Working in The Province of Uganda

The Church Missionary Society came to Uganda in 1877, and the Province was inaugurated in 1980, and now has 31 dioceses. Mothers' Union began in 1908; it was banned by President Amin in 1972, along with other women's organisations, but was revived when there was a change of leadership. Mothers' Union is the backbone of the church in Uganda, and there are approximately 125,000 members. Many members in dioceses north of the Nile are suffering because of the war between the Ugandan army and the Lord's Resistance army, and are forced to move out of the camps for internally displaced people by night, to sleep in shelters in the town, because it is not safe to remain in the camps.

South of the Nile, the Family Life Programme (FLP) is currently being piloted in Central Buganda, Luwero, Mbale and Sebei dioceses.

Since the FLP began it has grown from strength to strength, achieving its main aim of improving the value and quality of family life in Uganda. The programme uses group discussion and training and encourages all sectors of the community, young and old, those with faith or none to participate. The FLP prioritises offering support to marginalised and disadvantaged groups such as single parents, widows and orphans.

Nutrition and food security have been high on the programme's agenda in 2005. Poverty related issues such as high unemployment and sickness have resulted in malnutrition, kwashiorkor and other conditions caused by poor diets.

Finding resources to buy food to provide a balanced diet is one of the daily challenges faced by communities in Luwero. The FLP sought to find a solution by setting up a 'Model Home' to demonstrate the types of nutritional vegetables one can grow. Group members then take seeds so that they can grow the items in their homes. They encourage the members to grow as many fruits and nutritional leaves as possible and improve their soil with compost and manure.

They are presently growing: peas; lettuce; broccoli; onions; carrots; local greens; Jack fruit; coffee; pumpkins; passion fruit; banana plantation; potatoes; mango trees; avocado; cassava; ginger.

Cooking demonstrations are also given using the fresh produce grown in the 'Model Garden' to show families how to produce cheap, healthy balanced diets.

At the model home the FLP Trainers and facilitators also demonstrate how to care for livestock and have cows, goats, chickens and rabbits. They provide a service where members can cross breed their goats to provide more offspring and milk. They also collect goats droppings to be used as fertilizer for members who have none.

"Before FLP, people in the communities expected hand outs - free things. But now the Mothers' Union is giving them knowledge. Knowledge is better! They say 'with knowledge we can get what we want'. This makes a difference. Other NGO's come and give out handouts but when the NGO's go, the programmes go back with them. But with FLP the knowledge will never die because the knowledge is with us. There is a spirit of helping one another and building relationships that before did not exist. It has helped me as well as the community." Ruth Segane, FLP Trainer, Luwero.

The FLP is now in the process of setting up a model home in the other three dioceses due to the success of the project in Luwero. In all four dioceses through the 228 Family Life Groups, the FLP is having a massive impact on the lives of the poorest people by building up their knowledge and skills base to give them the confidence to resolve many of the challenges they face daily as well as strengthening their families and communities in which they live. This development of 'civil society organisations' is crucial to the success of all the national and international programmes to end poverty and deprivation.