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Kipepa Women of Hope is an association that brings women together to improve their livelihood. Formed on August 16, 2023, the group started with 80 members. The group now has 72 members, but only 50 are active.
The group started as a Village Savings and Loans Association in Kipepa Village, Kyamutusa Parish, Nyantungo Sub County, Kyenjojo district, and has now become a learning center for community members. Joint Effort to Save the Environment (JESE) selected the group, gave them several trainings in income-generating activities, and facilitated their start.
Kipepa Women of Hope’s activities range from; Kitchen gardening, maize growing, coffee growing, and production of organic manure among others.
“My house was made of mad and watto before the training. When I returned home with the knowledge following the training I underwent with JESE, I informed my husband about the facilitation given to me. We planned together to use the money to improve our home.
Having attended the training as a Community-Based Trainer, Lucy did not let the skills acquired stay with her. She organized similar trainings for her group members.
“Our men and women understood the importance of working together. We are growing maize as a group and will sell as a group.” Said Lucy, the Community Based Trainer. Kipepa Women of Hope.
We were also taught the best practices of drying coffee, and cassava using polythen. We now have clean food and seeds.
We were introduced to the district stakeholders like; the District Agricultural Officer, District Community Development Officer, and the District Commercial Officer among others. This has improved our operations. When are faced with any challenges in our garden, we call the leaders who are often swift to support us. We were once challenged with pests in our maize garden, and the Agriculture Officer advised us on the pesticide to buy and spray. We did this, now the maize looks healthy.
JESE connected us to suppliers with quality seeds and fair prices. We are not taken advantage of like before. We want to thank JESE, CARE, and the district team for the continued support given to our group.
” We are privileged to be among the group who will receive the 50 million shillings start capital loan from the Kyenjojo District Local government to invest in the business.” Shared Lucy.
We want to thank JESE for coming to the ground to ensure that we practice what they taught us. Thank you for not giving up on us. Care for trusting JESE with the funds to support us. The district for allowing JESE and Care to come and support us and for giving us the start capital loan, and the community we encourage you to continue embracing the program.
It was a day of joy and excitement at St. Joseph’s Kyamatanga Primary School when a generous donation of AFRIPADs arrived, bringing much-needed relief to the girls at the school. The donation, made by AFRIPADS, with support from SIMAVI and JESE focused on supporting menstrual health and hygiene, came as part of an initiative to empower girls and ensure their uninterrupted participation in education.
For years, many girls at the rural Kyamatanga primary school faced challenges that affected their ability to attend classes regularly, especially during their menstrual cycles. Lack of access to affordable and reusable sanitary products often forced them to miss school, falling behind in their studies and struggling with confidence
St. Joseph’s Kyamatanga Primary School is located in the Kyamatanga cell. Rwesenene ward, Buheesi Town Council Bunyangabu District. The school has a total population of about 1340 pupils, 612 of whom are girls and 890 of whom are boys.
AFRIPAD distributed donations to over 189 girls. On 17th October 2024, JESE and a team from AFRI Pad visited the school. During the visit, girls from primary four to seven were selected to attend a training and demonstration on how to use reusable sanitary pads. Hygiene was emphasized, and girls were encouraged to wash the reusable pads before starting to use them. They were also oriented on the steps to undertake when washing the used pads.
“When washing the used pads, ensure that there is no soap or blood left then dry it under the sun.” Said Patricia Humura from AFRIPADs.
The demonstration sessions were very participatory, and several pupils took part in the training. About 10 (02 males & 08 females) teachers participated in the training.
The Senior Women Teacher shared that attendance has not been the same. Parents are faced with high expenditures, which has led to pupil absenteeism. With the donations, which included underwear, a pack containing 5 reusable pads, and a booklet given to the pupils, the Senior Women Teacher believes that attendance will improve.
“For our pupils who have been absent due to lack of pads during menstrual periods, we are very happy for the support.” Said Stella Kajoina, a Senior Woman Teacher, at St. Joseph’s Kyamatanga Primary school.
Stella believes that hygiene will improve among their pupils with the additional donations received. “Some of our pupils have been using one pad for a whole day. With the additional support, their hygiene will improve.” Adds Stella.
On 08th October 2024, JESE Participated in the Validation meeting on the development of wetlands inventory and river banks’ sustainable restoration and management plan for Fort Portal City organized by Join for Water.
Following the wetland inventory exercise conducted by AID Environmental, stakeholders were invited for a validation meeting. Findings were shared and participants were tasked to input and select 6 wetlands within Fort Portal Tourism City for restoration. The meeting was attended by stakeholders including; AID Environment, Joint Effort to Save the Environment-JESE, NRDI, KFF-Kyaniga Forest Foundation, Tooro Kingdom, Police, IDP, Religious leaders, Fort Portal Tourism City leadership and Administration among others.
A total of 06 wetlands were selected for restoration including; Mugunu-Mpanga, Kamutebi, Kyabagayana, Karamaga, Nyabukara-Kamengo and Nyakimya respectively.
This is a noble cause in water. Fort Portal City is ready to work with you (JFW and partners). Fort Portal is an urban district. The Policy is on urbanization. As we move forward, let’s think about urbanization so that the rest of the country can be left to develop agriculture which is the backbone of our country.
” We need to be mindful of the required services for our people. We all know that water is life. I want to add that “Good water is life.” We need to think about the type of water we talk about. We pledge to work with you. I want to be educated, to be told what we need to do to provide good and clean water. We promise to pull up our socks and tighten our belts so that we fit in the same shoes as you to provide clean water for our people. I wish the partnership that has already been created with Fort Portal City was cemented further. People move to the city every year, and the more people move, the more degraded and polluted the city becomes.” Said, Hon. Ashaba
I call upon JFW to concretize the partnership created with the City so that we can move forward. Our water resources must be guarded. We would like to get information about our wetlands and what must be done to protect them. All the laws, policies, and authorities are in place to safeguard our wetlands. There should be no more excuses. Let’s do what is expected of us.
We have existing laws to protect the environment, unfortunately, we have people who decided to sleep on the job. All the degradation activities have happened in the presence of our leaders. It’s not very late. We can still work. We must start somewhere. We now have a system that we will use and not rely on the environmental police alone. With or without the environmental police, we will enforce and move on to restore our wetlands. We must stop further degradation and encroachment.
Thanked the participants for being part of the significant engagement. Thanked JFW and partners saying “These are the NGOs we need for the value they add. He however said the engagement should not stop with the meeting and requested more engagement meetings be arranged in the future.
Ms. Nyakahuma Elizabeth of Bwera 1 Village in Kicheche Sub-County, Kitagwenda District is a beneficiary
of the JESE-Integrated Farm Planning Project, HereWeGrow and SCHMITZ fund, the project supports the improvement of income and resilience of smallholder Robusta coffee farmer households in Kitagwenda and Kamwenge Districts. After training in Agroecology, integrated soil fertility, and water Management practices in April and May 2024 respectively, Elizabeth embarked on mulching her intercropped coffee and banana field to tap into the technology benefits.
The objective of mulching is the prevention of land degradation specifically nutrient improvement,
erosion control, soil moisture, and soil health improvement. The materials are spread to 15cm thickness, manually across the slope, at the beginning of short rains. The purpose is to retain moisture content in soil by promoting water infiltration during and after the rains, promoting water holding capacity through decay and organic matter formation. Grass mulch also controls soil erosion by intercepting raindrops (splash erosion) that detach soil particles and improve soil nutrients through grass decomposition.
In addition to mulching, Elizabeth has adopted other agroecology practices including making and application of bio rations, recycling of livestock manure, intercropping, agroforestry, and establishment of water retention trenches. Through the adopted practices, the farmer will benefit from; reduced weed growth hence reduced labor input, limited water loss from the soil surface, maintaining soil moisture, prevention of layering over the soil surface, and water movement will be more active into soil covered with mulch rather than running off, prevent soil from splashing onto leaves; this limits the probability of plants getting bacterial and fungal diseases. All these will translate into higher yields at a lower cost and consequently improved farm resilience, productivity, and profitability.
In 2023 Joint Effort to Save the Environment (Jese) under Mpanga Super Farmers Program (MSFP) worked with 450 households in Kicwamba to foster agroecological transition at the household level. The key highlight was the support towards the integration of livestock by households into their farming systems. During the year, a total of 246 households were supported to realise this dream. The support focused on the provision of small animals including goats, pigs, chicken, and rabbits as well as the improvement/construction of animal structures for improved animal welfare and management of zero grazing. Due to challenges of space for grazing and limited access to animal feeds, the program further supported these households to establish animal fodder around their farm through the provision of seedlings for different fodder species including Napier and Calliandra.
The intervention created tremendous results at the household level. With good housing, farmers say they
are finding it easy to manage the hygiene of their animals, and this comfort has led to increased farm productivity. The households say “it’s now easier to collect manure which is being used to improve soil fertility, ultimately leading to increased crop productivity for bananas and vegetables. The fodder plants are being used as livestock feeds, while chicken dough is used as mulches in the plantation (soil and water conservation). Overall, these two practices have built resilience of farm and increased productivity. The farmers are able to easily access feeds for their animals because it’s on the farm and the improved well-managed soils are able to resist shocks of climate change.
Strengthening smallholder Farmer Resilience to climate change through joint learning, development and evaluation of Contextualised Solutions case of the Rwenzori and Kigezi highland Regions of Uganda (SFR2CC) is a three-year project.
The project is being implemented in partnership with Mountains of the Moon University, Kabale University, Joint Effort to Save the Environment, and Kigezi Women in Development.
The project goal is to enhance the resilience of the smallholder farmers in Uganda’s Rwenzori and Kigezi highland regions to climate change through joint learning, capacity building, and the development and implementation of context-specific water management solutions.
The project objectives are; Develop and implement a multi-stakeholder driven community-embedded interdisciplinary Master’s programme in Water Resources; Develop and implement a participatory gender-sensitive research agenda to guide participatory action-oriented research aimed at addressing on-farm water management challenges; Participatory co-development, testing, and evaluation of farm water management innovations suitable in the local context and Foster water knowledge to bridge the gap between science, policy, and practice.
The launch was attended by various stakeholders including; the Mountains of the Moon University team, Representatives from the Ministry of Water and Environment, the Fort Portal Office-(AWMZ), the Kabarole District Natural Resources Officer, the Fort Portal Tourism City Agriculture Officer, LC chairpersons, committee representatives from Karangura Sub County, NRDI representative, the JESE team, UWA Warrior representatives among others.
Mr. Kahuzo Elkanah, the LCIII Chairperson of Karangura Sub County thanked development partners for extending services near the community members and pledged his support throughout the project implementation. “We need to have a mechanism in place to address environmental degradation. “We promise to work together with JESE, MMU, and other partners to ensure that the project is a success to benefit our communities.” Elkanah said
“We have to ensure that we protect the natural resources. Unless everyone puts it at heart to protect the natural resources, we won’t progress.” He concludes.
Kihumuro Pius is a 22-year-old youth and a member of Mwibale ward in Fort Portal City staying with his grandfather. He joined Mpanga Super Farmers Program (MSFP) in 2022 after dropping out of school due to lack of school fees. Together with other youth, Pius was trained on the integrated Farm Planning approach under the program. Together with his household, they drew and finished their integrated farm plan which he presented during group training meetings for possible improvements. After fine-tuning the drawing of his plan, he embarked on implementation.
Pius tendering his vegetable garden.
“After the training, I used part of the money which had been given to me as transport refund to buy vegetable seeds since they were cheap and affordable in June 2023. I grew vegetables, harvested, sold to the neighbours and earned UGX 100,000 by the end of the season.” Pius Shares. Some vegetables were eaten by the household which provided a cheap source of food to supplement bananas from an already existing plantation.
“I used the money from the sales of vegetables to buy a pair of rabbits at UGX. 20,000, other vegetable seeds (carrots, spinach and Sukuma wiki) and to construct a simple structure for my rabbits using locally available materials”. The rabbits kept on producing, and I sold 20 rabbits at UGX 400,000 and bought 2 goats and three ducks. Through this program, my farm has been diversified with rabbits, goats, chicken and vegetables which was not the case before.
The program has supported me to construct improved structures for goats, rabbits as well as providing me with a water tank for water harvesting and a shed net for constructing a greenhouse to enable continuous production of my vegetables. This has facilitated easy manure collection from the goats and rabbit unit as well as continuous vegetable production for income generation. “I am currently earning an average of UGX. 20,000 from sales of vegetables per day. On average, I also sell 10 young rabbits for UGX. 100,000 per month.” He continues. The IFP approach has in the shortest time helped us to build a strong bond, good commitment and collaboration as a family in the implementation of the plan.
Pius with his goats in the shed.
The goats, ducks, and rabbits are already providing manure to be applied in the vegetable gardens and vegetable leaves are being fed to rabbits. The integration on farm has enabled sustainable farm production, contributing to food security and increasing incomes. The use of manure has reduced costs of production by saving money that would have been spent on buying inputs to enhance soil fertility to meet other family social needs. I have been exposed to new and better innovations through the learning exchange and other exhibitions. This has inspired me and other youths supported under this program. As a family, we are very grateful to Jese and IDP for material support and regular advisory services given which has and continues to change our lives.
In 2018, JESE partnered with Wash Alliance International (WAI)/ WASH SDG to implement a WASH SGD in Agago Sub Catchment aimed at contributing to sustainable and equitable access to and use of inclusive WASH services by communities through the adoption and scale up of improved WASH behavioural services.
This project is being implemented in the in 15 Sub Counties and three town councils. These had very low sanitation levels.
Before the intervention, these areas had issues of shortage of safe and clean water and low latrine coverage which was resulting into open defecation and the related water borne diseases.
But that was not all. There was also a challenge of flush floods, which were destroying food crops and leading to the sinking of latrines.
To reverse the situation, JESE with the Agago district leadership, facilitated community members to create a 1.5 Km flood control trench. This has controlled the floods since the running water that would affect the gardens now gets collected into the trench.
Currently, numerous results have been registered including high crop productivity in Kamonojwii, Geregere Sub County.
Also, sanitation levels have been boosted from 12.5 % to 70 % and 06 flood prone latrines were established with due consideration to the vulnerable households (PWDs and elderly).
Through the work of JESE, I became civically empowered. When I was mobilising and forming groups, many people embraced it and were happy to join because I convinced them that it would work out. I later contested to be the District Woman Councilor and was elected unopposed both at party primaries and general elections.
There was no other woman who dared to challenge me and this really encouraged me. I was successful because of hard work, diligence, mentoring and support of JESE.
My involvement with women groups and community voluntary work endeared me to the people, resulting in my election as women leader at the Local Council.
I have used my position and women’s groups as platforms to influence the government to provide safe
and accessible water through construction of boreholes and protected springs. I am glad that the burden of moving long distances to fetch water has been relieved for women and children.
I was trained in the VSLA Approach by JESE and assigned to share this knowledge and approach with fellow women. After successfully mobilising women for natural resources conservation, I challenged them
to begin thinking about saving money alongside the duty and passion to conserve the environment.
While women expressed fear about saving money because they had no clear source of income, I thought to myself and consulted other women about the idea of making crafts from the material resources available in the wetlands. The idea came so strongly that we embraced it. After securing the source of income, the women mobilised for the VSLA and started saving every week.
Today, our SACCO is one of the biggest in Butunduzi/ Rwibale Villages.
In the VSLA training by JESE, I was introduced to making saving plans and upon return, I passed on the
knowledge to fellow women, whom I trained in making their own and as a result, each woman developed a saving plan and a vision map. The women began to work to achieve a shared vision of their homes.