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Rural poverty in Uganda Hidden from view, hidden from help Millions of Uganda's farmers are scattered in remote locations throughout the country. They have little access to the services they need, such as roads to help transport their produce, technologies that could help them increase their production and reduce pest disease, and financing to help them expand their production. In addition, health care services are often inadequate or non-existent. In a country where HIV/AIDS is epidemic, the lack of health care is taking a severe toll on the labour force. Who are Uganda’s rural poor people? More than 85 per cent of Uganda’s population lives in rural areas. More than two thirds of the country’s poor people are small farmers. Although efforts have been made to reduce rural poverty, urban areas have experienced a significantly greater reduction in poverty than the countryside. In the past decade, poverty has declined by a rate of 43 per cent in urban areas but of only 18 per cent in rural areas. Ugandan
women have much in common with other women throughout the African
continent: they work longer hours than men, have much more limited
access to resources, and exercise little or no control over what they
produce. The result is that women are among the worst affected by
poverty. In addition, women bear the greater burden of caring for
the sick and the children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Their daily responsibilities
leave them overstretched, and their ability to assure that food is
on the table becomes severely compromised. The poorest regions of the country are the north (with 66 per cent of the population) and north-east (37 per cent), which are emerging from civil strife and are predominantly pastoral and agro-pastoral lands. It is here that many smallholders tend their fields, relying on farming systems that are highly seasonal and not sufficiently productive. Why are Uganda’s rural people poor? Uganda’s agricultural sector has the potential to be vibrant and diversified. The good weather and the current period of relative security and economic stability present an opportunity to drastically reduce rural poverty. Until now, however, poverty has persisted because of the following conditions:
While Uganda is at the forefront
in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the threat of the epidemic remains
acute throughout the country. Although the adult prevalence rate dropped
from 30 per cent in 1986 to 5-6 per cent in 2003, the epidemic is
still causing many problems. The many families that care for the ill
and children orphaned by the disease are losing huge amounts of productive
time and resources. The burden falls mainly on women. The continued success of a women’s NGO In Uganda, about two million children – almost 20 per cent of all children – are orphans who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. The Uganda Women’s Efforts to Save Orphans (UWESO), a grass-roots NGO, was originally established to assist children who had become orphans during Uganda’s civil conflicts. When the impact of HIV/AIDS more than doubled the number of orphans, UWESO had to shift to a family approach. In 1995, the Belgian Survival Fund provided more than US$1.4 million through IFAD to create the UWESO Development Project (UDP). The goal was to intensify the assistance given to these young people and to help them and their adoptive families build more promising futures. This was done mainly with the help of microcredit. Since the UDP started, it has issued about 11,500 small loans, 97 per cent of which have gone to women. Through these loans, foster parents of HIV/AIDS orphans have increased their incomes. They have seen the number of daily meals increase. They have improved their homes, and are also able to keep up with school fees and buy such “luxuries” as blankets, mattresses and clothing. Vocational training of orphans is being provided in schools, and includes bicycle and radio repair, carpentry and tailoring. A second phase of UWESO was approved in August 2000, and the project serves as a model for other African countries. Source: IFAD |
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