People in Buwologoma Village start a business selling tree seedlings

Kibo Group’s Mvule Community Development Program works with village communities to solve problems and develop economic opportunity. One community we work with is Buwologoma Village, which relies on growing sugarcane for its income. Sugarcane requires large, clearcut fields, so there are few trees and little shade in the area.

People in Buwologoma Village with their mvule trees.

The Mvule Program started working in Buwologoma Village in 2009 with a group of 45 people. After successfully completing the first phase of the project by planting 600 trees, the group received 90 goats to use as start-up capital for an economic development project. They spent the next few years adding members to the group and increasing their capital by raising the goats and offspring.

By 2016, the group had grown to 110 members, all working together to save money and solve problems together. Kibo staff member Abraham Mulongo asked the group what they wanted their next project to be. The chairman, Balamu Mukasa, said they were using the skills and knowledge the gained from the Mvule Program to start a tree nursery. The area has a great need for trees, especially fruit trees, so the group nursed seedlings for passion fruit, mvule, cocoa, mangoes and orange trees. They sold these seedlings to people in surrounding villages, and hoped to become Kibo Group’s seedling supplier someday.

The district government and other NGOs have noticed Buwologoma's work and have invested in the seedling nursery by helping drill a well that can be used to water the seedlings. Local government officials have also offered to restore the ecology of the district by planting trees.

Mr. Balamu and the rest of the group in Buwologoma Village have taken full advantage of the knowledge they gained from the Mvule Program by saving money together and establishing a business that generates income and helps solve the long-term problem of deforestation that the district faces.