“Soil in a Box” gardens for fisherfolk households     

            
Location:    Shores of Lake Victoria, Mpigi district, Nkozi, Mawokota South Constituency, Uganda

Project leadtime:     12 months

Requestor:     Richard Bbaale on behalf of Supporting Orphans And Vulnerable For Better Health, Education And Nutrition (SOVHEN)

Description of the project:

Given the great success (more meals per day) and the increasing demand for Soil in a Box gardens which exceeds our capacity, an expansion is requested for 50 Soil in a Box. With an additional 50 “Soil in a Box” Gardens, we can bring nutritious noonday meals to over 4.800 poor school-going children.

Objectives:

• These Soil in a box gardens will avail the fisherfolk households with nutritious food and helps in combating the problem of chronic malnutrition and micro-nutrient deficiency.
• Can help create women entrepreneurs, because it gives them a chance to generate their own income.

Beneficiaries:

50 fisherfolk households

Budget: 7.547 €

Risks:

No major risks

Attached documents:

Detailed budget

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Follow-up of the project

Date:                    May 25th, 2023
 
Name project:       Soil in a box - SOVHEN

General status:

Given the big success (more meals per day) and the increasing demand for Soil in a Box gardens which exceeds our capacity, an expansion was requested for 50 Soil in a Box. With an additional 50 “Soil in a Box” gardens, we can bring nutritious noonday meals to over 4.800 poor school-going children.

Progress since last status report:

During the month of April 25 Soil in a box gardens were assembled and planted. A team of volunteers were drawn from the local communities. They were split up into teams and each team is responsible for part of the box and must prepare meals for school and home.
May 2023: ongoing assembly of the other 25 additional Soil in a box.
The volunteers are expected to arrive at the schools at five in the morning to get water, get everything ready and start cooking.

Financial status:

7.547 € received on April 11, 2023

Problems/concerns:

/

Attached documents (pictures, receipts,…):

Pictures.

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Follow-up september 2023

Date:                  August 31st, 2023
 
Name project:     Soil in a Box gardens

General status:

736 households, with poor school-aged children living on less than $1 a day, currently receive 50 Soil in a Box gardens. The nutritious lunch meals at school help to reduce shortterm hunger and improve attention in the classroom. The Out of school and Take-Home meals help to encourage participation and reduce dropout rates.
A team of 250 dedicated community volunteers living at the rural crossroads of 25 hard-to-reach fishing communities are being mobilized and organized into 2 self-help groups. They spend six hours a day collecting firewood and arrive at the schools as early as five in the morning to fetch water, prepare cooking pots and start cooking, serving meals at school by noon and in the evening take meals home.

Progress since last status report:

In the period June - August 2023, the next 25 Soil in a Box were mounted, placed at the households and planting started. Take-away meals were also provided during the holiday period (26 August - 17 September) so that children are encouraged to start school in September.

Financial status:

The amount of 7,547 € was sufficient to meet the financial obligations of the project in accordance with the budget.

Problems/concerns:

• Collecting firewood:

For both school meals and take-away meals, firewood is the main source for cooking and heating. Volunteers spend 6 hours a day collecting firewood and have to cover many kilometers on foot. This deters these volunteers, mostly women, from other income-generating activities. In addition, these women have reported sexual assault while gathering wood.

• Smoke development:

Meals are prepared on a traditional fireplace. The volunteers spend a lot of time around this open fire, sometimes up to 7 hours a day. The fireplaces consume a lot of wood and cause indoor air pollution. Due to the smoke development, the risk of developing respiratory and heart diseases and eye disorders is high.

• Clean cooking technology:

Sovhen wants to tackle the problems of wood collection and combustion by introducing energy efficient cooking technology.
Through hands-on training, all participating households will build and maintain their own clean cooking technology, reducing time spent collecting wood fuel and reducing respiratory ailments, while also reducing overall deforestation and air pollution. To keep costs low and to guarantee the growth of the project, they will mainly use local materials that are easily accessible to them. Each cooking technology is tailor-made for the cooking pots used.
There is currently a surplus of income from the 50 Soil in a Box, which will be used to start up a revolving loan and a social fund to give members access to small amounts on flexible terms from a minimum of 50,000 to 500,000 USh. Members have agreed to let the income contribute to their development in an energy-efficient cooking technology.

Attached documents (pictures, receipts,…):

Receipts, photos

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Images

Clic on the image to see the whole album

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