Results of the “Cook Clean and Save the Environment”

The “cook clean and save the environment” which was being implemented by WYDG in partnership with YEF/ILO ended in March, 2012 and as a result, many achievements have been registered in which ten (10) new business groups were registered. These include: briquette making, piggery, hawking clothes, tailoring, snacks selling, charcoal selling, maize trading, vaseline business, brick making, and metal fabrication and welding. In addition, the group cooperative has been strengthened. It is a saving and credit scheme dubbed “group revolving fund.” WYDG therefore offers savings and credit facilities to its members who fully subscribe to it and fully accept the terms and conditions. However, due to limited capacity, WYDG limits the loans to 300,000 Ugx only and after meeting the necessary terms and conditions. At present, the number of beneficiaries linked to the cooperatives is 15. Some youth have been able to start saving with the group and have opened up own businesses and implementing them according to the trainings received during the GYBI and SYB packages facilitated by YEF/ILO. However, there were also challenges during implementation of the project such as: meeting the high expectations of the youth, limited capacity for the group revolving fund to offer loans to all youth who were trained and willing to either start or expand their businesses, the raw materials for briquette making were later on sold to the youth, the entrepreneurship trainings were limited to those who knew how to read and write since the GYBI and SYB were written in English.

We thank all our partners especially YEF/ILO who funded the project. We hope to scale up the project in which the following will be addressed:

• Improving the quality of briquettes to enhance competitive market for the product
• Scaling up the production capacity of the briquette press machine
• Setting up a workshop for fabricating briquette machines aimed at creating jobs and offsetting the high cost of machine purchase
• Setting up a workshop for making the energy saving stoves so that the whole chain of briquette making  is put into account and fully demonstrated i.e. from production to usage
• Conducting more entrepreneurship trainings (i.e. GYBI,SYB and IYB) since the packages are so practical and easily adoptable by youth
• Registration of the SACCO and providing trained youth with loans to put their ideas into reality
• Linking the SACCO to financial institutions

“First Phase of the Briquette Making Project”

Six months after landing a prestigious grant to implement a revolutionary cooking technology that uses local-generated waste to make clean-burning fuel briquettes, Emmanuel Menya, Wakitaka village local representative, reports on the Cook Clean and Save the Environment (CCASTE) Program’s vital signs. “We’ve had a lot of successes,” he notes. “And we’ve learned a lot. It’s an evolving process.”

 At the heart of the CCASTE program are the area’s youth. “Our young people needed to learn business, leadership and entrepreneurial skills,” Menya explains. “As they go through the CCASTE Program training we teach them important sales and marketing skills.  They learn the importance of innovation. Those that go on to start their own business can apply their skills to real-life business solutions that benefit their local community.”

During the first six months of the program, interest has been strong. As of November 2011, forty youth have graduated from the first training program. Three have already started running their own briquette manufacturing enterprise.  Almost twenty more have used their new business skills to start a variety of other innovative ventures, diversifying, and at the same time feeding, the local economy.

During the first six months of the program, the number of program beneficiaries has increased three-fold from thirty to ninety.  “Before the Cook Clean and Save the Environment Project none of our youth had access to this kind of training,” Menya explains. “Now they’re learning to generate and implement their own business ideas. It’s very exciting.”  Enrollment in the next wave of trainings is expected to be high. A visit to an established – and very successful – briquette-manufacturing facility in Kampala attracted a large turnout, and ten local youth have already been trained as “trainers of new trainers,” increasing the program’s potential to teach new trainees.

Interest in using the new fuel is high too. In the last six months CCASTE educators conducted awareness campaigns to educate local residents about the health, economic and ecological benefits of switching to the new technology. Despite patchy turn-out due to poor weather and conflicting local events, over three hundred individuals attended the two sessions.

The biggest challenge, according to Menya, is that at the moment demand for the new briquettes far outstrips supply.

“An overwhelming number of youth are interested in starting up briquette-making ventures” Menya explains, “but for most youth the high cost of the manufacturing technology remains prohibitive.” Part of the problem is that local youth lack a strong saving culture.  According to an extensive baseline survey conducted during this first phase of the project, almost 60% of local youth serve as head of household. For these youth, family responsibilities restrict the amount of money they have available to save. But even among youth with fewer obligations, Menya points out, saving habits are poor.

To promote good saving habits and build a reservoir of funds for the community to draw on, CCASTE ran a series of training and education sessions focusing on how to save and use credit facilities responsibly.  Early results are encouraging. In the first six months, ten youth bought into the Youth Group’s newly-created revolving Savings Program.

With the CCASTE program up and running and people lining up to make – and use – the new briquettes, the future for Wakitaka’s youth looks bright.  Two years ago, the majority of the village’s youth were looking at a very different kind of future. Now, armed with key entrepreneurial skills and access to a ripening communal savings fund, they have the chance to pursue their business dreams. Those aren’t the only gains. Thanks to the cleaner-burning and ecologically-sound new fuel, the village’s physical landscape – its kitchens and woodlands – will be healthier.

“It’s been an encouraging first six months, but there’s a long way to go,” Menya cautions. “We need to increase the Wakitaka Youth Group’s resources so that we can support more youth. We need to instill a stronger savings culture in our youth and encourage entrepreneurs to invest in and access the community saving fund. We need to bring supply in line with demand.”

Menya may be right – there may still be a long way to go. But right now – thanks to Menya’s Cook Clean and Save the Environment Program – a new future is being built in Wakitaka village.

One briquette at a time.

Kirsti Shields

Story-teller-Nabuur

 

“First Phase of the Cook Clean and Save the Environment (CCASTE) Project”

Six months after landing a prestigious grant to implement a revolutionary cooking technology that uses local-generated waste to make clean-burning fuel briquettes, Emmanuel Menya, Wakitaka village local representative, reports on the Cook Clean and Save the Environment (CCASTE) Program’s vital signs. “We’ve had a lot of successes,” he notes. “And we’ve learned a lot. It’s an evolving process.”

 At the heart of the CCASTE program are the area’s youth. “Our young people needed to learn business, leadership and entrepreneurial skills,” Menya explains. “As they go through the CCASTE Program training we teach them important sales and marketing skills.  They learn the importance of innovation. Those that go on to start their own business can apply their skills to real-life business solutions that benefit their local community.”

During the first six months of the program, interest has been strong. As of November 2011, forty youth have graduated from the first training program. Three have already started running their own briquette manufacturing enterprise.  Almost twenty more have used their new business skills to start a variety of other innovative ventures, diversifying, and at the same time feeding, the local economy.

During the first six months of the program, the number of program beneficiaries has increased three-fold from thirty to ninety.  “Before the Cook Clean and Save the Environment Project none of our youth had access to this kind of training,” Menya explains. “Now they’re learning to generate and implement their own business ideas. It’s very exciting.”  Enrollment in the next wave of trainings is expected to be high. A visit to an established – and very successful – briquette-manufacturing facility in Kampala attracted a large turnout, and ten local youth have already been trained as “trainers of new trainers,” increasing the program’s potential to teach new trainees.

Interest in using the new fuel is high too. In the last six months CCASTE educators conducted awareness campaigns to educate local residents about the health, economic and ecological benefits of switching to the new technology. Despite patchy turn-out due to poor weather and conflicting local events, over three hundred individuals attended the two sessions.

          Demonstration of Briquette Making during the Awareness Campaign

The biggest challenge, according to Menya, is that at the moment demand for the new briquettes far outstrips supply.

“An overwhelming number of youth are interested in starting up briquette-making ventures” Menya explains, “but for most youth the high cost of the manufacturing technology remains prohibitive.” Part of the problem is that local youth lack a strong saving culture.  According to an extensive baseline survey conducted during this first phase of the project, almost 60% of local youth serve as head of household. For these youth, family responsibilities restrict the amount of money they have available to save. But even among youth with fewer obligations, Menya points out, saving habits are poor.

To promote good saving habits and build a reservoir of funds for the community to draw on, CCASTE ran a series of training and education sessions focusing on how to save and use credit facilities responsibly.  Early results are encouraging. In the first six months, ten youth bought into the Youth Group’s newly-created revolving Savings Program.

With the CCASTE program up and running and people lining up to make – and use – the new briquettes, the future for Wakitaka’s youth looks bright.  Two years ago, the majority of the village’s youth were looking at a very different kind of future. Now, armed with key entrepreneurial skills and access to a ripening communal savings fund, they have the chance to pursue their business dreams. Those aren’t the only gains. Thanks to the cleaner-burning and ecologically-sound new fuel, the village’s physical landscape – its kitchens and woodlands – will be healthier.

“It’s been an encouraging first six months, but there’s a long way to go,” Menya cautions. “We need to increase the Wakitaka Youth Group’s resources so that we can support more youth. We need to instill a stronger savings culture in our youth and encourage entrepreneurs to invest in and access the community saving fund. We need to bring supply in line with demand.”

Menya may be right – there may still be a long way to go. But right now – thanks to Menya’s Cook Clean and Save the Environment Program – a new future is being built in Wakitaka village.

One briquette at a time.

Kirsti Shields

Story-teller-Nabuur

Youths were trained on briquette making

The new project of briquette making has started with a training of several youth of Wakitaka On the 26th June, the youth had a tour to one of the successful entrepreneurs of briquette making in Kampala called Kampala Jellitone Supplies in which youth learnt various techniques of making quality briquettes, marketing skills, energy saving stoves, possible markets etc. This is one of the activities aimed at developing the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst the youth. There will be another training of youth starting on 7th July in Generate Your Business Ideas (GYBI)and Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB)packages.

Alternative Fuel Creates Sparks in Wakitaka

A pioneering new alternative-fuel-generation program is making sparks in Wakitaka village. The innovative scheme is the brain-child of Wakitaka’s youth development group, founded in 2008 to engage local youth in sustainable, income-generating activities. Concerned by the community’s reliance on fire-wood, the group conceived the idea of converting wastes like coffee husks, sawdust and household refuse into easy-to-store fuel briquettes. By selling the briquettes at a competitive price to individual families and small-scale community industries such as local bakeries, the group hopes to generate income to support community-development programs while cycling precious resources back into the community economy.

It’s a brilliant scheme. After all, the raw materials are generated locally, and collected without cost. Diverting domestic waste to the project cuts the village’s reliance on costly and ecologically-unsound refuse-disposal programs. “Fees that traditionally have been paid to garbage collectors can now go to support local developmental programs,” notes Emmanuel Menya, Wakitaka’s village representative. Menya goes on to explain that there are ecological benefits too. Once the infrastructure is in place to manufacture fuel briquettes, the village’s consumption of firewood and charcoal will be slashed, allowing local woodlands – depleted by decades of firewood collection – to regenerate. Admittedly, reforestation will not occur overnight – but it won’t be long before the landscape starts to show signs of recovery. Moreover, the new briquettes promise to burn longer than conventional solid fuels, meaning that fuel supplies need to be replenished less often. They also promise to produce less smoke than conventional solid wood fuels, creating a healthier cooking environment.

Every member of the community stands to benefit from the project. Unemployed community youth – particularly those with little formal education or training – will have opportunities to develop key sales, marketing and project management skills while working towards something they know will truly transform their community. Whatever their level of involvement – from gathering raw materials to training youth from other communities in briquette-making technology – each participant will gain an understanding of the power – and the potential – of innovative thinking. That’s not all. Community residents will benefit from a cleaner home-cooking environment, a stream-lined process for disposing of household refuse, and a greener and healthier natural landscape. Women in particular, who are traditionally responsible for the grueling and relentless task of collecting firewood, will find new hours in their day. But it’s not just families who will benefit. Local businesses, such as bakeries, which need a reliable supply of solid fuel in order to operate, will also benefit from the new scheme.

There’s a few hurdles to jump before the briquettes are in everyday use. “We solved the manpower issue by recruiting local youth to aid in waste collection and distribution of briquettes to local consumers,” Menya says, “But we still needed machines to help crush waste, blend it with chemicals, and mold it into briquettes.” For this, they turned to the Youth Entrepreneurship Facility. Every year the YEF, in conjuction with the International Labor Organization (ILO) invites young entrepreneurs to present proposals for innovative projects that will sustainably meet the needs of applicants’ local communities. Competition for funding is fierce. Candidates advance through a rigorous screening process. Of the more than 500 proposals submitted this year by Ugandan youth organizations, only fifteen reached the prized inspection level. One of these was WYDG’s briquette production project.

Attached to the award is a $8,000 grant – enough to start up a plant to fabricate press machines and implement the infrastructure needed to get the project up and running, Menya notes. The grant will also allow the group to hire full-time project manager, Joel Kakaire, to oversee the project’s implementation. But it won’t stop there. Right now the WYDG plans to offer briquette-making, sales and marketing training to other youth groups, and make its new machines available for individuals and communities to purchase at a subsidized rate. “This is just the start,” Menya notes.

“There’s so much potential to expand the program.” With WYDG’s ongoing training in entrepreneurism, there’s no telling how far they will go.”

By volunteer Kirsti Shields

Wakitaka youth compete for youth entrepreneurship challenge

The Youth of Wakitaka Development group participated in a youth entrepreneurship challenge set up by the Youth Entrepreneurship facility (YEF) with support from the Danish led Africa commission, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Youth Employment Net (YEN), geared towards promoting an entrepreneurship culture among the youth. The challenge attracted project proposals from over 558 youth organizations applying on activities they identified compatible with demands in their communities. Wakitaka Youth Development Group’s project proposal on briquette production was singled out as one of the best along with other 15 organizations that advanced to the inspection level.

Briquette production is a process of producing alternative household energy source for cooking using wastes like coffee husks, saw dust, house refuse and many other wastes. These wastes are crashed, mixed with other solutions and dried before being turned into briquettes in different forms by machines. This alternative energy source helps in conserving the environment especially in areas that rely on fire-wood for household usage, its less time consuming and also lessens the burden on women who have a heavy load in fending for their families. The project will be run by the youth especially in sections of waste collection, sorting, operating machines, storing and marketing in close supervision from project coordinator Joel.

On  22^nd November, the group received an inspection team from the body that visited the village to evaluate the group’s ability and potential of setting up a Briquette producing firm in the village. They will select the best 7-10 organizations to be funded under this grant.  The group is now waiting for feedback from the team which will be passed on in due course, but from the positive response from the team, they hope that their response will be positive too.

(by Stephen Magyezi)

Moskito nets, sewing machines and wax machine arrive in Wakitaka

Some months ago volunteers from Nabuur started the fundraising campaign ” Tweet A Net”  for World Malaria Day. The mosquito nets arrived last week in Wakitaka.

The community was trained in various ways of controlling  malaria such as; proper use of treated mosquito nets, clearing possible habitats for mosquitoes like broken pots, and containers among others. They were also given a comparative analysis between the use of preventive measures and purchase of drugs to curb malaria since in other areas of the country, some people at times use them to fish, make table mats, ventilation nets etc. During the training, questions were also posed to the community. This encouraged interaction between the trainer (i.e. Health Worker) and the members of the community. Proper use of the nets was also demonstrated by the health worker.

In total, 170 nets were distributed to both the pregnant and children under five years old. Parents were told in advance to come with their children under five years old while those who were pregnant needed to show evidence that they were pregnant. This was however, difficult to identify women who were few months old. Priority was therefore given to those whose pregnancy could easily be seen.

Thanks to a donation by the Slovenian firm Iskratel d.o.o. WYDG projects can expand and will involve more and more youths in the village.

Six sewing machines and a wax making machine were bought and will allow the youth to expand their income generation projects. Also 8 more goats will be handed out to the youths. WYDG demonstrated to the community how to use the new the machines.

More than 100 villagers attend business training

More than 100 the youth and the community members attended a business training organized by Wakitaka Youth Development Group. The community is being trained in making juice, candle wax, liquid soap, and Vaseline through locally available material. The training was supported by a local political representative.

The group is now looking to expand its micro-projects to some of the areas they received training in.

A village with a vision– Eye-Camp focuses on village elders

Thanks to a shipment of recycled eyeglasses, the future for 300 elders in Wakitaka village now looks a little clearer.

For 75 year-old farmer Muzei Kakaire, impaired vision meant struggling with routine household and self-care activities, says village coordinator Emmanuel Menya. Unable to refer to his bible or read the local newspaper, Muzei found his social and spiritual world contracting too. Lacking funds to purchase the costly eyeglasses prescribed by a local doctor, Muzei’s future – in which social isolation and loss of independence threatened to play a large part – looked bleak.
But not any more.

Last week, hundreds of others lined up beside Muzei to receive a pair of corrective eyeglasses at Wakitaka’s first Eye Camp. Collected by a Nabuur neighbor in the Netherlands and distributed via a unique collaboration between the Wakitaka Youth Development Group and Hope Alive Uganda (HAU), another community based organisation created through Nabuur, the glasses – given out to participants after a detailed eye-examination – do more than transform the way people see. They transform lives. Just ask Muzei and the other 299 villagers who received new glasses.

“Muzei’s continuous smile was enough to tell how happy he was,” Emmanuel Menya recalls, adding that Muzei is thrilled to be able to read again.

Emmanuel’s own sights are set firmly on the future. “The eye-camp’s success shows how desperately people here need such services that unfortunately are seldom provided by the state,” he says. “Pursuing partnerships with organizations like HAU will let us stage similar events – and transform more lives – in the future.”

“Now that’s vision.”

by Kirsti Shields

Twittering mosquito nets for World Malaria Day in Wakitaka

25 April – World Malaria Day. Appeals to donate mosquito nets pop up every minute on twitter. Amongst big campaigns such as Malaria No More or Roll Back Malaria, a couple of Nabuur volunteers twittered “Tweet A Net”. Malaria is still endemic in 95% of Uganda and accounts for 70,000-110,000 child deaths annually in Uganda.

Three local representatives from Wakitaka, Mawoito and Jinja Central teamed – up with Nabuur (an online volunteering platform) volunteers to raise funds to buy mosquito nets for the children in their villages. And indeed, when ordinary people put their unique expertise and energies to extraordinary use, virtually anything is possible. Tweet A Net used social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to reach donors and spread the campaign’s message – that for just 2 euros – less than the price of a latte – you can protect a child from malaria.

Tweet A Net raised between 1 April and 25 April 415 mosquito nets (831 euros or 1104 USD). 115 people became fans of its facebook fan page, various organisations and individuals retweeted the daily Tweet A Net messages on twitter; special thanks goes to Jennifer and Romina. Other volunteers, as Ginger, spread the word amongst their friends and colleagues. Betterplace.org, a platform hosting the Tweet A Net fundraising page, offered Tweet A Net to become a guest blogger on their blog. Thanks to Nabuur storyteller Kirsti, a wonderful story about the impact of mosquito nets in the villages was written.

Thanks to the generous support by 27 different sponsors, 415 mosquito nets will soon be purchased by Emmanuel, Tonny and Paul in Jinja and then shared equally amongst their three villages. The mosquito net distribution will be used to raise public awareness and teach families how to prevent and combat malaria. Tweet A Net is still looking for interested organisations who could provide the community with information on malaria and its prevention.

You can still donate mosquito nets by clicking on the Donate button.