Bwindi community integrated rural development initiative (BCIRDI) is anon government organization founded in 2015 by a group of graduates that include Mr. Byarugaba Robert and other graduates who were lucky enough to have completed their education with the purpose of helping the under privileged community members around Bwindi impenetrable national park with self-help project in order to transform their lives socially and economically.
Since 2015 up to date Bwindi community integrated rural development initiative has worked with Bwindi community through self-help projects mostly on income generating projects. It’s against this background that BCIRDI tends to implement sanitation and hygiene project around Bwindi impenetrable part to improve the garbage collection around the community.
Vision of BCIRDI: Improve well being of communities around the protected areas especially Bwindi impenetrable national park
Mission of BCIRDI: To provide a platform for economic empowerment in communities around the protected areas especially Bwindi impenetrable national park
The motto of BCIRDI: Improving well being
Project Goal: The goal of this project is to advocate for healthy and hyginic environment rural communities of Kanungu district.
Project objectives:
- To build the capacity and ability of community members to adopt sanitation practices
- To promote hygiene in the rural communities of Bwindi and Bwindi in Kanungu district.
ACTIVITIES:
- Conduct mapping of all families ,stakeholders and households in areas that will be benefited by this project
- Conduct district level stakeholders’ sensitization for the project purposes.
- Produce and distribute 7,000 Information on sanitation and hygiene practices
- Conduct community sensitization sessions through:-
- 10Radio Talk shows and spots
- 12 Community level dialogue meetings
- Establishing and strengthening Project land area community structures including district focal point persons to coordinate project activities.
- Develop an advocacy agenda and participate in district and sub county planning and budget conferences for sanitation activities.
- Conduct annual dialogue meetings with 2 district councils and health officers
- Participate in commemorating the international and national functions
- Conduct training of beneficiaries on enterprise business, micro project management and life skills as a way of equipping stakeholders with sanitation practices
- Conduct training of beneficiaries on rights, relevant legal provisions and rights based approaches to sanitation and hygiene
- Provide psycho-social support to families that undermine activities that promote sanitation at home level.
- Conduct dialogue meetings with local leaders and households at sub-county level on issues supporting the sanitation and hygiene of the community and how to maintain it.
- Supporting district health office in coordinating and advocating for hygiene in the rural community.
- Conduct institutional capacity development workshop for BCIRDI’s staff and board
- Documentation of the best practices and reporting
- Conducting joint quarterly planning and review meetings
- Monitoring project activities by staff
- Conduct quarterly board meetings
- Conduct technical backstopping
The project is premised on the need to restore the community and hygiene of communities around Bwindi impenetrable national park in the district of Kanungu western region of Uganda which are highly affected with the poor community sanitation and hygiene which in turn has resulted to disease outbreak. It is aimed at enhancing acceptance and tolerance among other members of society and confidence and resilience among communities and to advocate for the realisation of sanitation and hygiene.
In the whole of western part of Uganda and Kanungu district in particular, there have been wide spread incidences of gross outbreak of diseases due to poor sanitation and hygiene. The problem has escalated to reduced number of people due to high death rates as they are caused by high rates of diseases.
It is also noted that the target group do not have equal access to farming skills and services as a result of lack of knowledge of existing services. The project therefore, hopes to increase access to farming skills and services to the target group through building their capacity to demand for services, skills and access them in a more balanced and fair manner. On the other hand, the project intends to create a conducive healthy hygienic environment for survival and perpetual community. It also seeks to break the myths about the poor hygiene prejudices from the wider rural community of Bwindi and Bwindi in Kanungu district.
EXPECTED RESULTS:
- A percentage of100% of rural communities should be able to embrace sanitation practices.
- Key stake holders to actively participate in decisions and processes that enhance their sanitation practices and activities
- 75% of the target population aware of sanitation and hygiene activities and importance in rural areas
- Sufficient ability of providing garbage’s to Bwindi and Bwindi rural community of Kanungu District
- The district health office and sub-county development plans and budget include sanitation and hygiene activities.
- 50% of the targeted communities and key stakeholders actively involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of interventions needed for the realization of continued hygiene and sanitation in rural communities
- SUSTAINABILITY OF THE PROJECT
This project is premised on the assumption that the envisaged risks do not hamper the progress of implementation. Some of the envisaged risks include response of the stakeholders in embracing the project and providing the relevant support including the political will. It also follows the willingness of the community to abandon the socio-cultural attitudes and practices that negatively affect the community hygiene and sanitation in the communities sighted out in Kanungu district.
The full withdrawal of external support towards the project activities is likely to affect the planned scaling up of the project activities to cover other parts of the region that desperately need support for sanitation and hygiene activities to ensure that communities have good hygiene and sanitation.
The large number of communities, stakeholders and wide geographical coverage may strain the meagre resources that will be available for the project and thus stifle the attainment of the objectives.
- Sustainability:
During implementation of this project, lessons learnt and best practices will be documented and shared with all development partners and stakeholders. The documentation will be used as a basis for advocating for needs of health and sanitation in the rural communities.
In spite of the risks involved, the project output will also be sustained through increased capacity of key duty bearers and the rights holders to demand for service delivery as well as increase community participation and ownership of all the project activities. To ensure that this happens, BCIRDI under sanitation and hygiene project will conduct advocacy, build partnerships and networks, build the capacity of duty bearers and rights holders to play their roles effectively and work to enhance community participation in identification of problems, finding solution, planning for appropriate intervention and ensure their successful implementation.
The established community implementation structures such as district health office and key stakeholders will be strengthened to take lead in sanitation and hygiene practises and activities. These structures will be linked to other community structures like Parish Development Committee and local government systems e.g. local councils, women and youth councils. This will enable the project to enhance its capacity to mobilize and use the local response for the project to successfully implement its activities. It will also facilitate integration of the project activities into local government and community plans. Within the next three year the community/beneficiaries should increasingly be taking ownership of project activities and ensure demand for project interventions.
The support of any donor financially, operational systems and demonstrated technical capacity to implement activities specifically will put BCIRDI in a strong position to design additional projects and source other funding, provide an initial risk analysis and eventual contingency plans. This should include at minimum a list of risks associated to proposed projects accompanied by relevant mitigation measures. A good risk analysis would include a range of risk types including physical, environmental, political, economic and social risks.