Economical and social empowerment of remote communities in Uganda
Publication on the impact of integrating conservation agriculture, gender, business and accessibility to financial resources on remote communities in rural Uganda
29.10.2018
Summary
The project “Empower Women – Benefit for All (EWA) took place in Uganda from 2012 until 2015 under the umbrella of the EWA programme that was conducted by Women Europe for a Common Future (WECF) and partners. The EWA programme was implemented in 6 countries. The overall goal of the programme was to contribute to economic and political empowerment of women from low-income rural and peri-urban regions. The EWA programme was supported by the “Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women” (FLOW) fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. In Uganda WECF worked together with local partner Appropriate Technologies Uganda (AT Uganda Ltd), a not-for-profit organization to implement the project.
The goal of the EWA project in Uganda was to contribute to the economic and social empowerment of women. In order to improve the livelihood of women and men, low-income farmers were made aware of the impacts of the traditional agriculture systems on soil depletion and introduced to Conservation Agriculture, which was demonstrated to them in farmer groups. The farmers also received trainings on Farming as a Business and Village Savings Loan Associations in order to manage and increase their incomes. At the same time, trainings on gender made farmers aware of how gender inequalities are existent in agriculture, the household and other structures and how this can be changed.
More than a hundred demonstration plots to demonstrate Conservation Agriculture were established, reaching 2300 farmers, of which 70% women and 30% men, who participated in the project via trainings, demonstrations and farming. Analysis indicated that crop production increased by 30%, incomes increased considerably, the replication level of non-target farmers was substantial and the position of women improved.