PELUM Uganda is the new Country Lead Organization (CLO) for the EOA Initiative in Uganda. PELUM Uganda is part of the PELUM Association – a regional network of over 220 civil society organizations in 12 countries in East, Central and Southern Africa working in the area of participatory ecological land use management. The network strives to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and the sustainability of farming communities, by fostering ecological land use management.
Other organizations selected during the process are; Uganda Marty’s University to lead the Research and Applied knowledge Pillar, Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF) Uganda to implement the Information, Communication and Extension Pillar and Kulika Uganda was selected to lead in the implementation of the Value Chain and Market Development Pillar. These selections were made in a multi-stakeholder process that brought together different stakeholders across Uganda. The process also involved a due diligence exercise by a selection team comprising members from BvAT and PELUM Kenya.
The Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) is the Lead Executing Agency for the SDC– Supported EOA Initiative and hosts the Continental Steering Committee Secretariat for the initiative. PELUM Kenya on the other hand oversees the SSNC-Supported EOA Initiative. Phase I of the SDC support through BvAT came to an end in December 2018 with a No-Cost Extension (NCE) period provided for partners up to April 2019. Selection of the new partners is therefore intended to give new life to the initiative in Uganda during the new phase.
The selection team comprised of BvAT’s EOA-I Project Manager Ms. Venancia Wambua supported by BvAT Finance Manager Mr. Robertson Nyikuli and PELUM Kenya’s Programme Operations Manager Ms. Rosinah Mbenya. The activity was coordinated in collaboration with Uganda Martyrs University (UMU) who undertook the responsibility of mobilizing the participants and coordinating the local participants as the local host with Prof. Julius Mwine as the lead person.
With the new members, BvAT believes new energy is going to be injected in the mainstreaming of EOA-I into national food production systems in Uganda by the selected organizations.