'Welcome visitors, welcome today, we've all been waiting so long!' Coming over the crest of the hill into the Millennium Village of Ruhiira, Uganda, children's singing voices gradually become louder, intermingled with bursts of clapping and laughter. The long-awaited visitor, Jeffrey Sachs, is due to arrive at any moment, and the anticipation is palpable. Sachs, Head . . . [more]
Japan can feel like a very long way from Africa, and after 21 hours on a plane and a few delayed connections, this feeling certainly rung true for the delegation from Millennium Promise Japan who recently paid a visit to the Ruhiira Millennium Village in Uganda.
And yet connection . . . [more]
On Monday 22 January, 2010, the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Jacques Diouf, visited the Community Garden of Gabane Wolof located in the Potou Millennium Village cluster. This garden is established by the Millennium Village project and used by FAO to implement its GIPD (Gestion Intégrée de la Production et des Déprédateurs) Program. Mr Diouf was accompanied by the FAO . . . [more]
An entrepreneurial group of Mayange residents are building a new business by taking an old idea—beekeeping—and updating it with the help of training from the Millennium Villages Project and financial support from the Mayange Community Development Fund.
A total of 33 men and women who previously kept from one to ten traditional beehives to produce medicinal honey have formed a beekeeping cooperative to build modern hives to supply honey for the local . . . [more]
All were anxiously expecting it: the farmers in order to sell off their harvest, the community to buy good quality products, and the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) team to kick-start this income generating venture. On November 10, the cassava flour processing plant started production in Mayange, Rwanda. Less than two months later, it's already a success.
Until then, farmers in the region were selling their cassava fresh to traders and buying the flour they use as staple food from the market at a hiked price. The establishment of the plant means that they will increase their income by trading a . . . [more]
Climate change is a reality in the Millennium Village of Dertu and Northern Kenya. The region has been receiving only showers since November/December 2006, a situation that has lead to deteriorating pasture and water over time in this nomadic based area. After the failure of the April/May 2009 rains, the intensity of the . . . [more]
Fifteen years ago, Rwanda was devastated by one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. Close to a million people were massacred in 100 days. As the country continues its difficult but remarkable recovery from the genocide, the Millennium Village of Mayange is living proof that economic development can play a significant role in the reconciliation process.
Mayange, located south of the capital Kigali, saw . . . [more]
Patrice Nsihimymihigo's small courtyard is covered with cassava. Sitting around it, women peel the brown roots and throw them back milky white onto the pile. Soon, his buyers, Rwandan middlemen, will whisk away his harvest to sell it at the border with Burundi.
Patrice is one of many smallholders in the Mayange Millennium Village, 40 km South of Kigali, who have been . . . [more]
Since inception, the Pampaida Millennium Village has achieved many successes. For example, investment in agricultural initiatives has resulted in a gradual transition from subsistence to commercial farming. Crop yields have increased from a baseline average of 1.5 tons/ ha of maize in 2005 to 4 tons/ha of maize at the end of the 2008 farming season. In addition, about 26 agricultural cooperatives are being strengthened through various capacity building initiatives, including . . . [more]
In the cold morning air heavy with mist, green waves rise gently from deep valleys up to Ruhiira’s hilltops then flow downwards again, engulfing small villages. The soft waves of banana leaves are much more than just idyllic scenery for the inhabitants. They are their livelihood, and on the green fruit depends much of their well-being.
Ruhiira, a cluster of eight villages located in a lush area of Southwestern Uganda, is renowned for its bananas, matoke as they are called here. For the 50,000 villagers, this has been their staple food for generations. But years of intensive agriculture eroded the soil . . . [more]
Agriculture • Business Development • Education • Health • Infrastructure • Millennium Development Goals • Millennium Villages Project • Ruhiira, Uganda
Recent Comments