PROJECT NO. 154/10128-FUNDED BY CORDAID

PROJECT TITLE: Economic Empowerment for Smallholder Fishers and Farmers through Alleviating Pollution of the LakeVictoria Project

SUMMARY OF THE NARRATIVE PROGRESS REPORT FOR THE PERIOD SIX MONTHS STARTING 1 ^ST SEPTEMBER 2004TO 28 ^TH FEBRUARY 2005

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INTRODUCTION

In September 2004, KADETFU signed an agreement for partnership with CORDAID of The Netherlands to undertake the project entitled “Economic Empowerment of Smallholder Fishers and Farmers through Alleviating Pollution of Lake Victoria Watersâ€. This has come in after KADETFU realizing the adverse environmental impacts in the lake contributed by fishers and farmers due to many factors accelerating poverty among the community in the lake basin. To reduce the gravity of this situation, the project had and still has a final goal, which is to restore the degraded lake environment that will increase the activities to generate income to support the livelihood of small fishers and farmers’ communities on a sustainable basis. On the way to attain the final goal, the project is still on the same track as afore planned.

In this reporting period, the following activities have been implemented and outputs, outcomes and means of verifications per activity have been recorded accordingly.

Recruitment of workers : Ten workers were recruited after being short-listed from many applicants. All workers signed work contracts and are now actively involved in the implementation of project activities.

Introduction and Orientation of the Project to the Government Authorities: Three KADETFU Staff visited Government Offices at Regional and District levels to introduce the project to the government officials and seek for political will and support. The offices visited were supportive of the project aims and objectives and have already offered equitable collaboration and the visit was a 100% success.

Project preparatory and action-planning meeting: The aim of the meeting was to plan the work schedule/Action plan on the implementation of the project in a collaborative manner with all stakeholders. At this meeting, 20 villages from three districts of Muleba, Bukoba Rural and Bukoba Urban Districts were selected to participate in the project. Also, the schedule of activities as spelt out in the plan document was drawn.

Survey the Lakeshores, tributaries and catchments areas: Three Staff in collaboration with three Districts Natural resource Officers from the respective districts made a survey with aim of identifying places for construction of landing sites, toilets, afforestation lots, and serious environmentally damaged areas for remedial measures. The surveying team identified the environmentally damaged areas; remedial measures and management priorities were proposed and documented.

Project Launching and Development of an Integrated Phase Plan of Activities: This was organized and carried out at the ELCT- Bukoba Hotel with different stakeholders. The aim of the workshop was to seek local support, which in turn, will act as a means for strengthening mechanisms for co- management system. The result of this activity was to develop an Integrated Phase Plan of Activities that underlines the roles and responsibilities of the individuals for the implementation of the project activities. Training Needs Assessment Workshop: The activity was conducted as planned and participants were assorted members of the community including local government leaders, community leaders, fisheries officers, lawyers, farmers, fishers, the media, academicians, scholars, and representatives of Beach Management Units (BMUs). The participants and the facilitators ascertained the knowledge of the community (Farmers and fishers) by using KASH approach. The overall training needs were assessed, analyzed and documented according to the targeted groups in the community.Awareness Meetings at Village Level : Awareness meetings one per participating village was conducted. The participants of the meetings were government, religious and traditional leaders as well community members. The attendance at the village meetings was ranging from 60 - 130 people. Also, at these meetings, the villagers from amongst themselves selected 40 TOTs and 40 farmers. Moreover, the community acquired knowledge and awareness on how environmental degradation is linked with economic impoverishment at the individual and societal levels. The pre-study visit: Two KADETFU staff went to Uganda to organize the study visits for the farmers who are to visit Uganda for further practical organic farming practices. The organizations visited were five, namely; Family Project and Rural Training Center for Sustainable Integrated Organic Agriculture (St. Jude) based in Masaka; Mengo Youth Development Link based in Kampala ; The AIDS support Organization (TASO) based in Kampala ; and African 2000 Network in Iganga District. Thereafter, modalities for the visits were set.Farmers Training in Organic Farming: This activity was conducted in two sessions whereby 40 farmers from 20 participating villages were trained. The composition of the farmers’ training was gender balanced. The aim of the workshop was to train farmers on how they can raise their economic status at household levels from their small plot they own through adopting and practicing Sustainable Agricultural approaches. At the end of the training, farmers acquired theoretical knowledge and practical skills in Sustainable Agriculture cum Organic Farming.Farmers Study Visits to Uganda: This activity was conducted in two sessions whereby 40 farmers from 20 participating villages, KADETFU staff and some government officials were involved. For each trip a 5-days stay in Uganda was made and the visiting teams were enabled to acquire diversified knowledge in different development programmes where they visited different organizations. The farmers aiming to raise their standards of living have adopted some of the techniques and shall continue to practice them for sustainable production and marketability of their products.

Seminars for Technical training for trainers (TOTs): This activity was conducted in two sessions whereby forty Field Facilitators; gender-balanced from 20 participating villages attended the trainings. Other participants included such people as facilitators; local government leaders at village and divisional levels, partners from within and outside the country were invited. The target group was equipped with basic tools for facilitation skills, project implementation, and management and monitoring including sensitizing the community on environmental issues and how to raise economic status of the community.

Technical Seminars for Fishers: Two technical seminars of one day each for fishers have been conducted. Participants were drawn from 20 participating villages. Various officials from the Government, Religious institutions and other NGOs, were invited and attended the workshop. The target group (fishers) acquired skills and knowledge on maximizing fishing products from fishing industry in sustainable basis. The immediate impact of this activity has been the voluntary surrender of illegal fishing gears and destruction of the same by the fishers’ community and the government has taken legal measures against the adamant fishers using illegal fishing. Hence the situation will lead sustainable ecosystem of the lake environment, which will support the economic livelihoods in a sustainable manner.

Establishment of demo organic farms: After farmers training in organic farming, the sites for establishing demo farms have been identified in collaboration with village authorities in twenty participating villages. Some farmers have used their own plots and some have started to establish these demo-farms. Plans are underway to supply farm inputs and extension services during the third quarter .

Empowerment of Beach Management Units (BMUs): It has been revealed that this activity is concomitant with improvement and construction of landing sites and construction of toilets all of which are planned for implementation in the next reporting period. However, measures have already been taken by asking the relevant local authorities to confirm sites for implementation of the same .

Afforestation: Sites for establishing tree nurseries in 10 villages along the lakeshores have been identified in collaboration with village government authorities. So far some seeds have been purchased and distributed to the community for establishment of tree nurseries.

Procurement of Project equipment and stationery: Most of the project equipment and materials have been procured accordingly. After procuring the equipments, the pace of implementation has been hastened and contributed to the achievement reached so far.

Recording and Publicity: Video films were and are recorded during implementing project activities. Publications such as T-shirts, caps, handbags, calendars, diaries, posters and brochures have been prepared and disseminated to the community members and other stakeholders as a means for awareness creation and sensitization. The result of this activity is to publicize not only the project activities but also the donor organization both nationally and globally.

Monitoring and Evaluation: The monitoring mechanism as spelt out in the project document has been strictly adhered to. A close follow up of the project progress has been made and implementation is on the right track. This report has been approved according to the structure of KADETFU as stipulated in the project proposal under M&E mechanism. Evaluation will be done at the end of the first year of the implementation of the project. Organization : In organizational level, there is no any change up to this moment. The organizational structure and legal status are still the same. The organization has been strengthening and initiating networking and partnerships with other local and international organizations. Assessment of the Project Implementation: In general terms, the degree of achievement is about 80.46%. The setbacks that hindered us from achieving 100% have been identified and remedial measures have been recommended. Financial Projection: According to the proposed work schedule, a financial forecast has been made for the next reporting period.In this period of implementing the project activities, some experiences have been observed, challenges met and recommendations to counter them have been suggested. It is our sincere hope that CORDAID will work on these suggestions in collaboration with KADETFU and make this partnership sustainable.