Improved Household Food Security and Household Incomes (IHFSHI) in Lobanya

DENIVA > Projects > Improved Household Food Security and Household Incomes (IHFSHI) in Lobanya

Brief Project Description

The three (3) year project seeks to improve household food security and household incomes among post animal conflict youth, men and women living in 13 villages in Lobanya Settlement/community in Uganda. Key project activities will include trainings on conservation agriculture and other agronomic practices, training on aspects of financial literacy and VSLA methodology, support with conservation agriculture farm implements, and gender dialogues.  This project will work with 120 individuals (80 women, 40 men). The project is fully funded by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)

The project works with 15 lead farmers (9F,6M) and 105 follower farmers (70F,35M)

  1. Long-term Impact

To contribute towards improved food security and sustainable development among the rural households in North Karamoja

  1. Outcomes
  • Increased Crop production by 120 targeted farmers
  • Improved income by 120 targeted farmers
  1. Activities
  • Conduct baseline survey. This will be conducted by DDS-NK with support from a few data collectors. Data will be analyzed and stored for reference. Baseline figures will be generated for each indicator.
  • Conduct environmental analysis survey. DDS-NK will engage a consult to conduct this activity.
  • Mapping/Selection of 15 Lead famers. Lead farmers will be selected from within the target community and community members will participate in the selection process. A minimum of 50 % of lead farmers will be women. A lead farmer is expected to possess at least 5-10 acres (the same as Government supported lead farmers). Additionally, for one to qualify as lead farmer, he/she should have previous experience of hard work and aspiration to produce for both food and income. A lead farmer should also be able to contribute seed inputs for 2 acres of simsim and 1 acre of ground nuts in the first year and all seed inputs in the other two years. A lead farmer should have a home for learning purpose and should be socially acceptable with in his/her community. A third of the current 90 farmers are expected to participate as lead farmers in the new project. The selection committee will comprise of 2 youth councilors(M&F),2 disability councilors(M&E),2 parish councilors(M&F),1 Agriculture officer,1 parish chief,4 selected LCIs representative. A third of the committee will be female
  • Participatory demand articulation with 15 Lead famers. This will be supported by two technical persons from the district. The process will help clearly understand the vision of the selected lead farmers and level understanding with them from the very beginning. Lead farmers will told what they are expected to provide and what DDS-NK will be able to provide.
  • Project Inception meeting. This will be conducted at sub county level. Selected sub county leaders will be invited to participate. This will provide opportunity to share with them the final project design and now ask for their further support during implementation.
  • Training of 15 selected lead farmers on lead farmer methodology. The training will be divided into two. The first will be handled in the first year and the other in the second year. The training will focus on the lead farmer methodology and how to roll it out. It will be conducted by a technical person experienced and knowledgeable in this methodology. Each phase of the training will be three days.  Other basic aspects will be handled practically through the support of the project officer.
  • Train 15 selected lead farmers/Animators in CA Principles and Methods. The training will be conducted for 2 days each in the first and second year of the project.
  • Training of 15 selected lead farmers on Post-harvest handling.Topics to be promoted include: use of improved technologies in managing post-harvest losses, thresh and dry their crops on a plastic material (tarpaulin), storing the grains at the right moisture content which 13% or below to avoid molds, keeping the sacks off the floor preferably on the pallets and at least one meter from the wall to avoid dampness, harvesting the crops at the right time. The current issues include; late harvest, poor storage.
  • Support farmers to participate in World Food Day in Food and Agriculture Exhibition. This is meant to expose farmers to other new technologies, explore markets and link with farmers in the same trade.
  • Exposure visit for lead famers. This is expected to give more motivation for the farmers to increase incomes. They will be taken to areas of similar cultural context where farmers have increased their income through increasing crop production.
  • Monthly meetings for reviewing work of 15 lead farmers. These meeting will enable the project officer and the lead farmers to assess the implementation of the work plans for the lead farmers, take note of the challenges and generate solutions together. They will also be used to generate new work plans for the lead farmers.
  • Quarterly review meeting with all the 120 farmers. This should enable overall reflection of the progress of all farmers.
  • Training of VSLA group executives (Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer) on VSLA methodology (Actual and refresher)
  • Support the VSLA Groups with materials including passbooks, minute books, ledger books and pens.
  • Conduct quarterly meeting and monitoring by board members, project staffs and District officials
  • Monthly support to lead farmers and some follower farmers by the project officer.
  • Conduct project feedback meetings with district and sub county stakeholders. This will help stakeholders to give input to the project. This will be done on annual basis. It will also enable DDS-NK to give progress to stakeholders.
  • Training of project officer and lead farmers on domestic violence and GBV. The trainings will enable project officer and lead farmers.
  • Training of group executives on groups dynamics
  • Training on financial literacy The training will target all VSLA members. It will do twice in consecutive trimesters or quarters of the second year of implementation. Financial literacy training will include helping farmers understand: personal financial mgt, saving, loans, financial service providers.
  • Conduct trimester based gender dialogues to combat GBV and Domestic Violence. DDS-NK will engage relevant experience government departments to support in this.DDS-NK will also see how to layer with other organization dealing directly in GBV and Domestic Violence.  This will target all VSLA members, their spouses will also be expected to participate. We will share more information from specialized GBV organizations with farmers and link farmers to farmers. We will inform farmers of available referral pathways. The money saved from purchase of ox ploughs and trainings will now be used for more dialogues on GBV.
  • Sensitization of target farmers on government economic empowerment opportunities. This will enable farmers to benefit from government projects.  The Community Development Officers are expected to provide information to the farmers on available opportunities within the sub county and district.