In the Spotlight – November 2019

November 22, 2019 in Blog

TUNADO

The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation (TUNADO), the apex body recognised by the public and government of Uganda to coordinate the apiculture sector in Uganda, unites beekeepers, processors, packers, service providers (trainers, researchers, marketers, equipment manufacturers, etc.), development partners, government and all other stakeholders towards apiculture development in Uganda.

From July to September 2018, with support from the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF), TUNADO conducted a scoping study on the opportunities to empower persons with disabilities in Uganda through beekeeping. The outcome of the study revealed that; while beekeeping and associated enterprises within the honey and beeswax value chain are in theory accessible to persons with disabilities, TUNADO is not doing enough to enable everyone to participate and benefit. TUNADO’s programmes and services are not sufficiently disability inclusive, and many persons with disabilities are being denied the opportunity to participate in this useful and important economic activity.

The scoping study also revealed that people with some categories of disability in Uganda are already keeping bees, selling honey or otherwise engaged in the honey value chain. However, they face a range of barriers to securing economically viable livelihoods, to do with attitude,communication, barriers in the environment and accessibility. Following a recommendation from the scoping study, TUNADO sought technical support from Light for the World to assist the process of developing a Disability Policy to give programme direction and guide resource allocation that will allow TUNADO to achieve intended disability inclusion in its structures and programmes. TUNADO is also running a project specifically aimed at increasing the participation of persons with visual and hearing impairments in apiculture (BEE PWD project) and taking strides to include persons with disabilities in its other mainstream projects such as Bee Better.

We commend TUNADO for setting disability inclusion in stone – through the disability policy, committing to continuous capacity building of staff and board on disability inclusion and taking deliberate actions to increase participation of persons with disabilities in its programmes and services! Learn more about TUNADO here

AFRICAN EVANGELISTIC ENTERPRISE

AEE-Uganda is a Christian, evangelical, international non-governmental organization established in 1971 with a mission to evangelize the people of Africa, promote holistic transformation of lives, restore hope and dignity. AEE-U’s core interventions include Evangelism, leadership Development, Child protection and Development, Adolescents and young people skilling in vocational Education, community resilience programs, curative and preventive Health and Reconciliation and Justice.

In July 2019, AEE joined the Make 12.4% Work Initiative with a specific interest in learning more about disability inclusion which had been included as core element of its projects, most notably;

The SLAY Project: seeks to improve well-being of children (first 1000 days of life), adolescents(10-19 years) and Youth (13-25 years) by improving access to friendly sexual reproductive health information and services,
increasing access to general healthcare through community health financing, skilling and equipping youth to take up jobs and business opportunities.
Child Centred Community Development programme in Arivu, Arua: aimed at improving the quality of life and opportunities for children and other vulnerable groups in 1500 households in Arivu Sub county, Arua District by 2021.

AEE has since placed five interns with disabilities in its Kampala head office, Rubaga Branch and field offices in Arivu and Luuka Districts, not only to support the implementation of the above-mentioned projects but as an opportunity to learn and grow as an organisation and build better inclusive employment practices.

We commend AEE for taking this practical step towards inclusion of persons with disabilities and committing to learning and growth in the field of disability inclusion.