ICCO and Kirk in Actie are supporting UCAA, KOPEIN, UJCC and TEWPA as theTeso-Karamoja cluster toimplement the Conflict transformation and democratization (CT&D) Project. The Year 2014 is the 2nd year of the project implementation. This is a report on UCAA activities of Jan-June 2014.

Project Activities
Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA)
During the period Jan-june 2014, UCAA conducted 2 VSLA trainings one in Napak and Another in Katakwi districts. Each training had 10 participants as follows: Napak training had 5 males and 5 females all drawn from Ngoloriet Sub county, while Katakwi had 7 females and 3 males from Usuk sub county.

The training evaluation report indicate that participants liked the training because it was unique and enriching. Participants took it upon themselves to immediately start implementation of theskills acquired as soon as they get to their groups.

Training in Group formation,Community based monitoring and Evaluation (CBM&E)
UCAA conducted 2 trainings on CBM&E ,one in Katakwi and another one in Napak. Attendance at this workshop was 100% as follows: Katakwi 20 (8 males and 12 females) while Napak was 20 ( 9 males and 11 females).
The objective of the training on Group formation in Community Based Monitoring and Evaluation

1. To organize the people at the grass roots to learn and understand the budget process at local, District and National level
2. Make available skills of the people at the grassroots in data collection, carryout monitoring exercise and present reports of findings in sub-county dialogue meetings
3. Through dialogue meetings at various levels, seek actions to remedy the situation obtained
4. Develop a monitoring structure of budget monitoring committees at the grass roots for the continuous monitoring of utilization of budget resources
5. Assist the Budget monitoring committee develop follow up activity plan

Northern Uganda experienced over two decades of armed conflict between the State of the Republic of Uganda and several dissident armed groups. This conflict resulted in diverse grave livelihood gaps and challenges. Despite several initiatives by Government of Uganda to mitigate the effects of armed conflict, there were still livelihood gaps manifested in form of low food and nutrition security, low household incomes, increased vulnerability, dwindling well-being, limited rights of access and stagnated or dwindling human dignity in post-conflict settings

Uganda Change Agent (UCAA) proposed this project aimed at improving livelihood of women in Unyama Sub-county Gulu District and Otwal Sub-County of Oyam District. The specific objectives of the project were: -

1. To Improve the women’s capacity to save and invest in viable income generating activities by Dec 2016
2. To Improve the Women’s capacity to take an active role in their communities by Dec 2016
3. To improve women’s skills and knowledge to manage their businesses, professionally and profitably by Dec 2016.

The primary focus group for the project was a total of 450 Women selected in parishes in Unyama Sub-County (Gulu District) and Otwal Sub-County (Oyam District. These target groups mostly comprised of poor grassroots women engaged in subsistence agricultural production.
Please you can download to view the whole activity Report.

Introduction
ICCO and Kirk in Actie are supporting UCAA, KOPEIN, UJCC and TEWPA as theTeso-Karamoja cluster toimplement the Conflict transformation and democratization (CT&D) Project. The Year 2014 is the 2nd year of the project implementation. This is a report on UCAA activities of Jan-Dec 2014.

Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA)
During the period Jan-Dec 2014, UCAA conducted 2 VSLA trainings one in Napak and Another in Katakwi districts. Each training had 10 participants as follows: Napak training had 5 males and 5 females all drawn from Ngoloriet Sub county, while Katakwi had 7 females and 3 males from Usuk sub county.The training evaluation report indicate that participants liked the training because it was unique and enriching. Participants took it upon themselves to immediately start implementation of theskills acquired as soon as they getto their groups

Training in Group formation, Community based monitoring and Evaluation (CBM&E)
UCAA conducted 2 trainings on CBM&E ,one in Katakwi and another one in Napak. Attendance at this workshop was 100% as follows: Katakwi 20 (8 males and 12 females) while Napak was 20 ( 9 males and 11 females).

Trainings on Service delivery, Change Agent Skills and Domestic Violence.
Two trainings were conducted one in Katakwi and another one in Napak. That of Katakwi was attended by 29 (07 males and 22 females) while that in Napak was attended by 20 (11 males and 09 females). The train imparted into the participants knowledge on understanding what service delivery means which helped them to contribute to the discussions in Dialogues.

ICCO and Kirk in Actie are supporting UCAA, KOPEIN, UJCC and TEWPA as theTeso-Karamoja cluster toimplement the Conflict transformation and democratization (CT&D) Project. The Year 2015 is the 3ndyear of the project implementation. This is a report on UCAA activities of Jan-June 2015 but includes the monitoring protocol for the whole project cycle. Activities actually done were Mobilization, Cluster Meetings, A training in resource Mobilization, 2 trainings on community safety and domestic Violence for the duty bearers in Katakwi and Napak districts, 2 trainings on VSLA for Katakwi and Napak, Monitoring of the project beneficiaries in thedistricts, Meetings in preparation for the Peace week, kick starting data collection in both districts on Domestic Violence.

Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) The left photo below shows, all members witnessing to count and confirm the votes during VSLA training in Napak, while the right photo shows the five (5) elected leaders seated in front as per the sitting arrangement. During the period Jan-June 2015, UCAA conducted 2 VSLA trainings one in Napak and Another in Katakwi districts. Each training had 10 participants as follows: Napak training had 3 males and 7 females all drawn from Ngoloriet Sub County, while Katakwi had 6 females and 4 males from Usuk Sub County. The turn up was good, participants appreciated the course content and promised to utilize the knowledge gained to improve their livelihood.

Involvement of the local leaders and change agents
The local leaders and change Agents were trained in Community safety and Domestic Violence Act. The Chiefs, Councilors both for the District and those for Parishes, Local council chairpersons, group leaders and a few change Agents attended the training in Katakwi and Napak district as well.

Support to Academic Institutions
During the period UCAA had 4 Students on internship from institutions of higher learning whobenefited on the CT &D. They were AKOL TINAH from Makerere University Business School, EBONG PETER& Nabukera Martha from Kyambogo University and Kamusiime Eve of Makerere University. However, other 3 students all Male from Kyambogo University attached to Usuk Subwere also allowed into the UCAA orientation and induction of the Duty bearers in the Community Safety and Domestic Violence Act. The students were excited upon the new knowledge they had acquired on the project.

Introduction

ICCO and Kirk in Actie are supporting UCAA, KOPEIN, UJCC and TEWPA under the Teso-Karamoja cluster toimplement the “Uganda coalition for social transformation”strategy 2013-2015. ICCO is a long term funder of UCAA. Currently it is funding UCAA through the TESO-KARAMOJA Cluster for the purpose of implementing the Conflict Transformation and Democratization (CT&D) Strategy.

Project Activities
Activities assigned to UCAA in the Teso-Karamoja Cluster included, induction of Sub county duty bearers in Change Agent Skills in district of Katakwi (Usuk Sub county) and district of Napak (Ngoloriet SC),induction of Communities in Service delivery, Collecting data and Conductingdialogue forums in Napak and Katakwi Districts, trainings of change agents on group formation andcommunity based Monitoring and Evaluation, Trainings in Village Savings and Loans Associations.

Strategies
Mobilization / project visibilityUCAA started with the Creation of awareness to Stakeholders in the target districts. In this connection, the Office of the LCV Napak was reached, The Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Napak and District Internal Security Officer as well were reached including Ngoloreit Sub county and District Community Development Officer In Katakwi, Office of Chief Administrative Officer was to an extent that District Community Development Officer officiated at the workshop closure. The Katakwi RDC office was also reached. The Orientation of Key District and Sub county officials did result into great support for UCAA project activities in the target area. This was evidenced by the district officials’ attendance at organized meetings when invited.

Joint launch of project
As agreed in the cluster proposal, there was supposed to be a Joint launch of the project in Teso- Karamoja Region as the first activity. To this effect, TEWPA (the lead organization for the cluster) organized a meeting to launch the Teso- Karamoja Project. This meeting was attended by participants from the cluster organizations, i.e.UCAA, UJCC,TEWPA and KOPEIN-(two staff per organization). UCAA was represented by Dinah Akallo and Julius Imuko. The meeting took place on the 21st of June 2013 at TEDWILS bravo Guest House in Soroti.

This Launch was used to create awareness among the stakeholders about the project and indeed the stakeholders welcomed the project and pledged their support. The Launch further assisted the partners to come with joint implantation Plan which UCAA has been following

VSLA training in Katakwi and Napak As agreed in the launch by all cluster members, trainings were supposed to be the first activities to be conducted by UCAA. UCAA organized trainings on VSLA in Katakwi and Napak. Participants had been carefully selected as per project requirements.The training in Katakwi was conducted from 8th-10th July 2013. A total of 11(4 male and 6 female) including 5 Youth (3 female and 2 males) participants were trained and they were all drawn from Usuk Sub-county. (Usuk is the sub-county of project implementation in Katakwi district).

Women's Bank Project Quarterly Monitoring Report 2015

Introduction:

Within this reporting period, the project area of operation experienced a long dry spell. Rains delayed but are expected in August 2015. Most women and households at large had planted crops before and because of rain delay, the gardens were not that doing well and affect our beneficiaries since they are peasant farmers. We believe that when rains come in August 2015, the situation will be favorable. During the period the dollar un expectedly rose high and resulted into ever increasing prices of some products leading into unfavorable business Climate.

Project Beneficiaries reported that all their school going age children remained in school during the quarter. Women are taking loans for investment and purchase of Assets, pay and complete school fees for their children in time. UCAA hopes that this will contribute to better learning opportunities which could lead to better academic performance in schools this year in Gulu and Oyam Districts.

Summary of the Project

Mobilization of local government leaders.
UCAA Project staff conducted mobilization meetings between 12th -16th March 2015 in the 4 targeted Sub counties i.e. Unyama, Awach , Otwal and Achaba. Officials met in these sub counties included the Sub county chiefs, Chairpersons LCIII, District councilors, Community development officers , Parish chiefs and other subcounty staff to whom the project was introduceced.

The method of reaching the communities was as follows: Step 1 was to visit the offices of the RDC , later that of the District Chairman, District Community Development Officer (DCDO) while providing project brief and introducing the new project to them as stakeholders. Step two was to proceeded to the sub counties to meet with the sub county officials and provide project briefs to them. The third step was to meet the local communities plus the community leaders to introduce the project to them too.

Training In VSLA Methodologies
One training was organized for the women in Gulu while another one was arranged the women in Oyam district. A total of 40 attended and completed the training. The training was conducted from 4th -7th May 2015 for 3 days. The purpose of the training was to build the capacity of community groups to mobilize savings, increase household security through accumulation of assets, offer loans to members for productive purposes and increase household security through access to insurance services.

Introduction

Northern and North Eastern Uganda experienced over two decades of armed conflict between the State of the Republic of Uganda and several dissident armed groups. This conflict resulted in diverse grave livelihood gaps and challenges. Despite several initiatives by Government of Uganda to mitigate the effects of armed conflict, there were still livelihood gaps manifested in form of low food and nutrition security, low household incomes, increased vulnerability, dwindling well-being, limited rights of access and stagnated or dwindling human dignity in post-conflict settings.

Uganda Change Agent (UCAA) proposed this project aimed at improving livelihood among people who earn less than US$1 per day in Paicho Sub-County of Gulu District and Otwal Sub-County of Oyam District. The specific objectives of the project were: -

1. To develop Village Change Agent (VCA) skills among 40 members of self-help development groups by December 31 2013
2. To build capacity in developing and managing Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) among 40 change agents and leaders of self-help development groups by December 31 2013
3. To develop group management skills among 40 members of self-help development groups by December 31 2013
4. To promote collective and sustainable food production practices among the community groups by December 31 2013.

COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION AND ORIENTATION The Executive director –UCAA standing in t-shirt addressing community members in Oyam district during one of the project sensitization meetings. Community mobilization was the first field activity conducted. This created awareness among project beneficiaries and other stakeholders. The team at UCAA including the Executive Director, The Programme Director and the Programme Officer moved to Gulu and Oyam in May 2013.

Training In Village Savings And Loan Associations (VSLA)
VSLA Training In Oyam This training was conducted from 19th-22nd May. A total of 22 participants were trained and were drawn from Alege and Odia Villages. One UCAA intern student and a change agent were also trained. This training took place in white house hotel in Oyam.

Training in VSLA Methodology in Gulu Similarly, this training was conducted between 23rd and 25th May. A total of 22 participants were trained and they were drawn from Kiceke and Lakwela Villages. One intern student and a change agent were also trained. This training took place in white house hotel in Oyam district

Introduction:
UWEZO is a citizen-driven initiative to improve the learning outcomes of our children in literacy and numeracy in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. . In Uganda it is fully accredited by Ministry of education and sports and operates through district partner organizations in 80 Districts.

It operates in 30 Villages in each of the selected districts.Uganda change Agent association is an NGO in Uganda Operating National wide to improve the capacity of rural Men and Women in the Social-Economic and political development. It was selected by Uwezo Uganda as the district partner institution for Kasese since 2011.This is its third year it is implementing Uwezo initiatives in Kasese district

UWEZO uses a collaborative approach to involve government, NGOs, CBOs and individuals. This approach has the following key components

1. A large household based survey covering all districts in the country.
2. The use of very simple tools to assess literacy and numeracy that can be easily administered
3. Inspiring a citizen volunteer driven approach to conduct the assessment over a few days
4. Instant feedback of the assessment results to parents or guardians, children and local leaders
5. Broad communication across the country through the media and other means to create debate.
6. Facilitating thoughtful learning and monitoring throughout and lessons learnt fed back into subsequent years preparations, and
7. Repeating survey each year to create and sustain momentum for change

PRE-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES
The Pre –Assessment activities were implemented by the district contact person and they included,

Mobilization of the EAs
Chairperson LC ones of the 30 Enumeration areas were informed of the Uwezo assessment of 2013.The Office of the CAO and the DEO was approached and informed of the Exercise. CAOs office provided to the DCP an introductory letter which supported the exercise

House hold listing and sampling processes
30 house hold lists were recorded and typed by Uganda Change Agent staff. The Sampling was done by the DCP following the sampling method that had been recommended by Uganda bureau of statistics. 30 sampled house hold lists including 5 reserve households were produced that were later on used during the assessment.

Volunteer Selection
Volunteers were selected using the following methods <0l>

• Retaining former volunteers who had performed well and their EAs having been retained on the list of district EAs to be Assessed in 2013.
• Call for Volunteers were displayed in those EAs in which Uganda Change agent association sought replacement and or the newly added EAs

Delivery of training/assessment/communication materials to the districts The only materials delivered to the District , CAOs office in Particular were letter from the Ministry ,letter from Uganda National NGO Forum and that from Uganda Change Agent requesting the CAO for an introductory letter. Previous Uwezo report and other communication materials were not delivered because had not been provided by UWEZO during Mobilization

Introduction

Northern Uganda experienced over two decades of armed conflict between the State of the Republic of Uganda and several dissident armed groups. This conflict resulted in diverse grave livelihood gaps and challenges. Despite several initiatives by Government of Uganda to mitigate the effects of armed conflict, there were still livelihood gaps manifested in form of low food and nutrition security, low household incomes, increased vulnerability, dwindling well-being, limited rights of access and stagnated or dwindling human dignity in post-conflict settings

Uganda Change Agent (UCAA) proposed this project aimed at improving livelihood of women in Unyama Sub-county Gulu District and Otwal Sub-County of Oyam District. The specific objectives of the project were: -

1. To Improve the women’s capacity to save and invest in viable income generating activities by Dec 2016
2. To Improve the Women’s capacity to take an active role in their communities by Dec 2016
3. To improve women’s skills and knowledge to manage their businesses, professionally and profitably by Dec 2016

The primary focus group for the project was a total of 450 Women selected in parishes in Unyama Sub-County (Gulu District) and Otwal Sub-County (Oyam District. These target groups mostly comprised of poor grassroots women engaged in subsistence agricultural production. The target group comprised of small scale artisans petty traders as their main forms of occupation. Among the target group was a significant number of out-of-school youths that had attained Adult age but lacked gainful employment.