The media co-op started with a small micro-finance seed fund.  The co-op members, under the leadership of the micro-finance committee, worked together to identify small businesses that could benefit from a capital investment and whose owners shared the values of the co-op.  With the businesses identified, the co-op held a special ceremony gathering some 25 people where they celebrated issuing these first loans.

The ceremony was presided by Muzigiti Geoffrey Baluku, president of the Villages Connected Fort Portal media co-op, and the funds handed over to the recipients by Mugisa Herbert, Chairman LC3 South Division.

Villages Connected Media Co-op member and chair of the micro-finance committee, Kanyunyuzi Moureen , explained the LC3 chairman was asked to take this role in the ceremony to represent the local government and its support of Villages Connected and “in order to acknowledge the work we have started doing for the community of Fort-Portal.”

“The Loan recipients were very happy and highly motivated to pursue their desired dream goals. And they promise to work harder to help themselves and the community as a whole” added Moureen.  “It was a great achievement for me personally and Villages Connected Fort-Portal since it was the first time to issue loans from our seed fund.”

Microfinance Committee Chair Moureen assisting loan recipient Joy in filling out her loan agreement

The loans were issued for a restaurant, an event decorator/planner business, a liquor store/lounge, a dairy and a community garden and agricultural training organization.  The six loans totaled $2,000 CAD.  The terms and interest rates were set by the members and agreed to by the recipients who – more than 4 months in – have achieved a 100% repayment rate.

“This comes at a time when it’s increasingly becoming difficult to access credit especially during these difficult times of high inflation rates in our country Uganda.  Therefore, this is a big opportunity for us […] to invest in our [local] businesses so that as our businesses grow, [so] we will be able to showcase our potential and that of our community.” — Muzigiti Geoffrey Baluku President-VC-Fort Portal

Micro-loan recipient Moreen receiving the funds to make her dairy business grow

Take the picture below from co-op member Jamiah.

@Jamiah / Villages Connected

“The picture was under the theme “The strength of our community”.  It is showing matooke and a bike. That picture was taken in Kabundaire at the roadside where matooke sellers gather. 

As the culture dictates, the staple food for the Batooro is Matooke. [In matooke trade] the major people involved are the middlemen who use their bicycles to [bring] the matooke to [the market and] their final consumers.  Also the reason for taking the roadside matooke sellers is because of reduced taxes collected from them as compared to the sellers in the main Market.

The picture is important because it shows food items we have in the region.  It informs the visitors that when you come [to Fort Portal], you will leave knowing the taste of our staple food: matooke.”

—

co-op member Jamiah

To better understand the strength of this photo – because it’s not just a pretty food photo and a description to take lightly – you must know who the photographer is.  Jamiah recently graduated from university with a degree in horticulture management and entrepreneurship.  He is also a farmer.

Matooke is not just a staple food in Uganda, but one of the recognized national dishes.  The Batooro peoples of Uganda inhabit the Kabarole and Kasese districts where Fort Portal is located.  Traditionally, the Batooro economy was based on agricultural and pastoral activities.  One of the main crops produced is the matooke – a green banana or plantain – which is usually boiled or mashed and then steamed and served on a banana leaf.  Alongside millet, sorghum and peas, it is an important part of the local economy and everyday diet.

How important is matooke to the average Ugandan?  Per capita, Ugandans consume 172 kg per year.  That’s 18% of their caloric intake – making them the largest consumers AND producers in the world.  And with the market for matooke being mostly local, the carbon footprint (or bicycle print as it were) is an environmentalist’s dream.  No need for a buy local campaign.

June 25, 2010: VC-Fort Portal co-op members received their certificates for completion

Dear Supporters:

First and foremost I want to thank you for your generous support on behalf of Villages Connected International and our whole team in Fort Portal, Uganda.  Your support made it possible to set-up and equip a Villages Connected media co-operative in Fort Portal as well as to provide the co-operative with a $2000 micro-finance fund. Thanks to your support this unknown African community is now able to show the world that opportunity is plentiful, that Africa is a great investment and ready to create value-based partnerships globally.

Even though we were not in the limelight the last six months we have been very busy. I want to take the time to give you a quick update of what we have been doing and what you can look forward to see from us in the coming months.

Our Canadian team left Fort Portal in July. While Caroline and Greg went back to Cameroon to finish their contract with CUSO-VSO, Ernie and I returned to Canada. We arrived in Canada with more than a hundred hours of footage, hundreds of pictures and a strong commitment to our first media co-op in Fort Portal.

In Uganda, Villages Connected Fort Portal and its 21 members took the reigns and with our support, worked out the organizational kinks to make this idea we had a reality. See, we took over equipment, did some training and communicated our vision, but at the end of the day VC Fort Portal belongs to its members and only they can make it fit like a glove. And wow, did they make it fit.

Hardworking crew: VC-Fort Portal co-op members at the entrance of their office

They have restructured the leadership and management teams to reflect commitment, talent and interest. Geoffrey Muzigiti, Micro-Finance Lecturer at a local university was elected President. He is supported by directors Margaret Kemigisa (Award winning Social Entrepreneur) Vice-President and Annet Kugonza (Teacher) as secretary. To oversee day-to-day operations in media and micro-finance they have elected a five member Management Committee: Goldino (Chairman), Gilbert (Vice Chair), Mourreen (Micro-finance) Prisca (Secretary) and Lawrence (Media). In need of office space, but with limited resources as a start-up, the team met with Local Member of Parliament, Alex Ruhunda for advice and support. He was so impressed with the group and their mission through Villages Connected, that he offered to provide them with paid office space for six months.

With committed leadership, an office and a paid part time office manager, Villages Connected Fort Portal has achieved the following highlights:

-        Issued its first micro-loans to six businesses in Fort Portal with a 100 percent of monthly installments paid back

-        Grew its membership base to more than 50

-        Has set-up its first media training class with ten new members.

-        Approved and documented 5 new businesses, with footage being edited and to be distributed for funding in the coming weeks.

Our Canadian team and I have been working behind the scenes editing footage, supporting VC Fort Portal and structuring Villages Connected International, now fully registered and incorporated.

Structurally everything in place, both here in Canada and in Uganda, we are exited to declare 2012 the year of Villages Connected. In the next coming weeks we will re-launch our blog and distribute Fort Portal business opportunity videos that will provide you with exciting investment opportunities. Furthermore, in February, we will distribute the world’s first participatory ad created for Tigh-Na-Mara Resort Spa & Conference Centre in partnership with VC Fort Portal.

From every angle: VC-Fort Portal co-op members capturing MP Alex Ruhunda special event

Villages Connected International and Villages Connected Fort Portal will also hit the road in February to start sharing the stories of Africans ready, committed and capable of creating mutually beneficial economic partnerships with you. Please let us know if you belong to a service group, have a group of socially conscious friends or are part of a socially responsible business that wants to discover an Africa full of opportunity.

Thanks very much for being a part of this exciting journey on route to realize our vision of a global village where humanity, prosperity and economic growth are interconnected.

With respect,

de Villiers

Or at least that is what has consumed the last few weeks.

Each of the co-op members had been tasked with a video or photo essay assignment as part of their training:  to document a business idea that could be funded by the co-op through its microfinance fund.  The members were to use their new interview skills, learn about the business and use the media they create as a sort of visual loan application.

By the time the group convened, there were 17 businesses proposed for Villages Connected loans, and many more in the works.

co-member Geoffrey proposed helping a retail shop grow using the first round of microfinance loans

co-member Prisca proposed her restaurant for the first round of microfinance loans

Like everything we’ve done here, the process of evaluation was developed by our co-op members.  It was simple and flexible, yet structured.

First, each of the media co-op members presented their video or photo essay to the group.  Then the group members, acting as first evaluators of the loan application, asked the presenters some truly tough questions.  They wanted to be sure that the business ideas were viable and, therefore, that their microfinance fund would be well used.

From there, the group voted for their 3 choices for the first round – the businesses they thought would be good candidates for the microloans. This brought the number down to 13 applications.

A core group of members attended an additional training session to learn more about how to do business assessments and how to make preliminary financial analysis of the businesses.  Armed with an extensive questionnaire, members worked in pairs, visiting the business owners, and took charge of the assessment process. In the end, they were able to figure out that some of the application, while very interesting, were not good candidates for the first round of lending. Others, they decided, would make excellent clients.

co-op member Lawrence interviews one of the applicants for a microfinance loan

The biggest difficulty?  The size of the microloan fund.

The original plan, and what we at Villages Connected had aimed for, was to provide loans to 10 businesses as a starting point.  The 10 would demonstrate just how powerful combining media and microfinance could be.  However, our fundraising efforts fell short of what was needed.  So only 4 businesses will be able to gain access to the microfinance fund in round 1.

The group will decide which four start things rolling.

Once they do, these four businesses will not only have passionate Villages Connected media co-operative members running them.  They will also have the support of their equally dynamic fellow media co-op members.  Together they will help the businesses take flight and monitor its progress using the cameras in their hands.

Not.

There is a whole other side to the inception of the Fort Portal media co-op and it’s not creative in the least! In order to have a successful media co-op, not only will there need to be breathtaking media, but there will also need to be a sound foundation to work from. And that’s where the co-op members, and additional assistance from a select few members (which we lovingly call “the microfinance core group”), have come in.

co-op members Prisca, Margaret and Best working on ways to make the co-op sustainable

Since the very first week, together we have been working towards developing the co-op’s constitution and bylaws, as well as the terms and conditions of the microfinance fund. There is a lot of cross-over between the two, and much, much discussion on the best ways to move forward.

In general, the discussions have focused on structure and future growth. It took no time at all – days, really – for the co-op members to not only “buy-in” to the Villages Connected vision, but also to begin to define ways to make it a reality.

But whether or not the co-op members would make sure their organization would function lay in the details.

The “proof” lay in the “pudding” they mixed up during a marathon set of discussion groups talking about such intriguing subjects as co-op structure, criteria for loan recipients, interest rates and repayment terms, and sustainability of the co-op.

The going wasn’t always easy. Most of the co-op’s members had never taken out a loan or even visited a microfinance institution. Fewer even had established an association or co-op – never mind the two at once!

co-op member Jamiah

But the members of the microfinance core group kept things rolling and made sure everyone contributed to the way things would work. The members were lucky enough that among their numbers they had a president of a women’s community lending circle, a community mobilizer, a lecturer and a student in microfinance, and a single mother with a keen eye for business potential.

So the group of 21 founding co-op members rotated from station to station, discussing exactly how their co-op would work. The Villages Connected team offered advice when it was asked for, but ultimately the end product was theirs.

co-op members in deep discussion on interest rates and loan conditions with some clarifications from crew member Caroline

They answered the question not only of how they would give loans, but also how they would keep their momentum going for the long run.

Of course, while answers abounded, we all know that many more questions come up any time you have twenty people working together on a dynamic subject.

So that’s what the core microfinance group is working on now – going forward with the essential task of figuring out the minute details that their colleagues asked about. These, of course, need to be nailed down before they approve any microfinance loans!

Microfinance Core Group participant Margaret leading more discussions with fellow co-op members George William and Joyce

This part of the work may not be fun and games. But it is essential!

Their work is almost ready and the business of supporting business well underway!

Take in their stories, their reasons for joining the media co-op and their hopes for the changes it can help them bring to their community.

Moses

Their video and still cameras had come back a couple days earlier and now they eagerly awaited their chance to talk about the results of the first media assignment they had been given.  Half the group had taken photos or videos that demonstrated a particular community issue or solution that they found important. The other half had captured on camera something they felt truly represented the strength of the communities in and around Fort Portal.

Co-op members started the day by writing descriptions for some of their pictures and videos. These would serve as roadmaps for what they intended when filming, ensuring their meaning would be attached to any photograph shared with audiences outside the room.

However, as we all know, many audiences simply cannot sit through slideshows and film screenings lasting hours and hours. Therefore, each person was tasked with selecting just one shot or video clip that captured the issue they felt the group and community needed to hear about.  They had to choose from hundreds of photos and videos they had shot.

Not an easy task.

This challenging editing endeavour meant that when co-op members gathered in a tight semi-circle in our classroom venue they were itching to share what they had produced!

You’ve met ten of the media co-op members here in Fort Portal.

You’ve heard ten of their stories.

Now see some of the photographs they took and read their explanations of why they took them.

Photo and Description by Stella

© Stella / Villages Connected

I took this photo from my village. Here I was trying to ask about the challenges faced by that village. I hear that the village is not developing. I asked why. You see here the woman is sitting with her children. I asked the problem. The people in the village do not want to work. That’s why you see her here it is morning time but a woman is siting she can’t go to the garden for work and the problem you can see is she does not have enough food for her children.

I tried to tell her the solution – she must work hard to get enough food for her children. As you can see in the other picture, she can try to dig as you see with this other woman.  She’s digging, weeding the onions so that she can produce enough products to sustain her family.

© Stella / Villages Connected

This issue and solution is very important in the media co-op and even in the community because they can learn to work hard to have enough food and even to cater their children by giving them their needs. As people can learn how to generate their income. People can also avoid idleness by learning from them

Photo and Description by Lawrence

I took these pictures from different places but within my community.

© Lawrence / Villages Connected (Photo 64)

I took picture 64 to show the problem of banana diseases faced by the people in my community so as to devise means of assisting them collectively.

© Lawrence / Villages Connected (Photo 69)

I took picture 69 to show some of the solutions to the problem of banana diseases, ie., cutting the affected bananas down and after cutting them you can dispose of that land for other use. Planting trees, planting food crops, rearing animals and other stuff. This picture shows a variety of land use – this portion you put beans, there you put banana, in the same way you put avocado. Then at the end of it you find you have different foodstuffs for selling and for feeding well.

© Lawrence / Villages Connected (Photo 75)

I took picture 75 to show some of the supporting or supportive NGOs that have advocated for the solutions towards community problems and challenges like giving hope through planting alternative crops other than banana and putting the land to alternative use.

© Lawrence / Villages Connected (Photo 233)

I took picture 233 to bring out some of the improved banana plantations in the community and how people can benefit from such initiatives if they are established in their communities. Here there is this modern banana plantation – this one is a model plantation. You can cut all of them, clear the land and plant new ones and stretch them so that they do not spread [disease] to each other.

It is important to show that back there in the community there are challenges that the people there can’t solve by themselves.  They need some technical personnel and some people who have some knowledge. There are some initiatives taken by non-governmental organizations to show them what they can do.

Photo and Description by Best

© Best / Villages Connected

In this picture I can see students sitting in a classroom reading their books. I took this picture in Senior 5 Arts class in St Maria Gorretti Girls School. I took this picture because I love reading books and being friends with my classmates. This picture is important for the media co-op to know because they can be attracted to this picture and tell people to bring their children at St Maria Gorreti Girls Secondary School.

Photo and Description by Annet

© Annet / Villages Connected

This picture shows an old lady with a piggery project and I took this picture from west-division in Fort Portal (Rwengomel). I took this picture because I was too much impressed by the old lady, aged 78 years of age, who still has strength to do some projects but on a small scale. And this is so important for the media co-operative to know about because people outside can understand that very many old ladies are capable of doing everything but the problem is that they don’t have enough capital and others lack information on the good methods of rearing these animals.  And more to that, the old lady told me the reason why she selected this project was that one pig can produce many young ones at a time and this has market value.

The next 10 introductions are to follow in the days ahead.

Best

I am by the name of Best.  I am 19 years old and a student at St. Maria Goretti Senior Secondary School.  I would like to be a journalist, actress and a musician in the future.

Participating in Villages Connected media project is important to me because I can make skits that are educative -  for instance about fighting against poverty, fighting against HIV-AIDS, among others.  I can help the youth like me and can learn how to use cameras.  As the whole world could be watching me, I could be playing a skit, for instance about immorality – which is around the world – and people could learn from it.  I would be the most happiest in that they are watching me this way around the world.

Prisca

My name is Prisca.  I am munyoro by tribe, living in Hoima district and pursuing a bachelors degree in banking and development finance at Mountains of the Moon University.  I am an orphan of both parents, and the second of four girls.  I want to improve on the standards of my community whereby I can stand out in a crowd to represent the many that may lack various skills or air out problems affecting my community that have not been heard by our leaders and also provide solutions for them.

I want people to know that HIV-AIDS is real and it has no cure so we should take all possible measures to guard themselves.  I want to caution people to work hard for a living and start with the small they have for a better living.  I caution parents to take their children to schools and provide them with their needs.  I also want to inform orphans out there to lets work hard.  God will be on our side and we shall succeed in our endeavours.

And while the media co-op members are knee-deep in their film and photography training, we figured we might take some time to experience for ourselves a little of what village life is like.

A few days ago, we were able to visit Kyhnyawara, a village just outside Fort Portal.  This is where 3 of the media co-op members live, and they were quite happy to show us around a little.

a walk through the village

We started with a visit of the Science Centre where we learned about the various wildlife in Kibale National Park which the village borders.

Do the elephants and primates that live in the park ever come into the village, you may ask?

Yes!  And they can create havoc because they interfere with the farmer’s crops.  However, of course, the animals and their habitat needs to be protected.

Do the villagers also use the forest for food and firewood?

Villagers have unfortunately grown dependent on the bush meat and the timber from the forest, and the degradation has caused problems.  Many efforts by the Science Centre, community groups and outside benefactors are ongoing to bring about a reversing of these effects.

Some of the efforts have included promoting the construction and use of “rocket stoves” which have a faster and more efficient cooking time, therefore requiring less firewood.  The women in the village are also experimenting with cooking pellets made of a combination of peanut shells, sawdust and recycled paper.

Media co-op members Bashil and Samuel give a demonstration on how to build a rocket stove

Crew member Caroline learns about the efficiency of alternative fuels

Other ongoing projects include handicrafts, music and dance, sustainable timber production, bee keeping and other animal husbandry.

This of course, is only what we could see and learn in a very short visit.  We look forward to the days ahead when the participants themselves can share, from their perspective, the opportunities within this one small village.