Meet Our Local Partners

Organization History:

Founded in 1995 by Francis Baita in response to the area’s increasing dependence on pesticides and fertilizers, Kiima Foods is an NGO focused on sustainable, organic agriculture and overall farmer group mobilization and capacity building. The organization had a rocky beginning as soon after its founding, operations were interrupted by the civil war which lasted for about four years in Western Uganda. As the war tapered off in 2000, seeing that many families’ agricultural practices had been interrupted, Kiima Foods established a Farmers Training Center to help educate and reestablish local farming knowledge and practices.

How the Organization Works:

Mission: Kiima Foods is a training organization supporting member households through organic farming skills.
Goal: To alleviate poverty through organic production.
Organizational Challenges:
• Enhancing the monitoring and evaluation processes to better understand the impact they have on their client base
• Fundraising capacity
• Developing better policy and guidance to increase their operational capacity

Major Program Information:

1. Farmer & Business Training School (FTS & BTS)

In 2000 towards the end of the ADF war, Kiima Foods acquired the area’s Business Training School and added a Farmer Training School, both of which are now certified and recognized by the Ministry of Education.

The Training School primarily educates rural youth and school dropouts (those who score below the exam requirements or are in financial hardship, and are unable to continue on in the formal educational system) between the ages of 18 to 25.

In 2011, there were 11 students enrolled in the FTS and 10 enrolled in the BTS. To date, the FTS has graduated about 60 students while the older, more established BTS has graduated about 200 students.
Challenges
• Low attitude towards agriculture by young people
• Percentage of girls dropping out is high, primarily due to the inability to raise and pay for school fees and low attitudes of parents to educate girls
• Policy challenge- for the FTS, students receive training in organic agriculture but the national exams do not yet offer matching exams to grant the appropriate certificates, resulting in challenges in promoting organic agriculture
• Overall shortage of training equipment and infrastructures such as dorm rooms for boys, staff quarters, power supply and equipment for laboratories, a tractor unit, etc.

2. Farmers Mobilization and Outreach

In order to ensure household food security and the capacity building of local farmers, Kiima works with households on a diverse range of issues such as household record/book keeping, cross Boer goat breeding, basic and organic farming guidance, formation of Marketing Associations and savings and loans groups, irrigation projects, technological advancement projects such as biogas, and home mushroom production.

Challenges
• Training materials (such as Goat Management Manuals) are not audience-appropriate
• Lack of materials, trainings, and overall capacity to mainstream gender and HIV/AIDS issues into overall trainings and programs
• Lacking technical know-hows such as mushroom seed/spore production
• Discrepancies observed between the results of group feedback sessions and their current field monitoring process

3. Coffee Development

Coffee is a major cash crop of the region. While much of the coffee plots are grown chemical-free, the prohibitive cost of organic certification has prevented many farmers from achieving the level of recognition and economic value-add organic coffee brings.

Kiima Foods support coffee farmers through the provision of technical advice, organizing farmers to have a collective voice in price negotiation, the exploration of local markets to enable value addition to take place, and assistance with market access and the organic certification process (through a partner).

Challenges
• Climate change and associated issues such the inability to forecast rainfall, temperature increases, etc.
• Exporters holding control over organic certificates and farmers unable to own those certificates due to the prohibitive cost associated with the annual organic and fair trade certification process
• Market access and creating linkages with international buyers, especially those interested in organic coffee

Client Population

Aside from the student youth population, Kiima Foods works with about 870 (primarily female) rural farmers, age 25 – 60, hailing from five sub-counties. The farmers come from organized groups such as church group, women’s group, VSLA groups, etc. About half of them are coffee growers while the rest participate in goat rearing, ground nut (peanut) production and banana cultivation.

To learn more about Kiima Foods you can visit their website at: http://kiimafoods.wordpress.com/

The participation of the women in society will promote sustained development and, as a result, build stronger, more peaceful communities (Oxfam, 2003). However, the UNDP Human Development Report 2005 states that ‘gender disparities are among the deepest and most pervasive of inequalities’ (UNDP 2005: 61). In the past decade the number of women living in poverty has increased disproportionately to the number of men. While women make up more than 50 percent of the world’s population, they only own one percent of the world's wealth. (UNDP). The empowerment of women and the advancement of women's social, economic and political status are critical in ameliorating the hardship of future generations (UN Women).

Green Home, a Ugandan NGO that focuses on empowering women through economic development and sensitization workshops, was founded in 1996 by a group of community members concerned with the lack of women’s rights. Women’s NGOs throughout the world are working together to bring awareness and eliminate violence against women (Oxfam, 2004) and Green Home having a profound impact in the community of Kasese, Uganda.

Green Home’s mission is: to build the capacity of women to become economically independent to live a sustainable life through strengthening their household income level, knowledge and skills of sustainable agriculture and resource mobilization.
Many Ugandan women, especially those in rural villages, historically have been financially dependent on men and have little authority to make most household decisions. Uplifting the status of women through economic freedom is a first step from which to address poverty and inequality in local communities. In order to address these issues in an impactful way, Green Home established a Microfinance and Village Savings Program and a registered microfinance organization called Joint Action Support Initiative (JASI). Through the practice of saving and lending and the power of economic incentives, Green Home educates the communities about the importance of respecting women and allowing women to be financially independent.
Additionally, to prepare women who are not yet ready to become JASI members, Green Home runs a Village Savings & Loans (VSLA) program to instill a culture of financial literacy and knowledge. Through the VSLAs, Green Home implements outreach activities and group income generating projects such as goat rearing and pottery.

Green Home’s program participants are comprised of 85% women, and 15% men, who believe and share in Green Home’s vision of economically and socially empowered women. Under the microfinance program, there are currently about 320 members, 90% female, all from the rural Kisinga sub-county of Kasese District. The average member saves about 5000 – 10,000 Ugandan shillings per month, or roughly the equivalent of $2 - $4 USD, which is a substantial amount in these rural communities. These small business ventures and microfinance projects hold vast promise to generate income and expand employment for people living in rural communities, most notably women (McKee, USAID 2004).

Currently, FCDE is working with Green Home to address some of their capacity building needs, which include:
• Establishing an electronic information management system to move their paper files to a more efficient system so that they can better serve their clients
• Facilitating strategic planning that entails business development skills, a marketing plan, and building a more structured and robust M&E system
• Fundraising/resource mobilization allowing them to be financially self-sustained, not donor dependent

There has been progress in the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women in Africa in areas such as education and resource allocation, however a great deal remains to be done. Green home will be a leading NGO in the region, fostering dignity and respect for women and helping to address gender inequality through awareness raising and financial stability.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.