Mid Way Point

Can't believe it is the mid way point of my field work in Uganda. It seems only 5 minutes ago I was getting started. But here it is, 6 weeks done and 6 weeks to go, all thoughts of missing home have flown away and I now worry if I have enough time left and wish for a couple more weeks to get things done. How things change!

As I write this I sit accross from my old friend Nicola Jamie - such a treat to have her here in Uganda for 10 days. She is doing work here but we are getting to hang out in the evenings which is just lovely - I think she will be bored to tears of me rattling on about my research and co-ops by the time she goes home! We are in a café come internet café and about to have supper – green thai curry for me and spaghetti for her. This café is one of quite a number of tourist style places in Jinja – being based on Lake Victoria and the River Nile they get a lot of tourists, coming for sight seeing but also for rafting down the Nile or doing bungee jumping or horse riding safaris. As my little brother Griff would be able to predict I will not be doing any rafting or bungee jumping having nearly drowned several times on the Zambezi River in Zambia doing rafting with him. There are therefore lots of places to go including lots of great Ugandan places serving local food including matoke (cooked banana), posho (maiza porridge), rice, beans and my fav goat and chips!

After I wrote my last blog I continued with my field trips to both of the co-operatives I have been working with. We have been doing focus group discussions on what skills and knowledge people develop through being a member of a cooperative. People talked of a range of skills but one that came up many times is the skill of keeping records for your business - recording how many pineapples you have planted, what the costs of inputs were, what you sold the pineapples for etc, enabling people to then analyse whether they have made a profit or loss. One member went onto to tell me that this type of skill had also enabled him to see that he should delay marriage as when he looked at it marriage was simply to costly to embark on at this time! What is clear is that access to education and training is extremely limited and the co-operative therefore presents a very valuable opportunity to gain more knowledge and skills whether it be through formal trainings from organisations supporting co-operatives like Uganda Co-operative Alliance or more commonly from each other. Going to visit a fellow farmer to see how he is growing his pineapples or how he is keeping his pigs is commonly sighted as crucial learning opportunities for a person and this is possible as they are in the co-op with other farmers.

At Kigayaza they are also embarking on a new project. Last year one of the members, Geoffrey Bwayo, was invited to a youth and co-operatives conference in Lesotho. There he learnt about how in the UK and in Lesotho co-operatives were being set up in schools to enable students to learn about co-operatives – through the curriculum and also by setting up co-ops in the schools, such as tuck shops, fair trade shops etc. He was so inspired by this that since returning to his co-operative he has persuaded his fellow members that they should work with students and schools in the area. Last week I attended the first meeting they held with the students telling them all about co-ops, the benefits, how co-ops could develop them as individuals and also help them develop their community. It was great to see Geoffrey transferring what he had learnt at that conference and doing what he could within his own rural community, not waiting around for policy changes or funding to come from somewhere to start this up.

I also had a successful trip to Masindi, this is about 5 hours North West of Jinja, where I visited Uganda's Co-operative College for 3 days. We had a good drive up there, enjoying the scenery and excellent fast food options on the road side - skewers of roast goat, chicken, roasted cassava..the list goes on and all delicious and all much better than a McDs or whatever the UK option is. You don't even have to get out of the car as soon as you stop it gets about 50 goat skewers get stuck through the window and you only have to then choose which one! They have over 300 students at the College who are studying for a Diploma in Co-operative and Business Studies. We held focus group discussions with the students and interviewed the lecturers. We are able to do this all in English which is different to the research we have been doing with the two co-ops I work with in Jinja - where Tonny my research assistant has to patiently translate the question and then the answer. It was interesting for me to therefore directly interview the research participants and I found it enabled me to probe more thoroughly on the research areas. It also meant it was worth recording the interviews for the first time. It is useful to have the audio files and be able to listen to them later but I do feel it adds a level of formality to the interview which also possibly hinders how open people are. Luckily I have been to the College before I think on this occasion they did not mind the recorder as they know and trust me to use what they say appropriately. However I think I would be skeptical to use it with someone I did not know as I think it would inhibit them.

Talking to the lecturers at the College was like having a long and fascinating history lesson on co-ops, they are co-operators themselves and come from families where the generation before was also into co-ops. They could therefore talk fluidly about the changing times the co-op movement has undergone – a lot centering on their changing relationship with the government. The co-op movement needs the support of the government to be able to survive but they need government to also respect their independence. The college is very dilapidated; holes in the ceiling, very old books in the library, 120+ students in a class but the quality of students and their commitment to the co-op principles is inspiring. In terms of growing the co-op movement again in Uganda, these students will surely have a key role to play in raising awareness about co-ops and also helping to develop co-ops in the ‘right’ way – member owned and member controlled – avoiding problems of the past where co-ops became dominated by a few people and by government.

Being a mid way point I have spent the week looking at all the data I have generated in the field – I have exercise books full of notes from the interviews and group discussions. I need to get these onto the computer but I have also been reflecting on them to enable me to plan for the next phase of the research. I have a few more visits still to do at Kigayaza and JoyFod SACCO and I will also begin working with a new co-operative. This is called Twekembe Co-op and has over 450 members with a youth group of about 60. They are based about an hour of the main road down a really bad road full of pot holes, ditches and gullies I am hoping the rain stays away as otherwise we will never make it!

Aside from the research I have been trying to do a bit of exercise and swim at the pool at the hotel, however I have also been checking out some of the lovely restaurants in Jinja (probably cancelling out my exercise with the beer and food I am consuming), took part in a crazy golf tournament and sat on my balcony enjoying looking at Lake Victoria, looking at the fishermen and the birds.

I have written a piece on JoyFod SACCO for the youth co-operatives website, you are welcome to take a look if you would like to know more about how young people can benefit from opening savings accounts - http://www.youngco-operatives.coop/Resources/International-Links/Youth-co-operatives-in-Uganda