Holistic Approach

Jane Tumusiime is a farmer from the district of Masaka in Southern Uganda. Aidlink and partner Caritas Maddo is implementing a community empowerment programme in Masaka, that addresses the four major concerns of the community: water, health, the environment and agriculture.

This kind of holistic approach to development has a greater and more sustainable impact on the communities we work with than implementing any of these programmes in isolation would have. The programme directly targets 1800 households in 24 villages which equates to around 14,400 people.

Before the programme started the figures for the region were bleak:

• Only 33% of the people in these villages were using adequate sanitary and hygiene practices.
• 90 % of the people were drawing their water straight from ponds.
• There was a high prevalence of malaria and dysentery in the area.
• Only 20% of the people were involved in the few community groups around which addressed issues such as malnutrition, hygiene or HIV and AIDS and of these groups only 4% of the group leaders were women
• Only 10% of households practiced sustainable agricultural concepts on their farms.
• Only 1% of households practiced improved livestock production.
• 98% of households did not plant a single tree to grow for fuel throughout the year even though wood is scarce in the area yet only 2% of households owned an energy saving stove.

With all this in mind Aidlink and Caritas Maddo embarked on a two year project aimed at environmental conservation and improving food security, public heath, household income, and access to uncontaminated water across the two sub counties of Buwunga and Kyanamukaaka in the Masaka District.

Health

Step one was to elect 24 village health teams, one for each village, and train them to monitor the households in their villages to ensure improved health and access to medication. These teams sensitized people on the importance of good hygiene and hygiene best practice. The impact has been immediate and considerable which is not surprising given the simple yet extremely effective advice the health teams have been conveying. 95% of the 1,531 households presently participating in the project now have well maintained latrines and bath shelters as well as having installed dish racks and rubbish pits to further help maintain general home cleanliness.

To compliment this approach two of the major District Health Centres, Nakasojo health centre and Kabuwoko health centre, were kitted out with a solar electricity supply, a fridge and a delivery bed. These simple additions have enormously improved the service delivery of the respective health centres. The centres are now better equipped to handle delivery cases and also have the facilities to keep vaccines from expiring prematurely.

Water

15 wells have been drilled, constructed and are fully functional to date. This gives safe and easy access to uncontaminated water to over 5000 people. 15 water source committees have been established and trained to maintain the respective wells. In case of repairs that the committee can not handle the committee contacts Caritas MADDO to find a technician for them.

Agriculture

We have helped farmers to organize into groups and we have provided various trainings to the group leaders who now have the capacity to advise and monitor (70% of the 120 group leaders are female.) The respective group members, under the guidance of their leaders, have agreed on commodities to produce in large quantities and sell as a group. These include maize, beans and coffee.

85% of target households (over 1,300 households) have now been trained in sustainable agriculture concepts and practice techniques such as digging of contours, agro forestry, compost making and application, vegetable gardening and the reduction of the use of artificial pesticides and herbicides by replacing them with the use of organic materials.

Nutritional trainings have also been provided so people are more aware of their nutritional needs, as well as the nutritional needs of people who are more at risk in society, such as young children attending school and those suffering from HIV and AIDS.

Animal Husbandry

We have also distributed improved breeds of goats and pigs aimed at crossing with the local breeds to produce fast growing and bigger breeds with higher economic value. 60 households have so far received pigs with a further 30 households receiving goats. The animals are managed on a pass-on a gift scheme, where the beneficiary households pass on the first female offspring to the next household. The decision of who receives the next offspring is decided by the farmers themselves on a needs and capacity basis.

Agro-forestry

We have also helped farmers to grow a variety of trees for income generation and environmental conservation. By now 137 households that have set up tree nurseries are already generating income from sale of seedlings both to fellow group members and also to other community members. Trees such as citrus fruits, mangos, bananas and avocados grow exceptionally well in the Ugandan climate. Since the start of the project over 400,000 trees have been planted! This also means there is more fuel for firewood. On top of all this we have also helped over 1000 households to construct and use energy saving stoves as a means to minimise wastage of fire wood and to conserve the environment.

Jane's Success!

This holistic approach to development leads to a more durable and      sustainable environment for the beneficiaries. Aidlink looks to implement  this kind of programmatic approach (as opposed to implementing  individual projects) in all of the countries we work in. Jane Tumusiime  and all the members of the Masaka community have benefitted from this  approach. Jane now runs her own business and understands how to make  it sustainable and how to grow it. The entire community have benefitted  from Jane’s participation, and from the participation of all those in the  programme.