World Fisheries Day – 21st November 2014

Balabire Kuffe Womens Group, one of the 17 groups supported by KWDT to improve post harvest fish handling

Worldwide, it is estimated that 85 million people are employed in small scale fishing, processing, distribution and marketing – and out of those, over half are women.  Current problems in this industry have resulted in unemployment, lack of income and food insecurity for fishing communities.

In Uganda, KWDT supports women’s sustained involvement in the fisheries sector through fish farming, improved processing and access to credit.

KWDT is a member of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers an international organisation, that brings together small scale fishing organisations with the objective to influence both national and international policies that affect their rights of access, use and control, and sustainability of fish resources for improved livelihoods.

Margaret Nakato, Co-ordinator of Katosi Women Development Trust, Uganda is Co-President of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers.

Being passionate to “help” is not enough!

 

Establishing the UK funding arm of Katosi Women Development Trust has been a very steep learning curve even though I had run my own successful training company before retirement. In my mind, I had imagined sliding into retirement and “helping” in the charity sector.  But a trip to Uganda changed all that!

So what have I learnt since meeting the amazing Ugandan women who have successfully run their NGO longer than I ran my business?

• Help needs to be closely defined. When I visited Uganda I had no clear idea of what I could offer  but became “helpful” when I met the Katosi Women Development team; experienced life in Katosi with 3 of the self managed women’s groups; and worked on a sustainable growth strategy for the organisation that involved no extra resource/costs
• Getting a bank account is difficult. Back in the UK, KWDT had managed to register at Companies House but could not “trade” because the charity could not open a bank account. Something that personally and in business, I have always taken for granted.  It was a long drawn out process but we got there thanks to the endless patience of my local business manager at Barclays as we gathered the information to satisfy the money laundering regulations.

But the next hurdle was waiting.

• Potential donors do not want to talk to you unless you are registered with the Charities Commission which also means you can then apply for Gift Aid from the Inland Revenue. To register you need to have £5,000 in the bank, appoint trustees, have a website, and be very clear about governance and more.

So some months on, we are waiting to hear if we can be a UK registered charity – our application is in!

• People are amazing. The biggest lesson of all is how fantastic people are when you ask them for “help”. The small KWDT team in Uganda with dodgy internet access; so few resources yet they give their time to collect what we need; the rural Katosi women who share their stories and want to prove they have potential to success; friends and strangers in the UK who have donated time, money and expertise willingly to get us to first base; our accountants who as yet haven’t charged us; our volunteer trustees and amazingly our “competitors”.  I have a growing network of experts from other charities who provide advice, contacts and encouragement – very different from being in business!

Visit our website and learn more … Offer you help?

Training for Self Managed Women’s Groups

Katosi Women Development Trust – Improving rural livelihoods through training for self managed women’s groups

KWDT works with 17 organized women’s groups bringing together 445 rural women for collaboration in improving livelihoods through equitable access to resources such as water tanks, cows, knowledge and skills in improvement of hygiene and sanitation, records / book keeping.

Group members play a full role in the governance and management of access to these resources so it is important to train and equip them with skills that are essential to enable them successfully work as a team.

Kiyoola Womens Group and Bugoye Womens Group receiving training to make decisions and manage resources as a team.

At the end of the training the groups are challenged to indentify governance gaps and how they can use what they have learnt to address them. As Kasaale Prossy from the Bugoye Women’s Group said:

“We had some members we wanted to dismiss from our group so in one meeting we asked them to voluntarily resign but to my surprise none of them resigned. They all want to still be part of the group despite their weaknesses. The training has encouraged us to help them to improve. We all have different weaknesses and must continue to work together to our common goal”

 Katosi Women Development Trust UK  is registered at company’s house and head office address 16 Highgrove Park, Maidenhead, SL6 7PQ  with a coordinators office in Kampala and a field office in Katosi

 

Women become “engineers” and “earners” transcending cultural barriers

For over 17 years, Katosi Women Development Trust’s work has been guided by the principle of “empowering the woman to do it” and “putting women first”.

Traditionally, Ugandan culture considered a women’s role to be that of child bearer and housekeeper. Today, KWDT has changed this perception through training women in the skills needed to construct rainwater harvest tanks.

Creating cultural change Lydia Kateregga and Dorothy Nakalema working together in tank construction

Lydia earns £46.00 (190,000 UGX) from each tank constructed and constructs 3-4 tanks a year. She is of course a proud owner of a domestic rainwater harvesting tank which means she and the children no longer have to walk long hours in search of water for domestic use.  Lydia said “My children are safe from sexual harassment that takes place when girls go to fetch water late evening. When they come back from school we have the water from the tank at home’’.

Lydia has more time for household chores and the children have more time for their studies. Most importantly, an extra income is earned from the sale of harvested rainwater.
KWDT have enabled women to work in an area that was traditionally men only!

This new employment for women has given them financial security and enabled them to improve their lives, the lives of their family members as well as the community at large. It has built the confidence and self-esteem of women masons. They are no longer regarded as “dependants” but “earners” who have the respect in their families with their community peers proudly refering to them as “engineers”!

Through its training Katosi Women Development Trust continues to successfully change people’s perception and attitudes and in doing so improves thousands of lives.
Lydia also has the skills to construct an ecosan toilet

WFF and KWDT work together to improve working conditions for women engaged in fish processing

The World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers is an international organization representing 48 national organisations whose worldwide members come from traditional small scale fishing communities. With the livelihoods of about 120 million men and women threatened globally ie 35 million fishermen and 85 million employed in the associated activities, it brings together these small scale fisher organisations under one banner and in this way is able exert greater influence on national and international policies affecting rights of access to fisheries resources.

Their Executive Director, Margaret Nakato is also Co-odinator of the Katosi Women Development Trust. which works to improve the lives of the fisher women on the northern shores of Lake Victoria in District of Mukono, Uganda.

In December 2013 KWDT under the WFF banner, joined other organization in Dakar, Senegal, to launch a platform of exchange for women in fisheries in seeking to improve working conditions for women in fish processing.

If you would like to know more about Katosi Women Development Trust please contact anitawoodcock@katosi-uk.org

Fishing Communities around Lake Victoria and HIV infection

Uganda’s first AIDS case was reported in 1985 in a fishing village just like Katosi where Katosi Women Development Trust’s activities are based. Today, HIV infection rates are still rising throughout Uganda but in a recent survey  it was found that HIV prevalence in the fishing communities is three times higher than in the general population.

Understanding the importance of education in reversing this trend, Katosi Women Development Trust runs formal training sessions and encourages informal support between the women affected. KWDT has 17 women’s groups located in and around the northern shores of Lake Victoria.

This is part of a much bigger programme to empower women through economic independence so that they have a voice when it comes to demanding that their menfolk use a condom and to encourage both men and women to have fewer sexual partners

If you would like to know more about Katosi Women Development Trust please contact anita.woodcock@katosi-uk.org

Empowering Rural Ugandan Women to become Economically Independent through Micro Financing

How can this happen?

By enabling poor and often illiterate women to help themselves, their families and communities, develop and run viable entrepreneurial activities such as organic farming, fishing, and trading and food production. These activities improve family nutrition, health, sanitation, access to clean water and provide money for school. On a different level, the women gain the respect of their partners which provides more equality in their relationship and lessons the chance of domestic violence. Their success also brings respect in the community especially from the men. The women find a voice; their views and needs are considered in the community. See our stories

But developing sustainable economic activity needs money. Micro Credit finance is used to grant small loans to poor borrowers who have no other possibilities open to them to borrow money. See more information on our Microfinance page

If you would like to know more about Katosi Women Development Trust UK please contact anitawoodcock@katosi.org

KWDT hosts The World Forum For Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF)

KWDT hosts The World Forum For Fish  Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF) on 19th to 22nd November 2012, in which issues of small scale fishers were discussed.

World Forum of Fish Harvesters & Fish Workers (WFF) is an international organization that brings together small scale fisher organization for the establishment and upholding of fundamental human rights,social justice and culture of artisanal /small scale fish harvesters and fish workers,affirming the sea as source of all life and committing themselves to sustain fisheries and aquatic resources for the present and future generations to protect their livelihoods. Read more…

Katosi Women Development Trust UK  is registered at company’s house and head office address 16 Highgrove Park, Maidenhead, SL6 7PQ  with a coordinators office in Kampala and a field office in Katosi