Ruhiira - Millennium Villages Project
Ruhiira is a cluster of eight villages located in the Isingiro District of southwestern Uganda, near the town and commercial center of Mbarara. The villages are spread over several hundred square kilometers, and before the Millennium Villages project the extremely poor or non-existent roads made travel between the villages and commercial centers, such as Mbarara, very difficult. As a result, connecting villagers to schools, clinics, markets, electricity, communications and local government was a significant challenge resulting in further challenges like poor health and chronic malnutrition. In addition, the cluster was facing land shortages and deforestation from high population density and continued growth rates, as well as commercial over-cropping. This resulted in a serious shortage of wood for fuel and building and other environmental degradation
Ruhiira has a sub-humid climate with two rainy seasons. The first rainy season begins in March and ends in May, and the second begins in August and ends in December, though sometimes stretches into the following year. June, July and August are generally the driest months. With elevations ranging between 1,350 and 1,850 meters (approximately one mile) above sea level, the hillsides of this highland region drain into the valleys creating a stream system. Primarily a smallholder farming community, the main rain-fed crop planting in Ruhiira takes place in September for the January harvest, and off-season bean crops are planted in March for the June harvest.
Uganda is more than 240,000 sq km in size (slightly smaller than the state of Oregon), and has a population of over 32 million. The median age is 15 years, and average life expectancy is only about 53 years. Kampala is the capital of the Republic of Uganda, and President Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is the head of state.
In the Ruhiira cluster, a community consultation process revealed key development challenges that formed the basis for strategic interventions. Construction of clean water sources, rehabilitation of health units, and development of banana marketing cooperatives were among the initial key priorities. Water sources for domestic consumption were heavily contaminated and distantly located from households. The health care system was dysfunctional, having inadequate and unmotivated staff and lacking medicines. Community members relied on traditional healers and birth attendants for their health care needs. Banana growing was major economic activity, but the poor marketing structures favored middlemen. Moreover, access to service centers like markets was constrained by the mountainous landscape with very few motorable roads. School construction and the introduction of school feeding program was another key priority. Despite the existence of universal primary education in Uganda, the school drop-out rate was very high and school structures were poor and inadequate. Many households could not afford two meals a day due to fuel wood shortage and during heavy rains, the bare hillsides lost vast quantities of rich soil.
The Ruhiira Millennium Villages project has made progress, but some challenges remain while other opportunities emerged. Despite the construction of clean water sources, access to water is still constrained by the mountainous landscape. Construction of a piped water scheme in now a key priority and connection to grid power will be required to run the piped water scheme. Also, the long travel distances to market centers renders Ruhiira products less competitive. The team now prioritizes value addition through agro-processing and growing of crops for niche markets such as specialty high altitude Arabica coffee. In addition micro-irrigation will be used to support off-season production of high value crops like ginger.
Strengthening the work of community health workers (CHWs) in monitoring households, management of minor ailments, and referral of patients to health units is a new priority. CHWs will also be involved in a comprehensive campaign to increase utilization of family planning, antenatal and postnatal services. Increasing nutritional security of households will be emphasized through agricultural diversification and cooking demonstrations. In education, the key priorities are to ensure delivery of quality education and work towards complete community take-over of the school meals program.
To this end, the MVP will support professional training of teachers, strengthen government support supervision, and increase the promotion of school gardens. Finally, the team will focus on further strengthening community participation and increasing government involvement to ensure that project activities are strongly reflected in the government development frameworks.
