Amplifying indigenous voices in post-disaster communities Kasese Uganda

 We worked with our local partner organisation Further Arts on a seven-month project in Kanyangya village to preserve and amplify local voices in post-disaster storytelling. We did this by providing a six-day workshop for 55 young persons in media and digital literacy skills, and four of the trainees recorded stories and made films of post-disaster resilience in communities of Kanyangaya River Nyamwemba disaster. It was inspiring to see 67 community members also engage in the project. Many buildings collapsed and many died putting 1000 people in camp.

Project Overview

In 2020, Kanyangeya village Kasese experienced Tropical floods from Nyamwemba River  along with the Covid-19 pandemic that affected international tourism, led to closures of businesses and schools, and threatened the state of the national economy of Uganda. we appeal for support for displaced people who still have no food and good shelters in Muhokya displaced camp Kasese District.

Those who had been worst affected included indigenous communities who remain vulnerable to natural disasters and the impacts of the climate crisis. With the right resources, they have the capacity and resilience to rebuild their lives through locally owned solutions.

This project with Further Arts saw 150 indigenous young people living in urban areas attend a six-day training workshop to develop their skills in media and digital literacy that covered topics on filming, editing and general multimedia awareness. 

Members we need to know the impacts of climate change in Uganda.

ICT skills and new opportunities for young people

 From May 2020 to May 2021, we worked with our local partner organisation Kasese Vocational Training Centre on a project to improve educational opportunities and employment prospects for 293 young people in Uganda . The integrated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into a vocational training programme that gave the opportunity for young people to develop essential skills and knowledge.

OVERVIEW

In  Uganda, 60% of young people are structurally unemployed, meaning that they do not have the specific skills needed for locally available work. Yet too many young people do not have access to the opportunity to learn important computer skills, since ICT training is costly and inadequate in Kasese. Meanwhile, ICT skills are increasingly required as workplaces become more digitalised.

We worked with Craftshare to establish an ICT suite at the Kasese Vocational Training Centre, which has allowed hundreds of young persons in the community to learn, develop and practice critical ICT skills, and access the internet to build businesses, gain resources and apply for jobs.

 

Key Achievements

The results of the project have been inspiring. This project directly worked with 293 trainees who regularly attended and completed the 12-month ICT training programme, and as a result have improved their potential to gain employment and build their own small businesses.

The 193 trainees gained essential ICT skills and confidence in using the technology to apply their knowledge to acquire higher paying jobs or set up businesses. The combination of learning literacy, numeracy and ICT skills allows students to keep electronic financial records, reduce unexpected expenditures and increase income. The students have also been able to use this opportunity to market their products by creating product Facebook pages, making advertisements, and engaging in direct online sales with customers.

 

Health and winless

 we shall engage our communities to ensure 

-women health, girls and children

-respond on COVID-19

BAMBOO TREE PLANTING TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE

 

Bamboo is a wonder plant by all accounts. Its many uses include erosion control, watershed protection, soil remediation, and environmental greening. It is also the fastest growing timber plant on earth, with many applications as a wood substitute. It is this plant, which forms the central feature of the world), a project that aims to tap the social and ecological potential of the world through a five-year program involving the following activities:

• Establishment of a bamboo nursery with a diverse collection of species.
• Field planting of bamboo in selected areas.
• The implementation of a Training Program for the local community (including the cultivation, maintenance, harvesting and utilisation of bamboo).
• The development of a community-based business for ornamental plants, bamboo handicrafts and housing.

The project needs a three-acre parcel for the nursery and initial infrastructure. 'Bambustique' will carry out the implementation of the action plan, a registered foundation with homeowners as board members. They try to raise basic funds for the first 5-year program - including the nursery, a model bamboo house, a preservation facility, training courses, and workshops.

Increased awareness of bamboo's immense potential will create livelihood opportunities and contribute to the well-being and quality of life. In addition, the cultivation and use of bamboo as a timber substitute will reduce the pressure on hardwood forests.

About Bamboo

Traditionally thought of as the poor man's timber, bamboo has in recent years emerged as a much sought after timber for industrial applications and environmental enhancement. Bamboo is the fastest growing timber plant on earth. It is a multipurpose plant with numerous uses. In particular bamboo is useful for combating erosion and for rapidly greening barren land areas.

The tree can combat soil erosion in rivers and mountains to help reduce run offs and floods on slops of mount Rwenzori kasese Uganda 

Key Features of Bamboo

• Bamboos grow more rapidly than trees and start to yield within four to five years of planting.
• Bamboos can be selectively harvested annually and non-destructively.
• The establishment of a bamboo plantation requires a minimal capital investment and builds upon the inherent plant-cultivation skills of local farmers and foresters.
• Bamboos are excellent for restoring degraded lands and protecting against soil erosion.
• Bamboos may easily be intercropped with vegetables.
• The whole bamboo plant is beneficial for rural livelihood. The poles (technically referredto as 'culms') are useful as a construction material; the young shoots are edible; the leaves make good animal fodder; and branches are useful for making handicrafts.

Executive Summary

This proposal involves establishing a community based bamboo program, with a nursery and pilot project to be set up.

The aim of the project is to promote bamboo cultivation and develop community based bamboo industries that are sustainable and which will provide a means of income generation for local people.

The project will be developed over a period of 5 years in the following stages:

1. Local Nursery: Establishment of a nursery with a diverse collection of bamboo species, including a model house and preservation plant.
2. Pilot Plantation: Establishment of bamboo stands in selected areas (including marginal lands and eroded areas.)
3. Training Program for the local community (including bamboo cultivation, maintenance, harvesting and utilization)

4. Development of a community based business for bamboo housing and construction. 

activities

The main activities involved in establishing the pilot plantation are:

• Land selection
• Selection of suitable species
• Land clearing and preparation
• Planting and applying fertilizers
• Maintenance and harvesting

REQUEST 

50000 EUROS 

CLIMATE CHANGE IN RWENZORI MOUNTAINS KASESE WESTERN UGANDA

 

CLIMATE CHANGE IN RWENZORI MOUNTAINS

Uganda is experiencing significant impacts of climate change, which include changing weather patterns, drop in water levels, and increased frequency of extreme weather events like floods, as well as drought, whose social economic impacts make communities very vulnerable.

Glaciers that exist at the summit of the Rwenzori Mountains are very sensitive to changes in climate. Over the last century, dramatic increases in the burning of fossil fuels by industrialised countries have raised the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.

Rwenzori Mountains
The Rwenzori Mountains (Figure 1) comprise an uplifted block of crystalline rocks (e.g., gniess, amphibolite, granite and quartzite) that rose from within the western rift in the late Pliocene to divide palaeolake Obweruka and thereby create present-day Lakes Albert and Edward (Taylor and Howard, 1998). The highest peak in the range, Margherita on Mount Stanley, has an elevation of 5108 metes above sea level. With remarkable prescience (or tremendous help from early geographers), Claudius Ptolemy wrote "... the Mountains of the Moon, whose snows feed the lakes, sources of the Nile." (cited in Osmaston and Pasteur, 1972). Indeed, meltwaters from the Mountains of the Moon (Rwenzori Mountains) supply alpine rivers such as the Mubuku (Uganda) and Luusilubi (Democratic Republic of Congo) that, in turn, discharge into Lake Albert, a source of the White Nile, via the Semliki river or a more circuitous route that includes Lakes George and Edward. The snowcap on the Rwenzori Mountains is also at the centre of the traditional belief system of the BaKonzo who have long lived in the foothills of the Rwenzoris (Alnaes, 1998). Snow, "Nzururu", is the 'father' of the BaKonzo deity, "Kitasamba". The area now occupied by the Rwenzori Mountains above an approximate elevation of 1700 metres above sea level was gazetted as a national park in 1991. Rwenzori Mountains National Park was made a World Heritage Site in 1994.

CULTURAL HERITAGE AND CULTURE

 

Cultural Relativism

The Cross-Cultural Relationship is the idea that people from different cultures can have relationships that acknowledge, respect and begin to understand each others diverse lives. People with different backgrounds can help each other see possibilities that they never thought were there because of limitations, or cultural proscriptions, posed by their own traditions. Traditional practices in certain cultures can restrict opportunity because they are “wrong” according to one specific culture. Becoming aware of these new possibilities will ultimately change the people that are exposed to the new ideas. This cross-cultural relationship provides hope that new opportunities will be discovered but at the same time it is threatening. The threat is that once the relationship occurs, one can no longer claim that any single culture is the absolute truth.

Cultural relativism is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and not to make judgments using the standards of one’s own culture. The goal of this is promote understanding of cultural practices that are not typically part of one’s own culture. Using the perspective of cultural relativism leads to the view that no one culture is superior than another culture when compared to systems of morality, law, politics, etc.

There are two different categories of cultural relativism: Absolute: Everything that happens within a culture must and should not be questioned by outsiders. .

Critical: Creates questions about cultural practices in terms of who is accepting them and why. Critical cultural relativism also recognizes power relationships.

Absolute cultural relativism is displayed in many cultures, especially Africa, that practice female genital cutting. This procedure refers to the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or any other trauma to the female reproductive/genital organs. By allowing this procedure to happen, females are considered women and then are able to be married. FGC is practiced mainly because of culture, religion and tradition. Outside cultures such as the United States look down upon FGC, but are unable to stop this practice from happening because it is protected by its culture.

we need to use our cultures correctly and we use culture to help build human rights and avoid culture violate human rights.

CULTURE AND CONSERVATION 

The use of culture is important in cultural heritage and climate change management in Uganda.

CORE PROGRAMS

 

PROGRAM FOR FOUNDATION

We are a vibrant  activists and organizations working to prevent violence against women

Objectives

1. Enhance member organizations’ rights-based analysis of VAW.
2. Foster increased solidarity between and among members.
3. Increase activism and joint actions amongst members.
4.  improve women and girls agriculture involvement in value addition and sustainable environment
5. To ensure improve girls and women education
6. To promote sustainable health and development

 

In our work, we use the term violence against women 

• We believe that violence against both women and men is unacceptable. We also recognize that women and girls are disproportionately affected by violence based on the lower status that society ascribes to them. The use of VAW allows us to stay focused and committed to addressing this most pressing issue.
• The term gender-based violence (GBV) includes one of the most overused and misunderstood words: gender. Gender carries important meaning and historically was used to highlight the imbalance of power between women and men. Unfortunately, in practice, this analysis of power has been largely lost in our region. Many activists, officials and other stakeholders now understand gender to mean “men and women” and thereby the term GBV to mean “violence against men and women.”
• The term gender-based violence/GBV is very challenging to translate in most local languages in our region., complicated and long translations create unnecessary barriers to understanding, interest and involvement in the issue. By using the terminology of ‘violence against women’ the Network can be more certain that others will more immediately and easily understand our mission and work.