pring JuLY - sEPTEMBER 2009

Quarterly
Editorial
Minakulu sub-county
(Oyam District) officials The second edition of
sign and witness the land the SPRING Quarterly
lease agreement with (July-September) focuses
Apac District Farmers on Leveraging Local
Association. Partnerships. SPRING’s
integrated approach to
stabilization programming
hinges on brokering part-
nerships between civil
society, the private sector
and government. This
issue highlights several
examples: A public-private
partnership between the
Apac District Farmers As-
sociation and the Oyam
sub-county authorities for
the lease of land, Mobi-
lization of local govern-
ment and lead farmers’

SPRING Facilitates response strategies and

coping mechanisms dur-
ing the drought, A part-

Land Agreements
nership between SPRING,
through UMECS and the
Ministry of Education
to launch a pilot peace

for Farmer Groups in Oyam District education and counseling

curriculum. Such partner-

I
n July, SPRING and its land tenure and
economic security partners, Center for
Reparation and Rehabilitation (CRR)
and Apac District Farmers Association
(ADFA) met with local government officials
in Oyam District to finalize the terms and
conditions of a proposed public land offering
for construction of three agricultural pro-
duce bulking centers and three agricultural
processing facilities in the sub-counties of
Minakulu, Ngai and Otwal. The facilities are
ships build sustainable
a major component of SPRING’s STABILITY
trust and cooperation
Fund grant to ADFA, which aims to commer-
to better manage the
cialize the production of maize, sunflower and
transition from recovery
groundnuts through collective marketing and
to development. We hope
value-addition for farmer groups.
you enjoy this issue.
After initial discussions with the three sub-
county officials, individual agreements were
reached offering no-cost long-term renewable
leases agreements for one and two acre plots
of land with ADFA. Ngai and Otwal sub-coun-
ties agreed to a 30 year renewable lease,
(See Public-Private Partnerships on page 2)

EDITION 02 Sept 09 The SPRING Quarterly is published by SPRING, a USAID-funded project.

 Public-Private
Partnership
(continued from page 1)
while Minakulu offered a 49
year renewable agreement.
“The donation shall be
renewable as long as the
farmers and other community
members are still interested
in the project,” stated the LC
III Chairperson of Otwal Sub
County.

SPRING’s legal partner, CRR,

was instrumental in providing
legal guidance and reviewing
drafts of the agreements to
ensure the property and land NECPA, Executive Director, Helen Acham addressing questions about chili production.
rights of all parties are protect-

SPRING and NECPA

ed. The final land agreements
were signed by both parties

Organize Acholi-Langi
and construction of facilities is
underway.

This positive outcome dem-

onstrated that involving Chili Farmers Exchange Visit

all relevant stakeholders is
paramount for ensuring land
tenure security. Furthermore,
local governments in northern
Uganda have a key role to play
in facilitating local economic
development through strategic
public-private partnerships.
To-date SPRING and CRR have
brokered 15 land agreements
out of 23 proposed agricultural
storage and processing sites
between its network of farmer
groups, IPs and local govern-
ment partners.
I
t was a spicy celebration on Friday
September 25th when SPRING imple-
menting partner North East Chili Pro-
ducers Association (NECPA) organized
a successful Acholi-Langi Chili Farmer’s Ex-
change Visit in Ngai Sub-county in Oyam
District.
The event, which brought together approx-
imately 300 chili farmers from Acholi and
Langi communities to share experiences
and promote the successes of chili farming,
exemplified SPRING’s integrated approach
to economic security, peacebuilding and ac-
cess to justice.
Chili farming has become extremely popu-
lar in Oyam, thanks to NECPA’s ten year
history in the district, making Oyam one
of the largest chili producing areas in the
North. Many Acholi farmers are only just
now discovering the commercial benefits
of chili for the first time thanks to support
from the SPRING project.
The event carried a strong message of rec-
onciliation by traditional authorities. Tra-
ditional Ministers of Agriculture from Ker
Kwaro Acholi and the Lango Cultural Foun-
dation stressed the importance of healing
after the war and the need to work togeth-
er to strive for sustainable peace.
The meeting was concluded with a repre-
sentative from SPRING’s land tenure se-
curity partner, Center for Reparations and
Rehabilitation (CRR), who spoke on the im-
portance of land tenure and suggested strat-
egies that farmers can employ to protect
themselves from land conflicts. The event
was complemented by drama performances
on chili production and cooperative farming
as well as traditional dances and songs.
While a relatively new crop in northern
Uganda, there are several commercial ben-
efits to chili farming, which include:
A strong export market and high farm gate
prices (3,800UGX/Kg for bird’s eye chili);
the crop is more drought resistant than tra-
ditional staple crops; inputs are relatively in-
expensive and the crop density is high. The
SPRING and NECPA stability project is cur-
rently supporting 720 farmers (23 farmer
groups) in Oyam, Lira, Kitgum and Pader
districts to expand production and market-
ing of chili throughout the Acholi and Lango
sub-regions.

EDITION 02 Sept 09 The SPRING Quarterly is published by SPRING, a USAID-funded project.

 SPRING staff handover the signed
STABILITY Fund grant agree-
ment to UMECS staff in front of
SPRING’s Office in Gulu.

SPRING Signs Grant Agreement

Launching Peace Education and
Guidance Counseling in Secondary
Schools in Northern Uganda Project

T
uesday September 8th
marked the launch of anoth-
er exciting STABILITY Fund
project with the grant sign-
ing of the one-year Peace Education
and Guidance Counseling in Secondary
Schools in Northern Uganda Project
between SPRING and its implement-
ing partner United Movement to End
Child Soldiering (UMECS). Under the
agreement UMECS will design and
carry-out a one-year pilot project for
a peace education course and school
guidance and psychosocial counseling
program in seven schools compris-
ing 6,630 students in Gulu, Amuru,
Kitgum and Pader Districts. The pilot
project also works in cooperation with
the Ministry of Education, Makerere
University’s Institute of Continuing and
Adult Education (ICAE), as well as the
Unyama National Teacher’s College in
Gulu. UMECS is managed by a dynamic
team of education, community devel-
opment and peace building specialists
and has had partnerships with second-
ary schools in Northern Uganda for
five years. SPRING and UMECS will
report results and recommendations
to the Ministry of Education so that a
standardized peace education and for-
mal guidance counseling program can
be replicated, scaled up, and sustainably
mainstreamed into the Ugandan educa-
tion system.

EDITION 02 Sept 09 The SPRING Quarterly is published by SPRING, a USAID-funded project.

SPRING Facilitates Live Radio Talk
Show Addressing the Drought Situation–
I
n July, the prolonged drought sea-
son, which affected vast communi-
ties in the country, including several
SPRING supported farmer groups,
came to a climax with deaths and in-
creased crimes being reported.As an ini-
tiative to address the problem, SPRING
facilitated a live radio talk show on Mega
FM with the theme: The Drought and it’s
Implication on the Recovery Process. The
show featured the District Agricultural
Officer (DAO) of Gulu district, the Gulu
District Disaster Management Commit-
tee (DDMC) Chairman and a SPRING
Lead Farmer in Gulu.
The discussion focused on the causes
of the drought and its impact on peace
and recovery in the communities. It
was noted that the drought has led to
a severe water crisis, an abnormal price
increase in food items, theft and asset
stripping especially from the extremely
vulnerable individuals (EVIs) who are
still receiving monthly food supplies.
“Peace can’t exist without food in a soci-
EDITION 02 Sept 09 The SPRING Quarterly is published by SPRING, a USAID-funded project.
ety and quick recovery can’t be made in a
situation of food shortage.” The DDMC
Chairman made this remark before ad-
vising communities to plant quick grow-
ing, fast maturing and drought resistant
crops to mitigate further famine.
Referring to a Rapid Food Security Re-
port, the DAO urged listeners to join
farmer groups, make use of the agricul-
tural extension workers and to start up
Village Savings and Loans Associations
(VSLAs) to enable them engage in other
businesses to complement their agricul-
ture. This, the DDMC Chairman added,
was vital in reducing vulnerability of
women, who are most affected by the
drought, “Several men have abandoned
their families. And the women, in an effort
to feed their children are resorting to pros-
titution, leading to broken marriages and
destroyed homes.”
The Gulu farmer representative con-
curred with the district authorities,
emphasizing that the drought caused a
drastic reduction in the harvest leading
to the breakage of social harmony. On
an encouraging note however, he men-
tioned that the farmers in Lalogi sub-
county are hopeful that they will harvest
enough food once the rains return as
predicted by the National Metrological
Department.
During the show, the DAO took the
opportunity to announce that his of-
fice plans to construct storage facilities
in all the sub-counties, to allow farm-
ers to store food as a safety net during
situations of acute food shortage. Under
the current SPRING project, two such
storage facilities will be built in Lakwana
–sub-county.
USAID and SPRING were commended
on producing informative programs that
addressed new challenges along the road
to recovery.
Also in July a similar talk show was held
in Kitgum district’s Pol FM hosting key
stakeholders in agriculture and disaster
management in the district.
SPRING Delivers Second Phase of Risk SPRING Staff Profile
Assessment and Planning (RAP) Program
for USAID Implementing Partners
D
uring the week of Sep-
tember 14th SPRING
conducted trainings in Risk
Assessment and Planning
for USAID Implementing Partners in
Gulu and Kampala. The training was the
second phase of SPRING’s RAP program
which aims to apply the concept of
conflict sensitivity programming to the
US Government’s Inter-agency Conflict
Assessment Framework (ICAF), a cutting
edge tool used by all US government
agencies to link the context in which
US government programs operate to
the programs’ project cycles through
analysis, planning, implementation, and
monitoring and evaluation.
The trainings demonstrated how conflict
sensitive planning can help USAID imple-
SPRING
consultant,
Steve
Archibald,
facilitates
RAP train-
ing for
USAID IPs
in Gulu
EDITION 02 Sept 09 The SPRING Quarterly is published by SPRING, a USAID-funded project.
menting partners avoid contributing to
possible vulnerable trends and instead
maximize windows of opportunity to
yield the greatest impact from their
programs.
SPRING intends to assist USAID imple-
menting partners to link their programs
to the current context in Uganda by
conducting individual site visits in order
to deliver recommendations for improv-
ing impact, as well as adding conflict
sensitivity to monitoring and evaluation
exercises. SPRING will also conduct
similar exercises for US Embassy, USAID,
and DoD staff to pave the way for con-
tinual context analysis and engagement
with USAID implementing partners to
maximize the impact of US government
resources in Uganda.
Dickens Kulis Olwoch
Program Officer
SPRING-AVSI
Dickens Kulis Olwoch is a Program
officer working with AVSI under the
SPRING project. He manages Kit-
gum Women Bee Keepers Association
(Kitwobee) and Meeting Point, a local
NGO offering livelihoods support
to people living with HIV/AIDS. He
has been instrumental in building the
capacities of these vulnerable groups in
an effort to improve their livelihoods.
“I really feel encouraged to see our beneficia-
ries implementing the knowledge learned at
trainings and using the modern tools such as
bee hives and harvesting kits to improve their
farming activities for better livelihoods. Today,
the beneficiaries boast of better health and
the ability to send their children to school with
basic school requirements and dues.”
Professional Expertise:
Trainer and Counselor
Education:
Dip. In Education-Unyama NTC
Grade III Teachers’ Certificate-
Kitgum PTC
Grade II Teachers’ Certificate-
Fatima PTC, Lira
Work Experience:
Program Officer, AVSI- 2005-present;
Kitgum PTC, Coordinating Center Tu-
tor- 1998-2004; Head Teacher, Pader-
1986-1997; Deputy Head Teacher,
Pader- 1983-1985; Education Assistant,
Pader- 1977-1982.
Home:
Kitgum/Gangdyang
Hobbies:
Watching movies, participating in
church, Music, dance and drama.
Notes from the Field
SPRING and its land tenure secu-
rity partner, Center Repartrations
and Rehabilitation (CRR) have been
helping farmer groups secure legally
binding land offer agreements for the
land upon which SPRING storage
facilities are being constructed. These
agreements were signed at all loca-
tions where land had been informally
donated. The farmer groups greatly
appreciated the formalization of the
land offer, because it guaranteed
protection of the land for decades in
the future, and in some cases perma-
nently. It also helped them fend crop
storage and procession of fraudulent
claims to the land by other fam-
ily members. According to a group
member in Attiak:
“The signed agreement gave us the certainty
of ownership of the land as a group.”
Sub-county officials and local authori-
ties have also appreciated their inclu-
sion in the process, because it helped
keep them informed of the happen-
ings within their area. Their participa-
tion also helped them understand
the importance of land agreements
and the contribution SPRING Farmer
Groups were making to the economy
of the area. At locations where the
sub counties donated the land, local
government expressed satisfaction
that this donation was for the benefit
of not only the farmer groups but
SPRING IP Profile
Kitgum Women Bee Keepers
Association (Kitwobee)
Head Office: Plot 1GA Samuel Doe Road
P.O.Box 36 Gulu, UGANDA Tel: +256 (0) 471 433506,
Website: www.springuganda.com Email: information@springuganda.com
EDITION 02 Sept 09 The SPRING Quarterly is published by SPRING, a USAID-funded project.
also for the community as a whole.
One sub-county official in Lakwana
stated: “This store will help Lakwana
recover and prosper.”
The land owners were equally happy,
because they felt they were taking
part in the development of their
community. A land owner in Pacilo
asserted: “I am very happy to offer
my land to promote the development
of my region. My family and I do so will-
ingly, freely and permanently.” Indeed,
SPRING and CRR also made sure
that entire families, neighbors, local
officials and elders were all a part of
the land agreement signings.
According to the Project officer of
Lira District Farmers Association:
“The formalized land agreement shall
protect the interest of both the land
offerers and offerees against each other
and the community.”
A land owner and SPRING staff look
on as KSWVO representative sign an
agreement in Pabbo.
Date of Establishment: 1995
Location: Kitgum District
Coverage:
Orom and Namukora sub-counties
Number of Staff: 3
Mission Statement:
To strengthen apiculture farmer groups’ or-
ganizational and technical capacity in apiary
management and colony multiplication to
increase production of hive products.
SPRING Project:
Improving household livelihoods in post
conflict Kitgum through increased honey
production for 139 beneficiaries.
Project Highlight:
In recognition of the commendable work
implemented in Kitgum district, the Com-
mission of Beekeeping for Rural Develop-
SPRING Implementing Team;
EMG, AVSI, STF and Cardno Agrisystems
Gulu Lead Farmers
Participate in Kap-
chorwa Study Tour
During the last week of August 40 lead
farmers from Lalogi and Lakwana sub-
counties in Gulu District participated
in a four-day study tour to Kapchorwa
District in Eastern Uganda, organized
by SPRING’s economic security partner,
Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief
(CPAR), as part of their implementation
of the Strengthening Economic Recovery
and Reconciliation in Gulu District Project.
The trip exposed farmers to a number
of enterprises and new technologies in
areas such as commercial horticulture,
i.e. vegetables and fruit, and dairy farm-
ing. Lead Farmers were also introduced
to the way Kapchorwa farmer groups
work together collectively to harvest
and market their production.
Kapchorwa farmers encouraged the
Gulu farmers to maximize the use of
their new agricultural warehouse facili-
ties, currently approaching completion;
these are considered to be major pro-
ductive assets by many groups in Eastern
Uganda. At the end of the exposure visit,
Gulu lead farmers unanimously agreed
to spread the skills learned in order to
build the capacity of their group mem-
bers in their respective sub counties.
The level of cooperation demonstrated
by farmers in Kapchorwa made a strong
impression on the group.
ment seconded Kitwobee to take part in the
Apimodia Congress in France. The Apimodia
Congress is a forum in which beekeepers,
scientists, honey traders and legislators
from over 100 countries interact with one
another. In September 2009, Kitwobee
was duly represented at the conference by
Simon Peter Ochola, the Project Officer and
Margaret Rose Ogaba, the chairperson, who
presented a paper Beekeeping, an Integrated
Approach to Shea Tree Conversion in Uganda.
The paper pointed out the importance of
the Shea tree to honey production and
livelihoods of the rural communities.
SPRING Project Manager:
Dickens Kulis Olwoch
Program Officer -SPRING-AVSI
kdickens@springuganda.com