Patron Inauguration Day 2023 – Message from the Board of Directors

Board Chairman’s Speech

March 16th, 2023

 (The protocol will be reviewed as appropriate)

  • The Guest of Honor, the Patron of Kulika Uganda, His Grace the Most Reverend Paul Ssemogerere,
  • The outgoing Trustees, Mr. Peters Musoke, and Dr. Makuza,
  • Members of the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors,
  • The political and cultural leaders
  • Our funding Partners, (Malteser International, GIZ, Pelum Uganda, Bio vision Africa Trust to mention a few)
  • Our business partners (Centenary Bank, Save the Children)
  • Past and present beneficiaries
  • Distinguished Guests,
  • Ladies and Gentlemen,

Warm greetings from Kulika Uganda!

On behalf of the Board of Directors and on my own behalf, I welcome everybody to the Kulika Uganda Training Centre at Lutisi. Thank you for accepting our invitation to attend this historic function during which we will inaugurate our Patron, celebrate the service of two distinguished Trustees and show case some of the work we do.

We heartily thank the Archbishop for accepting our invitation to serve Kulika Uganda in the capacity of Patron.

  • Once more, can we give a round of applause to our new Patron!

Governance

 Our Guest of Honour, at the helm of the organisation is a Patron, who is supported by 3 Trustees. The following are the current Trustees.

  • Deogratias Yiga
  • Brother Vincent Barigye
  • Josephine Kiiza.

The Board of Directors are composed of 6 members as follows:

  • Alastair Taylor – Board Chairperson
  • Julian Omala – Member and Chairperson Finance Committee
  • Ambrose Obi – Member and member of the Finance Committee
  • Jane Kisakye – Member and member of the Programs Committee
  • Evarist Baguma – Member and member of the Finance Committee
  • Magdalene Amujal – Board Secretary/Executive Director

The Board is supported by 2 Committees:

Programs and Fundraising Committee

  • Jane Kisakye – Chairperson
  • Betty Ikalany – Member
  • Christopher Ssewagudde – Member

Finance, Risk, Human Resource and Administration Committee

  • Omala Julian – Chairperson
  • Ambrose Obi – Member
  • Evarist Baguma – Members

Management and Staff

There are 8 Management staff headed by the Executive Director and in total Kulika Uganda employs 29 staff members.

Kulika Beneficiaries – Key farmers and scholarship beneficiaries

Dear Patron, the organization has a wealth of social capital formed by Key Farmer Trainers and scholarship beneficiaries. These help us to carry our work in different areas in the country. The Key farmers underwent training in ecological organic agriculture and are now practicing on their farms, and the scholarship beneficiaries received education support from Kulika scholarship fund. Both categories are represented in this ceremony

  • (key farmers and scholarship beneficiaries are introduced by show of hands)

Our Guest of Honor, I would like to give you an insight into the beginnings of Kulika Uganda

The Beginnings of Kulika Uganda

Kulika Uganda started in 1981. It was founded by Patricia Brenninkmeyer who had been a social worker in Uganda. She saw the need around 1979 and 1980 to give opportunities to bright students to study when much of the academic and institutional infrastructure of the country was non-functional.  Patricia had special interest in children and their feeding. This led to the development of the agricultural programme to feed the children, and educational scholarships, to empower them.

Community Development

The initial academic program was the provision of postgraduate scholarships, but this was soon followed by the implementation of a community development program, mainly concerned with the promotion of ecological Organic Agriculture for food security and income. This has since expanded through training communities in sustainable livelihoods, and thereby enabling them to provide for themselves through acquisition of skills and knowledge to improve food and income security. In doing this Kulika Uganda is actively contributing towards the realization of the global sustainable development goals. To date over 20,000 farmers have benefited from this community development program.

 Education

Kulika has supported students to study at vocational tertiary institutions, and at University levels, for certificate, diploma, Bachelors, Masters and PHD levels, in Uganda and abroad. Many are now contributing to the development of this country in different capacities, and some are present in this gathering. To date over 1,500 learners have benefited form this support.

Our Guest of Honour and Patron, with the Vision of Improved quality of life and environment for all communities reached, Kulika’s work inspires communities, households and individuals with confidence, knowledge, and skills to harness their resources and be productive for lasting changes in their lives.

Kulika Uganda’s interventions and experience of over 30 years inspires creativity and innovation, health and nourishment, and environment protection for rural transformation. The focus areas, as stated in our recently released strategic plan (2023 to 2027), are:

  • Ecological Organic Agriculture and Climate change mitigation
  • Youth entrepreneurship and employability by promoting vocational skilling, scholarships and infrastructure development for self-reliance.
  • Research, Advocacy/Policy influencing and development.
  • Networking and Partnerships

Current projects

Kulika is implementing several projects

Name of the project

Funders

District of Implementation

Locally-driven co-development of plant-based value chains towards more sustainable African food system with healthier diets and export potential

EU/ InnoFood Africa

northeastern and central region in the Kaberamaido, Ngora and Wakiso

Energy Solutions for Displaced Setting

MIT/DLab and GIZ

West Nile region

Improving livelihoods through employment opportunities for vulnerable youth from refugee and host communities in West Nile, Uganda

Malteser International and BMZ (Starting 15th March 2023)

West Nile region in the districts of Madi Okolo and Terego Districts

Mainstreaming ecological organic agriculture in agricultural systems

PELUM Uganda and Biovision Africa Trust

Central region in the districts of Luweero, Masaka, Mubende, Mukono, and Nakasongola

Strengthening the capacity of 200 women to improve inputs, extension service, value addition of maize and soy bean production and marketing.

Erbacher Foundation/ Malteser International

Central region in the district of Wakiso

MSC in Development Management

Open University and Scholarship Commission

National

Female Centred Permaculture  

Girls of Tommorow Foundation

Central region in the Rakai District

Early childhood development

Kulika Uganda

Kampala, Ggaba and Natete Markets

Key Farmer Training

Kulika Uganda

Based at the Kulika Training Centre

Internship Program for Students from Institutions of higher learning

Kulika Uganda

Based at the Kulika Training Centre

All these projects are contributing to the vision and mission of the organization but also underpinned by the UN development goals and the Government of Uganda National Development Plan 3.

Partners

We thank all the partners who have supported us in this journey, and specifically wish to recognize the following current partners for contributing towards the vision and mission of Kulika Uganda;

  • InnoFood Africa
  • Malteser International
  • Pelum Uganda
  • Bio vision Africa Trust
  • MIT-DLAB/GIZ
  • Bicton Overseas Trust
  • Open University and Common Wealth Scholarship Commission
  • SCOPE Uganda

What is still needed?

Our Guest of honor, as we look ahead, we continue to invite all of you to journey with us as we continue to address the challenges being faced by communities. There is still a lot to do to bring about self-reliance and improve the quality of life. Together we will make significant contributions by supporting Community Development initiatives, education and research.   

Gratitude

Our Guest of Honor, allow me to thank the following.

  • Patricia for supporting and watching over us as we grew into a strong, healthy organization.
  • Family members (especially Mr. Thomas (MHSRP) and Fr. Paul Brenninkmeyer) for their great interest and support to the work in Uganda.
  • Jane Leek, and the Kulika 1981 Trustees, for their invaluable encouragement and direction

We thank all our Partners, Networks, and Collaborators, the Key farmers and Education scholarship beneficiaries.

  • Another round of applause!

Patricia Brenninkmeyer in her own words

Our Guest of Honor, I want to end with Patricia’s own words.

‘I have had the very great luxury of being able to fulfill my dreams through the hard work of utterly dependable, tolerant, versatile people who had the skills which I lack.   I am immensely grateful to them’

To all of you, Patricia may not be actively involved today, but she knows everything is taken care of by dependable, tolerant and versatile people, with the skills required to ensure the vision that she started in 1981, will outlive all of us and continue for generations to come!

 

 

Launch of Kulika Annual Day and Patricia Fund:

Our Guest of Honour and Patron, as we have heard about Patricia and the seed she planted in Uganda, it is our commitment to see the seed keep growing, and plant more seeds. In that regard, today we will have the privilege of launching the Kulika Annual Day in which we shall be showcasing/exhibiting the work we do with the different partners.

 

We will also be witnessing the launch of the Patricia Fund for scholarship beneficiaries.

We appeal to our dear Partners to walk with us in these new interventions.

Long Live Kulika Uganda!!

Our Guest of Honour and Patron I wish to invite the Chairperson Board of Trustees to make his speech and lead us to the next phase,

Thank you very much!

 

”Who says my land cannot be productive? A farmer’s journey to a forest full of food security!”

We are Magdalene and Gillian, trainers working for Kulika Uganda. We are passionate about seeing that people engaged in agriculture adopt sustainable farming practices which are easy to implement and have benefits for the people and the planet.

Kulika is a non-government organization working with rural communities to empower people to build their livelihoods and that of their communities with skills and technologies in Ecological Organic Agriculture alongside, social and business education and creative capacity building.

Let us introduce to you Lovinsa, a farmer who lives with her husband and five children in Lutisi Village, Namayumba Sub-county, Wakiso district where they have two acres of land. The family used to grow bananas and legumes on this land but until they came to us they could not meet their food and income needs. Lovinsa was always looking for ways of increasing the productivity of their limited land and improving her farming activities. In her community, extension service workers hardly reached the farmers and this meant that farmers couldn’t get support to improve their farming methods.

© Magdalene Amujal and Gillian Avako

When she learnt about Kulika Training Center through her friends, she made an effort to visit. During the visit, she was introduced to different agricultural technologies and practices. With encouragement and support from family and group members, Lovinsa then, full of excitement, registered to attend an eleven months Ecological Organic Agriculture Training course organized by Kulika Uganda. From the course, Lovinsa learned of a basket of options for family farming from which she could make choices.

She was particularly interested in the food forest as a sustainable way of improving her farming systems. Lovinsa learnt ecological organic agricultural technologies and practices such as planting in rows, making organic manures, looking after livestock, agroforestry and integrating animals and crops.

As trainers, part of the challenge of teaching this course is to help the farmers to let go of their conventional ways of farming which is not always easy. For example, training farmers to switch from one crop combination to a more convenient one is usually met with some resistance”

The training has 11 modules, all structured to support the improvement of household agriculture. The trainees’ learning is divided into residential blocks (at Kulika Training Centre) and on-farm periods in between to allow utilization of knowledge and skills learnt. This enabled Lovinsa to practice what she learned.

The frequent follow-up visits by Kulika field officers coupled with her own interest and commitment meant that Lovinsa and family members would develop confidence in the processes and start believing in themselves. This unlocked her potential which led to the success of her food forest.

She worked hard and followed all the steps, establishing a food forest in a quarter of an acre with the help of her family members as well as the group members. All the materials for establishing the food forests were obtained from her own savings and from the group members.

Lovinsa learnt that household waste is valuable in contributing to the fertility of the land. She established rubbish holes for both biodegradables (crop refuse and peelings) and non-biodegradable materials (plastics, broken bottles etc.). That contributed not only to the manure for the plants but also to better sanitation at home.

© Magdalene Amujal and Gillian Avako

A food forest is a garden which has all types of food crops all year round, regardless of the season. In the garden, there is the maximization of the productivity of the land as the crops are carefully established following their characteristics e.g. feeding habits, nutrient needs, growth patterns and maturity periods. This promotes biodiversity and stabilizes the ecosystem. With all this in place, disease and pest incidences are reduced.

Kulika Uganda provided the extension support to help her set up the garden and build her capacity to practice what she had learned.

You should pay her food forest a visit now. If you do, you will be inspired to find a wide variety of vegetables, bananas, potatoes, maize, fruits, leguminous plants (caliandara, climbing beans) and cassava. With this mixture of crops, by the second month of the first season, Lovinsa was able to feed the family with vegetables.

In her own words, moreover, with a smile on her face, Lovinsa told us; “As a family, we were so malnourished. Consuming a variety of foods from our forest garden, we now eat a balanced diet and we are healthier. Even our neighbours comment on how healthy we look! When I have visitors, I do not worry about what to feed them. I simply go to my forest garden, get the food and prepare.”

“I used to suffer so much during the dry season without green vegetables, but now I can enjoy vegetables throughout the year. This is because we use different manures to fertilize the soils and practice mulching. We have also channelled most of the runoff water into the gardens and with all that, our crops are sustained longer than before. We also adopted a small garden near the homestead where vegetables like kale are planted”.

She told us she was now so happy that she did not need to spray her crops with harmful chemical pesticides. With the knowledge she got, she would easily prepare her own bio pesticides and bio fertilizers using locally available materials. The husband added: “Our home used to be dirty, but with these new technologies, especially the making of organic manure from the household waste we improved the hygiene in our home”. That practice saved the family income from buying chemical pesticides and at the same time improving soil fertility.

We at Kulika are encouraging farmers to revive traditional approaches to farming from our ancestors, and to be proud of their local and indigenous knowledge, combining them with modern organic, permaculture innovations. Moving away from harmful chemical pesticides and fertilizers not only produces better food and saves input costs but also restores the soil which absorbs carbon dioxide and can contribute to climate cooling.

After six months, Lovinsa and her family realized that the pilot forest garden could not give them the needed income, as most of the crops were consumed by the family members. So, she demarcated another ¼ an acre for a second food forest. Although the food forest was established, the family had to wait for six more months to begin earning income from vegetables and other crops.

From their savings, the family added livestock to their farm: 2 pigs and 10 local chickens and a cow. This became an additional source of manure to enrich the fertility of the land.

With the improvements on the farm, Lovinsa started receiving visitors. Agriculture extension officers and other organizations came to learn about the food forest. She became a role model in her community. She got additional income from organizations that took their farmers to learn from her food forest garden and she was also hired to train groups of farmers by other development partners.

The family was now able to meet their basic needs: “We have enough food to eat at home and we enjoy a lot of fruits. My parents are able to provide us with books and pens for our education.” one of the children told us with a proud smile.

Lovinsa realized that a family can become food secure if the land is made productive by using simple and effective technologies. Her home became a meeting venue for her ten group members and they would always learn from her garden. Lovinsa remarks with the lovely sense of a leader:

“I want all my group members to adopt the food forests in their homes because I have experienced how beneficial it is!”

© Magdalene Amujal and Gillian Avako

Whenever they visit Lovinsa, they observed new improvements in her garden such as new seedlings planted, healthy crops and also her family’s commitment to the success of the garden. They realized that a family can grow a variety of food using food forest technology on a small piece of land! This was motivating to the members.

They all expressed an interest to start their own garden with the help of their new trainer! Thereafter the group members worked together on a rotational basis to establish forest gardens in each member’s home.

The members also established a routine for visiting each other to encourage, advise, learn and pool labour to support one another where needed.

The members told us “We now have a learning centre and agricultural trainer in our reach. We can access home-grown agricultural extension assistance easily!”

She is receptive to technologies that add value to her agricultural production. She has new ideas on how to improve her farming methods and increase her income. Lovinsa observed that with the increased number of visitors to her farm, it was important for her to incrementally improve the quality of her work.

She plans to continue training the group members and provide her services to other organizations. Her farm has been registered as a model farm that hosts other farmers during Kulika’s 11-month training.

Kulika Uganda has continued supporting the family and other group members through extension visits and connections to other partners. Through social innovation, Kulika will ensure that Lovinsa becomes part of a training team to not only build the capacity of other farmers but as a source of encouragement and inspiration.

There are too many farmers needing support. It is through the experiences of local farmers like Lovinsa that the new ecological approaches, like food forests, can spread horizontally, far and wide. We need to cultivate local models, like Lovinsa, to spread the skills and technologies through farmer-to-farmers extension outreach.