Thirteen years down the road, Kabarole Research and Resource Centre (KRC) is today nearly a household name in the five districts of Kabarole, Kasese, Kamwenge, Bundibugyo and Kyenjojo which cover the Rwenzori region. Established in July 1996 by a team of five young fresh university graduates, KRC is a local research NGO in the Rwenzori sub-region that empowers local communities to interact with their leaders.
KRC began as a conflict resolution centre through research to inform the communities better about peaceful resolution of conflict in the region following the ADF insurgence. It moved to tackle issues of human rights, reproductive health, agribusiness, microfinance, and networking with civil society organisations (CSOs) to address matters affecting the region. Today nine CSOs trace their origin from KRC.
They include; Association for Human Rights Organisations (AHURIO), an outfit for human rights in Rwenzori region, Rwenzori Anticorruption Coalition (RACCA), Sustainable Agricultural Trainers Network (SATINET) focusing on agricultural sustainability, RICNET, one of the information centres in the region.
One of its founding members and director, Alex Ruhunda, is happy for the contribution KRC has made in the region’s political, economic and social development. Ruhunda currently is president of the International Association for Community Development, a non-governmental organisation building a global network of organisations working towards social justice through a community development approach with its headquarters in Scotland.
KRC’s activities involve research, human rights programmes, community empowerment, leadership, and microfinance. These programmes target the youth, children, women, men, leaders and policy makers. KRC has formed what it calls a regional development leadership group and MPs forum to discuss issues affecting society such as population and development. According to Patrick Muzinduki, KRC’s Head of Information Unit, KRC uses research as proof to interact and interface with people from an informed point of view discussing policies and decisions that affect the communities.
KRC has researched on reproductive health and education and found that early marriages and poverty are the leading causes of school dropout rates in the region. The NGO addresses the school dropout rates by providing guidance to parents on the value of education and involving local leaders at all levels to ensure children stay in school.
Jackie Mpaka, the Programme Manager of Process Facilitation Unit at KRC, says they have carried out HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns targeting the youth to protect themselves against the scourge. KRC works with government agencies to implement the set policies like UPE and HIV/AIDS.
KRC has a Process Facilitation Unit which looks at agricultural sustainability, supports set systems and interventions in the small holder farmers’ income generating activities. The unit empowers community members in many activities that range from how to use farming as a business to improve their livelihood to technical support in form of training farmers to manage their production to increase food security, agriculture sustainability, household incomes and increase their saving culture. “We are encouraging farmers to adopt collective marketing. This gives them better bargaining power to sell their produce at better prices,†Mpaka said.Â
She says KRC give grants to farmers such as those involved in sunflower oil and pineapple processing in Kyampara, Kasese, and those in rice packaging in Mahyoro, Kamwenge. KRC encourages small holder farmers to mobilise their own finances for easy access to credit facilities for agriculture.
Rights of women, children, and youth are yet another activity of KRC. Here the emphasis is on the respect of human rights of these groups.“Our intervention looks at what the community initiatives are and advise them how to do better,†says Mpaka. She says KRC has shared the dangers of early marriages on the girl child’s education with leaders to formulate by-laws and policies at local level to encourage education for girls as well as boys.
“Our approach is how communities are able to interface with the educational official. For instance there are no school inspections. We are trying to get people demand these activities because they are paid for by the government,†says Muzinduki.
KRC reaches the community through a radio programme, community meetings, dialogue and workshop. “As a result, communities are able to hold their leaders accountable. We have used drama groups to relay the message,†Muzinduki says.
He adds: “Crop production has increased and it is shifting to processing. In Mahango and other areas people are doing wet coffee processing. We are into issues of marketing. When you go to Kamwenge, Mahyoro rice farmers began as a small group but they are now into rice processing and are packaging it. Farmers have come up with a regional micro finance bank, Federation for Rwenzori Microfinance Association where farmers lend themselves to develop.â€
KRC is disseminating information at sub county and parish levels. Ultimately it is expected the community will participate in planning for their livelihood. It also engages in environmental awareness and priorities. KRC also gives microfinance services after appraising them. KRC has started a regional think tank as well and is focusing on strengthening its skills in in-depth and insightful research for development, packaging information and disseminating it to strategic development partners. It also ficuses on facilitating and supporting the process of prioritising opportunities, selecting partners, and making the decisions that get initiatives successfully started, facilitating the most effective monitoring and interaction between decision-makers and implementers to see each programme through the stages of implementation to successful sustainable conclusion. It will do this by working with Mountains of the Moon University.
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