Address by Joyce Mungherera, National Executive Director of the YWCA, Uganda

On the occasion of receiving the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger, New York, 24 October 1995, from The Hunger Project.

Mr. Chairman of the International Jury,

Mr. Chairman of the Global Board of Directors

Ms. Holmes

President Nujoma,

Distinguished Heads of State,

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,

Friends of Africa from around the world,

I have the honour and privilege of being given this opportunity to make my statement on this important occasion.

For the last 30 years I have worked with the Young Women's Christian Association of Uganda in the area of development.

Over this period, membership of the Association has grown from about 3000 to 1.6 million women and girls.

More than 90% of Uganda's population live in rural areas, and for the most effective and best results in development, these people have been involved in the political, social and economic programmes. They have been informed about what goes on and what the national administration requires of them.

Agriculture has been at the forefront of the desired national economy. The Ugandan climate permits all citizens to grow crops all year round. The Ugandan soil can allow all crops to grow, provided people have been given the right knowledge. Some of the land is so fertile that it does not require extra fertilizers.

Through the Ministry of Agriculture, emphasis has been put on helping women to take agro-forestry farming and use compost manure instead of fertilizers. More than 80 per cent of Ugandan women work on farms, and YWCA of Uganda has a full department to cover this area. Every family grows enough food for consumption and surplus for marketing. The income of most families comes from garden produce, and women are encouraged to open up small stalls in the markets to sell their surplus foods. We make sure that the over 10,000 YWCA clubs scattered all over the country have stalls in the nearby markets.

FOOD SECURITY

As a measure to curb food shortage, the YWCA encourages women, particularly in rural areas, to store food in granaries where it can be preserved for longer periods. Foodstuffs, vegetables and fruits are dried in the locally made solar driers, and during the dry season when these foods cannot be grown, the dried food is prepared for consumption and the surplus put on the market for sale.

More than half of the whole country has been covered, and demonstrations on the use of solar driers are continuing in areas where a lot of food is grown and most of it is left to rot in gardens. Solar energy is free energy, and this has helped women in rural areas to generate more income to support their families, because they are now able to export the dried foods (tomatoes, cabbages, eggplants, cassava, potatoes, bananas, etc.) to outside markets. Mushroom growing has captured the biggest market, since it can be grown even in urban areas. It is encouraging to note that many women have now become involved in the marketing of other produce like beans, groundnuts, simsim, millet and sorghum.

LITERACY PROJECT

Today, YWCA of Uganda has a membership of 1.6 million women and girls, and with such a big membership it was realized that basic education was an important requirement for women's participation in rural development programmes. The YWCA therefore took it as a priority for meaningful development. With the support of Laubach Literacy International, we have recorded tremendous successes.

In 1970, we recorded 25 per cent literacy for women throughout the country, and in 1980, due to hard work in the rural areas, the number rose to 40 per cent. To date, a record 47 per cent literacy for women has been realized. Women have been trained in skills like keeping records of their businesses, selling produce at markets and issuing receipts, since they can now write, read and do basic numeracy.

In achieving this success, we developed a nationwide system of literacy community development projects throughout Uganda. We worked hard on recruiting, training and supervising district coordinators and community level literacy instructors, all of whom work as volunteers within their localities.

Most importantly, we established community development groups that emphasize basic reading and writing skills, as well as learning and action in such areas as health, sanitation, agriculture, nutrition, current affairs, cultural expression and leadership. Learning and training materials were provided to support the literacy learning groups. These materials have been printed in different languages, and to date the results are extremely encouraging.

Today, women have been empowered to take responsibility in organizing themselves at the grass roots -- to identify areas of concern in other integrated programmes to be able to get more instruction for the development of their own programmes.

ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

As the new technologies came in beginning in 1980, the people of Uganda concentrated on energy conservation. YWCA of Uganda carried out research in 1982 to establish the kind of energy used for cooking in different parts of the country among the grass-roots women. It was discovered that 95 per cent of the rural people used firewood; and in the urban areas, three types of cooking energy were established, namely, electricity, gas and charcoal from timber or wood.

Courses were planned to educate the indigenous people on how they can get an alternative to firewood. One thousand extension workers were trained to carry out demonstrations in different parts of the country on making charcoal and mud-improved stoves that could consume fewer pieces of firewood, instead of large quantities which resulted in cutting down trees and killing the environment. In addition to stoves, every family was encouraged to plant trees to replace those which had been cut.

In 1987, we established a new type of charcoal (briquettes) in replacement of wood charcoal for use both in rural and urban areas. These briquettes are made out of charcoal wastes, sawdust, stalks of leaves, coffee husks, rice husks, small pieces of timber, potato and banana peels, and animal dung -- all these make good recipes for the briquettes. This is the easiest way of avoiding cutting trees to keep our weather and seasons constant.

LIVESTOCK

Uganda has a good climate, animals have enough pasture to keep in good health. Alternative feeds have been produced in different areas of the country.

Fish farming is done all over the country, and YWCA has done a lot of fish farming and trading around the country. We have organized fish stalls in different markets, and the women are deeply involved in the sales. Our government has also encouraged fish farming where animals are not available. Poultry farming for natural and foreign breeds is encouraged, and these have proved very popular due to the short time taken to produce results.

YWCA embarked on the farming of heifers in 1984. During the war, a small number of animals was received as a donation from Heifer International of the USA. Due to good training carried out by our veterinary doctors, today large numbers of heifers have been produced as a result of the multiplication element involved. Other NGOs are doing the same, and the government is encouraging every NGO to embark on livestock farming to have enough milk and meat for consumption, and the surplus to generate income for school fees and other home necessities.

VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE

The Ugandan government has encouraged institutions to expand their centres to cater to big numbers of school drop-outs. Many young boys and girls drop out of school because of:

(a) lack of school fees

(b) early pregnancies (girls)

(c) death of parents due to repeated wars

(d) epidemic diseases (HIV/AIDS)

Many vocational training centres cater to these groups and provide skills to enable them to get employment in order to earn a living.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Emphasis has been laid on adolescents. Our organization caters to an increasing number of young women. Since the number is big, more effort is taken in providing courses on reproductive health and family planning.

SAVINGS AND CREDIT SCHEMES

We realized that for the global economy to grow, women should be involved. They play an important role in the development of the country socially, politically and economically, and in that of their families. The global economy is one of the main sources of the country's development. Women have found themselves in more and more industries in the creation of income to solve the problem of hunger. Indigenous women have done a lot in this direction, but they need a lot more training and access to credit in order to improve their revolving funds.

YWCA realized that a lot had been done in different parts of the country through revolving programmes, in groups and individually. Under the organization's planning, YWCA established a well-arranged programme on savings and credit. Good management has been put in through sections on deposits, withdrawal, inspection, application, approval and payment. This association feels that we focus on individual members to improve family income and the education of children. It is hoped that this project will assist the women to expand their animal farming and fishing, vegetable growth, mushroom growing and planting of citrus trees. Cash crops have been organized and developed. It is our aim that within the next five years the association will be able to construct its own bank.

DECISION-MAKING

There should be global discussions to help women get new ideas in decision-making, particularly in getting access to exportation and importation. And they should fight for their rights and equality in families, schools and government. When two heads are put together, better results are likely to be realized.

PEACE

Wars and internal conflicts should end, to encourage more food-growing and planning to end hunger.

CONCLUSION

I wish to conclude my statement by expressing my most sincere gratitude to the organisers of The Hunger Project for considering me to be worthy of receiving this most important award for the year 1995. I consider this to be an honour to my country - Uganda. I wish to assure them of my continued interest and efforts towards the war against hunger.

I would also wish to thank the members of the YWCA of Uganda, other YWCAs and other organisations local and international, for their co-operation and support.

I would like in a special way to thank the government of my country, Uganda, for their full support and interest in our programmes.

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