Empower And Care Organization (EACO)

UGANDAN 20 SECONDARY SCHOOLS BEE-KEEPING PROJECT UgandaDespite success in sectors such as tourism, Uganda remains among the least developed and poorest countries in the world. The majority its population live on less than $1 per day and the incidence of poverty is not decreasing. Agriculture remains vital to the economy - with 80% of the population deriving some part of their income from this source. Nonetheless agricultural education at school level is often minimal or non-existent. Reducing extreme poverty means teaching the next generation how to make money out of agriculture – the current project aims to play a small but important part in this. The 20 Kyampisi Secondary SchoolsLess than 25% of Ugandans get to go to Secondary Schools, despite the important role that women play in agricultural production, often this isn’t recognized and girls get even less agricultural education than their male counterparts.  20 Kyampisi Secondary Schools isn’t like that.  In addition to providing an all round education, the schools maintains a small but highly capable agricultural science department. This ensures the girls are able to learn environmentally sensitive and economically productive and sustainable techniques of farming essential to creating new jobs and improving food security for the wider benefit of society.  These schools rightly want to extend their ability to make such an education available to a wider number of students and is enthusiastic about finding innovative new ways of doing this. EACO: Sustainable approaches to tackling poverty 

EACO's key principles on and approach to community development·         The vision and philosophy of EACO is based on the belief that every human being is a unique individual and that we all have a right to good health and basic needs and should access means to a comfortable life in one way or another.

·         We believe that the first priority is that people should have a sustainable life. However, almost equally important is that an individual’s life should have meaning and that they should develop independence. This is being achieved through care then empowerment and support. It’s really only then we can bring education so that our people understand the overwhelming benefit to them. With improved health comes the ability to be employable to generate income and escape from poverty.

At the heart of EACO’s approach the focus is on achieving financial and operational sustainability.  Financial sustainability is incorporated into project design – as part of the education process students produce actual goods. The income generated from the sale of these products is used to cover teaching and production costs.    Operational sustainability is ensured by working within the framework of existing organisational structures. By partnering with well established agricultural schools we can be confident that long term impact does not depend on one or two key individuals but is a result of institutionalisation of successful practices.   UGANDAN 20 SCHOOLS BEE-KEEPING PROJECTThe project for which we are currently requesting funding seeks to establish bee-keeping training on a self-funding basis for the benefit of generation after generation of students at Kyampisi Secondary Schools– long term poverty reduction through helping the young to help themselves. Benefits of Bee-KeepingBee-keeping, with its low start-up costs, low maintenance requirements, and low use of land, combined with a high value product, offers an ideal means for students from families with few resources to supplement their household income. These same characteristics that make bee-keeping so suitable for the individual also apply to schools. The high value of the honey and hive products is more than capable of generating sufficient funds to pay for the costs of providing a bee-keeping instructor and hive maintenance – allowing otherwise financially constrained schools to extend their educational programmes.    Project DescriptionThe project outlined is based on the Kyampisi Secondary Schools. School own analysis of their requirements and has the full support of the school’s director - ensuring the local ownership required for its successful implementation. With expertise in agricultural and entrepreneur education EACO will provide the schools with technical, administrative and financial support to maximise the project’s impact.
The project will:·         Provide funds for the establishment of 1000 hives stocked with apis mellifera mellifera bees·         Provide thorough training for three teachers at each school in all aspects of bee-keeping from hive construction, maintenance & disease prevention, to harvesting, processing, and packaging of honey and other hive products. ·         Assist the schools to access advisory services from local bee-keeping trainers OutcomesOur goal is that by the end of the project the  20 Kyampisi Secondary Schools, bee-keeping activities should be generating income sufficient to cover the cost of a trained bee-keeping instructor and ongoing hive maintenance and replacement costs. Specifically:·         All  students currently at those schools will have been trained to a standard where they are able to establish and maintain their own hives as a viable business activity.  ·         The hives will bring in additional income to the school which will be used to buy additional educational resources (books & equipment etc..), and to fund scholarships for the most needy pupils most especially Girls.·         20 Kyampisi  Secondary Schools will be in a position to replicate the developed project at other schools in other communities in Uganda without the need for substantial fresh resources.  Monitoring and EvaluationEACO will work with the schools to monitor and support the ongoing implementation of the project, assess its impact, identify and disseminate the lessons learned and their implications for rural and pro-poor agricultural education at the national and international levels.