We hope to raise $10,000 toward supporting Epaphroditus Savings and Credit Cooperative Society, a registered co-op located in the Wakiso District of Uganda, about 30km from the capital city Kampala. It currently has 20 active female members whom Africa Development Promise is supporting to start a mushroom growing project. The women need assistance with both communal and individual farm set-up, as well as training associated with identifying and understanding value chain.
The 20 women of the Epaphroditus Savings and Credit Cooperative Society in the Wakiso District of Uganda have decided to grow mushrooms as an income generating project. They have started small, however are looking to expand to make this a truly viable business opportunity. To do so, they will not only need land, but training on how to scale up their mushroom farms both individually and communally. Value chain training will also be needed to see where mushrooms fit into the local market.
This project will fund not only a local consultant to train the women on value chain, but local agronomists to assist in the set up of both individual and communal farms. With the purchase of more land the co-op can scale up their mushroom growing activity, as well as increase the quality of their product as a result of these trainings. This will help to establish the co-op as a player in the local economy, and bring sustainable income from and for this rural community of female farmers.
The 20 women of the co-op are not only providing part of the funds needed for this project, they are highly motivated to find sustainable sources of income. Cooperatives have the full support of the Ugandan government, who see them as a socially responsible and economically viable way to increase opportunity for rural agrarian communities. This project provides education that goes directly into the hands of small-scale farmers, giving them the capacity to change their own lives for the better.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
