• -Back Ground -

    Organizational back ground

    Girls` Voices-Uganda is a register Organization; registration number, 139/KTC/2011, established in 2011 by the communities members, led by a team of professionals who hail from these poor communities with the major aim of empowering the poorest rural victimized vulnerable girls/women People Living With HIV (PLWHA)  and Children, both school going and school drop outs (victims of early pregnancies and stigmatized due to defilement, rape, early/forced marriages and children in disability state/ deformity) for Social- economic development/wellbeing to improve their livelihood.

    The organization is governed by a board of directors. Annual general meetings are held each year to monitor the activities carried out by the organization. It has a Patron, a Board of Directors, an Annual General assembly, Executive Committee and Staff for its democratic governance. The board formulates policies, considers plans and reports and supervises implementation of activities through periodic meetings and daily interaction with the staff. Some board members and appointed staff are signatories to the organization account.


    Operation:

    The Organization is a team of professionals and Volunteers both skilled and semi skilled. The skilled are the professional who offer their professional skills at a voluntary level and also contribute funds for the running of the organization and various activities. The organization has the board of directors, management and staff all on a voluntary basis.

     

    Experience:

    The organization has carried out many activities in line with her mission;sensitizing the community of girl child education, poverty eradication, environmental protection and Justice/Human Rights and Peace building. Many of the  activities have been limited by lack of enough funds to cover all the targeted beneficiaries.


     

  • Why we exist

    We strive to attend to the crying voices of women/girls to end poverty

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    Vision/Mission

     
    We work as a team

    The Organization consists of a team of professionals and Volunteers both skilled and semi skilled. The skilled professionals are those who offer their professional skills at a voluntary level and also contribute funds for running the organization and various activities.

    The organization`s board of directors, management and staff are all on a voluntary basis.

     

    Vision: To reach and improve the life of all the poor vulnerable groups in Uganda

    Mission: To advocate and empower the minority groups, PLWH and the poorest rural victimized vulnerable girls/Women and disabled children (school going and school drop) for Social- economic development/well being and improving their livelihood (improved livelihood.)

     

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    Objectives

    We exits because of your support

     

    .To improve livelihood of PLWH,OVCs and Women through increased
    access to information and initiating income generating activities at a
    household level for self reliance and social-economic development

    2.To
    advocate and lobby for the minority; women and children`s rights and
    social rights both at household level and national level

    3. To
    promote girls and disabled children`s education and equal decision
    making and participation/representation in public/community.

  • Areas of our Work

    We exist to improve the lives of the poorest communities

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    Livelihood & Environment Protection

    We focus on promoting  environmental friendly agricultural practices to increase food security, incomes and Nutrition.

    Uganda’s poorest people include hundreds of thousands of small scale farmers
    living in remote areas scattered throughout the country.

    Women especially those living in rural areas and female heads of
    households are the most poor yet women contribute to 88% of
    agricultural labour force an activity that contributes to 76% of
    Uganda’s economy. Women’s traditional roles in Agriculture are still
    influenced by their reproductive roles therefore, taking on
    responsibility for food production and security for their families.

    GV-U focuses on promoting agriculture through use of environmental friendly and labor saving methods to increase the incomes at household, food security and nutrition.

     

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    Education

    OVC & Girl Child Education

    We realize the emerging gap between the rural and urban education and gender sensitiveness.

    GV-V creates good atmosphere for girl child education, OVCs through empowering them both socially and economically and advocating for their rights. We sensitize and empower the girls to stay in school and also offer informal training to the school drop outs who cannot get back to school. Among other trainings includes; Technical, Vocational Educational Trainings (TVET); entrepreneurship and Business skills and also Talent development.
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    Health

    • HIV&AIDS, Psycho-Social Support and WASH programs

    Despite the efforts by many development agencies in reducing poverty
    in Africa, over the years, Poverty and malnutrition still ravages many
    countries in Africa, and affects millions of people in various ways.
    Particularly it is devastating to women, babies/children and PLWHA. And in specific, Children
    under the age of five are also prone to Vitamin A deficiency.

    Studies in Uganda indicate that acute malnutrition has become persistent in Uganda mostly because of poor diet and access to food due to poverty,
    ignorance or lack of information on what foods to eat and how to
    prepare them.

    GV-U provides information about nutrition, Empowers PLWHIV and mothers to access the required foods, and Promotes hygiene at house hold through trainings and use of extension workers

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    Advocacy

    Justice and Rights for Women and Children

    GVU helps rural Women realize and attain their rights; Sexual Reproductive Health rights,Property ownership and inheritance rights, Rights of access to basic services;education, shelter etc and rights to access to information and socialization among others.

    In rural communities children are abused in various forms which include sexual and there are no proper mechanisms set to report such abuses.GVU raises awareness and identifies cases of abuses and makes referrals as well as supporting the victims with ; psycho-social and economic support.

    Collecting evidence and documenting human rights violations, particularly violence against women, and Children as well as abuses of land rights against women.

    Teaching Rural women about the laws that protect their rights and increasing awareness among the rural women and girls about their rights; ending child marriage and violence against women especially in rural villages where information and interventions are lacking. And Adolescent/Women Sexual Reproductive Rights and Health.

    Educating marginalized communities about their human rights and connecting them to the services they need, from legal aid to HIV testing or treatment

    Organizing women to advocate for land and property ownership/rights and equal representation. And child protection campaigns.

  • Our Supporters/Partners

    We let the results speak for themselves.

    IDA

    Partner

    Tzedek

    Donor

    Koogere Foundation Uganda

    Partner

    Child Initiative

    Partner

    The wealth in passion fruit farming: Two acres can give you Ushs28m in 12 months with invested capital of Ushs2m

    Given the fact that Masaka and Kasese districts are the leading producers of passion fruits in Uganda, one would conclude that the climbing plant does well only in those parts of the country. However, with appropriate technology and best agronomic practices, the plant can grow well in all parts of Uganda. With a bag selling between Ushs 150,000 during bumper harvest and Ushs400, 000 in scarcity, and with ready market locally and internationally, venturing into passion fruit farming would be a worthwhile decision. But what does it require to maximally reap from the increasingly lucrative plant?

     

    Land

     

    The first step is to have land. An acre can accommodate
    between 600-800 plants with the spacing of five to eight feet apart.“If the land is too fertile, you can use eight feet spacing and five feet for less fertile soil,”

    Planting materials especially potted ones normally cost Ushs 1000 and potted planting materials grow very fast with minimal chances of disease attacks. It takes four to six months to start harvesting passion fruits, with a life span of about 18 months for the local purple variety while the improved Kawanda hybrid can live for three to five years depending on good practices and adequate supervision . There are normally two seasons of passion fruit harvesting.

     

    Varieties

     

    The best varieties include the purple granadilla variety (locally known as Kasese, Masaka and Kenya varieties) and the highly resistant Kawanda hybrid, developed locally. The purple granadilla variety is popular for its powerful scent. While both varieties have ready market, the purple granadilla attracts higher prices than the Kawanda variety.
    During scarcity while the fruits are not in season, , a bag of local purple sells at Ushs400,000 while the Kawanda variety sells at Ushs250,000.
    In a well managed acre, a farmer can collect two to four bags of passion fruit a week for a period of 12 months for the two seasons.

    Taking two bags as the average, this translates into 96 bags. And, taking Ushs150,000 as the lowest/average price per bag, a farmer would earn Ushs14.4 million from an acre, but when prices shoot up to Ushs400,000 during scarcity, a farmer can easily pocket Ushs38 million.

    On average, an acre requires a minimum investment of about Ushs1.8 million and Ushs3.7 million in rural and urban areas respectively.

     

    Fertilizers

     

    Regardless of the fertility of the soil, passion fruit will require fertilizers at anyone point. The holes for passion fruits should be at least two by two feet width and three feet depth. The hole, he says, should be well fertilized and dug at least two to three months earlier. After the hole is dug, a farmer should put back the top (black) soil and mix it with some fertilizers. He advises farmers to use compost manure such as poultry litter and cow dung in initial stages.

    To further boost the growth, he advises, a mixture of NPK and CAN fertilizers can be used at a stage when they are climbing and branching out. .

    “Well managed fertilization facilitates close development and growth of nodes, something that results into flowering and growth of many fruits. One can also use foliar fertilizers to boost flowers and fruits,”

    On average, a bag of NPK and CAN costs Ushs120, 000 each. During drought, farmers should ensure flowers don’t fall by mulching their gardens because passion fruit needs a lot of water to do well. Farmers can also harvest water run-off to offset the adverse effects of drought.

     

    Management

     

    When passion fruits start growing and climbing, they can’t support themselves. Therefore, there is need for construction of a trellis when they are climbing, a farmer ties them on poles with banana fibers.One must remove the many leaves to allow enough light for the flowers to develop into fruits but also to sweeten them,” he advises, adding, “The secret of a high quality of passion fruits is Vitamin D which is sunlight.”

    Enough light and aeration prevents early blight, a disease that makes fruits rot due to heavy rains. Heavy rains also results into late blight, a disease that affects leaves.

     

    Pest and disease control

     

    A number of insects are associated with the passion fruit plant. Some of these insects are beneficial while others are harmful. The role of the beneficial insects as pollinators is well known. Experience in passion fruit growing at Namulonge Research Station has identified a number of harmful insect pests of which the most dangerous include mealy bugs, passion fruit mite, fruit flies and aphids.
    Some of the major diseases are brown spot, woodiness disease and fusariam Wilt. In addition to proper management of the farm such as weeding, pruning among others, Kigoye says some pests and diseases can be avoided by applying fungicides and pesticides such as a mixture of Indofil M45 and Dudu accerematine.

    “Make sure you spray every week in rainy seasons and at least twice a month in drought,” he advises.

     

    Intercropping

     

    It is a good idea not to waste the large spaces left in between the passion fruit rows. Annual crops such as egg plants, green papers, onions, carrots and other short term vegetables can be inter planted with passion fruit in the first year when the fruit is just starting to grow . Crops such as maize, bananas, sugarcane etc which tend to drain the plant nutrients from the soil heavily should be avoided as inter crops

     

    Market

     

    In addition to the local market, the European market and the growing number of super markets in Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda and South Sudan presents new market opportunities for not only Uganda’s passion fruits but also pineapples, citrus, papaws and avocado. Uganda annually earns over US$ 100,000 from passion fruit exports amounting to 50 metric tons, much of which goes to the European market. That figure is expected to rise, according to the Agribusiness Development Centre. Ugandans can also add value to passion fruits by making juice and wine out of it. There are institutions that train people in juice and wine making at affordable rates.

    If you are interested in about passion fruits, vegetables, fruits and general farming, don’t hesitate to contact us

  • Partnering

    We welcome who ever would like to Partner and work with Us

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    Jobs/Careers

    we welcome experts to join our team
    Currently we have no job offers, please keep checking on this site for any employment opportunity that may arise.
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  • Contact Us!

    1. Girls` Voices-Uganda, P. O. Box 1475, Kamwenge

    Uganda, East Africa

    girlsvoicesuganda@gmail.com

    Mobile: +256785475152
    Or
    Leave a comment below

  • We appreciate your support for a cause

    The organization has carried out many activities in line with her mission; sensitizing the community of girl child education, poverty eradication and environmental protection. Many of our work is limited by funds to cover all the targeted beneficiaries.

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