Author Archives: admin

1. Strategic contact Group

A strategic contact group has been established in Dar es Salaam and its main task is strategizing and thrashing out details with regard to planning and implementation. The Board sets out policy in broad terms, the Group works out the modus operandi.

2. Meet-and-Greet

These are basically sensitization meetings which have been held in Dar es Salaam and in Bukoba. Their aim has been to provide an opportunity for Kagerans to meet and discuss their regional issues in a relaxed setting. It has also been a chance to promote a sense of camaraderie among Kagerans.

3. Think Tanks

As explained elsewhere on this website, BUDEFO thought it wise to use the skills and expertise of some of its renowned sons and daughters who are scattered all over the world. It has therefore set up Think Tanks for them as a platform for discussing development ideas and concretizing them into action programmes.

4. Strategic Confab on Education

This important event which took place in Bukoba brought together all the key stakeholders in education from all over the region. These included education officers, school inspectors, heads of secondary schools and English-medium primary schools, church officials involved in supervising education, etc. BUDEFO presented a road-map for revamping education in the region and it was adopted in principle.

5. BUDEFO Education Fund

BUDEFO’s idea of setting up an Education Fund was influenced by memories of a similar fund established by the region’s cooperative union before and immediately after independence to give a fillip to education in the region. The fund got its money through a cess on coffee sold by the farmers to cooperatives. So with the blessings of Kagera’s Regional Commissioner BUDEFO organized meeting with Kagera Cooperative Union, Karagwe District Cooperative Union and private coffee buyers to request them to institute such an arrangement. Since the coffee prices are currently depressed, the request was put on the back burner.

6. Kagera VETA

Of the former 21 regions of Mainland Tanzania, Kagera is the only one without a technical training institution (VETA). So when it was announced that the Chinese have offered to build one which will be state-of-the-art BUDEFO decided to follow up on implementation at every stage. This involved inspecting the proposed site with the regional and municipal authorities as well as discussing its suitability with visiting Chinese officials. BUDEFO went further and offered to propose a curriculum which it did. This cutting edge curriculum was presented to the Ministry of Education through the Regional Commissioner.

7. Distribution of Educational Materials

BUDEFO has been involved in distributing books and laboratory equipment received from the United Kingdom, courtesy of our London-based Vice President. This has been a welcome relief to our schools which are seriously starved of educational materials.

8. Science DVDs and Electronic Books

A Kageran in the Diaspora donated a DVD Duplicator which is producing the much-needed DVDs and electronic books for science. This has come in handy considering that many of our schools have an acute shortage of science and mathematics teachers.

9. Cooperation with Maruku Agricultural Research Station

To avoid being ham-fisted in implementing our agricultural programmes we want to establish close links with Maruku. We have held discussions there aiming at identifying areas of cooperation including containment of banana wilt which has wreaked havoc on our banana crop, thereby causing food insecurity.

10. Mayawa

Mayawa is a non-governmental organization which has been promoting the production of non-traditional crops. BUDEFO has continued its efforts to cultivate working relations with the outfit, with a view to promoting value addition as well as boosting the cultivation of high-value crops, in particular vanilla. We are mounting a campaign to persuade farmers to hedge their bets by diversifying their crops.

11. Meetings with Prospective Partners

BUDEFO has held meetings with various ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions in Dar es Salaam. We believe it is in our interests to be friends with people or organizations that have been assisting our country. We cannot be included in their programmes if they are not aware of our exixtence.

12.Organizing Symposia

BUDEFO has organized three symposia in Bukoba which were attended by various stakeholders including the Regional Commissioner and the Regional Administrative Secretary. The symposia were on Education, Business Development and Culture. The latter was crowned with a cultural event featuring the most outstanding artistes in Bukoba.

13.Volunteer Teachers

Kagera university students studying in various universities have been volunteering to fill teaching gaps in our secondary schools during their vacations. Individual BUDEFO members as well as BUDEFO itself have been contributing money towards their upkeep.

14. Response to the September 2016 Earthquake

The 5.9-strong earthquake killed more than 17 people and left 16,144 others homeless. To compound the situation, the earthquake coincided with the severest drought in decades which caused water sources to dry up and crops to fail. It was indeed a crisis of epic proportions. BUDEFO’s response was to ask our members to contribute money towards relief aid. BUDEFO went further and sought assistance from other well wishers. The donations received were in the form of medicines as well as money from Kagerans in America, Tanzanians in America, Tanzanians in Botswana and the Chinese embassy in Dar es Salaam. Medicines were distributed through the Regional Emergency Committee in compliance with government fiat, and money was used to buy food which we distributed to the most needy families in six affected districts. CARITAS helped us with the logistics, thanks to our BUDEFO Bukoba chairman Bishop Method Kilaini.

15. Cultural Museum

BUDEFO through its Cultural Think Tank has been discussing the museum project with renowned paleontologist, Prof. Peter Schmidt whose intriguing work on Bukoba’s ancient history including the 500 BC Katuruka site in Maruku where iron-smelting technology was pioneered, is well known. BUDEFO wants to collaborate with him to turn the museum dream into a reality.