities will also be handled by a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and a Finance and Administrative Assistant. There will also be a Management and Information Systems Analyst to oversee the smooth operation and systems function of the installed project MIS [Management Information System] at the ECODET Project Headquarters. The Livelihoods Forum will be headed by a Livelihoods Forum Coordinator, who will be reporting directly to the Director General. Headquarters will also have an Accountant and Office Assistant. Each of the ECODET Project programme components will have a Programme Manager – heading and directing its specific operations and activities.

At the field level, there will be Parish-based Project Facilitation Teams which will be under the direct tutelage of the Director of Projects. The Project Facilitation Team Coordinators will be directly answerable and coordinate to the Director of Projects within the ECODET Project hierarchical set-up. Much of the field work and direct implementation and oversight of ECODET Project programme components will be the responsibility of the Project Implementation Officers [PIOs].

19.3 Operating Procedures

Successful organizations understand the importance of adopting procedures which do not stifle individual creativity and innovation. The Enterprise & Community Dev’t Trust [ECODET] Project supports the premise that programmes should be structured to stimulate individual stimulation among community welfare

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improvement and empowerment workers and the economically-disadvantaged target groups they serve.

Operating procedures and policies for each ECODET Project programme component will be outlined in an Operations Manual. All programme component projects will have some unique characteristics which will require some adaptations to the standard operating model. Effective management of inherent of inherent risks will be absolutely critical to the success of each project. The successful operation of each ECODET Project programme component will depend upon the co-operation between the personnel from ECODET Project and each partnering community-based group. The ECODET Project will also co-operate with other agencies to bring about the best possible results for the economically-disadvantaged rural community-based target groups.

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Figure 1a: ECODET Project Organization Chart [Institutional Arrangements]

District level ECODET Project

Forum Steering Group Project Management Unit

Rural Livelihoods Forum

Sub-County level Project Management Committee

Sub-County Project Support Unit

Project Facilitation Teams

Village level

Community Management Committees

Area Based Committees Affinity Based Groups

i.e. natural resource mgmt committees i.e. SHG, user groups

Figure 1b: ECODET Project Organization Chart [Administrative Lines of Authority]

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ECODET Board of Directors

Director General

Office Assistant

Director of Projects

Finance & Admin. Asst. Accountant

P/M P/M P/M P/M P/M P/M P/M P/M P/M P/M P/M P/M

PASD FSN CH ENRM ICB MLSA CE WYC NAL H&SI M&E PMgmt

PIOs PIOs PIOs PIOs PIOs PIOs PIOs PIOs PIOs PIOs M&EO PAS

Key:

P/M: Programme Manager; PASD: Poverty Alleviation and Social Development Prog. Component; FSN: Food Security and Nutrition Prog. Component; CH: Community Health Prog. Component; ENRM: Environmental and Natural Resource Management [including provision of sanitation and safe clean water] Prog. Component; ICB: Institutional Capacity Building & Partnerships Prog. Component; MLSA: Marketing Linkages & Sustainable Agriculture Prog. Component; CE: Community Education Prog. Component; WYC: Women, Youth, Children and Disable People Prog. Component; NAL: Networking, advocacy and lobbying work Prog. Component; H&SI: Humanitarian & Sociological Issues Prog. Component; M&E: Monitoring and

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Evaluation Prog. Component; PMgmt: Project Management Prog. Component; PIOs: Project Implementation Officers; M&EO: Monitoring and Evaluation Officer; PAS: Project Administration Staff.

19.4 Resource Inputs

To register a successful community welfare improvement and empowerment programme delivery system for economically-disadvantaged groups in the targeted project areas, the following inputs of capital, running inputs supplies and facilities must be realized.

CAPITAL INPUTS

Office Inputs

Office Desks and Chairs, Office Cabinets, literature books, computers + printers, photocopiers, scanner, spiral binder, fax machine.

OPERATIONAL ITEMS

Vehicles, motorcycles, power generators, digital cameras, video-cameras, television, video-deck, cassette-speakers, appropriate technology machinery and equipment, crop-cultivation and animal husbandry inputs, Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets [ITNs] and basic medical supplies like vitamins and first aid tool kits.

FINANCIAL ITEMS

Funds towards the poverty alleviation and social development component.

Funds towards the food security and nutrition component.

Funds towards the community health component.

Funds towards the environmental and resource management, and the provision of sanitation and safe clean water component.

Funds towards the institutional capacity-building and partnerships component.

Funds towards the marketing linkages and sustainable agriculture component.

Funds towards the community education component.

Funds towards the women. Youth, children and disabled people component.

Funds towards the networking, advocacy and lobbying work component.

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Funds towards the humanitarian and sociological component.

Funds towards the monitoring and evaluation component.

Funds towards the project management component.

RUNNING INPUTS

Office Recurrent

Office space, stationery, sundries, banking, auditing, and newspapers.

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS

International travelling, fuel, vehicle maintenance, licence and insurance, communication facilities and amenities, e-mail and internet.

MANPOWER

Director General; Director of Projects; Poverty-alleviation and Social Development Programme Manager; Food Security and Nutrition Programme Manager; Community Health Programme Manager; Environment and Natural Resource Management Programme Manager; Institutional Capacity-building and Partnerships Programme Manager; Marketing Linkages & Sustainable Agriculture Programme Manager; Community Education Programme Manager; Women Youth, Children and Disabled People Programme Manager; Networking & Advocacy Programme Manager; Humanitarian Support Programme Manager; Project Management Programme Manager; Monitoring & Evaluation Officer; Finance and Administrative Assistant; Management and Information Systems Analyst; Livelihoods Forum Co-ordinator; Accountant; Office Assistant; Project facilitation Team Coordinators; Project Implementation Officers; and Community Volunteers.

SUPPLIES AND FACILITIES

Material Production

Research

Training

Education

Promotion

19.5 Marketing

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The ECODET Project will develop a comprehensive plan to solicit corporate sponsorship and private donations. As part of the marketing plan, the ECODET Project will aggressively brand its identity with the use of printed collateral materials. The ECODET Project will also develop multi-media presentations aimed at evoking positive responses from the targeted audiences. The ECODET Project aims at cultivating cordial relations and gaining favour with “like kind” community empowerment and welfare improvement service organizations in Uganda and throughout the rest of the world. In addition, the ECODET Project will network with selected philanthropic organizations, public charities and foundations. With such affiliations and networking activity, the ECODET Project expects to galvanize crucial support and garner more opportunities for more people in privileged situations to embrace the ECODET Project service structure model and commit a sizeable portion of their resource endowments, energies, talents, time and goodwill to the cause.

20.0 COSTS & BENEFITS

The direct economic benefits from the project are expected to be in five areas:

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Production impact: main effects on production will arise from access to crop and livestock technologies and advice, which will focus on improving the resilience of farmers to uncertain agricultural environments and the growing impact of climate change. There would also be benefits from increased production in village common lands (grazing and forestry in particular), and from enterprise and business opportunities. This should help increase the total output and its value from land and non-land assets.

Employment impact: short-term employment would be available from various physical activities through partnership with the relevant District Local Government project-support components. Long-term employment benefits would be available due to increased economic activities in target areas, as well as strengthened linkages with urban labour markets through the Migration Support component.

Poverty reduction impact: this will result from the cumulative impact of interventions through the following: increased earnings from land and non-land based activities for the poor; increased availability of staple foods, reduced levels of debt as a result of improved incomes and from improved access to financial services; improved access to existing social protection schemes; and, accent laid on ensuring more equitable distribution of benefits for the poorest.

Capacity building impact: arising from improved effectiveness and poverty focus of government schemes, as well as investment in local level institutions through the Community Management Committees. This could arise from: better skilled personnel; better skill mix in institutions; enhanced organizational capacity; and increased ability among primary stakeholders to articulate their needs and access various development Projects.

Policy and system impact: this should arise from the project’s efforts to work in a “programme mode”, and from the proposed work on improving planning systems (micro planning and block planning), and policy formulation.

Activities to be undertaken in the project will be, to a large extent, demand-driven. However, the basket of choices for rural people also needs to be expanded, and people need to have information on what each economic option entails. The choices that poor people make are also often constrained by elite capture at different levels. While planning for detailed interventions, emphasis will be placed on ensuring their cost-effectiveness and adhering to value for money principles.

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21.0 SUSTAINABILITY

The project-trained community volunteers, and various exposures and training provided to the Community Management Committees [CMCs], the operations and maintenance of the completed works would be ensured. In addition, the CMCs will also be able to submit proposals for drawing funds from ECODET Micro-Credit Account for their future activities. The SHGs, based on the intensive two-year training received from the master trainers would continue to provide guidance to

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the farmers on organic cultivation and the farmers would have been aware of the large benefits, it brings to them and more over, the FFS [Farmer Field School] approach is a self-sustaining one.

Institutionally, the ECODET Project will make considerable efforts to promote and sustain SHGs, CMCs, and producer companies/cooperatives. The CMCs would continue to monitor and support the SHGs ensuring their sustainability, besides undertaking a diverse range of activities to fulfil the members’ needs. The CMCs will evolve over a period of time, the goal is to make these institutions community funded and managed. The women- and youth-centred SHGs will also be linked to banks/MFIs and the development assistants/master trainers nurturing these institutions are likely to be retained by these financial institutions on commission basis ensuring the sustainability of SHGs. Producer companies/cooperatives linked with banks and the private sector would be able to sustain on their own operations.

The staff deployed with the ECODET Project’s Project Management Unit [PMU] and Project Facilitation Teams [PFTs] will be on contract basis and their primary objective is to transfer their expertise and experience to the SHGs and the village-based CMCs and prepare a framework for up-scaling. This would have been achieved during the project implementation period. Thereafter, the activities would be continued by the respective SHGs and CMCs with the support of the ECODET Project and other experienced CBOs and the market players.

22.0 MONITORING AND EVALUATION

22.1 Final Audits

Auditors will be hired to conduct both financial and social audits, one year to the end of each two-year project phase to reconcile any outstanding issues and prepare for the next phase of the project. The planned audit will examine plans at the inception and re-examine findings and recommendations provided in the course of implementation. A financial analyst will be hired to conduct a financial and operating systems audit using generally and internationally accepted auditing

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standards. Based on the audit findings, recommendations and follow up will be for future project use.

22.2 Monitoring & Evaluation

22.2.1 Effective monitoring and evaluation is particularly important for all ECODET projects, and will require the development of a detailed monitoring and evaluation framework for each successive phase. This will build on experiences of the monitoring framework in the preceding project phase and be developed during the inception period. The framework must be sufficient to track all of the indicators of activity and impact which are important for each of the outputs. At the same time, monitoring and evaluation must be cost-effective, and should not distract effort from implementation.

22.2.2 At the outset of the next two-year phase a baseline survey covering the new villages and households will be commissioned. It will feed into the comprehensive MIS [Management Information System] which is being developed. It is expected that the design, piloting, and implementation of the MIS and baseline survey will be subcontracted to an organisation with appropriate specialist expertise. The role of this organisation will be to establish a robust and user friendly information tracking system, helping the decision making process and monitoring the progress, both qualitative and quantitative, in close partnership with ECODET, stakeholders, the Community Management Committees and the collaborating Donor Agency.

22.2.3 The purpose of the baseline survey is to provide a benchmark against which the impact of ECODET’s phased projects will be measured. It will also assist the Project in the identification of the poorest households, and individuals, specific interventions. Information gathered during the baseline survey will play an important role in the development of the ECODET Project MIS database. It will need to be supplemented with additional studies on specific issues and vulnerable groups. For example, a specific study on the impact on women and female headed households in particular is envisaged as part of the impact assessment study.

22.2.4 In addition, ECODET has a particular emphasis on lesson learning and dissemination of the experiences in using this approach through the Community Management Committees [CMCs], both to inform policy-making at the local and national levels and to inform other development interventions the concerned project implementation areas and beyond.

22.2.5 The monitoring system must, in addition to providing information for Project evaluation and impact assessment also provide the material from which lessons can be learned and policy for promoting the livelihoods of tribal communities developed.

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22.2.6 A workshop was held in November 2008, to review monitoring and evaluation lessons across similar Projects. The following key lessons from that have a bearing on the next phase of ECODET projects are captured below:

Establish baseline information which can be used as a starting point for all Project activities, both as a management tool for targeting but also to assess progress against key indicators;

To incorporate best practices from other Projects when establishing information management systems in order to facilitate cost-effective collection of date and storage of information

To ensure that monitoring and evaluation systems provide appropriate, timely and sufficient information that is easy to apply and is an effective management tool;

To plan the monitoring and evaluation framework to take into account the scope for wider convergence with existing government systems;

To ensure a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods and to use participatory techniques and self-assessment tools

Actively engage stakeholders in developing monitoring and evaluation systems and in the review processes.

22.3 Performance Indicators, Targets and Achievements

The performance indicators and targets are summarized in an Indicator Performance Tracking Table (IPTT) as presented in the table below. The annual targets in the IPTT will be estimated based on the projected annual increase in population to be served, resources available (personnel and materials) and time of initiating and activity. Some base values of monitoring and impact indicators are to be determined (tbd) after the baseline survey and secondary data from the field plus relevant departments in the districts of operation.

INDICATOR PERFORMANCE TRACKING TABLE (IPTT)

Indicator Baseline FY09 Target

FY09 Achieved

FY10 % Achieved

…..FY10 LOA LOA

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vs Target Target Target Achieved

Objective

Impact indicator

Evaluation workshops will be held annually to assess progress, challenges and necessary reviews will be made that will roll into the following years’ plans and budgets.

23.0 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Information Management is another line function that will be directly under the Director of Projects, independent of monitoring and other functions.

It will assess and periodically review information and decision support needs of communities, and the Project (all functions and departments). Based on this, it will develop:

> integrated data collection formats and procedures to ensure that all data elements are captured close to the point of occurrence in space and time. It will avoid loading communities and operational staff. It will avoid unnecessary and repetitive data capture.

> protocols for eliminating/minimizing errors close to the point of occurrence in space and time

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> networked computers for recording captured data

> programs and procedures for integrating data into a relational database, leading to meaningful analysis

> timely (periodic) customized report formats for all stakeholders, particularly communities

> access and procedures for ‘on demand’ non-standard querying by all stakeholders, particularly communities

An information management plan will be developed in the first year of the project, and reviewed regularly.

Information outputs will be fed back to concerned stakeholders to enable performance improvement.

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24.0 LIVELIHOODS FORUM

The Livelihoods Forum will consist of eminent people and representatives of institutions of repute, with interests and achievements in areas relevant to livelihoods, poverty reduction, equity & justice, natural resource management, and good governance.

The purpose of the Livelihoods Forum is to

> provide a pool of intellectual and professional resources for the project

> provide research inputs relevant to the ECODET Project

> identify lessons from project experience relevant to state and national policies.

> help the ECODET Project to access external knowledge and information

Members of the Livelihoods Forum will be

> networked to the project,

> invited to workshops and events organised/promoted by the project,

> invited to offer critical comments and suggestions from time to time,

> encouraged to convey lessons demonstrated by the project to the larger world.

There will be a Steering Group consisting of up to seven eminent persons invited in their personal capacities, from government, civil society and professionals, plus one representative of the financing donor agency. The Director General will be Member-Secretary of the Livelihoods Forum. The Steering Group will be constituted through consultations between ECODET and the financing donor agency.

The Steering Group will engage with the ECODET Project on a regular basis. It will develop themes and issues for discussion and research. It will enlarge, foster and catalyze the Livelihoods Forum. It will develop researchable issues relevant to the project, and issues of wider interest. It will oversee and guide research that follows. Research and related work will be contracted out, using funds available to the project.

Professional and administrative support to the Livelihoods Forum will be provided by a small full-time cell within the ECODET Project, headed by Livelihoods Forum Coordinator, reporting to the Director General.

In the first year of the Project, the Steering Group will be constituted and a research and action plan developed.

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25.0 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS, RISKS AND ASSUMPTIONS

25.1 Environmental Assessments

The project is designed to contribute to the restoration and improvement of the ecological balance in the target areas. The range of menu on natural resource management related issues include soil and water conservation, improving soil health for agriculture, rain water harvesting, restoration of traditional agro-biodiversity, livestock, and so on. The project design has incorporated activities to mitigate the effects of droughts and the promotion of low-input, contract organic farming and agricultural diversifications. Adequate attention has been given to incorporate environmentally friendly and environment enhancing activities in the overall design. Therefore, the project is classified under NEMA [National Environment Management Authority] Category “B”.

25.2 Major Risks

There are 2 key risks from a social development perspective.

The first is that Community Management Committees may not have the skills and incentives to orient their activities and resources to target the poorer and the more marginalized households. With a considerable amount of resources flowing into the rural-based community development system not just from the ECODET Project but also from other government-financed community development programmes and other donor agencies, the stakes of the vested interest groups are going to be substantial. It will call for a sustained and significant effort, particularly by PFTs [Project Facilitation Teams], to ensure that the resources reach the deserving. Specific mechanisms and tools to do this will be incorporated into the Phase 2 Operational Guidelines.

The second risk is to that the ECODET Project may be unable to attract, retain and develop staff with the necessary skills and experience to tackle this challenging agenda of gender and social inclusion. With the scaling up and new emphases of Phase 2, the Project will need to find more competent and sensitive staff (including preferably women). Many of the ECODET Project areas may not be preferred areas for better-qualified people and for women in particular because of poor facilities (housing, school for children, health services) and poor connectivity. The ECODET Project will respond to this challenge in the first phase by recruiting local people and building their capacities. It will still do the same in the second phase but the capacities required will be of a higher order.

25.3 Other Categorically-defined Risks

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The risks are deemed medium, but with prospects for high return. This sub-section outlines the key external and institutional risks which may arise and specific mitigation measures that will be undertaken to handle these risks.

A. A major natural disaster occurs (Medium probability, medium impact). Major disasters (droughts in particular) may occur in the Western and Mid-Western regions of project implementation, and with climate change, such a scenario may not be far from reality. Their impacts are likely to be localised and could adversely affect programme outcomes if a particular region is badly hit. The ECODET Project seeks to enhance the resilience of the poor to cope with such shocks.

B. Political priority to support decentralisation and the Community Development Committee structures is not sustained consistently either in time or across different line departments (medium probability, medium impact). The central impetus behind decentralisation remains strong. However, there is a need for a more supportive governance environment. Decentralisation initiatives are often dependent on the response of specific politicians or officials. The ECODET Project seeks to demonstrate positive lessons from the engagement with the Community Management Committees, and to communicate this effectively to key decision makers at both District and Sub-County levels in order to broaden political acceptance. There will be a need to identify particular champions of change and build up a critical mass of support for decentralisation. The Livelihoods Forum will have a particularly critical role to play in this.

C. Political interests, particularly in the run up to the 2011 District and Sub-County Local Council elections place pressures on resource allocations and decision making at the local level (medium probability, medium impact). This will be mitigated by a) presence of clear standard operating procedures and manuals within the project on decision making, resource allocations etc; b) clear selection criteria for recruitment of ECODET Project Facilitation Teams and staff which screen out those without robust management experience or those most vulnerable to political influence.

D. Wider district policy is not open to influence by evidence on how policy, institutions and processes impact on the lives of poor people (medium probability, high impact). The communications strategy will need to explicitly address the issue of communicating the vision of ECODET at all levels, as well as promoting regular updates of policy relevant information to key decision makers. Regular interaction with key decision makers at district level is envisaged. Civil society will play an important role in assisting ECODET to build a consensus around what needs to happen if poverty and hunger are to be reduced for the poor rural populations in Mubende and Rukungiri districts. The Livelihoods Forum provides a major means of mitigating this risk.

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E. Rent seeking behaviour continues to constrain the abilities of poor people to access their rights and entitlements (medium probability, high impact). The livelihoods of poor people are constrained by rent seeking behaviour at local levels. Phase 2 proposes to use a number of tools to strengthen transparency and accountability both of the Community Management Committees to its membership, as well as between line departments, service providers and the Community Management Committees.

F. Key local service providers fail to respond to increased demand from the Community Management Committees or to adopt innovations in service delivery (medium probability, medium impact). Phase 2 envisages a number of close partnerships with other programmes which plan to make inputs which are complementary to the ECODET Project . Close partnerships will enable SPMU to flag up any weaknesses in implementation at an early stage. The Livelihoods Forum and the District-level Executive Committee will provide a mechanism to raise and address these constraints.

G. The funds are not used for the intended purpose or are misappropriated (medium probability, medium impact). A 2007 assessment of financial systems of most medium- to large-sized CBOs has identified three areas where systems must be strengthened (internal audit, roll out of the Financial manual, and 6 monthly reviews of external audit recommendations). A plan of action is in place to strengthen systems and should be monitored by the financing donor agency on a quarterly basis. A number of mitigating measures have been identified to improve accountability and transparency specifically at the Community Management Committee level.

Risk Matrix Summary

Impact

Probability

HIGH MEDIUM LOW

HIGH

MEDIUM D, E A, C, F, B, G

LOW

25.4 Assumptions

Political Stability is maintained in the country and the Kingdom region Stakeholders fulfilling their roles as partners in the programmes Effective collaboration of national and local CBOs Availability of appropriate personnel for the programs

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Target groups will participate in the planning, implementation and monitoring processes

26.0 TROUBLESHOOTING

This project document is not designed to anticipate and address every possible contingency. A number of unforeseeable contingencies are sure to arise. The Project will respond to these with flexibility and imagination.

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Where a competent authority is not available, and there is need for immediate action, a committee of three persons may take decisions on behalf of the competent authority. The committee will include concerned subject matter specialist, and two peers of equal rank in the same unit. Such decisions will be recorded in writing, and submitted to the competent authority for ratification at the earliest opportunity. Reference to higher authorities will be made only when problems cannot be solved otherwise.

In addition, the following ‘troubleshooting teams’ are constituted:

One at Project HQ (coordinators Admin/Finance, Gender & Equity, Livelihoods Forum)

One each at district level (officers in charge Admin/Finance, Gender & Equity, the concerned PFT [Project Facilitation Team] Coordinator)

Any member of the Project team, any associate or person from communities should feel free to bring to the notice of the nearest ‘troubleshooting team’ any issue that requires special handling. Discussions and proceedings of troubleshooting teams will be informal, and need not necessarily be recorded. The Project Monitoring, Learning & Evaluation Coordinator will frequently interact with troubleshooting teams at all levels, and feedback lessons to the Project.

27.0 DETAILED BUDGET

The following is an indicative two-year ECODET Project Budget, which will be further refined during the three month inception period. The participatory planning processes would decide the funds per project component and the types of livelihood interventions to be supported through donor Financial Aid [FA] funds. The

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constituent annual budgets will be prepared as part of the annual plans of operations developed by the ECODET Project and agreed with the donors.

The second phase of the project will be to establish a central revolving fund where savings realized from ECODET-initiated micro-enterprises will be consolidated will be rotated through a central fund as the core part of the micro-credit system to support and sustain subsequent village-level micro-enterprises for new entrants to the system. The central fund will also function as a repository account for any further funding assistance towards meeting the costs of Phase II project activities and collective micro-enterprise investments that cannot be adequately funded by community savings and other generic resources created by the SHGs and any other group socio-economic initiatives.

NO DESCRIPTION

DONOR CONTRIBUTION

ECODET/COMMU-NITY

CONTRIBUTION

TOTAL BUDGET

USD USD USD

A POVERTY ALLEVIATION & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

1 Rural Poverty alleviation 0 11,762 11,762

2 Awareness programmes on health, poverty-alleviation & development 0 13,457 13,457

3 Uplifting conditions of needy groups

0 8,175 8,175

4 Stimulate economic activity to improve rural livelihoods

0 10,319 10,319

5 Tackle social limitations to community development

0 6,205 6,205

6 Create employment opportunities

0 7,025 7,025

7 Set up, manage and implement social development programmes 0 12,629 12,629

Sub-Total 0 69,572 69,572

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B FOOD SECURITY & NUTRITION

1 Integrate nutritional support and food security activities 0 13,588 13,588

2 Increase household incomes through environmentally-sensitive food production practices

0 20,500 20,500

Sub-Total 0 34,088 34,088

C COMMUNITY HEALTH

1 Increase access to HIV/AIDS specialized care and support services 5,023 0 5,023

2 Advocacy to improve care and support for PLWHAs

0 5,670 5,670

3 Prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in rural areas of operation through publicity 0 5,193 5,193

4 Assist in implementing any community-initiated HIV/AIDS programmes 0 5,474 5,474

5 Sensitizing communities about HIV/AIDS prevention and care for PLWHAs 0 6,791 6,791

6 Promote general health awareness and sensitization campaigns 0 4,125 4,125

7 Promote family nutrition and educate communities on disease-prevention strategies

0 5,288 5,288

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8 Fight the spread of malaria thru distribution of ITNs [Insecticide Treated Nets] 7,600 0 7,600

Sub-Total 12,623 32,541 45,164

D ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT + SANITATION & SAFE WATER PROGRAMMES

1 Promote environmental awareness programmes and proper sanitation and access to clean and safe water for the target areas

0 20,115 20,115

2 Mobilize and organize rural communities to undertake and participate in natural resource management and development activities

0 20,124 20,124

Sub-Total 0 40,239 40,239

E INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY-BUILDING & PARTNERSHIPS

1 Promote skills development and project management capacities with the partner CBO’s and other agencies and their networks

0 15,000 15,000

2 Promote and facilitate IGAs

0 8,911 8,911

3 Build and strengthen the capacity of community-based institutions 0 7,707 7,707

4 Apply a revolving funds system of micro-credit lending to village-based

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groups 25,000 0 25,000

5 Instigate and support the formation of rural Self Help Groups [SHGs] 20,000 0 20,000

Sub-Total 45,000 31,618 76,618

F MARKETING LINKAGES & SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

1 Source and provide agricultural inputs to improve agricultural production in project areas

18,303 0 18,303

2 Introduce new crop varieties

16,500 0 16,500

3 Raise agricultural activity through activation of local extension services and marketing support

0 6,975 6,975

4 Strengthen and expand the existing Goat Outreach Project [Goat Credit Scheme]

23,000 0 23,000

5 Encourage and support rural poor to take up other livestock-rearing activities 0 6,474 6,474

6 Introduce and sustain the development of new agricultural practices 7,046 0 7,046

Sub-Total 64,849 13,449 78,298

G COMMUNITY EDUCATION

1 Promote Functional Adult Literacy

0 11,025 11,025

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2 Promote computer skills and literacy in the rural communities of operation 0 10,428 10,428

Sub-Total 0 21,453 21,453

H WOMEN, YOUTH, CHILDREN & DISABLED PEOPLE

1 Economically empower rural women groups to improve and sustain their livelihoods

10,531 0 10,531

2 Promote women-based group work

0 4,500 4,500

3 Support Orphaned and Vulnerable Children [OVCs] in education and other humanitarian support

7,333 0 7,333

4 Promote the well-being of disabled people

0 3,609 3,609

5 Mobilize and galvanize youth into socio-economic development and empowerment groups

0 10,667 10,667

Sub-Total 17,864 18,776 36,640

I NETWORKING AND ADVOCAY WORK

1 Mobilize resources and facilities from key stakeholders, government and donors to implement achievable community programmes

8,790 0 8,790

2 Build and strengthen strategic alliances and networks for joint efforts to maximize and effect

0 8,754 8,754

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change

Sub-Total 8,790 8,754 17,544

J HUMANITARIAN AND SOCIOLOGICAL WORK

1 Identify critical gaps in policy areas and facilitate participation in activities that foster understanding of all aspects of human rights issues, peace, unity and solidarity in the grassroots communities for national development

0 15,965 15,965

Sub-Total 0 15,965 15,965

K MONITORING & EVALUATION

1 Strengthen ECODET’s monitoring and evaluation component 52,307 0 52,307

Sub-Total 52,307 0 52,307

L PROJECT MANAGEMENT

1 Strengthen and enhance staff expertise to provide services to stakeholders on sub-project development and financing

38,000 0 38,000

2 Try to converge agricultural interventions established in the project area in both the public and private sectors

25,156 0 25,156

Sub-Total 63,156 0 63,156

M

N

CAPITAL COSTS

OPERATIONAL COSTS

79,109

98,295

0

0

79,107

98,295

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O

P

RUNNING INPUTS

TRANSPORT & COMM

29,724

48,300

0

0

29,724

48,300

TOTAL 520,015 286,455 806,470

28.0 CHALLENGES

1] Development of a more integrated approach to the support of needy people in the target project areas of our focal interest.

2] Bringing more partners on board.

3] More funding and support is needed to replicate the innovative practices carried out by the ECODET Project in other areas beyond the first pilot project areas in Mubende and Rukungiri Districts.

4] Financing limitations at the moment constrain our capacity to extend the Goat Outreach Project to other physically and socially disadvantaged and economically deprived communities in other deserving districts of Uganda.

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5] Currently offering limited rural smallholder farmer training sessions owing to lack of demonstration materials, physical assets, materials and other essential agricultural inputs to make the program an effective and high-impact one with measurable indicators of success.

6] ECODET Project not able to conduct a comprehensive, holistic and wide-area community health and education campaigns due to lack of adequate resource- and material-capacity to engage in such social service programs [including transport facilities and other critical logistics necessary for field operations].

7] Due to the overwhelming demand for our services [as evidenced from our preliminary surveys and other baseline studies on the ground] in the districts of Mbarara, Ntungamo, Bushenyi, Kabale, Kamwenge, Kyenjojo, Kabarole, Kasese, Masaka, Mityana, Sembabule, Kabula, Kiboga and Kibaale Districts, there is an absolute need to acquire a plot and set up a coordinating office [preferably in a centralized location like Mbarara Town or even Kampala] to smoothen and effectively administer our field operations instead of hiring costly offices in downtown Kampala that clearly puts a strain on our operational efficiency and sufficiency.

8] The Project still faces stiff challenges in outsourcing the key inputs and resources from donor organizations and government agencies due to limited publicity and networking outreach. Such critical inputs that are at the centre of Project’s continuity and success such as seeds, agricultural implements, demonstration materials and teaching aids, anti-malarial drugs and ITNs, audio-visual aids for health education and sensitization campaigns, water-purification chemicals, water-drilling equipment and machinery, tree seedlings, simple appropriate technology equipment, and micro-credit seed capital are all lacking as a result of this being a very young project that has not yet built and consolidated its linkages and contacts with important stakeholders.

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29.0 ANNEXES

Annex 1: The Goat Outreach Project [Goat Credit Scheme]

Introduction

The Goat Outreach Project aims to alleviate food insecurity and to diversify the livelihood of subsistence farmers in its mandate areas. The project seeks to link economic rehabilitation through a credit-in-kind approach, with a strong focus on gender and the empowerment of women farmers. The Goat Outreach Project was identified after the importance of goat in the farming systems of Mubende and Rukungiri Districts was recognized. The primary objective of the Goat Outreach Project is to improve the poor rural farmers’ welfare by generating income and promoting milk consumption. This annex examines the effects of the Goat Outreach Project on the rural poor farmer beneficiaries in the focal project areas.

Project Conceptual Framework

Credit is essential in poor rural economies in a variety of ways. It is required to finance working capital and to invest in fixed capital, particularly among farmers too

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poor to accumulate much savings. Credit is a key input in every development program. This is particularly true for rural development because so long as sufficient credit is not provided to the development programs in the poor segments of society, the goal of development cannot be achieved.

The motivating belief has been that loans are an essential part of various input packages prescribed as part of agricultural investment projects designed to introduce modern technologies and thus to stimulate change and growth in agriculture. Credit is one of the essential factors to accelerate the rate of adoption of modern technologies, increase agricultural productivity, and improve the living conditions of small-scale farmers. Access to credit would enable small-scale farmers to use improved farm inputs such as fertilizer and seeds as well as to improve tillage and husbandry practices.

Need

Many families in rural Uganda are looking for ways to generate income to ensure adequate nourishment and healthcare.

Rural poor famers in the mandate area showed a willingness and capacity to generate income by rearing goats but lacked the necessary capital to initiate such a project.

Phase One Pilot Testing Sites

Nyakiju C.O.U. – Buyanja Sub-County; Rukungiri District Musozi Village – Kiganda Sub-County; Mubende District – where 17

smallholder farmers have so far benefited from the Goat Credit Scheme from September 2007 to date.

Goat Distribution Methodology

The goats are given to groups of poor rural farmers [Self Help Groups] and also to individuals [especially women] with a commitment and passion to succeed. Each group may consist of 100 poor rural farmers, and each rural farmer in one group is assigned a counterpart in the other. The rural farmers often targeted are the poorest of the poor, or women who have no collateral in land or sale-able assets, as well as no livestock. Women-headed households are also given priority although women farmers from men-headed households are also included. The farmer beneficiaries are selected by the local Community Management Committees [CMCs], and occasionally assisted by the Village Councils [LCIs] and local C.O.U. congregation network structures and development committees. Locally adapted goats of 8 to 12 months old and free of visible defects are purchased from local markets. The goats are first quarantined for ten days and then examined for any disease-related problems.

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Training of Farmers

Farmers are trained in all aspects of goat management and production, including housing, feeding, health care, and record keeping. With regard to the goat’s general management, feeding and health care, group-training sessions are also conducted in their local villages. From time to time, the ECODET Project organizes a team consisting of goat production experts from Makerere University to make regular visits to follow up on the development of the goats and the performance of the farmers in the pilot project areas. The university team also administers drugs and additional health care advice when goats become sick. The women farmers are also required to transfer the first two female goats born and raised at each farm to their counterparts in the second group of farmers. To coordinate this agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding is signed between the rural farmers and the University.

The Community Management Committee [CMC] consisting of village elders and representatives from the District’s Dept. of Production [concerned with agricultural production] have been established to enforce the repayment of loans and the transfer of the goats to the counterpart poor rural farmers in the second group. Very few problems arise from this sort of arrangement-mostly because the counterparts between the two groups often reside in the same village and thus are linked by kinship ties and social obligation. The few cases when the transfer of goats is not conducted is due to the death of the first round of goat stock.

Results and Benefits

The targeted poor rural farmers managed to generate income from goat sales. As a result, they acquired assets and diversified their livelihoods to include the raising of poultry, cows, oxen, and donkeys. Moreover, they invested in the purchase of improved agricultural inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Such a multiplying effect helped to increase crop and animal production, which in turn enhanced the household’s capacity to send their children to school and improve the family’s welfare. As a result of the project, considerable changes were observed in poor rural farmers’ welfare and their attitudes towards goat production and management, and their capacity to share their new skills and knowledge with other rural farmers in their neighborhoods.

There is evidence that a growing segment of poor rural farmers are able to acquire milk from their goats, estimated to be 0.5 to 2 liters per day. It is clear that the income from goat sales has had a substantial impact on the rural poor by enabling them to secure their food supply and improve their livelihoods. Providing rural farmers with goats enhances their ability to

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provide adequate nutrition to their families via the direct use of goats products, such as milk and meat, or through the use of cash derived from the sale of live animals or their products. Cash income becomes especially important for families to pay for education or to buy other household or farm necessities. The sale of excess livestock and livestock products also had a beneficial effect on the region’s economy.

The goat credit project has shown a marked success at raising living standards and strengthening household’s livelihoods. Improvements in housing condition of rural farmers were observed. For instance, the 53% of rural farmers who owned an iron-roofed house before the project increased to 85% afterwards. About 47% of the rural farmers who owned grass-roofed house before the goat credit scheme reduced to 15%.

The rural farmers are now more confident they can get through the dry season without food aid. They are able to send their children to school and to pay for better health care for their families. The integration of milk into children’s diet improved their nutritional status and reduced their susceptibility to disease. Families are now able to eat meat occasionally slaughtering a goat for a festive occasion, or for when an ill family member needs a protein richer diet.

Furthermore, owing to the growing population density in the more arable areas of Uganda and the subsequent shrinkage of grazing land, an increasing number of small plot farmers may be unable to maintain a large ruminant such as a cow for subsistence milk production. As evident in the project results achieved so far, producing goat’s milk has proven to be a viable substitute under such circumstances.

Relative to cattle and sheep grazing, raising goats is more productive in the district’s unfavorable arid ecosystems or in its agricultural highlands that face pressure from high population [e.g. in some areas of Rukungiri District]. Consequently, goat production in these areas plays a key role in rural prosperity given its various agro-product possibilities and its socio-economic benefits including food security, income generation, nutrition, and farm system stability. By virtue of its hardiness to adapt and thrive in diverse ecosystems constrained by climatic stresses and resource limitations, goat farming is clearly a viable strategy for improving the livelihood of the rural poor in developing countries of Africa and Asia.

While animal products such as meat, eggs, cow’s milk and butter are more important as sources of cash revenue than as means of fulfilling nutritional needs, goat milk is utilized for home consumption particularly by family

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members, such as children, lactating mothers and the diseased, who have more critical protein requirements.

Benefits to Women

Credit delivers a range of particular benefits when targeted to low-income women. It is seen as a critical input for increasing women’s employment in small scale enterprises, and it is expected to encourage the adoption of improved agricultural technologies that can enhance the productivity of women’s household, income-generating and expenditure-saving work. An increase in women’s income can facilitate and improve the livelihood enhancing tasks women perform for their households as the brokers of the health, nutrition, and education of other household members. It is also argued that credit represents a form of economic empowerment that can enhance women’s self-confidence and status within the family, as independent producers and providers of a valuable cash resource to the household economy.

As a result, the women in the program have been greatly empowered by having a regular source of surplus income to meet the medical, educational, and nutritional needs of their families. 

In addition, men in the villages admit that such economic empowerment of their women has helped to curb promiscuity, thus mitigating HIV/AIDS.

Requirements

Capital to purchase goats Donation of goats or other livestock

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Annex 2: Peripheral Project Support Staff

Volunteers

As ECODET advances and unfolds its rural community-development and empowerment, it expects to gain invaluable benefit from the efforts of both local and international volunteers. International experience shows that these motivated individuals have lots of goodwill, time and capacity to leave lasting impressions in the communities where they volunteer by working alongside CBO/NGO employees to build that organization's capacity to work more effectively in the communities that they serve.

With the gradual evolution of the ECODET Project, we expect to host hundreds of English- and French-speaking volunteers from countries such as India, South Africa, Canada, Latin America, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Kenya, Nigeria, Norway, Uganda, Sweden, and the United States to participate in helping ECODET to achieve its mission. ECODET expects to see these volunteers leaving significant legacies in the country-side districts where they will have worked. College students, recent graduates, working professionals, retirees, are among the many occupational categories that we can look up to serve as volunteers and interns for ECODET.

Volunteers are given high levels of responsibility, and in return they have the opportunity to accomplish meaningful work in collaboration with ECODET's employees and local community members. As a result, volunteers return home with multicultural perspectives and a wealth of experiences that stay with them personally and professionally for the rest of their lives.

The Facilitator

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ECODET’s Director of Projects and Programme Managers select facilitators based on past experience, level of education (a minimum of five years of CBO/NGO work or previous experience in the ECODET programme or other nation-wide community-oriented projects), availability during the entire 24-month programme, willingness to work in isolated rural areas, respect for villagers, and enthusiasm for the programme.

Facilitators are the backbone of the ECODET programme. Since women in Uganda are at the core of agricultural production work, it is only a natural outcome that the majority of the facilitators in the field will be women - many of whom will be former or active participants in the ECODET program. Before facilitating each of the different ECODET modules, these facilitators will be taken through an orientation course in rural community development work and coordination know-how. The facilitators are typically placed in a community of their same language and ethnic group, preferably close to their own home village. ECODET also expects to see these facilitators sticking with the program for many years to come, thus reducing training costs and providing stability to the organization.

Project Implementation Officers [PIOs]

Program Implementation Officers [PIOs] oversee the work of community facilitators and report to the Director of Projects on program implementation.  ECODET supervisors are frequently selected from a pool of experienced facilitators. They visit seven to ten community centers at least twice each month to provide support, collect program data, work with Community Management Committees, and share pedagogical strategies to improve participant learning. They disseminate best practices; as a result, new ideas quickly spread to other facilitators in the region. They also help organize inter-village meetings and regional events.

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Annex 3: Elaboration on some Core Project Programmes

The Empowered Communities Network

Throughout the course of ECODET’s Phase I 24-month Community Empowerment Programme [CEP], Community Management Committees [CMCs] will develop the management skills necessary to undertake and implement diverse development projects.  These CMCs have enormous potential to lead community empowerment efforts and to help macro-level development projects gain the necessary grassroots perspective from the very communities those projects aim to help.  In order to leverage this potential, it will be necessary for ECODET to create the Empowered Communities Network [ECN] to support the increasingly large number of CMCs that will have been trained through ECODET’s CEP.  The goal of the ECN is to help the participating CMCs to initiate and lead their own grassroots development processes by facilitating partnerships with other local and international organizations. 

ECODET sees its future success stemming from the organization’s belief that development is a collaborative process. The CMCs themselves embody ECODET’s vision for sustainable development: democratic, community-based organizations that consult and coordinate with partner organizations in order to meet the needs of the community and improve the well-being of all community members.  

With the necessary development tools and leadership skills in hand, CMCs can develop and implement specific action plans through subcommittees focused on topics of importance to the community: from environmental issues, to community health topics, from education and social mobilization, to income generating activities and child protection. With ECODET’s collaborative approach as the cornerstone of the ECN, and with the CMCs as the vehicle for this collaboration, ECODET hopes to link these trained CMCs with government authorities, other development NGOs, international organizations, and other service providers in order

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to connect community-identified development goals with domestic and internationally funded resources. 

Donor funds enable CMCs to be agents of their own development and undertake projects at the grass-roots level that directly improve the lives of community members. ECODET will also help to link NGO partners, microfinance institutions, businesses and government services with ECN members that are:

  - Developing community health, education, environmental or economic projects   - Identifying income generating projects to implement and grow community solidarity funds

  - Seeking training in specialized domains, such as sustainable agriculture, natural resources management, etc.

Enhancing Economic Opportunities

Many African economies have been experiencing growth over the past few years. Unemployment remains high, however, and economic opportunities are limited, particularly in rural areas. ECODET is addressing these issues by providing villagers with:

capacity building in basic math, small project-management, and budgeting skills;

opportunities to partner with local and international NGOs and lending institutions;

microcredit activities.

The curriculum of the Community Empowerment Program [CEP] includes lessons on simple literacy, math, project management, and budgeting skills, which help participants successfully plan and launch small businesses in their villages. Problem-solving lessons encourage participants to set financial goals and plan for the future.

Through the Empowered Communities Network [ECN], ECODET helps communities partner with local and international organizations willing to work together on small business ventures and microcredit programmes.

Finally, ECODET provides funds and training to microcredit associations in selected villages. Successful small business projects have included:

the sale of staples such as bananas, maize and beans, and millet; the production and sale of locally made bricks, handicrafts, etc.;

collective projects such as community gardens and animal-raising cooperatives.

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ECODET’s microcredit activities offer participants, particularly women, the means to start a small business and earn an independent income. Access to credit encourages entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency while opening up new opportunities for income generation. Achieving a measure of economic security is critical to developing a sense of autonomy in the family and the community. 

Empowering Women and Girls

Among ECODET-trained Community Management Committees [CMCs] in the target project areas, over 80% are coordinated by women and composed of at least nine women members. With those experiences, women are able to go on to roles in local councils and regional federations or associations. As they participate in the ECODET programme, women:

learn to make important decisions for themselves and their children concerning education, health, hygiene, and their families' expenses;

become active members of CMCs engaged in creating positive social change;

run small businesses and participate in microcredit activities to raise money for their families;

organize and lead campaigns for increased birth registration, vaccinations, pre- and postnatal consultations, and girls' enrollment in school;

emerge as leaders on a regional level by creating associations to safeguard human rights and travelling to raise awareness in other villages.

In an area of the world where women have often struggled to make their voices heard, female participants in the ECODET programme are proving that women can break gender barriers and take active leadership roles in their families and communities. ECODET classes foster dialogue in which men and women contribute equally to discussions regarding community affairs. For many female participants, these classes represent the first opportunity they have had to voice their opinions before a group of men and women. Not limited to adults, adolescent girls lead movements for the protection of their human rights and speak out in public against discrimination in the education of the girl child and child/forced marriage.

Sustaining the Environment

African villages and urban neighbourhoods face a number of serious environmental challenges, including poor waste management, soil erosion, increasing desertification, and diseases caused by poor public hygiene. Many of the rural communities in the target project area live in unsanitary physical environments that pose numerous risks to community health.

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ECODET's modules on health and hygiene provide villagers with the necessary knowledge and skills to find creative solutions to the environmental problems in their communities. As a result, ECODET community members actively improve their physical environments, including:

the establishment of weekly community clean-ups to pick up trash and cut mosquito-harbouring grass and bushes;

the construction of latrines to prevent the spread of illness and parasites;

the building of more fuel-efficient wood-burning stoves, thereby reducing deforestation and desertification caused by excessive wood-collecting. Fuel-efficient stoves also decrease both the amount of smoke inhaled and the number of hours women must spend collecting wood;

the construction of walls and covers for wells to keep water safe from mosquito larvae, water-borne diseases, and other contaminants.

Preventing and Treating Malaria

Every year between 300 to 500 million people become sick with malaria and more than one million of these people die. Of these deaths, over 85% occur in sub-Saharan Africa, primarily among children under the age of five. However, despite the deadliness of the disease, malaria is treatable and preventable given the proper knowledge and resources to combat it.

Through ECODET's programme, communities become aware of the threat of malaria. In the Community Empowerment Program [CEP] modules on health and hygiene, participants learn about the ways malaria is transmitted and strategies to avoid attracting the mosquitoes that carry the disease as well as proper treatment methods.  With this new knowledge, program participants organize with their Community Management Committees [CMCs] to take the following actions:

removing standing water that attracts mosquitoes; covering wells;

buying mosquito nets and medication for the treatment of malaria;

learning how to make and sell locally-produced anti-mosquito lotion;

requesting further supplies and resources from the government and other organizations.

These preventive actions will reduce the prevalence of malaria infection in the present, and more importantly, create lasting changes in how communities combat the disease in the long term.

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