Uganda – Rukararwe Partnership Workshop for Rural Development (PWRD)

About the project

These are the actions we at Rukararwe take to support the rural development in Uganda:

• Enhancing community based health care and integration of traditional/herbal medicine in our herbal medicine clinic in treating diseases.
• Encouraging tree planting in the region and promoting environmental protection.
• Promoting youth and women economic emancipation through projects empowerment.
• Promoting sustainable development through the use of available raw materials and technical know how (renewable energy technologies)
• Alleviating poverty and inducing better living standards of the rural population as a whole.

Our Core areas of intervention

• Environmental protection:
  Rukararwe championed the campaign of tree planting across the region by setting up the tree nursery bed (the 1st of its kind) to propagate indigenous species of trees. We have established a forest here at Rukararwe for preserving indigenous trees, herbal medicine and environmental protection. The forest is also helping the communities in different ways such as generating income through Eco travelling/camping/forest walks.
• Earth brick technology: Rukararwe introduced this technology and constructed 64 classrooms and teachers houses for demonstration purposes in 10 primary schools in the five districts of Greater Bushenyi. The main purpose for this project is to support the education sector and help people to access affordable housing units but also to reduce the deforestation. These bricks/technology do not require  to cut forest down in order to burn the bricks.

In addition to building classrooms and teachers’ houses, we gave 100 computers to schools. Some of the schools which benefited were Ryakatsinga secondary school, Kyabandara, Rwenjeru primary school, Bweranyangi Girls’ secondary school and Kashozi boarding and primary school.

• Women groups:
  Rukararwe mobilizes women in different activities, trains them in income generating activities; caring for widows, single mothers and promoting saving and investing culture amongst. We run a savings and credit scheme which has improved the economic well being of the women and their families. They have a traditional hand crafts shop here at Rukararwe, pottery, sewing and knitting workshop and community based primary health care especially in nutrition. The women have their milling machine here which helps them on food processing and generating income. They have well developed matooke farms in their homes.
• Grieving and counseling group: This group helps those who lost their dear ones to regain hope and cope with the situation. They meet every Sunday and projects done by this group include bee keeping, poultry and vegetable growing, music, dance and drama to help them on stress management. They fully participate in the Anti-HIV/AIDS campaign.
• Youth groups: Rukararwe has trained more than 500 adolescents in different life skills for the last 3 years. We trained them in renewable energy technologies that is; solar energy, energy saving stoves, earth brick technology, building and construction. All these trainings are geared towards making the youth self reliant, becoming job creators instead of being job seekers on streets.

We engage the youth in sports activities in villages, schools, learning and sharing experiences.

Rukararwe also mobilizes the youth to engage themselves in activities of making self reliant projects themselves. These projects include goat rearing, piggery, bee keeping, poultry and we have demonstration sites here at the institution. Rukararwe has distributed over 125 cows and 302 goats to the women and the youth groups.

1. Save water campaign
In addition to our environmental protection programs, Rukararwe is currently carrying out a campaign for rain water harvest. It is intended to sensitize the public about issues of climate change, shortages of water and how they can reduce expenditures on their water bills.

2. Eco Travel project
Rukararwe is promoting local and international travelling. This is to promote the different cultures of different communities/countries and to help rural people to tap some income from tourists and learn from them. The project is promoting agro tourism, traditional cuisines and helping the communities to appreciate that the World is now a Global village and networking with development partners.

• Health/Traditional medicine/culture
  Rukararwe values the preservation of culture and traditions which is  a reason why we pioneered the valuing of traditional herbal medicine as an important resource in diagnosing and treating different ailments.
• Rwanshetsya orphanage centre
  The centre is a home for orphans and other vulnerable children supported by friends in Germany and coordinated by Rukararwe. Currently the centre is accommodating 30 children.

About the homestay

There are 12 (six)-Double rooms with a single and a double bed and 8 single rooms with double beds and camping tents and 2 Hostels. We also have kind of accommodation-Cottage rooms and offer several touristic options like: Walking to Irembezi hills, Banana tour and Banana beer, forest walk, herbal medicine, massage with herbal medicine, Family visit, cooking lessons, traditional dances and drama, market visits, Kitagata hot springs, Kabagarame pork market.