Uganda

AGRICULTURE

• Bukonde Cooperative Savings and Credit Society Ltd: Revolving Finance Services to Enhance Farm Production and Marketing Skills Project - (pdf file, 140kb)
  The project will provide a revolving finance scheme to generate income, nutritious food, cash employment and boost household farm production and productivity, thereby improving household livelihoods in Bukonde Sub County. Community training and capacity needs will also be identified and prioritized. The project will work towards the development of democracy, responsibility sharing and capacity building, providing skills not only for employment but also for the advancement of education.
  
• Bukadesu Co-operative Savings and Credit Society Ltd - Transforming a farmers association into a cooperative society (pdf file 2.3MB)
  The BUKADESU Co-operative Savings & Credit Society was registered in April 2009. The organization started as Buka Development Scheme Uganda, a farmers association, registered in 2006 involved in the creation of farmer groups in the Bukedea, Kumi and Katakwi districts. The association created awareness on land degradation and deforestation, mobilized soil conservation through modern farming methods and tree planting. An awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS was also conducted. The aim of this project is to create a viable cooperative society. The majority of members have been in farmers’ associations, expecting to be supported by the Government and NGOs.
• Bududa Yetana Area Cooperative Organization - Proposal for the construction of a passion fruit processing plant
  Bududa Yetana area cooperative organization is a cooperative union formed by 23 primary cooperative societies. The aim of their project is to construct a suitable housing structure and procurement of other necessary additional equipment required for the processing of passion fruits to make passion fruit juice that can be packed branded and marketed as ready to consume product on both national and international markets. This project will contribute to improved livelihood of the small scale farmers through increased incomes as a result of better prices paid for the processed juice of about 25% more than want they would receive form unprocessed fruits. Through increased benefits to members there will be motivation to other farmers and farmer organizations to join primary cooperatives and the union there by strengthening of the cooperative organizations as well as the cooperative movement through increased membership as well as capital contribution to the members organizations. This project will create employment opportunities for the community members.
• Kachumbala Area Cooperative Enterprise: Internet based Cooperative Marketing Information Villages Project- (pdf file, 140kb)
  The project will establish a rural information network that will create knowledge centres in five villages. Kachumbala, a market centre and administrative node, will be the project’s headquarters and the information network’s hub. Here the staff will produce, translate, and update the information fed into the network. Each village will have a small, community-owned village knowledge centre, staffed by trained volunteers and equipped with a computer, printer, telephone, and with Internet access. The project will provide supervised free access to over 3000 rural farmers wishing to find agricultural and marketing information, learn about computers, search the Internet, communicate by phone or email, or use other services such as word processing, printing, and fax.
  
• Kangulumira Area Cooperative Enterprise (KACE) - Promotion of value addition to farmers’ pineapple produce by turning it into packed juice and wine (pdf file 734kb)
  Kangulumira ACE is a co-operative society in Kayunga district of Uganda. It was registered in 2003 by the Ministry of trade and industry. Main businesses is in pineapple production and have been trying to add value to the fruit by drying using polythene solar dryers, however, the market demand for dried pineapples went down two years back and had to shift to making pineapple juice which we sell to the nearby towns. Value addition to the pineapple production has been going on. The main beneficiaries in this project are rural poor farmers (co-operators) whose livelihoods will be improved through income generation within the rural areas.
  
• Kirumya Bridge Manufacturers Co-operative Society Ltd - Oil palm processing in Bundibugyo
  The project’s development objective is to reduce poverty. It has immediate objectives of .increasing farmers /members’ incomes, prices of the oil palm fresh fruit bunches and increasing and easing processing and marketing of the members’ oil palm products. The project will also create employment opportunities. The project targets to process and market oil palm products of 94 members out of which 49 are female and 45 are males. The incomes of the members will rise by an average of 75%.
• Kimeeme Livestock Cooperative Society Ltd - Livestock products processing and marketing for improved house hold incomes (pdf file 2.1MB)
  Kimeeme Livestock cooperative society Limited was registered in 1984 as a primary cooperative society. The society trades in livestock products, mainly goats’ meat, mutton, hides and skins. The aim of this project is to improve the livelihoods of the community members by increasing the tonnage of livestock products and the number of live animals sold per day by processing and improving the quality of livestock products, increasing marketing and distribution, and creating employment opportunities.
• Manyakabi Area Co-operative  Enterprise Ltd - Processing and marketing of produce (maize and beans) by primary cooperatives for improved house hold incomes
  Manyakabi Area Cooperative Enterprise Ltd is a community owned and based society with a membership of 28 rural women groups (membership within groups range from 50-500 members of which 95% are women, 2% are orphans and vulnerable children, and 3% are men). The main objective is to improve the standards of living of disadvantaged people through socio-economic empowerment by promoting productive investments, normal trade and rural family innovations, market-oriented agricultural intensification on small farms and empowering rural women in production and marketing interventions. The project’s aim is to improve our members’ livelihoods by providing them with training, new facilities, equipment and better administrative infrastructures.
• Muhorro Area Co-operative Enterprises Ltd - Co-operative rice processing project.
  Muhorro A.C.E Ltd is an  autonomous organization operating in Muhorro Sub country, Buyaga County, Kibaale District. It is a farmer owned, beneficiary, governed, financed and farmer controlled cooperative, formed purposely to provide cooperative marketing services and up lift economic well being of members through mobilisation and linking economically active poor farmers to potential markets of produce. The overall goal of the project is to reduce poverty through promotion of profitable cost effective, competitive and sustainable enterprise resulting into improved livelihoods and increased smallholder farmers’ income in Kibaale District by the end of the project period. Also to enhance the marketability of rice enterprise through quality improvement and standardisation, technologies and increased volumes.
• Nama Area Cooperative Enterprise Ltd: Establishment of Fish feed Manufacturing Plant and Fish Breeding Centre Project - (pdf file, 140kb)
  The project will improve the quality of life for smallholder farmers by offering them capacity building, market information and agribusiness development services. A fish feed manufacturing plant and a fish-breeding centre to produce 900 Metric tons of fish feeds and 500,000 fingerlings within a period of 9 months will also be established. Personnel will be trained in manufacturing and breeding techniques.
  
• RUKAKA Dairy Farmers’ Cooperative Society Ltd: Improvement of Milk Quality Project - (pdf file, 140kb)
  The project will improve the livelihood of members through increased incomes derived from the premium prices paid to members for delivering quality milk. The project will acquire modern laboratory equipment such as a lacto-scan and a digital weighing scale to enable grading, weighing and paying for the milk according to its quality. Grading the milk will encourage farmers to improve their dairy farming skills, and provide an incentive for added effort.
  
• Tulihamu Budongo Savings & Credit Cooperative Society Ltd - Savings mobilisation through formation and establishment of Rural Produce organisation in Budongo sub county, Masindi district (pdf file 958kb)
  Budongo is an agricultural area with a high and growing population due to the proximity of Kinyara Sugar Limited. Tulihamu Budongo Savings and Credit Cooperative was established in Budongo sub county by members wishing to access financial services which the formal financial services in Masindi could not provide. Savings mobilization through the formation of Rural Produce Organizations (RPOs) is a new financial model to be implemented in Budongo Sub County. RPOs are to be established throughout the sub county and later lead to the formation of a farmers marketing cooperative that will be bulking farmers produce. A rural information system will also be installed in the sub county to link farmers to marketing information and intelligence.
• Wamala Growers Cooperative Union: Cooperative Dairy Processing and Marketing Project- (pdf file, 140kb)
  The project will improve the union’s dairy production, storage, packaging, and collective marketing, which will in turn increase the farmers’ bargaining power leading to higher sale prices, thus making dairy production a profitable venture
  

HEALTH

• Uganda Co-operative Alliance Ltd (UCA) - Cooperative Response to HIV/AIDS (Coop AIDS)
  HIV/AIDS epidemic and its burden continues to grow in Uganda, a quarter of a century since HIV/AIDS was first reported in 1982. The UNAIDS report on the global AIDS Epidemic (2008) estimates that at the end of  2007 940,000 Ugandan adults and children are living with HIV, 130,000 new infections occur each year, 77,000 AIDS-related deaths per year, 115,350 adults and children are receiving treatment whereas 350,000 adults and children in need of antiretroviral treatment. Co-operatives as grassroots organisations are in a unique position in the fight against the disease and have a great capacity for building awareness on the various issues affecting the community. In many countries, they are among the focal points for disseminating information, especially in rural areas; they are also centres for learning and generation of new ideas through discussions. The overall objective of the project is to contribute towards improved livelihoods of men and women, including youth, by mitigating the negative social- economic impact of HIV/AIDS through the co-operative movement sector in Uganda.
  
  
• WOWOYA SACCO: Empowerment of people living with HIV/AIDs (PLWAs) and Commercially Sexually Exploited Young Women through Poultry Farming - (pdf file, 140kb)
  The project will reach victims and potential victims of HIV/AIDS, particularly the young commercially exploited sex workers, in an effort to offer alternative livelihood opportunities. Chicken production is one of the most lucrative business ventures in Idudi town. WOWOYA will introduce a revolving chicken loan scheme by giving 35 local chickens to each registered beneficiary. The beneficiaries will repay the SACCO with either 35 birds, handed down to a new group, or in cash, with a 2% interest. They will also be trained and provided with start-up feeds, a poultry kit and chicken wire.
  

MICRO FINANCE

• Bweyale Solidable Community Cooperative Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Ltd - Establishment of village savings and loan associations (groups) – 50 village banks  
  Bweyale Solidable Community Cooperative Savings and Credit Society Ltd is a community-based organisation. It proposes to expand its activities by establishing village banking in the internally displaced camp of Kiryadongo in order to: i) Serve the active rural poorest clients; ii) to link the size of the clients loan to the number of shares held and the amount to the clients savings to ensure that the clients build wealth as they borrow; iii) to use solidarity guarantees to replace the collateral as a form of a guarantee.  Guarantees will work by linking new loans to full repayment of old loans in time.  Participatory management will be encouraged and promoted; and iv) to encourage investment in research, training from the beginning in order to succeed. 
• Organization for Rural Development (ORUDE) - Enhancing rural savings and credit associations through the sub-county savings and lending cooperative (SUSALECO) model  
  With the desire to improve the quality of life of rural women and youth, four graduates formed Organization for Rural Development. ORUDE provides training and link women groups to microfinance services. Recently some members have expressed the desire to mobilize savings to start their own savings and credit cooperative to ensure ownership and keep the wealth created within the communities to stimulate future developments. ORUDE’s determination to empower women has generated a unique business model by which rural women can start and own their rural savings and lending cooperatives. This project will support over 500 women from 20 groups throughout Mafubira and Busede sub counties in the formation and development of women-owned sub county savings and lending cooperatives. 
• Progressive Microfinance Savings and Credit Cooperative Society - Strengthening the Capacity of the Management staff and Board Committee members for efficiency and effective service delivery to members  
  The project mainly aims at training the management staff in financial management and resource mobilisation, Data collection, records and data management, credit management, computer skills and ICT, procurement and contract management, supervision and programme implementation Monitoring and Evaluation.
  The project is intended to develop and boost the technical skills and knowledge of the management staff and Board members which in turn will lead to efficient and effective service delivery to the members. Equally important, the project will also transform the Board into a competent committee with full knowledge about the cooperative society operations and management systems to refocus and elaborate on the society vision and mission to achieve sustainable development.
• Uganda  Private Midwives  Association (UPMA) - Promoting a saving and credit cooperative culture among Ugandan  private  midwives (PMWs) for improved  services (pdf file 2.4MB)
  The Uganda Private Midwives Association was established in 1948 as a national NGO Association with national and international recognition. Private midwives (PMWs) are supplementing government efforts to address maternal and infant care as well as reproductive health problems by providing a substantial number of essential services. They face many obstacles in financially sustaining their business practices. Midwives lack fundamental business skills, and their working capital is meagre. Formal financial sector loans are difficult for most PMWs to obtain due to lack of security and high interest rates. As a result, many are unable to raise capital to grow or expand their business, leading to poor quality service provision and poverty. UPMA proposes to address the financial difficulties faced by PMWs at their workplace through the promotion of Savings and Credit Cooperative schemes and enable them to raise the capital they need to purchase necessary equipment and hire or recruit additional staff.

OTHER

• Aminanara Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Ltd Ox Ploughs and Drawn Carts, Cereal Cultivation, Soil Enhancement, Corn Milling and Skills Development Project
  The project will maximize its member’s cereal cultivation (Maize, millet, sorghum) and storage solutions, therefore increasing income and fighting poverty. The first step to the success of this project is maximizing acreage by the use of ox ploughs. Also, the soil nutrients being exhausted, it plans to introduce the use of fertilizers, leading to bigger crops.
  
• Ikongo Rural Cooperative Savings and Credit - Strengthen members of Ikongo, acquire development skills geared towards poverty eradication for community enhancement 
  Ikongo Sacco is a member based organisation operating with Kasese District. Due to a number of implementation challenges that has led to the slow growth of the SACCO, the cooperative has decided to strengthen capacities of the members so as to participate fully in the cooperative activities. In order for members to have better income generating activities and improve their businesses, an entrepreneurship and business skills training will be implemented so that we have a better membership with an entrepreneurship mind.
• National Organization of Trade Union - NOTU coop programme
  NOTU COOP programme aims at mobilising and sensitising workers in ten selected labour unions about the need and benefits of forming and belonging to a cooperative.  The sensitised workers will be exposed to cooperative knowledge and the types of cooperatives. The project expects to form at least 6 SACCOs.
  The expected outcomes that shall be achieved among which are, improved savings culture for the members, accessibility to credit which is affordable which will in turn reduce on waste of time spent by workers on processing loans from distant commercial financial institution with high bureaucracies. The SACCO members shall enrol in trade union ranks and enhances the collective bargaining of the members
• Uganda Crane Creameries Cooperative Union: Cooperative Dairy Processing Project - (pdf file, 140kb)
  Cooperative Dairy Processing Project The project will allow dairy farmers to play a bigger role in the dairy value chain. The outcomes of the project will be increased employment and incomes, stronger cooperative organizations and quality improvement of the products.
• Uganda Cooperative Alliance Ltd: Co-operative Approaches to Enterprise Promotion and Rural Community Development - (pdf file, 140kb)
  The project is to building the capacity of UCA staff and managers of leading organisations in Uganda through training in cooperative management. The training is dealing in detail with the issues and challenges of human empowerment and enterprise development in rural Uganda and the effectiveness of promoting the cooperative business model along with the support network and creating an empowering environment that promotes cooperative develop within communities. The training is further examining the best ways of establishing and managing processes of Cooperative/SME enterprise development.
  
• I-Network: Rural Market Intelligence Project - (pdf file, 140kb)
  The project will focus on raising awareness of the role and importance of information in production and marketing and coaching beneficiaries on production information gathering. The project will expand sustainable micro level economic opportunities by empowering organized high level farmer groups with access and use of market information for enterprise selection decisions, and by generating production information for bulking and collective marketing.
  
• Uganda Co-operative College - Organisational development and capacity strengthening of co-operative leaders
  Low organizational development and lack of capacity in the cooperatives in Uganda generally has resulted in poor service delivery and continued rise in poverty levels among the communities. The cooperatives were rendered dormant, stagnant particularly when liberalization, privatisation policies of Government was enacted. Currently the leaders of the cooperatives are recruited from colleges with no cooperative focus in their training. Training the leaders in cooperative philosophies and values will enable the running of the cooperatives in amore professional manner. Through Participatory Needs Assessment, field visits, as well as literature reviews in the press and statements from leaders, the college has identified the need for organization development and capacity strengthening of the Cooperatives