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The Women’s Beekeeping Project, Hoima, Uganda: report to the Funders Project Managers: Roy Dyche and Stuart Andrews

Introduction The aim of this project, which was launched in May 2012, is to help women’s groups in Uganda’s Hoima District to supplement their meagre income by undertaking more modern, environmentally sustainable beekeeping. The day-to-day implementation of the project is being handled by our local partners, the small Bigasa Sustainable Development Foundation (BISUDEF).

In May 2013 Stuart Andrews, our vice-chairman, and I visited Hoima to evaluate what had been achieved during the first twelve-month phase, the direct beneficiaries of which were the 118 members of ten groups; and to take part in the launch the project’s second phase. Pam Gregory, Bees Abroad’s most experienced project manager, accompanied us on the trip in order to carry out her own research essentially unrelated to the project. However, she kindly agreed to assist us in whatever way she could.

The First Phase This evaluation is based not only on what we learned during our stay but on the very full reports the BISUDEF director, Kaheesi Samuel, had sent us throughout the year.

Inputs At the start of the phase, each of the ten groups had been issued with a smoker, gloves, food-grade buckets and material to make protective clothing; these items had been safeguarded by the group leaders (GLs) and loaned to their members when required. In addition, each member had been given what she needed — nails and sisal, for example — to make for herself two modern hives.

We were concerned to learn that because of their poor construction some of the smokers had become unusable. It was decided that those that could not be repaired must be replaced without delay.

The Training and on-going support The women’s training had been entrusted to their GLs, who had themselves been trained during a preliminary visit I made in 2011 and at a three-day workshop Stuart and I had conducted at last year’s launch.

We understood that all the training sessions had been delivered successfully — indeed one of them rather too successfully! The GLs had demonstrated how modern top-bar hives could be improvised at little cost from sticks. The demonstration had obviously inspired their members and by the end of the phase more than 370 such hives had been produced. Whilst this testifies to the women’s enthusiasm, it had created a problem. Because the top bars themselves are difficult to improvise, we had planned to equip any hives the women completed with carpenter-made items. However, we had budgeted for only 230 sets, which we naively thought would be more than enough. The result was that nearly 150 of their hives were lying idle, a frustrating situation that would have to be addressed in the second phase.

Once the training had been concluded, the field officer and the programme co-ordinator had visited the groups frequently to offer ‘moral support’ and advice on technical matters.

Plant nurseries To increase the forage available to the women’s bees, the field officer had helped them to set up three nurseries at which they grew seedlings of Calliandra, a shrub that yields an abundance of nectar throughout the year. Nearly 2,000 of these seedlings had been distributed to the groups for their members to plant close to their hives. Unfortunately an extended period of dry weather followed by hail storms had put paid to a good many of the plants. BISUDEF were hoping to replace these quickly from a source they had identified which could supply them cheaply.

Some of the hives waiting for top bars

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Market access The first year of BISUDEF’s buying and marketing operation, designed to provide the groups and other beekeepers in the area with a reliable market for their honey, had been very satisfactory. Since the start of the project, the field officer had managed to purchase more than 1,500 kgs, despite the challenges he faced in negotiating dreadful ‘roads’ on his motorbike with containers of honey strapped to the back. Buying from our own members had been made much more convenient by an efficient collection-centre system devised by the GLs.

Since this is a poverty-relief project, the key question, of course, is how much the women had earned from their beekeeping during the first phase. The answer is encouraging provided one bears in mind that swarms had yet to occupy more than half of the new hives and that many of those that had taken up residence still need several more months before they begin producing a surplus of honey. Even so, 48 of our members had sold a total of 390 kgs to BISUDEF, earning each of them an average of £14.50. This may seem a modest sum but for an impoverished villager it represents significant earnings, which she can expect to rise steadily in the future.

BISUDEF have little trouble selling their attractively labelled jars of ‘Family Life’ honey to supermarkets nearby. Great care is taken over the final processing and the finished product is excellent: it is cleaner than our competitors’ and its flavour, though stronger than most Europeans prefer, is very much to the African taste. It is no wonder that retailers are keen to stock our jars. Next month Kaheesi will send me a copy of his end-of-year accounts, which I am sure will make enjoyable reading.

The Group Leaders The GLs had played a crucial role in the first phase. Other than in the ways already mentioned and despite being kept busy by their farming and domestic chores, they had somehow found the time to keep their members motivated by visiting them individually on a regular basis; and though most GLs live a good distance from Hoima town, all ten had attended every one of the two-monthly meetings at which they report their activities and discuss any difficulties they are encountering. We observed one of these meetings, chaired in rotation by the GLs themselves, and were impressed by the business-like fashion in which the proceedings were conducted.

Before they dispersed, the GLs produced a few pots of the lip balm they are selling to local stores. We wanted to see what they thought of new coloured labels Bees Abroad’s Sally Fletcher-Pemberton had designed for them. As we had hoped, they felt that the more striking appearance of the pots would

increase sales, which so far had been disappointing. Pam then took the opportunity to lead a very useful costing exercise for the product as part of the GLs’ small business training.

After we had presented them with the bicycles that will make it so much easier for them to reach their members, the GLs left for their farms. assuring us that they would not relax their efforts during the coming year. Clearly these women have a real sense that it is they, rather than Bees Abroad or BISUDEF, who own this project and are responsible for making it a success — exactly the attitude we wish for in our beneficiaries, of course.

Summary We were more than satisfied with what had been accomplished during the first phase. BISUDEF had proved an impressive organisation, with a young director totally dedicated to the project and providing strong leadership for his equally committed team. The women too — and not just their conscientious and resourceful leaders — were obviously determined to take full advantage of the opportunities being offered to them. Despite the few glitches referred to above, all the success indicators we had set at the start of the phase had been achieved and everything bodes well for the second phase.

Phase Two The second twelve-month phase has these main objectives: — to ensure that the first-year beneficiaries enjoy BISUDEF’s support for a further twelve months; — to extend the project to two more women’s groups in the district.

Kaheesi and two of his team display jars of their ‘Family Life’ honey

The group leaders receive their new bikes

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Support for the Phase One groups Stuart and I had long discussions with the BISUDEF team, aimed at producing a detailed ‘memorandum of understanding’ for the second phase. This made it clear that BISUDEF’s support for our first-year members will be maintained at last year’s level: the field officer and the programme co-ordinator will continue their visits to the groups, and the former will provide any extra training that is needed.

Regarding the shortage of top bars mentioned earlier, we had intended to offer the women 150 additional sets at a third of their cost price. However, when this idea had been put to the GLs, they were of the opinion that even at the subsidised price few of their members would be able to afford to buy the bars they lacked. We decided, therefore, that we would donate them free of charge. We made this decision reluctantly, not for budgetary reasons but because we do not wish our beneficiaries to remain dependent on donor aid any longer than is necessary. They will understand that there will be no more such ‘handouts’.

The new groups

When we drove out to see the two groups who are joining the project this year, we were in for a pleasant surprise. I was expecting these to be merely introductory ‘mobilisation’ meetings; however, we discovered that the new recruits had already mobilised themselves — with a vengeance!

Their two leaders had benefited from training given to them as members of Phase One groups and within a day or two of being invited to form their own groups in preparation for the second phase, not only had they done this but, unwilling to wait for the official launch, had also run hive-making workshops. Each group had produced ten

hives and sited them as model training apiaries. This sort of keenness and initiative is typical of our Hoima beneficiaries.

We inspected the two apiaries and found the hives had been well constructed and securely hung from stout poles. But we also found that both sets of hives had been invaded by ants, the scourge of African beekeeping. Once these pests enter a hive in any numbers, swarms will refuse to colonise it or, if the hive is already colonised, the bees will soon abscond. Received wisdom has it that greasing the wires suspending the hives will keep the insects at bay, but in my experience this is often wishful thinking; certainly it had done nothing to deter them from infesting the hives we examined. Pam Gregory thrives on challenges of this sort and before we left Hoima she had devised a ‘multi-pronged strategy’ for tackling the problem — rather too complicated to describe here — which the field officer will trial during the next few months.

This had been a most happy and reassuring trip to what is clearly on course to become one of Bees Abroad’s most rewarding projects. We are extremely grateful to you for helping to make our work in Hoima possible.

Roy Dyche Bees Abroad Project Manager 26 May 2013

Their model apiary

A welcome from one of the new groups