Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
1962. Uganda attains independence. A country with enormous resources and significant rural population.
From the start, USAID focused on the country's potential as the 'bread basket' of East Africa.
This was one year following President J.F Kennedy signing of the foreign assistance legislation that mandated the establishment of USAID.
We wanted to demonstrate our alliance with these newly independent states and clearly Uganda was one of them.
With the modest budget of 3.6 million dollars, USAID invested its first ten years in Uganda on agriculture and education.
The agency set up extension services, supported research, and sponsored students to
American universities to learn modern methods of farming.
USAID's education program was founded in the belief that with significant political, social and economic change,
people needed to learn and grow. There was also a need to professionalize the
education system in order to address the changes.
Education, health and agriculture are the benchmarks of our programs.
Tororo Girls School. A reputed school that USAID built in 1963, modeled after the American approach to education.
USAID broadened the curriculum and trained teachers. Former Minister of Education Geradine Namirembe Bitamazire
was the first Ugandan headmistress at Tororo and a beneficiary of USAID training.
That training was very useful because when we came back from America we had
internalized the objectives and practice of a diversified curriculum.
USAID's commitment to innovation and knowledge sharing is strong even today.
The Agency is supporting the Ministry of Education to focus on special needs education by training teachers in
novel techniques and ensuring children with disabilities study in the same classrooms with other pupils.
In all these USAID supported training programs we make sure we are not training for
special schools. We are training for all schools.
In 1971, following Idi Amin's military coup and the subsequent internal instability
in Uganda USAID suspended programs in the country.
When USAID returned to Uganda in 1981 it found a country severely weakened with industries in disarray.
The next six years was challenging for USAID because Uganda remained unstable.
In 1986 president of Yoweri Museveni ushered in an era of relative stability in Uganda.
USAID transitioned its programming from emergency relief to long-term development. Again, the emphasis was on agriculture.
USAID took advantage of the agricultural institutions and teamed up with Makerere University to fund
its research facility in Namulonge. The hybrid sunflower seed was one of the
innovations in agriculture that was devised at this facility.
We worked with the national agricultural research organization, USAID, and we had a new hyrid variety released into the country.
It is the month of July. Kapchorwa Commercial Farmers gather in a field to harvest maize.
Under their umbrella organization, the farmers have received training in good farming practices from USAID.
With the increase in production of maize, USAID stepped in to build a modern post-harvest handling facility.
It is 90% USAID, 10% the contribution of the organization. It will dry, it will clean,
it will sort and it will be ready for market. The challenge now is to produce.
Majority of smallholder farmers in Uganda are women. Helen Elongat is farmer in Lango, northern Uganda.
She is the founder and Executive Director of North East Chili Producers Association, comprising small-scale women chili farmers.
She has mobilized more than 340 groups of women from 10,000 households.
This is a purely women’s group and they are doing this in order to economically empower them.
With support from USAID projects, the Association has set up 15 learning technology adaptation centers like this one
for bananas and coffee in Lira. The innovation here is tapping the benefits of intercropping.
So the technology here is that we trying to increase the output and maximize the use of the available land resource.
To improve the post-harvest handling of chilies, USAID helped build six bulking centers.
From the output so far I have four credits my children who are credited and they are all now working.
Uganda diversified its exports from the traditional coffee, cotton, and tea to non-traditional crops.
The flower industry blossomed as USAID focused its attention to increase exports from this sector.
The Agency built a cold-storage unit at Entebbe International Airport to allow flowers
to remain fresh before they were flown out to Europe.
USAID has actively engaged with young people to help make their voices heard.
By training and empowering them with new technology and tools, the Agency is promoting a more participatory style of governance.
The USAID training has been very, very critical-- aspects of the demanding for accountability,
aspects of allowing young people to participate in the broad-based governance system.
At the peak of the ***/AIDS pandemic, USAID funded programs focused on testing, research,
and database development, and later expanded these programs to include counseling and care.
At 1987 the AIDS support organization TASO spearheaded the response to ***/AIDS by supporting people
infected with the virus and raising awareness of the pandemic. USAID fully supported the organization.
So the initial influence of the both government of Uganda and all the development partners including USAID,
were to strenghten prevention of ***, care and support. USAID also bolstered the management capacity of TASO.
This support has significantly contributed to TASO's recognition as a world-class model in the rest of Africa.
USAID has developed us from a small CSO into a big international organization.
The vigorous campaign against ***/AIDS combined with strong political will helped to reduce *** prevalence
in Uganda, which reached 30% in the 1990s, to 6% today. Although AIDS still exacts a huge toll on Ugandans,
a lot more people have access to free antiretroviral treatment.
At Bobi Health Center III in Gulu, people living with *** wait for their turn to receive life-extending drugs.
Robert and Susan are among those enrolled at the clinic. This morning they are here to receive their supply of drugs.
Access to treatment has transformed their lives.
My husband was about to die. After testing our CD4s they started giving us ARVs. Now our bodies are developing.
More women like Susan are receiving advice and medication that significantly reduce
the risk of mother-to-child transmission of ***.
We have seen a drastic reduction in the number of children who are born *** positive.
An integral part of USAID development efforts is research and technology to save lives.
By establishing a laboratory at the Bobi Clinic, many Ugandans are able to get tested
for malaria, TB, and *** without having to travel long distance.
We have helped health workers to improve care, to be more exact in the type of
treatment they provide, and therefore there is less wastage of drugs.
At the turn of the millennium, USAID's health programs included anti-malaria initiatives to
reduce the risk of maternal and child mortality. At Mukono North Health center 4 in central Uganda,
distribution of mosquito bed nets to pregnant mothers is underway. USAID has distributed tens of
thousands of insecticide treated bed nets to its clients.
Another anti-malaria initiative that has shown effective results is indoor residual spraying.
USAID and the Ministry of Health are jointly conducting the spraying exercise with safe insecticides
in highly malaria-prone congested communities. The innovative use of bicycles has
helped USAID to reach more people in less time.
Ange Betty lives in Alokolum village, Gulu district with her husband and eight children. Today the team is in her village.
Ever since they have sprayed, there is few cases of malaria. I think it was only once.
USAID was an early proponent of voluntary family planning, counseling women to exercise their reproductive rights.
Kamuga Salongo is a member of The Village Health Team in Kapeeka Sub-county, Nakaseke District.
He received USAID training in community mobilization and proper delivery of family planning services.
During the long war with rebels in northern Uganda from 1986 to 2007, more than 1.8 million people
languished in 200 camps. USAID provided emergency assistance through Food for Peace and the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster
Assistance amid difficult and dangerous conditions. Since 2007, all internally displaced people have
returned to their homes and blended into their communities.
For the war-affected children and unemployed youth, USAID has offered tools and
training to gain better access to income-generating activities.
Moving forward, USAID wants to create conditions where American assistance is no longer
needed, replaced over time by efficient local governments, thriving civil societies and vibrant economy.
My life is a story to tell. I started way back 27 years ago and I'm aware USAID has
been in Uganda for the last 50 years. For my own life it was 16 years. Back then I was
staying in this house. And because of the trainings, the business I have been doing in
my farm, I was able to transform my life and I now move to this one. All this I
attribute to American government and I thank them because if they were not there to
train us I don't think I would be speaking here.