Villages in Action

Help Rebuild the Kikuube Deliverance Church

Tracy Pell — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:41:02 +0000

Last Friday we got word that the roof of the Kikuube Deliverance Church 9where Milly Businge is pastor) blew off during a storm. This leaves the community with out a place to worship or meet. This is a critical piece of their community life and we are Project Diaspora and Villages in Action have commited to raising the $10,000 we estimate it will take to build a new structure for the community. Please join us in whatever way you can in bringing this church back to then as quickly as possible. Please donate today!

VIA12 Keynote Speech, by LC1 Chairperson, Milly Businge

via_admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:18:34 +0000

VILLAGES IN ACTION HELD ON 14/01/2012 AT KIKUUBE VILLAGE GROUNDS BY PROJECT DIASPORA
–CHAIRPERSON L.C REPORT.
Our distinguished guest, the entire world, we the residents of Kikuube village, Bikonzi Parish, Bwijanga Sub-County, Bujenje County in Masindi District, Uganda with great pleasure would like to welcome you warmly to Kikuube.

Today, as we celebrate the second Villages in Action conference, it’s a pleasure to see you come and join us, as we evaluate the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The Millennium Development Goals are the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific development goals the world has ever agreed upon. These eight time-bound goals provide concrete numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its dimensions. They include goals and targets for mortality, disease, inadequate shelter, gender inequality, environmental degradation and global partnership for development.

THE 8 MDLGs are:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger:
Great strides have already been made the world over, the arm of which has also reached our heights that had not been reached before the MDGs were put in place i.e. during our generation, most houses were grass thatched mud walls but now we have most houses iron- roofed, bricks- permanent houses. On the issue of hunger, there has been rampant and wide spread times of severe hunger, mainly due to climatic changes and in some instance, extreme poverty has prevailed. There are still homes who live on less than 1 dollar a day.

Achieve Universal Primary Education:
Since the inception of U.P.E Enrollment has now gone up by 80%. For the 20% that is lacking has been made up by a big percentage of school drop-outs, especially girls, extreme poverty, whereby the parents is not even able to buy school uniform and books, early marriages.

The bigger percentage of school drop-outs are girls because single mothers and are not able to go back to school. We have many such girls, who have ended up unemployed.

For the 80% that are in school, still the girl child is not adequately catered for. The school lacks bathrooms, not enough privacy in the toilets, and so the girl child ends up running away from school.

Our teachers in UPE are to be commended for the good job they are doing to help our pupils; though some of them have to walk long distances to get to this school, because we don’t have staff quarters at the school.

Promote gender equality and empower women:
There has been a marked increase in the empowerment of our women. More of our girls to school- some have reached university level- we have teachers, nurses.
Reducing child mortality and improve maternal health.

We have both seen and experienced a reduction in child mortality. The government has put up effort in sensitizing the community on these. We the VHT, who have been trained to work in the community, immunizations are done on regular basis, and health facilities have been brought nearer to the people. But these mothers still suffer walking long distances to access the nearest health facility. The nearest to us is 3 miles.

We are celebrating the people who have managed to open up clinics so that they can help the community as well as the village community, who now know what should be done and do it.

The government had gone a head and given out mosquito nets and taught our community on malaria prevention.

Combat HIV/AIDs- 4
We have TASO services, Kinyara HIV/AIDs sensitization group who come regularly to teach us. They do counseling and guidance and voluntary testing.

People know what to do and where to go for treatment, unlike those YB when these services were not there. We command the good job they have done, though more needs to be done in the areas of treatment.

Develop a Global Partnership for development.

In as far as Global Partnership is goal to be desired. We appreciate the efforts government is making to achieve this. However we wish that this goal could be implemented right have in our village i.e. bringing some NGOs to work here so as to develop that partnership.

Along side the successes, are an array of goals and targets that are likely to be missed unless more action I taken more urgently.

We are a farming community, and have so far managed to improve our living conditions as we implement the MDGs along side government efforts.

The residents have put up businesses in the village i.e. grinding mills, shops, brick making. I do commend their efforts since they also work towards the development of our goals as a community.

Our youth work at brick laying, we thank them that whereas we would have to walk long distances to buy bricks from a far, they do it for us in the village. The saloon operates, the millers, the food vendors, the restaurants and many others, who have made our lives simpler by their service.

This is our second villages in Action conference brought to us by Project Diaspora. They in particular have given us a communicational platform from which we can tell the whole world how we live, how we grow and develop in our village community.

Our heartfelt thanks go out to you.

Thanks to the village community as a whole in trying to make this a success, our government, who have also worked to make some of the MDGs a success.

“LONG LIVE”
“AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU”.

Thank you
Milly Businge – Kikuube Village LC1

Villages in Action hosts successful village tweet chat with UN Foundation’s GirlUp Campaign

via_admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:35:16 +0000

Darlyne using her mobile to send the questions from Kikuube Village

On Friday January 13th, Villages in Action partnered with UN Foundations GirlUp campaign in a first ever Twitter party from a village. About 10 girls from Kikuube village exchanged questions and answers from a global village of participants. This was a great way to kickoff this year’s VIA conference that concentrated on the role of technology and business in the village.

There’s something beautiful about awakening the imagination of someone who never thought that they would ever have an opportunity to interact with an international audience. The girls started out shy and not really sure what was going to happen. I made sure to spend about one hour prior to the Twitter chat and having a conversation with them to put them at ease. Communication to young girls at village level in this community can be a challenge to the untrained.

From a cultural stand point, girls (and youth generally) are taught to respect their elders. In particular, it is customary to treat visitors with the utmost of respect. Even though I am a member of this community, I am not a full-time resident. So in a sense I am both a visitor and an elder to them. So trying to talk to them casually all of a sudden can be rather abrupt and disconcerting for them.

This is not to say that they don’t have anything to say, they do, and plenty. They are as creative, smart, curious, and aware as their Western counterparts. What they are not, is connected to the wide world beyond their schools and this village. Information, arrives in the form of scribbles on a black board in a crowded classroom, written by under-trained and under-paid teacher.

So the brief exposure to a world full of people and information was very refreshing. After an hour spent warming them up to the idea (and getting their heads around a global Twitter audience), the girls were eager to ask their questions and answer those that were sent in from the GirlUp team in DC. From a connectivity angle, the conversation was slightly plagued by a slow EDGE connection. But there in lies another rub, this village that has not running water, or an electrical grid has the ability to be connected to the global village. What was lacking before now, was the knowledge, technical know-how and a helping hand.

Somewhere in the middle of this hurdle is an iPhone working furiously to relay questions

The beauty of this short exercise in communication was to illustrate that even the people of this remote village, worry about the same things their counterparts across the world do. In some instances, the questions show-cased concerns some of us have never had to contend with. 16-year old Sarah was curious if “other girls lacked scholastic materials” as she did. But Jane, brought it home to the most basic of customs and cultural practice, “do you respect your parents like we do?”

These were just some of the highlights from the very brief, but successful conversation. We look forward to igniting a much more fruitful engagement next year. For now, here’s a quick look at some of the social stats the conversation was able to strike up.

#Girlupvia12 hashtag:

Generated 676 tweets
Total reach of the conversation was over 1.5 million people
Total impression was nearly 4.5 million
Impressions Contributed by 231 Twitterers
Ivanka Trump joined the conversation and sent out a few tweets to her 1.3 million followers
Only 1 laptop was used in Kikuube, the rest of the conversation was conducted over various smartphone platforms

Ida Horner representing Business Fights Poverty & Ethnic Supplies at VIA12

admin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:00:43 +0000

Ida Horner, founder of Ethnic Supplies and a member of the Business Fights Poverty community flew all the way from London to represent BFT at this year’s Villages in Action conference.loans payday Many thanks to Business Fights Poverty for making this year’s event a roaring success. Without their unfailing and generous support, this conference wouldn’t be the success that it is. From all of us in Kikuube Village, many thanks to Ida Horner, Zahid Torres-Rahman and the entire team at BFP, thank you for another great conference.

Grifulvin V

A look at your donations to VIA at work

admin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:00:28 +0000

As Villages in Action (VIA) prepares for its second conference, a number of initiatives have began to take shape to ensure that this annual event leaves behind some tangible benefits that the community can enjoy year-around. One of the most pressing issues here is how to survive the dry season with little access to clean water sources.

Kikuube, like many villages in Uganda, does not have have piped water. Many-a-days you will find residents ferrying water on their heads, bicycles and motorcycles to and from the shallow wells. This community of just over 1100 residents has three bore holes. Every so often they break down and need repairs. When they do breakdown, money is collected from the villagers to pay for repairs, but sometimes there isn’t enough money contributed for repairs, so they stay broken. Sometimes for months at a time.

At a recent fund-raising, only 75% of the money to repair the bore holes had been collected to make repairs. With dry season now in full swing, the shallow wells are all but dried up, and the community was facing a water crisis if repairs were not done soon. A small portion of the VIA budget was used to “top-up” the the community fund-raising effort.

Getting ready to put the final touches on the tank

Connecting the gutters to the tank

The gutter system in place

The tank harvests 2500 liters of rain water - enough clean for 125 jerricans

We bought and installed a 2500-liter water tank at the home of the Local Councilwoman’s home to provide additional water security. At 2500 liters, the tank is enough to provide 125 jerricans (20 liters each) of water, should there every be an emergency shortage.

A local carpenter was hired to do the installation and will make the repairs to the gutters should they ever fail.

Here is a look at the total costs breakdown:

[table id=1 /]

Thank you for all of your contributions and making this a reality. Check back regularly with updates from Kikuube as we get ready for VIA on January 14th.payday loans If you haven’t made a donation and would like to contribute, you can do so here [ DONATE TO VIA ]. Happy New Year!

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Five students receive mobile phones for their academic excellence at #via12

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:42 +0000

Announcing VIA 2011 – Business & Technology in the Village

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:37 +0000

In September of 2010, the world’s elite gathered in New York and DC to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Millennium Development Goals. Missing from the conversation were the voices at the “base of the pyramid“, i.e., the poor. In November of 2010, a little-known conference was held in a small village in North Western Uganda to bring these voices to the fore. The Villages in Action 2010 conference brought together over 500 villagers who were given a chance to voice their opinions on development in their villages. A stage was built, microphones handed over and the world participated via the internet as Kikuube Village in Masindi Uganda joined the global development debate for the first time.

Following the success of last year’s villages in action conference a decision has been made to move the event to the next level and we are inviting you to be a partner at this year’s Villages in Action 2012 to be held on January 14th, 2012 in Kikuube Village. Please find attached to this email a summary of last year’s conference, next steps for the conference, and co-branding opportunities that are available to you. We hope you can join and or support us in this very important initiative.

Ugandan musician Tshila to perform at Villages in Action

via_admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:10:32 +0000

Tshila to perform at Villages in Action

We are thrilled to announce that Tshila, one of Uganda’s most talented performers, will be making an appearance at VIA12 on January 14th. Tshila, “recognized as a spokesperson and contributor to youth movements for social reform in Uganda,” will be sharing the story behind her success, triumph over struggle and her music, with the young women and girls from Kikuube village. Below is a short bio on Tshila. For more information on her music, please show your support by visiting her web site, follow her on Twitter, and please check out her updates on her Facebook page.

Tshila was born on the 10th June 1983 in Kampala, Uganda. She went to university in Valdosta, Georgia and received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in May 2005. She began making music in August, 2005, after she met Ugandan hip-hop group, Bataka Squad and was introduced to their rap style that combined rhymes from Luganda, the local language, with Western rhythm. She later branched out as a solo artist, with a different style of music that combined afro-fusion, hip-hop and African traditional rhythms.

In July, 2006, she played at the Zanzibar International Film Festival where she was first recognized as a contributor to the diversity of Ugandan music abroad. She was also featured in a documentary for Former Vice President Al Gore’s independent TV, Current TV about the struggles that a young African goes through in modern times, called “Raw Truth”. In 2007, Tshila was named one of the 20 best unsigned artists in the world by the BBC World Service in their talent search called “The Next Big Thing”.

In August 2007, she recorded her first album, called “Sipping From The Nile”, which combined spoken word poetry, African traditional music and hip-hop. It has not yet been officially released, but has received acclaim from music critics in East Africa. She has also been recognized as a spokesperson and contributor to youth movements for social reform in Uganda.

Tshila sites the part of her life spent in the US as her greates influence in becoming a musician. She attended Valdosta State University, in Georgia and was the President of the International Student body at some point. During this time, she got the wonderful opportunity to meet with former US President, Jimmy Carter, from whom she picked up several life lessons. “I almost feel like it is my duty to the world to be the most that I can be. I am powerful!”, says Tshila.

Read her full bio here:

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Where to stay for Villages in Action 2012

via_admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:25:01 +0000

With just 12 days to go til the next Villages in Action on January 14, it is time to start planning your trip! For those that are joining us in person, below is a short guide on how to get to Kikuube and where to stay in Masindi. If you are joining us via the live-stream, stay tuned over the coming days for information on where you can watch the day’s events.

Getting to Masindi

If you are traveling using public means, the best way to get to Masindi by Link Buses. There are four departure times from the Kampala Bus terminal located just outside the old taxi park. The Link buses are the lime green ones and they depart every 2-3 hours starting at 9am. The fare is about 20,000 UGX per person. Total trip time to Masindi is about 3 hours.

If you are traveling by car, let us know. There might be some people coming from Kampala and you can share a ride together to save on fuel costs.

Once in Masindi town, you can grab a short boda boda ride to one of these hotels. Accommodation ranges from 45,000 UGX and 160,000 UGX, per night. (Please call Pamela, for assistance in booking a room: +256 774 787 465)

Masindi Hotel
Bijja Hotel
Kolping Hotel
Arlinda guest house

Getting to Kikkube:

Kikuube Village is just a short 20-minute ride out outside of Masindi town. The best way to get there is to hire a special car to bring you. Since it is dry season (and because we care about your safety) please use boda boda taxis at your own risk. Again, you can just call us and we can help you arrange a special hire to the village.

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Project Diaspora Announces Second Villages in Action Conference

via_admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:01:56 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Project Diaspora Presents
VIA: VILLAGES IN ACTION CONFERENCE
Kikuube Village Grounds, Masindi, Uganda
Saturday 14th January 2012, 10am – 8pm

Project Diaspora is thrilled to announce that the next Villages in Action (VIA) conference will take place on January 14th, 2012. VIA, the first globally streamed development conference, returns to the village of Kikuube Uganda to explore the role of Business and Technology in the Village.

Further exploring the topics identified by the first locally-led discussions of the Millenium Development Goals, this conference will focus on the role that business and entrepreneurship play in reducing poverty in the small but interconnected community. The conference will also explore the role of technology in the village by discussing the importance of access to information via mobile phones in a community without an internet connection, electricity or running water. The VIA conference will also feature the possibilities that thrive at the intersection of youth, technology, and village ingenuity.

The first VIA found that members of the community themselves are the key to development in villages like Kikuube. There was sufficient local capacity to address many of the development issues facing the community. What was needed was a platform of recognition, support, and empowerment of those local efforts so villagers could continue to do what they identified as much-needed development in their community.

Most importantly, the community recognized business and economic empowerment as the driving force behind development in Kikuube. For example, sugar cane farmers saw a remarkable improvement in their standard of living when they transitioned from subsistence to commercial farming. Their disposable income spent within the community then had an impact on other small enterprises. Development in this village turned out to be a interdependent cycle of business activities.

This year’s conference is made possible by the generous financial support of Business Fights Poverty. Zahid Torres-Rahman, founder of the London-based network for professionals passionate about fighting poverty through business, had this to say about VIA:

For all the talk about how to improve the lives of poor people, too little time is spent actually engaging poor people in the conversation. The fact is that when asked, poor people say that getting a job or growing a business is their best strategy for escaping poverty. We need to think about how best we can help poor people achieve that. But above all we need to listen. Villages in Action is a unique event that gives poor people the chance to lead the discussion, and we are delighted to be sponsoring it for a second year.

The conference is also sponsored by Project Diaspora, Orange Uganda, iWearYourShirt.com, Ethnic Supplies, and the generous support of individual sponsors from around the world.

About Business Fights Poverty
Business Fights Poverty in a free-to-join global community of professionals passionate about fighting world poverty through good business. Business Fights Poverty connects over 10,000 people from 150 countries through its online network (www.businessfightspoverty.org), its communities on Twitter (@FightPoverty), Facebook and LinkedIn, and through physical events. Community members come from a diverse range of business, government and civil society backgrounds to share experience and good practice – collectively pushing the boundaries of how business can fight poverty. We believe that we can achieve more together – by harnessing our collective intelligence and energy – than we can alone.

About Villages in Action
In September of 2010, the world’s elite gathered in New York and DC to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Millennium Development Goals. Missing from the conversation were the voices at the base of the pyramid, i.e., the poor. In November of 2010, a little-known conference was held in a small village in NW Uganda to bring these voices to the fore. The Villages in Action 2010 conference brought together over 500 villagers who were given a chance to voice their opinions on development in their villages. A stage was built, microphones handed over and the world participated via the internet as Kikuube Village in Masindi Uganda joined the global development debate for the first time. Villages in action is a Project Diaspora initiative.

About Project Diaspora
Project Diaspora (PD) is a USA-based organisation established in September 2007 with a simple mission—to promote African Diaspora engagement in sustainable economic activities within Africa. PD actively seeks to mobilize, engage, and motivate members of the African Diaspora to participate in Africa’s economic, social, and cultural renaissance. Looking beyond the $40 billion in annual remittances to the continent, the strongest resources the African Diaspora possess are its vast wealth of knowledge, technical expertise and professional network. Africa’s Diaspora is well positioned to become a major developmental force. In light of their cultural and personal ties to their home communities there is no other single group that is better equipped to generate positive, sustained change across the continent.

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