Goals

Project goals, components, outcomes and activites

The overall development goal of this project is:

To reduce poverty among blind and partially sighted persons through multilateral training in beekeeping and production to generate income. This contributes to the achievement of the MDG of poverty reduction in developing countries by 2015.

The specific objectives are:

• Construction of Bee Resource Centre with facilities.
• Capacity building and improvement of livelihoods (Improvement of lives among blind and partially sighted rural bee farmers in Gulu district through engagements in European beekeeping activities).
• Improve the management practice of HIVE Uganda Limited managing directors and advisory board.
• Promoting networking and collaboration with other organizations around the world.

A) Component 1. Bee Resource Centre (BRC).

Bee Resource Centre (BRC) shall be constructed at Atyang village and used for multifaceted capacity building of blind and partially sighted persons who are bee farmers or want to become bee farmers. The BRC shall be equipped with capacity building (training) resources and facilities. It includes honey processing/extracting and packaging machines, candle wax making machine, honey testing kits, among others. The construction of the BRC shall be a fundamental tool in achieving the goal of reaching to other blind and partially sighted person in other part of East Africa.

The outcome of this component will be:

• A BRC constructed and equipped with training facilities.

B) Component 2. Capacity building and improvement on Livelihood.

Multidimensional capacity building shall be carried out to improve living conditions of blind and partially sighted and ensure their independence. The project will undertake a number of income generation activities through introduction of European bee keeping mechanism such as building European bee hives using the local wood, hive management, transferring queen to new hives among others. Blind people and other visual impairment considered by this project will free themself from poverty and reliance on others. Capacity building on daily living skills for visually impaired such as mobility, family relationship and use of other senses will be provided.

The outcomes of this component will be:

• Enhanced ability of blind members to move around their bee farm will harvesting them.
• Capacity in sustainable management and use of other bee bye products such as wax and comb.
• Improved daily living skills.
• Diversifying of bee keeping from local bee hives to European bee hives with improved harvesting.
• Improvement of quality of life among rural blind and partially sighted persons.

C) Component 3. Improve the management practice of HIVE Uganda Limited managing directors and advisory board.

Persons with visual impairment are highly excluded in the agricultural policy development systems which the major in the rural areas of Uganda which should have help them to come out of poverty. To overcome this marginalization, the capacity of staff, managing directors and advisory board need to be strengthen through development of policies such as strategic plan, human resource policy, finance policy, procurement and disposal policy, road map for persons with visual impairment into sustainable agriculture such as bee keeping as well as training the all management on those policies.

The outcomes of this component will be:

• Strengthened capacity of management committees of HIVE Uganda Ltd.
• Established working policies for the organization.

Program and Policy conformity

This project proposal is consistent with components 1, 2, and 3. It will build capacity to sustainable management and effective running of the activities of the project undertaken at an established BRC and would demonstrate best practices for doing so in its multifaceted training programs.

The development of management mechanisms for poverty reduction in the marginalised group (persons with visual impairment) are envisaged to support donors’ strategies to reduce poverty and achieving the millennium goals by 2015 in developing countries.