TRANSFORMING THE YOUNG ONES IN RURAL COMMUNITIES INTO PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS FOR POVERTY ERADICATION

Poverty in Rural Africa cannot be eradicated if the great percentage of citizens is not productive.

Primary school Children Making Button Holes during a tailoring training class at KIRUCODO Community Skills Development Centre, in Kikandwa Village

In Uganda and Africa in General, a person becomes productive economically when he has dropped out of school or when he finished school. This means that the age range from 0 to 25 years is depending on their parents to survive in most cases. Further, when a person finished university at about 25 years of age, that person has no job and has to look for one in most cases. About 95% of the Ugandan (Africa in general) graduates look for employment and about 5% can establish their own enterprises after school. This means, there very few job creations as compared to job seeking. This is really a great challenge for Africa to transform the current great percentage of job seeking tradition of our elites into a productive and innovative job creation one!!!

A number of poverty eradication theories have been suggested and majority of them have been implemented but still the problem of poverty remains with us up to this moment! This is because, the great resources extended to us fall into the hands of people who are more of job seeking tradition than job creation ones and believe me or not, their developments will never last because they are based on theory not on the real principals of long-lasting development initiatives.

As a rural development Organization, we are committed to initiate programs that touch the real roots of the cause of poverty in our communities in order to transform the great percentage of the current generation into a more productive and innovative one right from the glass-roots level.

KIRUCODO Community skills development program, aims at extending job skills to community adults but more so to children in rural schools. This will help both the adults and children to consult from each other on the same skills clearly known to each other for efficiency, quality and extension of the same to the next offspring without taking much time and resources. Our target is to have the next young generation with basic skills they can start with on their own to develop them selves other than starting from zero as for a greater percentage of the current African generation. We always start from zero and we die so also the next one, etc, etc.

We greatly appreciate the support extended to us to have the initial development of our ideas implemented. Thank you WorkAid International for providing us with equipment, Blue Bonnet Hills Christian Church of Austin Texas for supporting the construction of the current Community Skills Development Centre in Kikandwa village, Pastor Dr. Landon and family for supporting the current class of participants, Mr. Caspar and Family of Germany for a grant that was utilized on some of the seating materials for the centre, our volunteers and friends worldwide for the great services, guidance, in-kind contribution and prayers; God bless you all.

Lastly, we are still in need of the following: equipment (sewing machines, etc) to help us establish Skills development training centres within rural schools and our current target is to establish two centres in Kikandwa Church of Uganda Primary school and Bulijjo Church of Uganda primary school to serve over 800 children; Monetary support to help us cover training expenses for a class within three months, volunteers who can help with their skills in one way or the other, Training materials, among others as you might be able to assist.

Check below for the current activities in Kikandwa village

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REPORT ON THE EXPENDITURE OF A GRANT WORTHY US$ 2,300 FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CENTRE WITH SEATS AND TABLES; PARTITIONING OF ONE OF KIRUCODO’S OFFICE ROOM FOR A COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC AWARDED BY BLUEBONNET HILLS CHRISTIAN CHURCH (AUSTIN TEXAS, USA) AND EURO 100 FROM Mr. Caspar Schwalbe and Family OF GERMANY (Schwalbe Foundation)

INTRODUCTION
Concept note was submitted to Bluebonnet Hills Christian Church in Austin Texas through Pastor Dr. Landon in the month of May 2011. The concept focused at two projects: (1) Construction of a shelter with a roof to serve as a Community Skills Development Centre (2) Partitioning of one of the Organization’s office rooms to serve as a Community Health Clinic.

The funds were sent to us towards the end of May and it was totaling to US$ 1,800. Again, US$ 500 was sent to us in the month of October to cover the costs of making seats and tables for the constructed Skills Development Centre in Kikandwa village. On the same note, Mr. Caspar Schwalbe and Family of Germany (Schwalbe Foundation) in the month of September 2011, donated Euro 100 help on the same projects.

Download a full report as a word Document file

Download a full report as a pdf file

Check below the Implementation in pictures

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WATER TANKS FOR HARVESTING RAIN WATER FOR HOME USE IN RURAL COMMUNITIES

The supply of clean water to area residents is a huge issue for Kirucodo as the vast majority of the population get their water from open sources such as streams, many of which are polluted & distant from the households.

Community water access point for fetching water for domestic use

 

Providing safe & clean water across the area is a high priority area for us & is the subject of a major project we want to commence in 2012. As we have explored ways to provide solutions, we recently received information from the “Tools with a Mission” organisation in the UK which contains plans for 1500L water storage tanks which can be constructed easily by local volunteers. This information has excited us as the tanks seem to be a very good solution that is fairly easy to implement using local volunteer labour. These tanks have been built in many locations in Africa, including at the nearby Bethany Christian Centre & Orphange – so we know they can work for us!

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We are just starting on a project where we will build an initial tank to make sure that we understand the details & complexities of construction. Once that has been completed we will grow the project to provide solutions to area residents. As with all infrastructure projects, the costs are high & out of reach of the local population, so we will be seeking donations to assist with the purchase of materials to build the tanks. We are collecting information to determine the cost to construct a tank & once this is complete will commece building the initial tank as soon as we have sufficient funds. Watch for updates as we move things forward & if you would like to contribute to help get hte project started, please contact me – all donations are much appreciated!

SOCIAL MEDIA AS A POTENTIAL STRATEGY FOR MEETING RURAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION’S FUNDRAISING NEEDS; SYSTEMATIC APPROACH BASED ON THE SKILLS GAINED FROM CTA REGIONAL WEB 2.0 TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

By Robert Kibaya, Executive Director,  Kikandwa Rural Communities Development Organization – KIRUCODO  www.krcdevorg.weebly.com 

This presentation below was made during the CTA-RUFORUM Open Space Session for recent Expert Consultation – Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation Practices in Agricultural and Rural Organizations which took place in Uganda at Imperial Royale Hotel from 21st – 22nd November 2011. 

Robert Kibaya Presenting during the open space session

Presentation In considering my situation and as a young graduate right from the university, founding and managing an organizationwith very limited financial resources has been the biggest challenge! The Internet provides access to resources and information, but it can also provide a platform for working in collaboration with other people and organizations. The applications for collaboration and communication on the web (social media) have evolved from simple e-mail person to person transactions, to advanced tools for working in distributed groups using multimedia and complex databases for advanced project management techniques. Social media software applications that facilitate the interactions of working groups foster collaboration in the group and make processes more efficient and productive. With groupware you can provide group members with more options for obtaining, changing and sharing knowledge within the group, especially if you need to work with groups that are geographically distributed and cannot meet frequently in person.

Personal Practical Application of web 2.0 to meet major Organization needs

Before I move on, I SINCERELY THANK CTA for giving me a chance to participate in one of its regional Web 2.0 training opportunities in Uganda 

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  and for again providing me with a scholarship to attend a United Nations Institute for Training and Research E-Learning  Course in Innovative Collaboration for Development. CTA Web 2.0 learning opportunity introduced me to Groupware applications which support Communication, Conferencing and Collaboration. Though Blogging was not understood to me, at the moment I own a blog which has helped in my Organization’s fundraising campaigns as you can have a look at this particular Post  Though I had previously created a LinkedIn account, I had no idea of turning it into a fundraising platform but due to the skills I gained during training, the same has pulled a scholastic material donation for a rural community school in Kikandwa village of over 300 pupils. The Facebook organization Group which actually created during the Web 2.0 training, has so far pulled scholastic material donation to be distributed to three schools of over 1200 pupils as per these confirmation letter and as per request message to facebook group indicate. Other opportunities have come up such as Equipment Donation for our Skills Development Centre from Work Aid International among others. It is now a challenge though a very big opportunity that the organization is rapidly growing and this year has been considered for Special Status with Economic and Social of the UN Lastly, Improved Reputation, Content Generation and Issue Awareness, Increased Relevant Visitor Traffic and Page Rankings are key issues in a successful online fundraising at Social Media platforms.

I thank you

SCHOLASTIC MATERIAL DONATION (From Bluebonnet Christian Church) END OF YEAR ASSESSMENT REPORT

To all our Partners, Friends, Supporters and Well-wishers, we with you a Happy and Blessed Holiday season.

As you might be aware, Kikandwa Rural Communities Development Organization(KIRUCODO) received a Scholastic Material Grant worth US$ 500 which was used to purchase Scholastic Materails for the two rural community schools (Kikandwa Church of Uganda Primary School with over 500 pupils and Bulijjo Church of Uganda Primary with over 300 pupils) both serving poor farming communities in Kyampisi Sub-County in Mukono District here in Uganda. The grant got distributed on 21st April 2011 as per the following photos below:

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Briefly, the report indicate that materials have and still of great assistance to both Pupils and parents as pupils are no longer remaining home because of lack of a geometry maths set and parents are now days spending less on scholastic materails as some of them can be provided at school. For more information, find below the original reports from Head Teachers of Kikandwa and Bulijjo Church of Uganda Primary school.

(1) Scholastic Assessment Report from Bulijjo Church of Uganda Primary School

(2) Scholastic Assessment Report from Kikandwa Church of Uganda Primary School

In conclusion, there is a scholastic Material donation in shipment offered by Tools With a Mission of UK under the Sponsorship of Dr. Mike Roberts of UK which will be delivered to us in two or three months time. This donation will reach to three schools of over 1200 all together and we really so Thankful to all your support.

Lastly, four community schools have submitted their scholastic material donations to our office and whoever is interested in helping one or all of them is welcome and can contact us on kruralcommunitiesdevorg@yahoo.com.

From the previous experience, we estimate US$ 800 to buy enough major scholastic materials for a school of 300 to 350 pupils a full year.

Lastly, on behalf of the entire community we serve, we thank each of your for your support and May God Bless your Big Humanitarian Hearts.

Thank you

Robert for KIRUCODO Management

SCHOLASTIC MATERIAL DONATION TO 3 COMMUNITY SCHOOLS SECURED FROM TOOLS WITH A MISSION OF UK

Hello everyone,

we thank you all for the support you always  extend to our Organization This is to inform you that a scholastic material donation to three village schools attended by mostly kids from poor farming families was secured from Tools With A Mission of UK and Dr. Mike Roberts of UK paid for the required shipment as well as customs clearance charges. A request sent out on Organization Facebook Group attracted a number of members who wanted to make contributions in one way or the other and we are so grateful of your big hearts for our rural communities.  This is just a update and find below all the subsequent communications on organization  facebook group as well as other relevant information in connection to this communication  for your information.
Dear Members,
We hope you are fine. Thank you for being part of our network and we do appreciate every one’s contribution towards our Organization for the benefit of the rural farming communities here in Uganda.

Right, since 2008, KIRUCODO has been soliciting and distributing free scholastic material donations to poor public rural schools where most of the children from poor farming families have their education.
This year alone, with the help of a donation from Blue Bonnet Hills Christian Church (through Pastor Dr. Landon) of Texas USA, we have been able to reach to about 855 pupils in two rural public primary schools . In 2008 and 2009, we were able to reach to about 600 pupils with the help of scholastic material donations from Jim & Pamela Smith of USA and James Driscoll of New Zealand.

Right, this year again, three public rural schools in our district with a total of over 1300 pupils all together, submitted scholastic material donations to KIRUCODO and we also submitted the same on their behalf to Tools With a Mission of UK . Good enough, all the three requests were considered for free scholastic material donations as per this official letter indicate . However, Tools With a Mission requires us to contribute towards the shipping charges up to their warehouse in Uganda worthy UK Pound Sterling 255 plus clearing and handling charges at Uganda customs worthy UK Pound sterling 44. KIRUCODO has had a formal meeting with the three schools concerning the issue but unfortunately, they don’t have the money as they depend entirely on the government and since it is towards the end of the academic year, all have used up their budgeted money for this year.

With all this, we are prompted to pass this communication unto you all for possible support. In any case, feel free to get in contact with Tools With a Mission in UK whose contacts are indicated in the above linked official communication and you need to quote the donation reference number and CC us on (kruralcommunities@yahoo.com) for easy follow-up.

I thank you so much and looking forward for your positive response.

Sincerely Yours,

Robert Kibaya For KIRUCODO Management

 

Below is other communication following the Request

GOOD NEWS ABOUT MY PREVIOUS REQUEST CONCERNING DONATED SCHOLASTIC MATERIALS.

I have just read an email from my friend and Biological Science Mentor Dr. Mike Roberts who has already sent a check to Tools With a Mission to have the shipment costs covered. So I thank you all and dont send more funds for this particular project for it is now over. Below is the email communication and I have just excluded his contact for privacy purposes:

From: Mike Roberts <>
To: robert kibaya <rob_kib@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:53 PM
Subject: Fw: Re Robert Kibaya’s application UG/BD/2011/115

Dear Robert,

The correspondence below is self-explanatory. Rest assured that the shipping cost of £250 will be paid for. Bill Dewhurst says the books will be shipped in January, and I hope that will be so.

Good luck and best wishes,
Mike

—– Original Message —– From: “bbdewhurst”
To: <mike.roberts>
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 4:15 PM
Subject: Fw: Re Robert Kibaya’s application UG/BD/2011/115

> Dear Michael,
>
> Thank you for your email concerning the above application. Your very generous offer to pay the cost of the shipment to Uganda is very greatly appreciated. I can assure you that monies donated for specific purposes are used in TWAM for the purpose specified.
>
> I am not sure if you are already registered with us to Gift Aid your donations, if not, and you wish me to send you a form, can you please enclose a note with your cheque to the effect that is a payment to send goods to the above project. Please mark your envelope for my attention and if possible let me know by email when it has been sent. This will help me to look out for it at HQ.
>
> We very much appreciate your support in this way and I am sure that the pupils will greatly benifit from the books. As the shipment will go in January Container i willtry to include somew of our scholar packs, as extras, for the children.
>
> Thank you again.
>
> Regards,
>
> Bill Dewhurst Uganda Director.

 

RE: GOOD NEWS ABOUT MY PREVIOUS REQUEST CONCERNING DONATED SCHOLASTIC MATERIALS.

Thank you Mr. Scott Rowswell for putting me right. Yes, Dr. Mike covered only the shipping costs and not clearing and handling at the Ugandan customs. However from your email communication to me you have already contacted Tools With a Mission to have the funds transferred to them and we are so grateful for such great assistance.

Thank you so much and thank you everyone.

Yours,

Robert Kibaya for KIRUCODO Management

 

Lastly

 

The donation will be shipped in January as per communication below. This means that the donation will get to us in or after two months.

 

From: bbdewhurst <>
To: Kikandwa Rural <kruralcommunitiesdevorg@yahoo.com>
Cc: TWAM Uganda <>; Robert Tumuhairwe <r>
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 9:28 PM
Subject: Re: Your appliocation to Tools With A Mission Ref UG/BD/2011/115

Dear Robert,

Thanks for the email informing me of the situation regards payment.

Your books should be in the January container.

Regards application for other tools, may I suggest that you visit the TWAM website to see what is available and submit the online application form to us.

Regards,

Bill Dewhurst.

Agro-processing Potential to benefit African young farmers

Rural young farmer daily activity with simple tools he or she can afford

Agriculture is the cornerstone of Uganda’s economy, which is similar to the situation in most African countries. To be more specific, over 85% of the population is activating in this area. At the very same time, the poverty is severe and widely spread across the entire country. Farmers, especially women and youth, have a very low income, which does not cover even their basic human needs. One of the most realistic and reachable goals in the fight against poverty would be to promote and implement agro-processing. With some support and budgeting from the government and NGO’s, farmers would have the chance to earn much more with just a bit of extra effort.
The term of agro-processing refers to the practice of transforming primary agricultural products into secondary or even tertiary commodities, which can be sold on the market for a much higher price. In other words, it means turning raw materials into more complex and expensive merchandise, instead of selling it cheap after the first step of production. Obviously, this would require a certain level of skills and technology, but it would also bring higher profits. Besides the direct financial benefits, agro-processing would also bring a series of other advantages. First of all, it would supply the community with a wider variety of locally produced thus cheaper goods. Furthermore, it would increase the level of life thanks to the increased access to secondary and tertiary agricultural products. Second, it would extend products’ shelf-life, thus decrease waste. Since farmers would no longer be desperate to sell their products as soon as possible and avoid them becoming spoiled, they would be able to analyze more offers on the market and choose the most convenient one. Third, agro-processing would require additional workers. This would allow young inexperienced farmers to be involved in this area and would extend the amount of people earning income from this activity. Moreover, processing of raw materials would most probably also increase food safety and improve the reputation of Uganda’s agriculture.
However, in order for this to happen, it is important to improve the agriculture policy of the country. It is also vital to attract adequate budgeting, not only in the form of donations, but also regular business investments. This can be done through a proper investment policy created at the official level. Agro-processing also requires extensive training of farmers, especially the young ones. Implementation of the use of technologies could also be done through the local youth, as this would increase the speed and quality of the process.
In other words, there is still much to be done in this area. But the important thing to remember is that once local farmers and their government will understand the importance of agro-processing development, the entire society will start moving towards a brighter tomorrow, free of poverty and abuse.

Beekeeping – a bright perspective for Uganda’s poor farmers

Almost half of Uganda’s population lives below the poverty line. At the same time, nearly 90% of it activates and earns its income from agriculture. Thus it becomes obvious that farming is not profitable in this country, at least not for the moment. Women and children have an especially difficult life, because of the strong social polarization of the society. The overall development level in the region is far below the western standards, and catching up with them would require intense funding. This rule has some exceptions, however, such as beekeeping.

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Specialists in the industry made their own research and came to the conclusion that beekeeping has the potential to significantly reduce poverty among communities of young farmers best on the current testimonies and with the implementation of a long-term professional beekeeping industry strategic plan. Let’s shortly analyze the arguments for that:
1. Resources
Uganda is lucky to have many species of bees: Apis Melifera scutelatta, melifera adansonii, monticola, and also several types of stingless bees. In contrast with other agricultural areas, where Uganda has poor natural conditions for further development, the apiculture can grow fast and steady thanks to the rich availability of resources. Moreover, there are no diseases spread among the bees.

2. Long tradition and skills existence
Local people have been practicing apiculture for a very long time. They therefore have basic knowledge and understanding of the process and its importance. Instead of teaching this industry from the very beginning, it is only necessary to provide some further training, and implement a professional beekeeping concept which is based on the real standard governing this organic industry.

3. Limited technological requirements
Beekeeping can be implemented without the use of expensive technologies or materials. This provides a great perspective for the poor rural farmer, who cannot afford to invest too much in a business. Simple hives, created from cheap locally abundant materials could be placed close to the farmer’s house, therefore not requiring too much effort or budgeting. Special training could teach the farmers how to improve the quality of bee products without using expensive tools. This would obviously allow a significant increase of the locals’ income.

4. Possibility of activity without owning land
Since young farmers do not typically own land, one of their main problems is the increased costs of agricultural activities due to the land rent. Beekeeping in contrast, does not require this. It can be arranged either close to the house, or even in forests. In other words, this type of activity is much more accessible for young poor farmers than other areas of agriculture.

Of course, there are also many limitations and barriers for the development of apiculture in Uganda. As long as we keep in mind the benefits, however, it is possible to develop a flourishing industry out of this and let young farmers develop themselves and overcome the severe poverty. All they need is a bit of support in the form of extended training, as well as access to information and initial financial support.

THE LIFE OF A POOR RURAL AFRICAN YOUTH FARMER WE ARE STRIVING HARD TO IMPROVE

A Rural Youth Farmer Family Harvest only Two Cups of Beans after a long drought

In East Africa the majority of the population live in remote rural communities with access to a poor infrastructure and live from a small income.
The average small-sized rural youth farmer has only little influence on the national legislation, little knowledge and access to the fast moving international developments.Due to bad crop yields in the last consecutive seasons that result from long droughts, various crop diseases and heavy rainfalls, the communities face severe poverty. In addition to this hardship, the access to clean drinkable water, to medical service and good schools in rural areas remain much behind the developments that drive the metropolitan areas in some East African regions.

The possibilities for self-youth farmer development in the rural communities are directly linked to obtaining fair prices for farmed goods. With only very little support from the local governments, the rural youth farmers have become the losers of the global economy.
Facing a very limited access to proper and affordable justice services and having insufficient knowledge about their fundamentals rights, the youth farming communities can hardly fight against the injustice.

KIRUCODO seeks to better the situation of the rural youth farming communities through sustainable agriculture and other related locally applied skills to foster their development. This however will not be possible, if the people remain without access to clean water, good education, remain ignorant of their fundamental rights, remain restricted from affordable and reachable health services, restricted from access to information tools, and additional practical training opportunities.
As a first step towards empowering the community KIRUCODO introduced the “Rural Communities Criminal Justice Awareness Project” in June 2009. The Project under the “International Bridges to Justice Inc.” aims at familiarizing local people with their fundamental rights and encourages them to seek justice without hesitation.

Since November 2006 KIRUCODO strives to find donations of scholastic materials for the students of the local schools and to hence improve their learning experience and the quality of teaching thus helping rural youth farmer and children to stay in schools without much hindrances.

In 2009 KIRUCODO established a local information resource centre for the community of Kikandwa village. This was made possible with the publications donated by various organizations, including the CTA of The Netherlands, Bees for Development of the UK and others. The centre and its information is open for free to all farmers especially the youth in an around Kikandawa village .

Since 2006 KIRUCODO has been offering free training opportunities for skills development like sustainable beekeeping to the rural youth farmers among others.
Furthermore KIRUCODO has now established a skills development centre in Kikandawa village to train local people especially the youth farmers in sewing, typewriting and carpentry in order to give them additional practical skills to supplement on their farming skills thus creating them more opportunities to improve their incomes.

In conclusion KIRUCODO tries to implement the core values of the Millennium Development Goals in its region of operation and hopes that through further help and partnership the most important targets can be reached soon. With our strong emphasis on the rural youth farming communities and our work as a grassroots organization we, hope to set an example for further successful operations in similar communities in the poor and underdeveloped regions of Earth.

RURAL COMMUNITIES DEVELOPMENT NETWORK (RUCODO-NETWORK) KIRUCODO Approved for UN ECOSOC Special consultative status

Dear Members,
I have a pleasure to forward this great news to you regards the subject. Below are just the first two paragraphs of the official letter from department of Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). For more information refer to “Substantive session of 2011 Geneva, 4-29 July 2011 Item 12 of the provisional agenda* Non-governmental organizations”

http://esango.un.org/paperless/reports/report%202011reg%20sess%20(E).pdf

Dear NGO Representative,
I am pleased to inform you that the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at its Substantive
Session of July 2011 adopted the recommendation of the Committee on Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) to grant Special consultative status to your organization “Kikandwa Rural
Communities Development Organization”. On behalf of all staff of the Non-Governmental Organizations
Branch, please accept our heartfelt congratulations.
Consultative status for an organization enables it to actively engage with ECOSOC and its
subsidiary bodies, as well as with the United Nations Secretariat, programmes, funds and agencies in a
number of ways.

Lastly, as we move forward, we humbly request for your cooperation, ideas, suggestions, name it to enable us serve our communities better.

Thank you all.

Sincerely Yours,

KIRUCODO MANAGEMENT