Our Partners – EMESCO Development Foundation

The EMESCO Development Foundation is a Ugandan non-governmental organisation (NGO) formed in 1998 by concerned local community members to improve the standard of living of poor and disadvantaged communities living in Kibaale District, mid western Uganda.

EMESCO focuses on agriculture, health, water and sanitation and the environment as well as supporting primary education activities.

Programmes

EMESCO’s Integrated Community Development Programme (ICDP) for Buyaga County is a 3 year development intervention in 3 Sub-counties of Buyaga County in Kibaale District in Mid – Western Uganda.. The Principal goal of ICDP is to improve the standards of living of about 12,000 rural households with a population of about 72,000 people in the Sub-counties of Kyanaisoke, Mabaale and Kagadi in Buyaga County, Kibaale District. The ICDP is now in its second year of implementation is supported by Aidlink as part of the three year Block Grant funding from Irish Aid

The ICDP programme uses existing structures such as schools, traditional birth attendants and community health workers to deliver the integrated development programme of health, water, sanitation and hygiene. Community structures are strengthened, training and awareness raising is provided and local communities are actively involved in the delivery of shallow wells, water tanks and latrines.

A key component of the ICDP is food security. The agriculture component of the ICDP aims is to improve agricultural production and productivity, and to enhance the marketing of Agricultural products among the small-scale rural poor farming households of Buyaga County.

Aidlink and EMESCO

Aidlink and the EMESCO Development foundation have been working together since 2002 on a range of community development initiatives in the areas of health, water and sanitation, education and agriculture. The mission and vision of EMESCO strongly emphasises the empowerment of poor rural communities and local participation, which resonates with Aidlink’s own mission and approach to development.

EMESCO is now one of Aidlink’s key local partner organisations in Uganda and Aidlink staff regularly visit the EMESCO offices and its programme sites to monitor the progress of activities and to engage in strategic planning. Aidlink also encourages and facilitates reciprocal visits by the Director of EMESCO to Ireland to meet with key Irish donors and discuss EMESCO’s plans and programmes. The partnership between Aidlink and the EMESCO has facilitated more strategic to addressing the needs of rural communities living in poverty. It has brought about more focused planning and co-ordination and it has also facilitated co-operation and shared learning on best practice in the field between EMESCO, Aidlink and other Aidlink partners in Uganda, e.g. recent governance training project was held with the Board of VAD and EMESCO.

Aidlink continues to work closely with EMESCO and to support the core ICDP programme, agriculture programme and other innovative interventions such as a pilot school agriculture project which aims to introduce practical agricultural training to 15 schools across Kibaale District.

Impact

In the 35 communities of Buyaga county where EMESCO is implementing the Integrated Community Development Programme (ICDP), 7,500 rural poor people and 2,125 primary school children now have access to clean water thanks to the construction of shallow wells, water tanks and ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines. EMESCO has ensured that the fifth stance of each latrine also serves as a sanitary/changing room for girls.

Central to the success of EMESCO’s interventions, and indeed the approach of all of Aidlink’s partners, is in its engagement with local stakeholders to promote active participation and ownership by the local communities. Attendance at meetings by both men and women, mobilisation of local materials, participation in water committees, management of water sources, the support of local leadership and district governance structures have been instrumental in the mobilisation of local communities. This mobilisation has been followed through with the adaptation of new water, sanitation and hygiene practices.