About Us
Who We Are
People who regard Kagera as their home, irrespective of where they currently live, have found it necessary to try and arrest the region’s declining fortunes and set it on the pathway to a prosperous future. To this end, they established in 2014 a not-for-profit NGO known as Bukoba Development Foundation (BUDEFO), named after the region’s capital town. The Foundation, whose membership is open to all Kagerans, is charged with the task of conceiving and implementing socio-economic initiatives that are transformative, sustainable, viable and inclusive. Its current membership includes ordinary people like villagers, professionals, business people, political leaders at all levels and clergymen including bishops and sheikhs. BUDEFO is open to partnership with men and women of goodwill from anywhere in the world.
Our Vision
To make Kagera Region an ideal place to live, work and invest, as well as an attractive tourist destination. The end results will be poverty alleviation and better living conditions for its residents.
Our Mission
To work with other stakeholders including central and local governments as well as non-governmental organizations like faith-based institutions, both local and international, to improve education, health, agriculture, livestock, infrastructure, culture and environmental conservation. Also to help promote a climate conducive to investment and trade with a view to making the region a real gateway for trade in East Africa.
Our Core Belief
We believe that the people of Kagera are yearning for accelerated development, and that organizing and mobilizing them for action can propel them to the next level. We further believe that our geographical position as East Africa’s centre of gravity, coupled with several comparative advantages like copious bimodal rainfall as well as a plethora of water sources, stand the region in good stead when it comes to charting its route to prosperity.