In our last blog we highlighted the challenges subsistence farmers faced in remote western Uganda to protect their farmland from hungry wild elephants by erecting a “Beehive Fence” to frighten them away from their crops. Their effort freed up vast tracks of land along the edge of the Impenetrable Forest to provide additional land to grow more food. While the idea of a beehive fence is not new, building one in a remote region amidst the mountains of the Impenetrable Forest is especially difficult under conditions with minimal available resources. Raising The Village, one of our partners in Uganda led this effort, designing the fence and working with the farmers to build and maintain it. It is an idea that works. It is just another way to further enable the farmers’ capabilities to manage their own affairs.
Raising The Village’s holistic model for development in remote regions revolves around a fundamental focus on key foundational elements for sustainable development including water & food security, health and WASH training, husbandry and logistics. The beehive fence project is a unique initiative suited perfectly for some communities, but not necessarily appropriate for others. Logistics, on the other hand, is an issue that virtually everyone must face. Whether it is inaccessible roads or none whatsoever, moving goods from point A to point B, from the field to the market for sale is a challenge for almost all. One village’s logistical challenge required another innovative solution.
The village, not far from Kisoro near the Rwandan border is accessible primarily by water across a large, beautiful lake. To move goods from the village to the market villagers used dugout canoes. Small and unstable, these dugouts, even with outriggers, were as much an obstacle to moving goods as a solution. Each dugout could hold only a small amount of goods, enough to fill it, but also enough to weigh it down, making it unsafe once the early morning calm passed, the wind rose, and dangerous waves lashed the low-slung overloaded boat. People died. Goods were lost. By early morning no one would venture out for fear of disaster. This had been the status quo for many years.
RTV’s solution, like the beehive fence, was not novel. It did not force the villagers to embrace an idea that was alien to them or overwhelming to consider. What it did require was a commitment to take on the responsibility to manage and maintain the crafts in a sustainable manner. With that commitment, the Greater Impact Foundation and RTV funded the cost and construction of three-ton handmade canoes, each with a small reliable outboard engine. RTV would oversee the construction, but the village would do it and take responsibility for its maintenance, operation and ongoing cost of operations including the engine and fuel.
The boats were hewn by local craftsmen. They were large enough to provide stability for six times the goods of the unsafe dugouts and that stability along with the motor allowed them to use the craft throughout the day. More goods moved. The death rate dropped to zero. Villager pride and confidence increased. So much so that they marked their boats with their village’s own brand. Then something remarkable happened. Other villages on the lake took
notice. They wanted in. However, they were not yet part of the RTV family and had not made the commitment to engage the RTV model for their respective villages. So, they figured out a way to pay the village fleet (two boats) for their time to transport their goods for them. No less, they signed up for the RTV intervention. The accompanying pictures tell the story. What cannot be understated is the sustainable market value, social capital and unwitting scalable opportunity the overall effort manifested.
