Trio Uganda

Community Planning

 

Bulome village in the mountains of Bududa is only 130 kilometres from Agaria Island in the steamy rice fields around Lake Nyaguo. In Uganda, a short distance means different languages, different cultures and different climatic conditions, yet the challenges of reducing poverty in places of natural abundance remain the same: lack of capital investment, individual cropping and exploitation by middlemen and money lenders.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Bulome, our partner Busiliwa Junior School has founded Women of Hope, a female cooperative of 60 Bagisu subsistence farmers to improve production, establish a savings and loan scheme, develop income generation and contribute to school nutrition and fees.

 

In Agaria, Teso rice farmers have elected to develop a communal approach to rice production to secure better prices at harvest time.  Increased income will support small-scale husbandry for vulnerable families. Long-term plans include a community-owned rice mill and tractor.

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Change happens when people organise to find sustainable local solutions to poverty. To strengthen their communities, the farmers of Bulome and Agaria need capital to establish low-interest revolving funds to meet production costs, manage household finances, and defend against seasonal shortages. Keeping money circulating in the community is the first step towards self-sufficiency, protecting people from debt and exploitation.

 

 

 

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