How Korean aid approach is touching minds, changing lives across Uganda

The house where Naome Kekankaga and her family live sits at the end of the neat murram road in Kabarungi village like a chocolate cake on a green plate. But it is much more than that: It is a ‘smart home.’

A trimmed green hedge borders the compound. The house is built almost completely using local materials. Its walls are smoothed over with coloured clay.

A burst of beautiful pink, white and purple flowers line the front of the verandah. At the back of the house, utensils are neatly laid on a drying rack near the kitchen that has a locally made eco-stove in it.

“When a woman keeps her home clean, she maintains hygiene and keeps diseases away,” says Ms Kekankaga, adding that none of her family’s five members has suffered from malaria or been seriously sick in a while.

Smart home

The smart home was built to change people’s approach to taking care of their homes — including how to build and use latrines and hand-washing facilities, and how to keep homes and compounds clean, says Maxwell Tusingwire, the chairman of Bunyangabu District.

Since the homes concept was embraced in Kabarungi in 2015, latrine coverage increased to 80 per cent from 50 per cent.

Ms Kekankaga’s smart home is one of many under the Inclusive and Sustainable New Communities (ISNC) project, a collaboration between the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Local Government, the UNDP and the Republic of Korea.

The project is based on the Korean Saemaul Undong (SMU, New Village Movement) model which originated in the early 1970s to develop rural communities.

The SMU model has created good working relations among individuals and community groups through communal gardening, opening up roads and cleaning water sources — all early evidence of progress towards changing thinking, says Perez Mwebesa, ISNC focal point person for Bunyangabu District.

“Before ISNC came we had a negative mindset. We did not know about forming co-operatives and improving banana production and increasing value,” says Natukunda Daphrose, the secretary of production at Bunyangabu District.

Joel Mawa-Oduga, a small-scale farmer in Oluffe, Maracha District, often struggled to feed his family and raise extra income. But this changed after he joined the ISNC project in 2015.

New thinking

“We were taught to solve our problems instead of waiting for government help,” he says. Beneficiaries were asked to identify an enterprise and were supported to set it up. Oduga chose poultry farming and was given 13 hens and one rooster.

“Right now, I have 75 birds but I have sold many more. On average I sell each chicken for Ush22,000 ($6.16) while a tray of eggs goes for Ush12,000 ($3.36,” he said.

Margaret Baku, a mother of six says because of the training, her attitude towards work has changed significantly.

“I used to lament about the lack of money, always expecting government to come to our rescue. Now I have taken charge of my own wellbeing,” she says.
After undergoing training in 2016, Baku is now a pig farmer and has also expanded her farm.

“Can do” attitude

The SMU seeks to build confidence and “can do” attitude, a shared vision for a better life through self-help, diligence and co-operation, says Jenipher Kacha Namuyangu, the Minister of State for Local government.

Communities rehabilitate village infrastructure, improve living conditions and increase household incomes through small-scale projects.

Ms Namuyangu says the programme emphasises community collaboration, starting by improving their living conditions as part of the ‘mind-set’ change strategy.

The Korean model of aid wants to wean Ugandans from overdependence on the government using a common phrase “Tusaba gavumenti etuyambe” — translated as, ‘We ask the government to help out.’

Many communities take this passive attitude, asking aid organisations to run even projects such as building latrines.

The Korean model, urges communities to take the initiative to identify local needs, find solutions using locally available resources, try them and if they work, scale them up. Only then will Korean aid come in to supplement these local actions.

“Coming against the backdrop of donors like the World Bank, European Union, Africa Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, the ISNC looked thin and diminished,” says Assumpta Ikiriza Tibawenda, technical advisor at the Ministry of Local Government.

“But in there lies its niche — as an assembly of energies to rally communities for self-help, hard work and co-operation,” says Ms Tibawenda.

Development model

The plan to test the Korean development model in various countries around the world was introduced in 2013 during the Global Forum on Economic Development.

Uganda, Vietnam, Laos, Rwanda, Myanmar and Nepal were selected as pilot sites. In Uganda, the project spanned 2015 to December 2017.

“Korean aid is like a catalyst,” said Mr Mwebesa. “After communities form village saving groups, the Korean aid comes in to boost their collaboration.”

“Communities come together to identify their challenges and devise low cost solutions, addressing them as a group. In Maracha, they have improved basic infrastructure such as roads and also engaged in enterprises to raise incomes,” says Wilfred Adiga, the district chairman.

Christine Bamale, a chief for Oluffe says besides opening up roads, community members are currently constructing a vocational institute, food bank and community hall.

The land for these projects was also donated by the community, on top of laying bricks, providing local materials and labour.

Jimmy Oceni, a co-ordinator for the ISNC project in Maracha said communities are now leading their own development.

One success leads to another. Smart homes have led to improved sanitation, hygiene and also increased food security.

“We have learned a lot about banana management, so there is food security. Sufficient food means fewer cases of gender-based violence and our communities are healthy,” said Beatrice Wasingurai, the secretary of Bunyangabu District.

What next?

The ISNC supported Luuka, Kabarole, and Maracha districts with of $2 million between July 2015 and December 2017.

The project took a 2-3-5 approach to structure resources for the project: 20 per cent of the support came from Overseas Development Assistance, 30 per cent from government, and 50 per cent provided as in-kind support from the community in terms of raw materials and labour.

“Government intends to adopt this model, whose focus is bottom-to-top instead of top-to-bottom approaches to delivering services. This gives communities the opportunity to determine their development needs,” said Ms Namuyangu.

For instance, by the end of the project, the pilot districts opened up a total of 105 km of roads at no cost to the government. The equivalent cost of these roads would have been Ush323 million (about $90,000) without the ISNC project.

According to Innocent Ejolu, team leader at the UNDP, Uganda has gathered a lot of local knowledge from the project, prompting a mission to visit from Rwanda to learn how to manage scarce resources for local development.

“This model works, and the government needs to adopt it,” said Mr Tusingwire.

“I believe if we go by it, we shall be able to achieve middle-income status,” says Tibarendwa.

Mr Ejolu, agrees: “People should localise their needs and luckily the ISNU model is very much a decentralised process.”

Reported by Esther Nakkazi and Evelyn Lirri