Author Archives: David Lukwago

MAMA KITCHEN GARDENS EMPOWERING WOMEN TO FIGHT POVERTY & MALNUTRITION

Rural women are key agents for development so empowering them is essential, not only for the well-being of individuals, families and rural communities, but also for overall economic productivity of their country.

A number of solutions have been presented over time to address poverty, food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition with many highlighting the need to boost agriculture research and investment however, the actual progress to implement the agreed ways forward remains painfully slow.

The slow pace of poverty and hunger reduction in Uganda shows an urgent need for strategies that better target the areas where poor people live and the activities on which their lives depend. At Prosper Mama Africa, we strongly believe that agriculture is at the core of the livelihoods of rural people and is the principal driving force of the rural economy. Rural women are key agents for development so empowering them is essential, not only for the well-being of individuals, families and rural communities, but also for overall economic productivity of their country.

For us to join in on the fight towards poverty, hunger and malnutrition reduction require that the incomes of rural people and the sources from which they derive their livelihoods be enhanced – we found this pathway to be in our Mama Kitchen Gardens. These gardens have been training grounds to the rural women in Western Uganda as we group them with agronomists and other agricultural experts together with whom they have planned their small land division & management, crop selection and upheld recommended farm practices.

FAO estimates that if women farmers (43 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries) had the same access as men, agricultural output in 34 developing countries would rise by an estimated average of up to 4 per cent. This could reduce the number of undernourished people in those countries by as much as 17 per cent, translating to up to 150 million fewer hungry people.

Through the Mama Kitchen garden initiative, women in the communities under the Church of Uganda in the western part of the country have been able to use the church resources including land to collectively cultivate crops that they need to survive at household level. Following the use of recommended farm practices, the women are able to generate income out of the extra produce, creating a multiplier effect in ensuring that homestead have a robust and nutritious food supply.

CONTRIBUTE TO BUILDING RESILIENT RURAL COMMUNITIES IN UGANDA

Transform a life for as little as $10 a month – make a lasting impact❤️

We are proudly a locally owned agripreneur organization in Uganda focused on empowering smallholder farmers in rural communities to lead their own development. As a non-profit, your donation or gift can push us a long way in bringing proper nutrition, employment and improved livelihoods to 4,100 youths and women in rural households in Western Uganda.

We work with smallholder farmers to improve and scale agricultural practices that support strengthening food security thus improving nutrition & livelihoods. We have come a long way from where we started, and as of today we’ve been able to reach 62,000 households consisting of men, women and youths in Western Uganda.

We’re reaching out to seek your support this Thanksgiving season as we aim to impact 4,100 youths and women by:

1.Setting up modern beehives & honey production systems to youth groups. This will create 2500 jobs for the youths

2. Using 1000 poultry birds to create employment for youths

3. Using irrigated kitchens for 600 women to use in producing better fruits & vegetables – addressing the problem of hunger, food insecurity & malnutrition in identified households.

Your donation to any of the initiatives above will make a huge difference.

Empower a household by affirming your commitment as below:

I support Beekeeping?
I support Poultry?
I support Irritated Kitchen gardens ??‍?

Together we can make a difference.

BEEKEEPING AND RESILIENT LIVELIHOODS

Apiary training to youths organized by Prosper Mama Africa

Equipping young people with necessary skills to promote sustainable beekeeping & development in rural communities.

While we acknowledge that beekeeping can generate income in rural areas especially for the unemployed population who even don’t own crops or farms – it is also a great pathway to improving food security and nutrition among infant areas where agricultural production is minimal.

This month November 2021; Prosper Mama Africa delivered an apiary training for the youth in Kiyoima, one of our project operational sites in Western Uganda. This way, we equip young people; especially the females between 14-18 years, and interested community members with the skills necessary to promote sustainable beekeeping and development. The session involved a lot of creative activities that illustrated to each individual ways of taking active roles in identifying and forging sustainable solutions to the challenges that may present themselves in due course.

The youth were ecstatic about the project. We are glad to see that young people are taking up action & embracing the initiative.

Prosper Mama Africa is currently implementing the Village Resilient model in 9 climate smart demonstration garden sites in Western Uganda to provide sustainable training grounds to the small holder farmers in the community (youth, women and men) as they collectively work together to respond to observed agricultural challenges. We believe this is a smart way to improve food systems, nutrition and support livelihoods in communities

Apiary training to youths organized by Prosper Mama Africa

 

 

PROSPER MAMA AFRICA COMMERATES THE INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2021

The globally celebrated International Youth Day 2021 comes at the time when like in 2020 the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact all segments of the population. In fact, the surging death rates in Uganda due to Covid-19 in one month, June 2021 prompted President Y.K. Museveni to declare a total lockdown for the whole of July 2021, six months after the state had made pronouncements of a gradually phased re-opening. This intervention not only suspended various economic activities but affected the core of survival; the food supply chain

Young people in developing countries like Uganda are a vital resource in sustainably responding to challenges affecting food systems. However many youths in rural areas see limited future opportunities to make ends meet for themselves on the farms that their parents and grandparents have worked for decades. They perceive the agricultural sector as informal, vulnerable, and unattractive owing to the hard physical work, low wages, uncertainty, and dirtiness associated with gardening work.

Prosper Mama Africa, a non-profit organization in Uganda has for the past 2 years has centered its operations on empowering rural communities in Uganda to lead their own development out of poverty by availing mind and behavior shifting workshops that aim at empowering communities to embrace and communally benefit from improved agricultural practices.

So far, the organization is working hand in hand with communities in Western Uganda with a key interest in empowering young people (inclusive of the 15-25 age group) to take charge of their own social and economic prosperity using the village resilient model. The model puts adaptive mind shift training at the center of implementing key agricultural practices (as explained below) in communities. This way, the village resilient model directly addresses the key issues young people in rural areas face in a number of ways, that is;

  • Low income and poverty at the household level.
  • Youth unemployment by providing agriculture alternatives that appeal to the youth like …Bee Keeping – allows the youth the opportunity to have money-making opportunities using the basic skills of taming bees and harvesting honey. This way they also directly address the challenge of malnutrition especially among infants and ensure food security given that bees play a vital role in crop pollination.
  • Malnutrition and food security through the Mama Kitchen gardens and poultry empower mostly the women and young girls. These interventions responding to ensure food access, providing a reliable source of nutrients in a home, and more so for them to feel empowered that they play a vital role in taking care of their homes.
  • Climate-smart Agriculture Tree planting of Candlenut Trees and fruits trees for home are also the other ways through which the model responds creating a more youth-friendly and stimulating agricultural environment.

International Youth Day always seeks to highlight issues faced by youths globally and celebrate their resilience. Through this year’s theme, we believe that “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health” will require:

  1. Easing access to knowledge, information, and education on agriculture for the young people: Prosper Mama Africa (PMA) has been doing mindset changing training and mentorship activities for rural farmers to integrate traditional or intergenerational knowledge and the use of new technologies, developing knowledge, skills, and talent of youth to further food security and nutrition.
  2. Access to land to the youth: In a country where agriculture is the backbone of the economy, young people have vast potential to make a tremendous and recognizable positive impact. Empowering youth involvement in agriculture by availing them with access to secure land tenure opportunities offers them a great opportunity to be productive towards advancing the country’s development. PMA started a relationship with The Church of Uganda’s three dioceses in Western Uganda, i.e.; North Ankole (Kiruhura & Kazo districts), Northwest Ankole (Ibanda), East Ruwenzori (Kamwenge, Kitagwenda) under the umbrella body “ERUNANWA”, whose aim is to jointly utilize resources like the church land to implement our development program; “Social-Economic Transformation of Anglican communities” (SETRAC) while utilizing local leaderships in the various communities to enhance agricultural project ownership and sustainability. With the ease of mobile phone internet access, young people in our areas of operation leverage the secure land opportunity to utilize modern agricultural practices and connect to the internet to obtain beneficial information such as agricultural tips.
  3. Access to financial service for the youth: One of the major reasons young people hesitate to engage in agriculture is having limited financial resources to invest. Very few of the youth population can afford to offer collateral that banks seek. Prosper Mama Africa provides capital requirements for items like tractors, quality seeds, fertilizer, harvesting equipment, irrigation equipment, and grain storage facilities in its areas of operation to aid the young people in these regions yield high-value crops and establishes connections with buyers as a way of dealing with the general financial constraints that youth often face while embracing sustainable food supply chain initiatives.

“Uganda needs rapid intervention to mitigate the food crisis. We need to conduct a quick audit of our food systems and the extent of disruption that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused. We need to conduct a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the pandemic’s impacts on livelihoods, food, and agriculture, markets as well as on poverty and nutrition.”

~David Lukwago; Founder & CEO Prosper Mama Africa

Get in touch with Prosper Mama Africa and together let us transform communities together.