The project emphasizes on economic empowerment of youth and women through sustainable agriculture. A total of 700 beneficiaries were selected using our defined criteria which is more focused on gender non-discrimination. The beneficiaries from different sub-counties receive training from our technical team (Field Extension Workers) both theory and hands-on training. Currently, 700 households have directly benefited from our training and support especially in terms of access to quality seed and finance. We were able to make a collaboration with Stina Foods, a social enterprise that deals in the production of highly nutritious food for malnourished children in the community. In our partnership, we were able to attract support from LATEK STAY Alliance Uganda who helped to support us financially to facilitate the smooth running of our project, and The Private Education Development Network (PEDN) who funded our farmer database project. Currently, we are engaging 700 youth and women on farming as a business and organized in groups and cooperatives where we provide capacity building training. We are looking forward to engaging at least 2,000 youth and women once we get another financial support from well-wishers.
S.M Catalyst Project
Poverty alleviation, Agriculture, and food security, gender non-discrimination, Economic growth, trade and entrepreneurship, Youth aspects, climate-smart agriculture.
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People
Funding
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
PROJECT STATS
Project Type Partnership
Current phase of development Stage 4: Early Adoption/Distribution
Expected location of implementation Africa
Implemented in Uganda
Direct Impact 1300 people
Funding $ 4000
Sectors
Agriculture, Food Security, Agribusiness (SMSE), Agriculture and Climate Change, Financing & Policy, Livestock & Agriculture, Post Harvest, Processing & Production, Seeds & Stock, Soil Management, Economic Growth and Trade, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship, Financial Sector & Investment, Market Structures, Bi- and Multi-lateral Economic Realtionships, Land Tenure, Leadership Development, Livelihoods Development, Maker/ Do-It-Yourself, Private Sector Competitiveness, Social Finance, Social Responsibility, Gender, Non-discrimination, Adolescent Girls, Gender-Based Violence (GBV), Disability, Men and Boys, Economic Empowerment, Gender Equity, Gender Monitoring, Gender Mainstreaming, Gender Budgeting, Social Services, Youth, Asset Building, Adolescent Brain Development, Behavioural Development, Child, Early, and Forced Marriage, Emerging Adulthood (20-24), Emotional Development, Enabling Environment, Mid-Adolescence (15-19), Moral Development, Positive Youth Development, Risk-taking, Social Development, Young Adolescence (10-14), Youth Engagement and Contribution, Youth Leadership, Youth Friendly Services
No. We just share updates on our social media handles Facebook: @YESRUD Twitter: @ YesrudO Instagram: @yesrud_official
Our innovation is focusing on economically empowering adolescents, youth and women through engagement in farming as a business while achieving food security.
HOW CAN OTHER MEMBERS HELP YOU?
- Assistance with the Press
- Connecting with funding
- Proposal/grant writing
WHAT EVIDENCE DO YOU HAVE THAT YOUR PROJECT WORKS?
We carried out a baseline survey in January 2020 to have a needs assessment for the target beneficiaries. A lot of gaps were identified and the solutions were proposed and that is where we based our training and linkages on. We were doing it as a pilot project but just requires scaling up. A lot of progress and impact has already been identified through the data collected by our field extension workers and reports submitted to our funder LATEK STAY Alliance Uganda. Before the project was implemented, saving was not prioritized by the beneficiaries but after the introduction of our Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLAs), we now have 20 VSLA groups saving every week even amidst the Covid-19 crisis. Bulking and collective marketing which was initially not there is now evidenced by 20 bulking centers for the 20 groups and cooperatives. initially, productivity per acre was 100kg on average but after agronomic training, the productivity per acre is now at 400kg on average. Cases of gender-based violence were high but after our training on gender mainstreaming using the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) Methodology, gender-based violence has declined by 80%. We store all the relevant data in our database management system which we innovated in February.
DO YOU HAVE CURRENT USERS OR TESTERS?
Yes. Currently, we have (1,300)users 700 in the S.M Catalyst project and 600 in the Sunflower oil project.