July 17th 2011 was a remarkable day for staff members of Action Africa Help International, the Hoima District Service Commission, Program beneficiaries and other invited participants. On this day 27 participants gathered at the Riviera Hotel in Hoima District for an awareness raising workshop on food security, nutrition and marketing. The well organized and attended workshop was facilitated by 3 technical Hoima District officials supported by the Action Africa Help International Livelihoods Project staff.
Kebirungi James, the Project Market and Enterprise Development Officer, said the main objectives of the workshop were to equip participants with Knowledge and skills to share ideas on progress and challenges being faced in the field of marketing and food security. “We expect that at the end of
the workshop, participants will be empowered and in position to pass the information to their departmental team members and communities they serve,” says James.
Various topics were covered during the workshop and participants were not only able to learn but share their knowledge on policy evaluation and food security, key dimensions and levels of assessing of food security, the state of global food security and causes of food insecurity in Uganda, assuring food and nutrition security in Africa. Participants were also introduced to Integrated Phase classification (IPC), agricultural marketing, development initiatives, agricultural marketing research, commodity value chain approaches and a case study on individual models of marketing agricultural produce in Hoima.
Joan Margaret a Project Community Extension Worker in Kyangwali Refugee settlement said that the workshop “was a rare opportunity to interact and mingle with technicians in different fields of Agricultural marketing”. She acquired various skills in marketing which leave her better empowered and knowledgeable about the recent marketing trends in Agriculture. The knowledge acquired will be used to empower refugee and other farming communities she serves on the value of understanding agricultural market and price trends. Joan fully grasp details on the various topics and was particularly impressed by the group assignments on Integrated Phase Classification (IPC).
The Project Manager, Mary Muhuruzi welcoming Participants to the WorkshopParticipants were happy with the Action Africa Help Livelihoods Project and encouraged Project staff to organize similar workshops to enlighten and empower not only community and sector leaders but also the rural communities.
“The project expects that you will use the knowledge acquired to ensure that everybody in the communities you serve is well equipped with knowledge and skills in marketing and food security. Share your knowledge on the progresses and challenges in food security, insecurity, nutrition and marketing with your colleagues and other community members not present”, said Erisa Mayega, the Field Officer Kyangwali Project Area.
The Marketing and Enterprise Development Officer further added that there were various trainings already done at village, community and sub-county level that the participants needed to know about and the project would continue with that trend as it levels ground for the provision of more critical inputs. The workshop was a success and all set objectives were achieved as participants were empowered with knowledge and skills in the recent issues of food security, nutrition and marketing from both a local and international perspective. The Project manager thanked everyone present for coming to the workshop and assured members present that the livelihoods project would continue to conduct similar trainings. She assured members present that the Livelihoods Project came into existence as a result of the various gaps noted in similar intervention already in place.
“I have attended several workshops in the past, but had not experienced anything like this before. It was a great opportunity meeting and sharing ideas on Agricultural Marketing trends with participants from different professional backgrounds,” said Kayongo Geoffrey a NAADS sub county Coordinator.
At the end of the workshop all participants agreed that the trainings had made a lasting impression on them and that they would share with other colleagues who did not attend the workshop.
