Bukoba Development Foundation

BUDEFO

Immediate to Medium Term Priorities

BUDEFO’S PRIORITIES FOR THE IMMEDIATE-TO-MEDIUM TERM

a) Capacity Building
The task of building capacity is a continuous one and it will involve:

  • Strengthening BUDEFO’s secretariat in terms of manpower, equipment and other paraphernalia.
  • Recruiting top-notch professionals for BUDEFO’s Think Tanks and streamlining their operations vis-a vis BUDEFO’s directorates.
  • Consolidating BUDEFO’s link with the grassroots through existing religious networks.

b) Public Relations
The success of BUDEFO will very much depend on its acceptance by the people it is supposed to serve as well as organizations and individuals it seeks to partner with. To achieve that, BUDEFO will do the following as a matter of urgency:

  • Putting in place a good website which will provide up-to-date information on BUDEFO in an organized and readable form.
  • Reaching out to the villages through local government and faith-based organizations.
  • Maintaining good working relations with the regional and district government authorities
  • Establishing fruitful links with Tanzania’s development partners as well as philanthropists, both local and international.
  • Seeking a working partnership with the media, in particular those based in Kagera.
  • Promoting cooperation between BUDEFO and other NGOs which are working in Kagera.
  • Through BUDEFO’s Cultural Think Tank organizing cultural events and projects that will bring BUDEFO closer to the ordinary people.

c) Promotion of Quality Education

BUDEFO understands that there can be no meaningful development in an environment which does not accord due priority to quality education. In that regard, BUDEFO seeks to make interventions in the following areas:

  • Undertaking a base-line study that will identify the challenges and recommend how they can be tackled, bearing in mind the paucity of resources.
  • Sponsoring volunteer teachers as a stopgap measure to meet the current acute shortage of science and mathematics teachers in most of our secondary schools.
  • Rolling out a remedial programme based on the base-line study mentioned above.
  • Approaching donors of used books and science equipment in developed countries with a view to collecting teaching materials for the schools which have very little of it.
  • Seeking a relationship with donors of used computers in developed countries who may be willing to donate some for Kagera schools.
  • Promoting the teaching of Information Technology in all schools that have electricity connection.
  • Producing and distributing science DVDs as well as soft copies of science books using our DVD duplicator.
  • Organizing short courses for science teachers to upgrade their teaching skills.
  • Organizing periodic camps for prodigies in maths and science aimed at encouraging them as well as honing their aptitudes.
  • Seeking land and financial assistance to set up one vocational training school per district as our response to the crisis of thousands of school drop-outs who are loafing around without anything to do.

d) Poverty Alleviation

BUDEFO’S idea of tackling household poverty in a transformative and sustainable manner involves the following strategies:

  • Promoting micro-savings and credit societies in all our villages to encourage villagers to save, borrow and invest. To ensure success, seminars will be held to educate them on the proper way of going about it.
  • Promoting the growing of high-value crops particularly vanilla which grows very well in Kagera.
  • Promoting the planting of fruit trees and vegetables as a measure to combat pervasive malnourishment.
  • Promoting value addition to cash crops such as coffee, making sure that cherry coffee is hulled before selling it to the cooperative society.
  • Promoting small-scale fish-farming as a commercial activity, but also as a means of providing much-needed protein to the household.
  • Helping farmers to optimize intercropping in their banana groves by maintaining an optimal balance of a crop mix, which will include drought resisting varieties so as to keep food shortages at bay.
  • Encouraging each household to keep a few indigenous chickens (5-10) for egg production.
  • Developing and promoting simple and affordable rain-harvesting systems for adoption in the villages.
  • Assisting poor households to buy health insurance such as government-sponsored CHF (Community Health Fund), so they can gain access to medical treatment which has been eluding many.
  • Working in concert with local government to ensure that each household has a proper latrine.
  • Collaborating with other NGOs as well as village governments in the fight against HIV/Aids

e) Community Services
Kagera’s social matrix has given rise to all manner of inequalities which must be seriously addressed in any development effort. To this end, BUDEFO intends to undertake the following:

  • Organizing empowerment seminars for women aimed at educating them about their socio-economic rights under the law.
  • Encouraging women groups or individuals to engage in income-generating activities.
  • Encouraging women to vie for leadership positions in politics and religion.
  • Organizing entrepreneurship seminars for youths, and whenever possible, help them set up businesses.
  • Organizing sporting activities to keep our young men and women physically fit and thus keep them away from mischief.

f) Reconstruction After the Earthquake

The September 2016 earthquake which was the severest ever to strike the region, destroyed roads, schools, health facilities and private houses. Altogether 16,144 houses were either completely destroyed or seriously damaged to render them uninhabitable. Most of these houses belong to the bottom quartile of the population. Since the government has already said it cannot assist in rebuilding the houses, BUDEFO will continue to raise its voice in search of resources to assist the poor victims. Areas deemed important for intervention include:

  • Acquisition and distribution of brick-making machine that use a mixture of cement and soil.
  • Preparation of drawings of quake-resistant structures for distribution to people.
  • Assisting the poor with basic building materials.
  • Assisting the poorest of the poor with full reconstruction of their houses.