Katine FAQs: The project

The Katine Project – Frequently Asked Questions

What was the impetus behind this project?
Success of previous fundraising appeals, led the Guardian newspaper to think more deeply about development aid. They asked themselves: Could we help finance a project that would attempt to address a range of development issues? Could we involve local people to ensure sustainable progress? Can we devise a model that, if successful, could be replicated or even scaled up?

Why was AMREF chosen to implement this project?
The Guardian chose AMREF because of its years of experience of community development in Africa and its reputation for achieving real change. Alan Rusbridger, the newspaper’s editor, was particularly impressed that AMREF is an African organisation, whose employees are 97% African.

What are the objectives of the project and how were they chosen?
The project aims to achieve poverty reduction, better health, better access to education, increased income and a role for the community in decision making. In order to improve people’s lives in Katine, we will deliver an integrated project, working to support the community in all these areas; which are all inter-related. At the highest level the project has been designed with five goals in mind:

  • Improved community health
  • Improved access to quality primary education
  • Improved access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene
  • Improved livelihoods (also referred to as income generating activities)
  • Communities empowered to engage in local governance

The objectives were chosen in response to the needs of the community in Katine. AMREF and the project implementation partners, FARM-Africa and Barclays, spent time talking to community members, assessing the services and facilities available in the community, and used their experiences of working in Uganda to develop these challenging but achievable objectives.

How will the project achieve these objectives?
The project will target those who will benefit from the project the most. In health care this means prioritising people living with HIV/AIDS, children under-five, women and young people. In education we work to target gender imbalances, as well as working to ensure that those with disabilities can access schooling.

We will work closely with community members through all stages of the project; development, planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. By working with farmers groups, village health teams, parent teachers associations, and by establishing community committees, for example water source committees, community members will be at the centre of their own development, and have a key stake in decision making. The project will therefore be responsive to community needs and priorities, and through community participation the interventions will be owned by the community, so that many developments can continue beyond the three year lifespan of the project.

This project will build the capacity of these community organisations, and the local government (at district, sub-county and parish level) to manage their own development. This will be done by improving the gathering and use of community based information – for example, supporting health centres to monitor levels of essential medicines, providing the sub-county with planning and budgeting training, and encouraging community management of primary schools. Across these groups the project will work to develop the skills of both formal workers (teachers, health workers, government employees) and the community volunteers who are delivering essential services to the community, for example the village health teams. AMREF believes that in order for development to succeed the gap between communities and government needs to be closed.

How is the project being funded?
Barclays has pledged £1.5m to the project, which includes an upfront donation of £500,000 to get the programme underway and a further £1m in match-funding for readers' donations over the next three years.

Why was Uganda and Katine chosen? Aren’t there other countries and other communities in Uganda where the need is greater?
Uganda is a poor country in need of development but it does not have so many problems, like Somalia for example, where development is difficult. AMREF has also been working in Uganda since 1983, so has a strong relationship with key government ministries and local authorities. No funding will go to these bodies; AMREF will be providing support through the partnerships.

Soroti district is one of the poorest districts in the country and has been heavily affected by the war in the north, but not so much that development is impossible.

Why is this project only helping one sub-county? Couldn’t you be helping more people?
Resources are limited so we selected a community with the maximum number of people whose lives we felt could be noticeably improved by the project activities. The project area includes approximately 25,000 people.

We want to make sure that the project has long-term significant impact and this is more difficult if we spread the money over a wider area. Furthermore we hope the experiences and lessons we share from delivering this project can be used and repeated in other areas, and enable more communities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. http://www.undp.org/mdg/goallist.shtml

What about the people in the neighbouring sub-county? Won’t they want to be involved in this project? Will it create divisions between those who are being helped by the project and those who are not?
Many of the services AMREF is strengthening and improving will also be available to people in neighbouring sub-counties. Through regular contact and communication with district officials, we hope some of the models we use can be replicated across the district. Furthermore AMREF’s approach of community partnering, and empowering the community in Katine means that many skills will be developed in the community and can be used to help a wider pool of people.

Why are you carrying out activities that should be the government’s responsibility?
The Ugandan government, like most governments in Sub Saharan Africa, face numerous obstacles when confronted with the levels of poverty experienced. Coping with poverty is a challenge in all countries, but especially in those which have fewer economic means to do so.

Through the project, AMREF will develop the skills of local officials and some of the ways of working established in this project will be taken forward by the government at the end of the three years.

Why is this project working closely with the government?
AMREF works closely with government structures so that its projects are sustainable, long after AMREF has left. However, AMREF is completely independent from the government and no funds from this project are being directed through the government.

AMREF is also empowering communities to be able to recognise their rights and hold local authorities to account.

What happens when the project ends?
AMREF, along with its partners, is committed to delivering lasting change for the people of Katine. A project steering committee will be established where key members of the community and the project team will plan and prepare for the end of the project, and how to ensure that the local community and government structures take on the processes and structures developed during the project.

By training, supporting and empowering the community throughout the three-year lifespan of the project we are enabling the community to help itself in a long-term and meaningful way.

Are you treating this village as an experiment?
No it’s not an experiment. The project is being devised in close consultation with the community, in order that it meets their needs. The media involvement will be reporting on the outcome of these consultations and on the process of development.