Kikwanya Integrated Development Society (KIDS).

KIKWANYA INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY (KIDS).

BACKGROUND. Kikwanya Integrated Development Society is a community Based Organisation (CBO) operating on a voluntary basis among the rural community in Kayunga district. KIDS is located in Kikwanya village, Kikwanya parish, Kangulumira Sub County, Kayunga district of Uganda. The organisation is approximately 4 kilometres from Kangulumira Town centre, about 20 kilometres from Kayunga the district town.

The organisation was established in the year 2000, and got registered in the year 2002 to operate in Kayunga district as a CBO. It is based in the fields of social-economic development such as promotion of informal and formal education with much emphasis put on the orphans and vulnerable children and the girl child, environment protection and management, production which includes agriculture improvement, introduction of new crops to revive the old ones, Health which includes fighting malaria, HIV/AIDS, access to clean and safe water, improved sanitation; Income-Generating Activities like Bee keeping, livestock rearing and many more others.

KIDS’S MISSION STATEMENT. To work towards ensuring and organised and to develop the rural grassroots and most vulnerable groups through capacity building, training advocacy, mobilisation, sensitisation, education and/or those affected or tortured by humanitarian crisis to have access to fundamental rights of life, health care, food, water and sanitation, and adequate shelter and education and networking services for sustainable development.

VISION. KIDS vision is to improve the well-being of the rural grassroots people, marginalised groups and vulnerable groups through creation of sustainable development projects,

GOAL. Our major goal is to reduce poverty and improve on the standards of living of the rural people and also aiming at changing the trend of HIV/AIDS mitigation and effective policy environment for scaling up the national response to sustainable development.

STRATEGY; 1. Enhance the capacity KIDS to respond to the environment conservation and management needs.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES; 1. To fight poverty among the rural grassroots people through introduction of development projects. 2. To increase access to HIV/AIDS specialized care and support services within project operation. 3. To integrate the component of nutritional support and food security in all KIDS’s activities. 4. To carry out awareness programmes on issues pertaining to health, poverty alleviation and development. 5. To strengthen KIDS’s monitoring and evaluation component. 6. To protect and fight for the rights of orphans and vulnerable children and those who are tortured and preventing child trafficking. 7. To promote environmental programmes and proper sanitation and access to clean and safe water for the target areas. 8. To Network with any organisation and agency that have similar objectives and aims both locally and internationally. 9. To advocate for policies and programs in order to improve care and support for the people living with HIV/AIDS. 10. To improve agriculture through extension services and marketing. 11. To fight the spread of malaria through access to free mosquito nets and care. 12. To promote girl child education and also accessing education to the OVCs. 13. To promote Adult Functional Literacy and computer skills to the rural communities. 14. To promote skills development and project management capacities with the partner CBO’s and other agencies and their networks. 15. To promote Income-Generating Activities (IGAs) as a process for sustainable development.

TARGET GROUPS; KIDS target the Youth, Women, Elderly, Orphans and Vulnerable Children, girls and the poor.

OUR WORKS. KIDS is concerned with and advocates for the rights, interests and needs of the rural poor and marginalised community in the whole of Kayunga district and aims to strengthen the capacities of the community members and augment their abilities to organise themselves as custodians of the natural resources and protection of the environment. This initiative helps the community/ies to adopt and apply management and control measures that optimise natural resource utilisation as well as fulfilling the socio-economic aspirations on a sustainable basis. A great variety of KIDS activities are organised in form of workshops/seminars, grassroots community members.

The organisation is also involved in mobilisation, organising, training and advocacy programs among the rural community with a view to promoting sustainable development or improving livelihoods of the rural communities.

KIDS has created a forum for the local rural community members to address various HIV/AIDS related problems, hunger, malaria, natural resource management, development and environmental problems facing Kayunga district as a region and the community there/of.

Presently, the organisation is inspired by the great desire to facilitate and promote local community to fully participate in the development process of their localities; protect the environment, fight hunger, fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and other related diseases, malnutrition, reproductive health, health, education to the needy groups, conserve the abundant biodiversity and carry out activities for IGAs and indulge in decision making process in matters affecting the activities of farmers, Bee-keepers, fishers, school teachers and those dependent upon natural resources and subsistence agriculture in Kangulumira sub-county of Kayunga district.

DISTRICT LOCATION AND BACKGROUND; Like other districts in Uganda, Kayunga is a cosmopolitan district that evolved from Mukono district. Kayunga is located in the Central region of Uganda with a total surface area of 1803.187sq km that is punctuated with wetlands, water and tropical rain forests. The topography is generally flat with undulating hills and savannah vegetation cover. It borders with 6 districts with Apac and Lake Kyoga in the North, Mukono in the South, Luwero and Nakasongola in the West and Jinja and Kamuli districts in the East. Kayunga district has a total population of 297,081 people of which 144,609 are males and 152,472 are females (2002 population census) Currently the sex ratio is 94.9 males to 100 females while the population density is 213 persons per sq km. The urbanization level is 6.7% indicating that the majority of populations live in rural areas.

Weather

It has an annual average temperature of 19c – 25c with average rainfall of 1000mm-1200m per year over two main rain seasons (March–May and August–November)

Demographically, Kayunga district has a total population which stands at 297,081 people which 144,609 are male and 152,472 are female, according to the outcome of the socio-economic survey conducted in 2001/2 by the district planning unit in partnership with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. It is also important to report that according to the total population report, the district has the highest population rate compared to other new districts in Uganda and this trend of events is a factor that brings about worries among the district planners. The fast growing population in the district is attributed to the influx of migrants from other parts of the country, and the majority of whom are attracted by good soils in the district.

ORGANISATION SUSTAINABILITY; The sustainability of the project is expected to be fully based upon the following strategies:

There is application of a participatory approach to the implementation of the activities of the organisation through a community project steering committee (CPSC). This has helped the communities in the organisation area to have a say and take decisions, build confidence, have sense of ownership, and guide the implementation of the organisation projects or activities.

The interest and demand exhibited by the local communities is another factor that plays well for the sustainability of the organisation.

Also the commitment made by major stakeholders to contribute towards the project by cash or in kind is the surest guarantee why the project or organisation is sustainable.

BENEFICIARIES; The organisation so far has benefited 428 households directly. They have benefited by being supported to grow food crops and coffee, vanilla, creation of IGAs, community health, environment protection through planting of trees, education support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), marketing of agriculture products. This has enabled them to increase their income and hence improved standards of living.

CATEGORY OF BENEFICIARIES; Widows 50. Aged 38-60. OVC 200. Youths 100. People living with HIV/AIDS 100. Women 200.

INDIRECT BENEFICIARIES; These include casual workers who are employed right from the field preparation, maintenance, and running of the organisation activities. Others include sellers of farm tools, implements and other farm inputs like herbicides and pesticides, stationeries.

It is involved in agriculture, orphanage care and support, environment, health, fighting HIV/AIDS and income generation.