That’s why we’re thrilled to announce on Earth Day new funding from the Arcus Foundation to expand Village Enterprise’s PARKS project in Kibale National Park, Uganda!

The Poverty Alleviation and Removal of Kibale Snares (PARKS) project, implemented in partnership with Ngogo Chimpanzee Project, was launched in 2021 with funding from the Arcus Foundation to reduce extreme poverty among rural communities near Kibale National Park and to protect one of the largest remaining populations of endangered East African chimpanzees and their habitat. Without opportunities to earn sustainable incomes, households living in extreme poverty near the park have often relied on illegal hunting and lumbering in order to provide for their families. Village Enterprise works to equip these communities with the training, startup funding, and ongoing business mentoring to launch businesses that do not harm vital ecosystems in and around Kibale National Park. As a result, households are able to earn greater incomes, break the cycle of extreme poverty, and become stewards of their environment.

PARKS impact to date

Three years into this project, PARKS has already made a tangible impact in the Kibale National Park region. To date, Village Enterprise has trained 3,823 entrepreneurs (63% of whom are women) who have worked together in groups of three to launch 1,077 businesses in the area. As a result of their businesses, more than 20,000 lives have been impacted as these new business owners lift themselves and their families onto a sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty.

On top of these outcomes, Village Enterprise has helped establish 109 business savings groups (BSGs) as part of the PARKS project. The BSGs are a crucial part of our poverty graduation model—giving entrepreneurs a community where they are encouraged to put away savings on a weekly basis. They also provide an important safety net as entrepreneurs are able to access greater capital in the form of loans that they can take out in case of emergency or to further expand their business.

Last year, Village Enterprise also introduced a new component to strengthen the climate and conservation pillar of this project: conservation champions. Within each BSG, a conservation champion is selected, trained on conservation practices, and then equipped to share their expertise with BSG and community members. Together with their village, the conservation champion creates a tailored conservation plan for their community that supports the protection of wildlife and vital ecosystems. The conservation champions then work with fellow BSG members to ensure all newly-launched businesses are environmentally-friendly and conduct follow-up meetings to ensure actionable steps have been taken—at both the household and community level—towards achieving the village’s conservation plan. To date, Village Enterprise has trained and empowered 52 conservation champions.

On top of launching businesses to reduce the need for illegal hunting, and introducing conservation messaging to reduce habitat destruction, PARKS is taking another proactive measure to ensure the local population of endangered East African chimpanzees is protected. Through Ngogo Chimpanzee Project’s work on the project, 824 hunting snares have been removed from Kibale National Park. With active monitoring of park borders, anti-poaching patrols, and the removal of snares, PARKS aims to continue seeing diminished hunting in and around the park and an increase in the overall chimpanzee population.

Meet two extraordinary entrepreneurs

Wilson from Katabe Village

Prior to joining Village Enterprise, Wilson, 55, relied on farming and casual labor to provide for his eight children. His crops—which he planted in the wetlands of Mpanga in Kibale National Park—yielded very little each season and, unbeknownst to him, began to degrade the swamp’s ecosystem.

As Village Enterprise provided training on how to launch a sustainable business, the conservation messaging struck home for Wilson. He realized he needed to play an active role in restoring the wetlands and quickly got to work. By moving his crops inland and utilizing innovative farming techniques to maximize his smaller plot of land, Wilson began growing and selling cabbages, zucchini, and tomatoes, allowing the wetlands to naturally restore themselves. With his profits, Wilson diversified his income sources by launching a beekeeping business in the area. Not only does it provide a secondary source of income throughout the year, but the bees help pollinate gardens in the area and keep out roaming elephants, preventing a loss of damaged crops and reducing the chances of potential human-wildlife conflict.

With the guidance of the conservation champion from his BSG, Wilson was also able to use some of his business profits to build energy-saving cooking stoves and plant 50 mango trees. Because these cooking stoves are more efficient than traditional stoves, they require less firewood which helps reduce the need for sourcing lumber. Additionally, the mango trees contribute both to the area’s biodiversity, and the fruit can be sold for profit or supplement his household’s food reserves. With his conservation champion’s guidance, Wilson has been able to restore the natural habitat around his community, and utilize the natural resources available in a way that does not harm the environment.

Wilson’s businesses have not only advanced conservation and habitat restoration, but they’ve impacted his own life and the lives of his children as well. Using his business profits, he’s been able to pay school fees for all of his children and has bought two cows and five goats. He plans to start selling their milk and offspring with the hopes of finishing a new home.

Grace from Busoro Hamusoko Village

Grace, 49, found farming increasingly difficult due to the unpredictable weather in her village brought on by climate change. As a single mother to nine children, she struggled to make enough money to provide for her children’s basic needs, such as consistent meals or paying for all of their school fees. But this all began to change when she joined Village Enterprise.

Through the training she received on business diversification, Grace knew that she needed to have multiple sources of income in order to build resilience and mitigate the risks caused by climate change. Together with her two business partners, they first launched a retail store selling household goods and food staples, and quickly used their profits to expand into goat rearing and growing maize. Collectively, these three businesses will support Grace and her business partners throughout the year as the weather patterns fluctuate.

With additional training on the importance of conservation near Kibale National Park, Grace’s conservation champion also helped her plant coffee trees in the area. Not only will these trees contribute to reforestation and bolstering the ecosystem, but harvesting coffee beans from the trees will be yet another source of income that Grace can use to support her family.

Already, Grace has been able to pay school fees for her children and provide them with increased and more nutritious meals. Her dream is to be able to continue saving up enough to send all of her children to university, as well as build a new house. Through her hard work, creativity, and determination, she is well on her way.

The future of PARKS

With the new funding from the Arcus Foundation, 1,890 more entrepreneurs like Wilson and Grace will be equipped with the training, startup capital, and business mentoring to launch 630 environmentally-friendly businesses and lift themselves out of extreme poverty. The funding also provides resources for removing snares, furthering conservation messaging through 42 additional conservation champions, and implementing anti-poaching patrols to reduce illegal hunting and lumbering. As a result of these conservation efforts and the businesses launched, not only will 12,600 lives be transformed, but Kibale National Park’s ecosystem will be better safeguarded, and the population of endangered East African chimpanzees will be better protected.

By empowering local communities to launch sustainable business ventures, PARKS is providing a critical link between conservation efforts and the fight against extreme poverty in rural Africa. When individuals like Wilson and Grace are given the opportunity to thrive economically while preserving their natural environment, it not only enhances their livelihoods but contributes to building a sustainable future for all.

The post Thriving together: How new enterprises around Kibale National Park are reducing poverty and saving endangered chimpanzees appeared first on Village Enterprise.

This funding will help to protect the chimpanzee population in Kibale National Park in Uganda by supporting 1,890 local community members, who might otherwise have depended on illegal poaching and lumbering to provide for their families, to start small enterprises. It will also fund anti-poaching patrols and the removal of snares.

The project has already trained 3,823 entrepreneurs with skills on how to start microenterprises, develop savings habits, and on the value of conservation. The training has resulted in the creation of 1,077 conservation-friendly microenterprises by local entrepreneurs, including retail and grocery shops, agribusinesses, animal husbandry, and even beekeeping.

As a consequence of these microenterprises, 20,180 individuals have been supported onto a sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty, as well as reduced hunting and habitat destruction in Kibale National Park. It also resulted in 824 snares being removed from the park.

Supporting households to generate sustainable incomes

The new grant will enable Village Enterprise to train a further 1,890 entrepreneurs living in extreme poverty through a one-year program which will provide them with the seed capital, mentoring, and business and financial literacy training they need to establish microenterprises that are conservation-friendly.

As part of the program, Village Enterprise has already helped establish 109 savings groups, which are small communities of fellow entrepreneurs who help encourage each other to put away savings on a weekly basis. The new funding will allow for 42 new business savings groups to be created. These savings groups also allow entrepreneurs to have access to greater capital through loans that they can use to expand their enterprises or in case of emergency.

The program empowers the new entrepreneurs to generate an increased and more consistent income for their households, establish a sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty, and become less – and eventually no-longer – reliant on the need for income generated via illegal hunting or lumbering inside of Kibale National Park.

Snare removal and anti-poaching patrols

The grant will also enable the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project to operate eight two-person anti-poaching patrol teams in the Kibale National Park area. These patrols will remove snares, deterring individuals from hunting and destroying habitat by illegal logging activities. In addition, the grant will provide the margins of the park with two patrol teams which will reduce crop raiding and improve community relations with the park.

To strengthen the climate and conservation pillar of the project, one member from each business savings group is selected as a conservation champion. These champions are then trained on conservation practices and create tailored plans for their communities that support the protection of wildlife and ecosystems.

Dianne Calvi, CEO and President of Village Enterprise, commented:

“Thanks to the Arcus Foundation, Village Enterprise will be able to transform the lives of even more people living in extreme poverty near Kibale National Park, while also protecting the park’s vital ecosystems and one of the largest remaining populations of East African chimpanzees.

In order for conservation efforts to truly succeed, we can’t take away an individual’s ability to earn an income, especially when they are living in extreme poverty. We need more projects like PARKS that foster both conservation and the entrepreneurial spirit. By providing individuals with the training to become entrepreneurs, we are offering them a sustainable alternative to generate income, increase their savings, and eliminate their reliance on illegal hunting or deforestation. Ultimately, this is how we can safeguard nature, protect endangered species, and end extreme poverty.”

Media enquiries:

Village Enterprise – villageenterprise@wearesevenhills.com

Notes to editors:

Find out more about Village Enterprise’s work here.

About Village Enterprise

Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action. We work with vulnerable women, refugees, and youth who are most impacted by climate change, conflict, and displacement, and equip them with skills and resources to launch climate-smart businesses, build savings, and put themselves and their families onto a sustainable path out of extreme poverty. Village Enterprise has started over 80,000 businesses, trained over 274,000 first-time entrepreneurs, and positively transformed the lives of over 1,656,000 people in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

The post New funding to train 1,890 entrepreneurs, reduce extreme poverty, and protect endangered chimpanzees in Uganda appeared first on Village Enterprise.

In Kenya, agriculture is considered the most important segment of the economy—especially in West Pokot County, where it accounts for 84% of household income. However, 69% of the population in West Pokot already live below the poverty line. Women and girls living in extreme poverty in arid and semi-arid regions that depend on agriculture such as West Pokot are some of the most vulnerable populations facing threats from climate change.

Above: The Suam River, located in Western Kenya along the Ugandan border, is a major resource for local communities. Year after year, these communities have seen significant decreases in water-levels, impacting their day to day life and ability to earn a living.

“If climate change isn’t addressed, individuals in the agricultural sector will lose their livelihoods, and in an effort to ensure their children are taken care of and well fed, many of them will pressure their girls into child marriage,” explains Nelly Munge, Technical Advisor Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion at Village Enterprise. “There are other risks as well. Often in regions like West Pokot, girls are forced to drop out of school to find water, and women and girls who are forced to migrate because of climate change will face an increased risk of violence.”

Kenyan women account for 75% of the labor force in small-scale agriculture, yet they have access to less than 10% of available credit and less than 1% of agricultural credit. “The majority of women farmers have been left out of both grassroots and national-level climate adaptation discussions,” says Nelly Munge. “Women farmers experience critical barriers to climate adaptation such as lack of credit and savings, as well as a lack of knowledge and training about climate-smart adaptations.”

Because of culturally-derived gender inequality in the region, the majority of men find less labor intensive work as security guards or supervisors. Although lesser in numbers, male farmers are better positioned than female farmers to adapt climate-friendly practices as they have greater access to appropriate information, training, and resources. In times of drought, men can more easily leave their homes to find alternative sources of income while women typically have more household responsibilities such as raising children and tending to the home.

This was the case for Roserlyne, Faith, and Eliza, of Parasenta village in West Pokot until March of 2021 when they were selected for an adapted version of the Village Enterprise graduation program, called the Women Economic Empowerment through Climate-Smart Agriculture Project. Funded by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and in partnership with UNWomen and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the project aims to enhance the capacity of West Pokot county officials to develop gender-sensitive and climate-smart policies and to increase household income for women in the agricultural value chain using modern farming technologies that are climate-smart.

Pictured above: Faith Chepochongil, Eliza Cherop Gabriel, and Roserlyne Chepochemuma Lorengei in Parasenta village (left to right).

Eliza, Faith, and Roserlyne were three of more than 800 people living in extreme poverty in West Pokot who were identified by Village Enterprise to start sustainable agribusinesses. Of these 809 entrepreneurs, 80% of them were women. On top of receiving training from Village Enterprise to start their businesses and $180 as a seed investment, entrepreneurs received training on climate-smart agriculture from FAO. Entrepreneurs learned about techniques to improve agricultural outputs in a changing farming environment such as proper irrigation, planting drought tolerant crops, and moisture retention practices. For Roserlyne, Faith, and Eliza, these trainings meant they now knew how to implement climate-smart techniques throughout the entire agricultural value chain, and they shared that these methods have also increased the quality of their produce.

To approach the topic of climate-change adaptations with a holistic lens, Village Enterprise is also working to address gender, youth, and social dynamics. As part of our poverty graduation model, each business is part of a business savings group of 10 businesses that gives the entrepreneurs access to growth capital and a safe place for their savings. The business savings groups also serve as safe spaces for women to share any issues, learn from one another, and find support, demonstrating increased confidence and leadership skills. Faith shared that through this group they are “now able to lift each other’s lives.”

Above: Adaptations in agricultural practices are becoming increasingly vital for West Pokot farmers to cope with changing climate conditions. The photo on the left shows the difficult conditions farmers are attempting to grow crops in. The photo on the right shows the crops of Village Enterprise entrepreneurs. Through trainings provided by FAO, entrepreneurs are learning techniques to improve their crops in a changing farming environment.  

While women and youth participants are becoming more aware of the different opportunities for them to participate in climate-smart agriculture, male spouses are increasing support over their newfound household income. Eliza spoke of how her relationship with her spouse has greatly improved because she can now afford to put food on the table for the entire family, noting “it feels good to have your own money as a woman.” Through financial literacy and gender empowerment training, entrepreneurs have reported a decrease in household gender-based violence.

Within a year, Roserlyne, Faith, and Eliza have collectively saved over 80,000 Kenyan shillings ($691 USD), purchased goats and chickens for their home, sent all of their children to school, and Faith even purchased a mattress so she no longer has to sleep on the floor. In total, this project is estimated to directly impact the lives of 2,400 people. And with support from Village Enterprise, the West Pokot County Government has formulated two policies to address issues of climate mitigation and financing of climate change interventions. These policies, acting as catalysts of cultural and behavioral changes, will change the course of history for West Pokot women, girls, and climate for generations to come.

The post How Female Farmers in West Pokot are Building Resilience to Climate Change appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Based on these findings, in 2017, IIED, along with Village Enterprise and partners (Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)), initiated a project to test these community-based interventions in nine villages around Karuma Wildlife Reserve (KWR), with the aim of reducing local participation in wildlife crime[2]. The wildlife scout program was led by UWA and WCS, who provided training and support to scouts whose role was to protect farmland from crop-raiding, and to respond when these incidents occurred. The wildlife-friendly enterprise program was implemented by Village Enterprise to train and mentor members of poor households in business skills to break the poverty cycle. Together, the intention was to improve people’s attitudes towards conservation and reduce their likelihood of engaging in wildlife crime.

Following an adapted version of their poverty graduation model (which has been successfully implemented in other parts of Uganda), Village Enterprise created six business savings groups (BSGs), each comprising ten businesses of three entrepreneurs each. The model always involves households most in need, so entrepreneurs were selected from the poorest households in each village. Additionally, a member of each scout household was asked to be involved in the enterprise program, as it was hoped this would act as an incentive for scouts to remain active.

Entrepreneurs were given training and ongoing mentoring in forming and managing small businesses, including business skills and financial literacy. Each business was provided with seed capital of US$150 with the overall aim to increase opportunities for local people to engage in legal livelihood ventures[3]. Specifically, this was expected to generate non-poaching income and increase the labor demands of participating households, which would collectively reduce opportunities to engage in wildlife crime. The model was also intended to complement the scouting program by supporting local businesses that supplied raw or processed materials to help mitigate HWC (for example growing chilies, which elephants don’t eat)[4].

One of the key reasons for implementing these interventions was for project participants, as well as non-participants residing in project villages, to benefit and for attitudes towards conservation and the KWR to improve. This in turn was expected to contribute to changes in behavior. To evaluate these changes, Village Enterprise monitored the attitudes of 1. wildlife scouts and entrepreneurs, and 2. people living inside one of the nine project villages but not participating in either intervention. Additionally, Village Enterprise collected information on the financial impacts of the enterprise program for entrepreneurs.

The analysis of responses from project participants showed a largely positive change.[5] This was particularly the case for non-scout households (i.e. households only involved in the enterprise program), who showed sizable increases in their positive attitudes towards conservation and self-reported likelihood of engaging in conservation activities. Results from people not involved in the project were equally positive. Of those aware of the enterprise program, 73% knew someone who was directly involved, 96% were positive or very positive towards it and 99% felt there were benefits from having the program in their village. Village Enterprise also monitored whether the project had any effect on the wider adoption of practices undertaken by business groups. Again, the results were positive, with 60% reporting they were part of a savings group. Moreover, half of these respondents had joined a group within the project period and 93% said their experience had been positive or very positive.

The enterprise program also had significant financial benefits for entrepreneurs. Those joining the program in June 2018 were able to use profits from their initial business, as well as savings from the BSGs, to buy livestock and equipment, which has generated further income[6]. Participants remain in touch with their mentors and attribute success to the business skills training they received as part of the Village Enterprise model. Similarly, women who joined the program from scout households in November 2019, who all planted chili, have earned an income from selling their crops to a national chili processing company. For example, the Kwo Lonyo business group earned US$250 from one chili harvest, enabling the women to send their children to school[7].

The whole project team was very encouraged by these results, which suggest that you might not need to involve an entire village in an enterprise program to influence general attitudes towards conservation. More positive attitudes towards saving money and BSGs also imply that if the enterprise program promotes wider uptake beyond those directly supported by the project, then the overall effect for the villages would be beneficial. Taken all together, the results suggest that community-based interventions, such as enterprise programs, can influence people’s behavior, which may reduce their likelihood of engaging in wildlife crime.

Village Enterprise was a partner on the IIED-led project ‘Implementing park action plans for community engagement to tackle illegal wildlife trade’, funded by the UK government’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund.

[1] https://www.iied.org/building-capacity-for-pro-poor-responses-wildlife-crime-uganda

[2] https://www.iied.org/park-action-plans-increasing-community-engagement-tackling-wildlife-crime

[3] https://pubs.iied.org/17665iied

[4] https://www.iied.org/turning-heat-how-chilli-growing-conserving-ugandas-wildlife

[5] https://pubs.iied.org/20526g

[6] https://pubs.iied.org/17665iied

[7] https://www.iied.org/turning-heat-how-chilli-growing-conserving-ugandas-wildlife

The post Changing Attitudes Towards Conservation with Wildlife-Friendly Enterprises appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Meanwhile, sitting in Nairobi, 2,500km away from Lomako, Village Enterprise’s scaling team is preparing to work alongside AWF to reach people just like Limbute. With funding provided by the Arcus Foundation, our team begins strategizing. The goal of this unique partnership is to determine whether Village Enterprise’s poverty Graduation Model can operate in such a different and challenging context. If the program can thrive, it will showcase whether this joint venture will positively impact the perception of the park and AWF, thereby reducing illegal hunting. The project is ambitious, but Village Enterprise is a pioneer in the poverty alleviation field, and innovation is our greatest strength.

Over the course of two years, our scaling team adapted our materials to the Lomako context and developed new training materials. The first year of this partnership was spent establishing Village Enterprise’s poverty Graduation Model alongside the AWF team. This included recruitment and training of field staff to set up the monitoring and evaluating systems. Upon their return to East Africa, the Village Enterprise team members continue to provide remote technical support to the AWF team and plan follow-up monitoring visits. 

For Anthony Omogin, our lead field associate, traveling to Lomako in 2018 marked his first time outside of East Africa. He was struck by the extreme poverty in the DRC; he saw large families sharing tiny palm leaf houses and children with distended bellies. Anthony spent hours on the back of a motorbike weaving down forest paths and over makeshift bridges to get to the next village. However, as the project continued, his impression of extreme poverty faded as he witnessed the incredible resilience and positive attitude of the people. Anthony recalls his interactions with Boyella Heretay, an orphan who could not afford to go to school and was learning to hunt instead. Like Limbute, Boyella spent months in the forest and was imprisoned by the park authorities when he was caught hunting illegally. He jumped at the chance to set up an alternative business enterprise so that he would no longer have to hunt illegally to make a living. Charly from AWF lived in Lomako years ago and is familiar with AWF’s recent work in the park.  He told Village Enterprise, “I am amazed to see the difference the program has made to the individuals that participated.  Lomako is a very difficult, complex context, and so the fact that the entrepreneurs have succeeded is even more impressive.” Adam from Arcus visited the project in March 2020. He wrote, “We have supported Village Enterprise to deliver their program in Western Uganda over the past several years, but this is the first time we supported them to provide technical assistance to another organization and the first time they worked in the DRC.  When I was in the field, I was struck by how the project has not only lifted local people out of poverty but also significantly improved relationships between these communities and the state partners responsible for managing biodiversity.”

After a few months of receiving business training and a small grant, Limbute opened a little pharmacy. With the income from this small business, he now not only can afford to send his children to school, but he is also paying for himself to go back to school. Anthony reports, ‘He said that during school break, the children would run up to him and say, “Hey, Daddy, will you give us some small money so we can buy a snack?” And he could give them something small. He says that he’s not ashamed of going back to school and studying very hard – he wants to become a doctor.

Limbute no longer hunts in the forest. He is now a respected business owner with a joint pharmacy and a family enterprise he established with his wife after earning enough income through his pharmacy. The family business is focused on buying household commodities (e.g., salt, sardines, sugar) from far-flung markets and selling these items in his village. Limbute’s life has changed entirely, and youth in his community are now coming to him seeking business advice!  

Inspired by Limbute’s success, Village Enterprise’s scaling team continues to seek opportunities to make strides in our mission to end extreme poverty. Before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, our team was conducting scoping trips to other regions in the DRC and Congo-Brazzaville to see whether our poverty Graduation model could be adapted to support the efforts of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Additionally, we have just signed a contract to support World Vision to implement an adapted version of our poverty Graduation program in Cyclone Idai impacted areas of Mozambique.  We are also working with other international humanitarian organizations to adapt our program to work with refugees. 

All of this requires working with partners who are equally passionate about ending extreme poverty. If you share our passion, please get in touch, and, together, we can find a way to raise the human race out of poverty.

The post Decreasing Illegal Poaching with Enterprise Solutions appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Morning in Kinshasa

One hazy, muggy week in late August, Liz Corbishley, Director of Village Enterprise’s Accelerator, and I arrived in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A few months before, our colleagues Peter Dema and Violah Kishoin had ventured into Maniema Province in Eastern DRC to conduct the first part of a feasibility study funded by the Arcus Foundation to examine how our model might provide sustainable livelihoods to help combat the illegal bushmeat trade around the Lomami Park. The purpose of our trip to the capital city was to assess the partnership landscape and to identify potential partners that might have the capacity and interest to operate a program in the TL2 region.

The DRC is often depicted as a country with ongoing conflict and rampant political violence. This stereotype understandably raises concerns about working in the DRC. Instead, what we found was vibrancy: a unique, dynamic culture, and a nation waiting to rebuild itself, if given the chance. Leading up to the trip we were filled with excitement, curiosity, and determination. Our goal was to meet with as many potential partners as possible in one short week. To identify which organizations we would meet with, we assessed alignment with our mission and values, proven capacity, experience with microenterprise development, an interest in the Village Enterprise model, and most importantly, existing presence in the TL2 region or a desire to scale there. This is new and exciting territory for the Village Enterprise Accelerator. Our scaling strategy is twofold. While our core program team oversees organic growth in Uganda and Kenya, the Accelerator seeks opportunities to scale through strategic partners who can implement our model with training and technical assistance.

Liz and Simone both put on their “ambassador hats” for their week in Kinshasa

My favorite ‘hat’ to wear in my job as Strategic Partnerships Manager is ambassador for Village Enterprise. I often become rhapsodic sharing our work and impact with a new audience. During the week, we met with a plethora of partners in a diverse range of settings: from USAID who focused on data and evidence, to conservation savants who stood in front of maps comparing bushmeat supply chains. We presented in a board-room full of Congolese staff, communicating through diagrams, Liz’s choppy French, and hand gestures. Some partners offered numerical insight into their conservation projections for the year. Others offered simple encouragement to continue delving deeper into this persistent problem.

Creating more impact together
Many conservation organizations struggle to deliver livelihood development interventions because their expertise and resources are conservation driven. For them, the benefits of our model were an easy sell. Organizations were eager to learn from our best practices, innovative approaches, and rigorous evaluation of impact in order to examine how collaboration could improve livelihoods and simultaneously contribute to their conservation efforts. We asked ourselves: how can we leverage partnerships that combine our experiences and expertise to create more impact, together?

What do you dream of for your country?
There is a frequent perception that the entire DRC is overcrowded, matted with soot, and filled with a host of problems that have plagued the country for decades. We did observe that working in the DRC’s development and humanitarian sector is extremely challenging, and security is a major constraint. As a result, many projects are temporal and the partnership landscape can be fragile. We met both development and humanitarian workers that were living under incredibly difficult conditions, doing work that most people turn away from. On the very last day of the trip, we met with a consultant named Paulson Kasereka. Paulson has co-authored a number of papers on the bushmeat trade in the DRC. As our lively discussion came to an end, Liz proposed one final question, “What are your dreams for your country?”

Paulson was quiet for a moment and then responded with palpable conviction. “I dream that my country will become a leader in progress for Africa,” he began. “My hope is that one day, DRC will pull other countries up with it.”

During our week in Kinshasa, Liz and I were able to see the DRC through the eyes of the fervent partners and dedicated Congolese citizens with whom we met. What we saw is that the DRC is indeed ripe with opportunity. The entrepreneurial spirit is unmistakable. And there is a desperate need to help some of the poorest people in the world. From my perspective, it is the consistent, untiring nature of the people we met that sets this country apart. What drives those us who work for Village Enterprise, and what drives our mission, is the desire to lift as many people out of extreme poverty as possible. We hope that by working with committed and inspirational partners like the ones we met, that we are able to pursue this, even in a complex, thorny place like the DRC.

We are still in the process of synthesizing the data and processing the information that came out of the trip. We will be reporting back in the next few months with results about how our program could be adapted to help eliminate extreme poverty and promote conservation symbiotically. The feasibility discussed has been made possible by the Arcus Foundation in an effort to better protect the DRC’s endangered bonobos (see below). 

The post Ripe with Opportunity appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Written by Violah Kishoin, Innovations Coordinator

In part one of this two part series Violah shares her experience conducting a feasability study for Village Enterprise in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is part one of a two part series about our feasability study in DRC.

“We are sending you to the DRC”, whispered my director, Ellen Metzger, one evening, for a moment I was not sure what to feel about the news. I was both nervous and excited; nervous because all the sad stories I grew up hearing of DRC flashed in my mind. For a very long time DRC has been synonymous with conflicts and Ebola outbreak, the thought of visiting this country was nerve wracking. At the same time, I was excited for this opportunity to see and to “validate” what I had learnt about DRC in my environmental science lectures back in college as well as to finally visit the “Rumba land.” Rumba, born in the DRC, happens to be one of my favorite music genres and the thought of visiting its “source” was thrilling. Until then all these were just stories, they say seeing is believing and that is exactly what I was set to do; to see and believe.

“They say seeing is believing and that is exactly what I was set to do; to see and believe.”

Earlier this year, the Arcus Foundation engaged Village Enterprise to conduct a study in the TL2 (Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba) region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to determine the feasibility of establishing our one-year Graduation program there. As a result of extensive efforts from the Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation, this biodiversity hot spot recently became Lomami National Park, the DRC’s first new national park established in over 10 years. Lomami is home to many flora and fauna, including the bonobos. Closely related to common chimpanzees, bonobos are the closest existing genetic relative of humans. Unlike the common chimp, bonobos are found only in the DRC and are endangered as a result of conflict in the region and poverty in the region, which fuel bushmeat hunting. Bushmeat (the meat of wild animals) hunting is a major activity around this region. One of the primary factors that drives bush meat hunting is poverty. Due to lack of market access for farm produce and livestock, people hunt as a source of income as buyers travel from Kindu town to purchase the meat. To address this, Village Enterprise is assessing the feasibility of implementing its ultra-poor graduation model in the region, which would contribute to reduced bushmeat hunting and support the conservation of wildlife species in the region.

Bushmeat hunting is done for both consumption and economic purposes. Therefore, one objective of the feasibility study is to assess the existing economic landscape and activities of the bush meat trade and its value chain, and to assess poverty, market opportunities and viable value chain linkages in the area. Another goal is to assess the viability of implementing an Ultra-Poor Graduation Program as well as to identify and meet possible partner organizations in the region.

The first phase of the feasibility study was a trip into this region to investigate for ourselves. Peter Dema, our Uganda Country Director, and I recently journeyed there on a fact-finding mission.

We embarked on our 16-day journey to TL2 region in Maniema province. Due to ‘complex’ flight schedules to DRC, we had to drive from Kampala to Goma. The 12 hour journey seemed short as we had a thrilling adventure traversing through western Uganda and Rwanda. These countries are endowed with scenic views; western Uganda is renowned for huge banana plantations and Rwanda for beautiful rolling hills.

The following day we flew out of Goma to Kindu town. Officials at the airports were not so friendly to us, perhaps because we didn’t speak their language (French). We were expected to pay bribes at every clearance desk. This experience did not deter our quest to meet community members deep in the forest where they live.

In Kindu town, we were hosted by the Lukuru foundation. They work in TL2 region and are focused on promoting wildlife conservation through trainings and outreach programs. We met some of their staff including Dr. Terese Hart (Director of the Lukuru foundation) and Idephonce Mulembe (fish pond project manager). Idephonce worked with us throughout the entire visit helping us to identify villages to visit, draw the field visit schedules and mobilize transport. We are grateful to the Lukuru foundation for being supportive and for their contribution towards the success of the trip.

In our pre-trip planning, we had been advised to expect a 6–12 hour motorbike journey to the villages. For us, it seemed impractical and unheard of, where in the world does one use more than 6 hours to travel 120 km stretch? We would soon realize that it was true; the roads (paths) are generally in poor conditions and almost impassable, and to add salt to the injury, it was rainy season. At some point, we had to walk for more than 5 km wading through mud and crossing numerous streams. It actually took us close to 12 hours to arrive to our first village. I have never felt so tired in my entire life like that day, and, as I lay down in my tent that night all my bones were aching. It was an excruciating experience.

 

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Do people living in extreme poverty think of protecting the environment? Even if they do, do they have the resources and knowledge to positively contribute to the environment? The Business Savings Group (BSG) named Meza in Gidea village sheds light on the answer to these important global questions. It all started when Business Mentor Naomi Kolil trained participants of Meza BSG on protecting the environment.

A key aspect of Village Enterprise’s business training is protecting the environment. Eco-friendly business practices are woven into each training session. Conservation is also it’s own stand-alone module that was designed with the help of the Jane Goodall Institute. In this module, we train participants on businesses that benefit the environment, eco-friendly agricultural practices, and most importantly, show participants how poverty alleviation and conservation are linked—after all, 98% of our businesses rely upon the environment for profit.

After Kolil’s conservation training, everyone had something on their minds: they wanted to plant trees to support their environment. However, they wondered how they could afford to plant trees—normally considered an expensive, long-term investment.

The solution was innovative—exemplifying the entrepreneurial spirit that Village Enterprise hopes to ignite in its participants. They decided to create their own nursery. Members of the BSG banded together and contributed what little money they could on a voluntary basis. Then, they found local tree seeds at a reasonable price and selected cyprus, Tasmanian blue gum (eucalyptus globulus), water berry (syzgium cordatum), and passion fruit tree seeds. Their BSG Secretary, John Mbita Smiyu, offered a patch of his half-acre land to serve as the nursery. They grew the seeds for three months until seedlings were ready to be transplanted. Each business owner in the group paid 10 shillings (10 cents) per seedling. Most bought around twenty blue gum trees, which are known to be fast growing and yield high profits.

Still, the highlights of this initiative was not Kolil’s training, but the knowledge sharing and innovation that came straight from our business owners. In individual meetings with each business owner, it transpired that there were members of the BSG who had very little knowledge on tree planting and maintenance. However, two of the members, John Kutukhulu and Musa Wafula, had been trained in nursery maintenance and tree planting 15 years back by a local agro-forestry program. These two business owners not only retained this knowledge 15 years later, but were also eager to share it with the group. They set up the nursery and trained the BSG members on proper tree planting, watering, and organic fertilizer techniques. The rest of the group, mostly women, now feel confident that they can train others in their community.

As the rainy season commences this week in Kitale, Kenya, the nursery will again start to flourish. The BSG Secretary, John Mbita Smiyu, who looks after the nursery, says there is still high demand among the BSG for more trees and word has spread to other people in the village who have been eager to purchase trees as well.

Business Savings Group member Douglas Omoa plants a tree in Gidea, Kenya. Business Savings Group Secretary John Mbita Smiyu offered a patch of his land to serve as the tree nursery.

The post Planting the Seeds of Eco-Friendly Behavior Change appeared first on Village Enterprise.

A group of Community Based Forest Monitors huddle over a large sheet of white paper, discussing and debating essential elements to include in a Business Savings Group constitution. The conversation picks up momentum as the participants heatedly discuss which environmental clauses to include in their constitution. This activity was part of Village Enterprise’s five-day business and savings training for 30 Community Based Forest Monitors from the Northern Albertine Rift Conservation Group (NARCG), a consortium of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Chimpanzee Trust, Jane Goodall Institute and Flora and Fauna International held in Hoima, Uganda.

With a long history in alternative livelihood development in forested areas, Village Enterprise recently expanded its work through a partnership with WCS as part of the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) program in western Uganda. WCS is one of the oldest and most respected international conservation organizations in the world and works to conserve more than two million square miles of wild places across the globe. In this case WCS and partners are working with private forest owners (PFO) in the Murchison–Semliki landscape to manage and conserve their native forests by providing a package of incentives, including rural financial services. This work builds off previous WCS-Village Enterprise collaboration: last year Village Enterprise set up six Business Saving Groups in two Private Forest Owners Associations in the district of Hoima. In just two months, some of these groups saved more than a million Ugandan shillings ($290 USD)!

In January 2016, Village Enterprise led a Training of Trainers (ToT) program for Forest Monitors. Forest Monitors, whose community peers identified them to implement conservation practices, play an integral role in carrying out REDD+ activities. At the completion of the January training, the Forest Monitors will, in turn, reach out to other Private Forest Owner Associations, set up Business Saving Groups, and stress the importance of savings and its ability to strengthen the conservation work of the Associations.

The Village Enterprise ToT program focused on adult education, basic savings, record keeping, business savings group formation, and business savings group loaning and lending. Before the ToT, WCS identified private-sector partnerships with four environmentally friendly businesses: maize production, briquette making (a sustainable alternative to charcoal), bee-keeping, and tree and bamboo planting, and Village Enterprise tailored it’s training to these business types.

Village Enterprise trainings for Forest Monitors were interactive and hands-on. Forest Monitors designed their own savings plans and constitutions, and identified which times of the year are most difficult to save in rural areas—vital to preparing annual savings. They also traveled to Village Enterprise villages to witness business training sessions, as well as Business Savings Group meetings. After the classroom training, Village Enterprise will mentor Forest Monitors to provide follow-up, on-the-ground training support. We’re happy to report that the Community Based Forest Monitors now have the skills to conduct these trainings and mentor Private Forest Owners in saving in their own communities.

Dr. Miguel E. Leal, Albertine Rift REDD+ Program Manager, the WCS lead for this partnership affirmed, “Working with Village Enterprise has been great and we are looking forward to expanding our collaboration across the Albertine Rift.”

For Ellen Metzger, Village Enterprise’s Director of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation, “micro-enterprise development is an excellent way to demonstrate to people living below the poverty line that environmental programming in their communities works in tandem with their interests. We’re promoting the message that in order to meet conservation goals, we also need to help families improve their standard of living so that they can invest in their children’s education and future. When those two interests intersect, it creates strong community support for conservation programs.”

Village Enterprise is excited about the opportunity to expand their work in the areas of alternative livelihoods through partnership with conservation programs and groups like Poverty Conservation Learning Group (PCLG) and NARCG.
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For more information about Village Enterprise’s alternative livelihood work, please visit our website: www.villageenterprise.org. And if you’re interested in partnering with us in our effort to expand our alternative livelihoods approach, please contact Ellen Metzger at ellenm@villageenterprise.org.

For more information about WCS’s work with REDD+ in Uganda visit: www.wcsuganda.org

This work was funded by Wildlife Conservation Society with grants from Tullow Oil Uganda, the Darwin Initiative and the Waterloo Foundation.

Business Mentor Evelyne Kusiima poses a savings related question to Forest Monitors.
Forest Monitors engage in an interactive activity charting income fluctuations by season.
Village Enterprise Business Mentor Evelyne Kusiima leads a business savings group training for Community Based Forest Monitors in Bulimya Village, Uganda.

The post Bringing Business and Savings to Protected Forest Communities appeared first on Village Enterprise.

The nonprofits that attended ranged in missions from agriculture and beekeeping to conservation and community. Attendees included:

• • Malaika Honey
  • Albertine Region Community Empowerment Organization (ARCEO)
  • Hoima District NGO forum
  • Abakabalega Farmers and Environmental Protectors Association (AFEPA)
  • Mid-Western Region Anti-Corruption Coalition (MIRAC)
  • Young Environment Trainee (YET)
  • Think Humanity Uganda
  • Uganda Rural Agriculture and Environmental Management
  • Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST)
  • Hoima Environmental Project (HEP)
  • National Association of Professional Environmentalists
  • African Institute For Energy and Governance
  • Eco Agric Uganda
  • Navigators of Development Association (NAVODA)
  • Eco Agriculture Uganda

To introduce Village Enterprise, the Hoima office staff put together a comprehensive presentation that outlined our vision, mission, strategy, implementation tools, and programs.  We explained our four-pronged approach model of grant disbursement, business training, year-long mentoring services, and business savings groups.  Next we shared our Microenterprise Development Tool, which presents business owners with statistics about risk, demand, and specific crops so they can make informed decisions before entering into a market.  For more information you can read here.

Then we introduced our Monitoring & Evaluation plan, which is a five-year impact assessment for the effectiveness of our programs. Finally, we presented our Budongo Project and partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute to protect the Budongo Forest and its chimpanzees.  We explained that this has been achieved through the creation of 910 sustainable businesses so far that do not rely on illegal activities that take resources out of the forest.  Also conservation training is incorporated into the business owners’ curriculum to further emphasize the importance of sustainable business practices. Read more about the Budongo Project here. The audience was engaged in the presentation and asked thoughtful questions to ensure that they fully understood the Village Enterprise program.

Ultimately, this meeting was a great success and achieved all of its goals.  It was a very effective way to share the work that Village Enterprise is doing in the region, but also a useful opportunity for other nonprofits operating in the region to form relationships with one another.

Khatuchi Kasandi
Program Associate, Uganda

The post Creating Conservation Partners: Village Enterprise Hosts Local Nonprofits in Hoima appeared first on Village Enterprise.