SOROTO CATHOLIC DIOCESE INTEGRATED

DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
(SOCADIDO)
P.O. Box 641 Soroti, Tel. +256 392 666 293; e-mail:
Caritas
[email protected]
Soroti

TITLE OF REPORT: TRAINING OF FARMERS ON BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

AND
FINANCIAL LITERACY.

Programme: Livelihood and Food Security

Project name: ADEFO-MAP
Sub-county: Alwa Venue: Ebeju Victoery Church
District: Kaberamaido
Budget Line:
Dates/Period of activity: 1st 2nd , and 3rd of september 2022.

INTRODUCTION OF THE ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTED:

This training was organized by SOCADIDO, to build the capacity of farmers in business
management and financial literacy. The training started with a total of 60 participant from two
groups of Platatu- Bira . This training took three days starting on 1 st /09/2022 to 3rd /9/2022.
All sesons began at 9:00am with arrival and taking breakfast, the actual training ticked off at
10:00am with participant enlisting farmers expectation in the first day which was all addressed
by the closed of training.

Most of the training topics focused on village savings and loan associations, governance,
record keeping and enterprenureship. This is aimed at preparing farmers to save for the future
as well as borrow and invest to meet the household needs which may not be limited to
starting an income generating activity for the household. All the topics were shared between
the two participant and the training was participatory and interactive.

The participants who formed groups and participated in ADEFO-MAP project implemented
by SOCADIDO were selected by the sub county technical staffs, and therefore it is of
paramount importance that whatever activity conducted is known to the district technical
working group as this training was reported to them.

Our mission is to empower vulnerable households

Our vision is, A Prosperous, Self-Reliant through integrated services to attain
and Peaceful Teso sustainable socio-economic wellbeing
 Participants disaggregation:

Dates Male Female Total

1st ,2nd & 3rd /8/2022 29 31 60

PURPOSE/ OBJECTIVES:

1. To preposition the smallholder farmers as business individuals

2. To support structuring of smallholder farmer groups as village-based savings and loan
associations (VSLAs).
3. To impart knowledge that can help farmers develop and sustain business skills.

METHODS:

The following were some of the methods used during the training;
1. Presentation
2. Group discussion
3. Question and answers.
4. Sharing of experiences
5. Interview session

CONTENT OF THE ACTIVITY AND PROGRESS:

Content Description:
During the training, all the participants were alert and expectant to hear the package brought
by SOCADIDO to be presented to them, given that the training was interactive in nature as
the facilitators would asked the farmers questions on how they have been doing their things
and they would respond by giving the answers. The areas covered during the training were but
not limited to thoses areas only;
1. VS & LA training.
2. Governance
3. Record keeping,
4. Enteprenurship

Our mission is to empower vulnerable households

Our vision is, A Prosperous, Self-Reliant through integrated services to attain
and Peaceful Teso sustainable socio-economic wellbeing
 Day One
VS & LA
Under this topic, facilitators explained to the farmers the meaning of VS & LA, its important,
why farmers should save and borrow from the group, the issue of sharing interes also came up
during the distribution of monies. This generated a lot of discussions as some participants
pointed out that in their previous groups, “if a member dosent borrow loan from the group,
they don’t get interest. After a serious discussion it was agreed that all members in a group
should share the interest and this should be based on the total number of shares bought by an
individual in a saving cycle.

Day Two

Governance

Under this topic, the facilitators explained to the particepants what governance is all about, its
importance , the composition of the board of direcotrs of the VSLA was also discussed and
explained to the farmers.the function of management was also explained to the participants to
enable them to appricate their schedules of duties as managers .Barriers to effective gernances
was also discussed . Good gernanace was defined and discussed along side its basic features
and importances . The constitution of the VSLA and its structures was also discussed with the
participants.

Day Three

Record Keeping

The facilitators explained to the farmers the importances of record keeping , The types of
records to be kept under the VSLA and the why /how records should be kept was explained
to the particpants. The structure of the VSLA records was also explained to the
participants .The meeting procedures was also discussed.

Enterprenureship

In this topic, the concepts of entrepreneurship was explained to the participants highliting the
characteristcs and skills needed for successful enterprenuer ,steps of the entreprenural
process,understanding the procedures and requirements for sarting a business, developing a
business plan ,purpose of the business plan and ways of protecting the business

Our mission is to empower vulnerable households

Our vision is, A Prosperous, Self-Reliant through integrated services to attain
and Peaceful Teso sustainable socio-economic wellbeing
Intervention Progress (achievements/intermediate Comment
outputs/outcomes/ implication)
Training of farmers in  A total of 60 members were trained in business
business management management and financial literacy.
and financial literacy.  By the end of the training, participants agreed that
they will share the interest generated by borrowing
of savings which was opposed by some traineers,
as they say “ if you don’t borrow savings, one
should not get interest”.
 The training was interactive and participatory as
members would report early and leave late.
 The trainees understood the concept of village
based savings and loan associations.
 All the two groups trained were saving.


ACTIVITY PHOTOS:

attached photo)

Our mission is to empower vulnerable households

Our vision is, A Prosperous, Self-Reliant through integrated services to attain
and Peaceful Teso sustainable socio-economic wellbeing
 Our mission is to empower vulnerable households
Our vision is, A Prosperous, Self-Reliant through integrated services to attain
and Peaceful Teso sustainable socio-economic wellbeing
 CHALLENGES FACED DURING THE ACTIVITY:
1. The training slots given to participants were limited to only 60 members as opposed to the
high number of farmers who reported but were turned down.
2. 90% of the farmers had knowledge of the VSLA
3. Bad weather affected the participants from coming early to the training venue hence time
management was poor.
4.
5. COMMENDATION / WAY FORWARD:
1. More farmers in the sub county to be enrolled in the programme to improve on their
financial skills of VSLA to impreove on the standard of living.

Our mission is to empower vulnerable households

Our vision is, A Prosperous, Self-Reliant through integrated services to attain
and Peaceful Teso sustainable socio-economic wellbeing
 2. There is need for periodic monitoring of the farmers to check on the progress of their
VSLA whether its moving in the right track or not.
3 . there is need to support the farmers with modern agricultural inputs for proper storage of
their products

CONCLUSION:
The training was good for the farmers because they were facing some challenges which was
affecting their Village savings. This was explained to them by the facilitators during the
training and the challenges where ironed out.

Our mission is to empower vulnerable households

Our vision is, A Prosperous, Self-Reliant through integrated services to attain
and Peaceful Teso sustainable socio-economic wellbeing
 PREPARED BY:

Signature:

Name: Eyamu David

Designation: District Commercial Officer

Date 30/08/2022

APPROVED BY:

Signature:……..……………….

………………..

Name:………………….......

…………………….

Designation:……………….

……………………

Date:……..…………………….…………

Our mission is to empower vulnerable households

Our vision is, A Prosperous, Self-Reliant through integrated services to attain
and Peaceful Teso sustainable socio-economic wellbeing