UGA/09/049 - Agoro Community Development Organisation Beekeeping Project

Objective: Reintroduction of honey production in a war torn area of Uganda, close to the border with Sudan.

Background: The Agoro Community Development Organization (ACDO) is a registered NGO formed ten years ago in association with Respect International HYPERLINK "http://respectrefugees.org/" http://respectrefugees.org/, a Canadian charity committed to furthering an understanding of the plight of refugees and displaced persons in Africa and elsewhere. Further to a visit in May 2009 from a Bees Abroad HYPERLINK "http://www.beesabroad.org.uk/" http://www.beesabroad.org.uk/ project manager the organization got to hear of the work of Margaret Ogaba of the Kitgum Women’s beekeepers’ Association who, in turn knew of the 1% Fund through an announcement published in the journal of the UK charity Bees for Development HYPERLINK "http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/index" http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/index inviting requests for small community based projects. Margaret Ogaba has helped ACDO draw up a project proposal and has offered her expert knowledge to help extend beekeeping in the Agoro sub-county, in the far north of Uganda close to the border with Sudan. The area has been badly affected by the conflict between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord`s_Resistance_Army" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord`s_Resistance_Army and the Ugandan government over almost 20 years, with most of the population being forced from farmsteads to refugee camps. In recent years the LRA has retreated to the Congo and Sudan, allowing farmers to return to their villages to begin to rebuild their lives. Beekeeping is an income generating activity that can help make a difference to the lives of the rural poor. Honey is a high value commodity, with a single top bar hive HYPERLINK "http://www2.gsu.edu/~biojdsx/main.htm" http://www2.gsu.edu/~biojdsx/main.htm earning the beekeeper up to $50 a year, possibly the only source of cash income for most of the families involved in the project. Apart from the nutritional properties of honey in a family diet, it also has medicinal uses, e.g propolis and royal jelly as well as being used to produce a range of by products, e.g. candles, soap, polish, cosmetics and baked confectionery. Using modern hives means that maintenance is not physically demanding, so the old, frail and disabled can take part in this activity. The Kitgum district offers a favourable climate and vegetation for beekeeping. Despite the havoc and destruction inflicted by the LRA there is still a large pool of beekeeping expertise available in the area, and the ACDO project has already starting drawing on this. Ms Margaret Ogaba has agreed to use her team of experienced instructors to provide training and support for the project, while a visiting expert from Bees Abroad will be asked to vouch for reports the organization has agreed to submit. The 1% Fund has been asked to fund approximately a third of the cost of the project.

Use of Funds: Purchase of fencing; Hive management equipment, i.e. smokers, sets of protective gear, food grade storage containers; pans, straining cloths, jars, labels, small stove; wax, raw honey and charcoal for first year; 2 locally-produced hives to each of the beneficiaries; miscellaneous equipment e,g, bee brushes, knives, jugs. 5 days training for 10 community facilitators ($15 per day per person)

Beneficiaries: 60