Our Crowdfunding Groups
"Our actions are our future- Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life", theme for World Food Day, Saturday, October 16. In recognition of World Food Week, CSRL will be launching the Uganda Early Childhood Development campaign this Wednesday, October 13 at 9:00 AM CDT. Be part of the first $12,500 contributed and your donation will be doubled! We invite you to be a part of the solution. Join us here: https://fundisu.foundation.iastate.edu/CSRL2021 
We at the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods are truly inspired by the outpouring of support for our COVID Relief and Rehabilitation in Uganda campaign. Your contributions helped to exceed our $25,000 goal by raising a total of $27,720 before the $25,000 match, bringing the final amount raised to $52,720 from a record 142 generous donors!
Thanks to you, vulnerable families throughout Kamuli and Buyende districts are receiving food, blankets, soap, face masks, educational materials, safe water, sanitary facilities, and the planting materials necessary for individuals and communities to successfully emerge from this very difficult pandemic period. Because of your help, the seeds to recovery are literally being planted.
We encourage you to stay connected with the ISU Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods initiatives by visiting our website or following us on Facebook. Our important work happens year-round. Financial contributions to our ongoing development efforts are continually accepted at www.foundation.iastate.edu/CSRL.
Mwebale Inho! Thank you very much!
Just 1 day left! Wouldn't it be great to meet our goal on Giving Tuesday? Your donation will go even further when you spread the news and share stories like this:
Make it Happen
It isn’t relief until it’s actually being utilized by the people who need it. Mobilization in Uganda entails a broad, highly coordinated team effort to:
While some of the best development organizations might stop here, CSRL takes it to the next level by
The CSRL Iowa State University – Uganda Program team in Kamuli are uniquely situated to be of service. They are caring, motivated, knowledgeable individuals, who are well-connected in the community, respected, and trusted. Yet to make their work happen, they need support from donors like you. Please contribute by 11:59 pm on Giving Tuesday (Dec. 1) and be part of this fantastic team! Donations are still being matched to double your impact.
We have all become very familiar with the guideline: Wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds with soap and clean water.
Going to the washroom and turning on the tap is something we tend to take for granted. Now imagine fighting the COVID crisis when the water you need to haul home for use is from a sketchy source a mile away.
Over the years, the water and sanitation (WATSAN) team at CSRL’s Uganda Program have made it an objective to sponsor one to two boreholes (deep wells) per year in communities most in need throughout Kamuli district. But this year, when the pandemic hit at the same time entire communities in neighboring Buyende district were being flooded out of their homes, our team knew we needed to make every possible effort to help.
So far, CSRL has sponsored two urgently needed boreholes to alleviate stress on Buyende flood victims. Community members were elected to serve on water user committees to manage and maintain each borehole. Committee members receive training and a specialized tool kit for continued maintenance to ensure the water keeps running.
The ISU-UP WATSAN team also conducts household sanitation training including instruction on how to build tippy taps (simple handwashing stations). Tippy Taps have become visibly more common in household compounds since the pandemic began. The team also helps to distribute soap made by participants of ISU-UP’s Community Income Generation Innovations program. These many parts working in tandem are providing a line of defense against the spread of COVID.
Access to clean water is more important than ever. Your donation will help “keep it running”.
Before the pandemic effectively shuttered local markets and forced suspension of schools, sewing machines provided by CSRL’s ISU-Uganda Program were being utilized for two primary purposes. First, they were being used by mothers who had graduated from the Nutrition Education Center program to create income-generating products. And second, they were used by students to make washable, sanitary pads for menstruating girls, which helps keep them in school.
On May 5, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda said every person who leaves their home must wear a cloth face mask to stop the spread of COVID-19. Shifting the use of sewing machines to create face masks is one of the first ways field specialists and program participants found to support communities in their district during the pandemic. The sewing project also continues to support learning new skills.
Looking beyond the pandemic, the sewing project may be used to help pupils return to school by producing more affordable school uniforms for students whose families find this investment an obstacle to education.
Thank you for ‘sewing your support’ for this and other CSRL COVID relief and rehabilitation efforts! Donations continue to be matched dollar for dollar, so spread the word so that others may also multiply their impact!
It warms the heart. We are 55% into this special COVID relief and rehabilitation campaign, and thanks to ninety-seven generous donors, we have also reached 55% of our goal! Donations are still being matched dollar for dollar and are already making a big impact through efforts like this:
The climate in Uganda lends itself to the possibility of two growing seasons each year. This year, the Busoga sub-region experienced high levels of rainfall throughout the first season which continued through the second planting season. Parts of the region along the Nile river complex were completely flooded, displacing entire communities. This was then followed by a prolonged dry spell. The resulting low yields and total crop failures left already marginalized households with depleted food supplies, no food income, and no seed or grains to replant. Conditions were further complicated by the global pandemic which disrupted transportation and the supply chain, leaving access to agricultural inputs out of rural farmers’ reach.
The ISU-UP agronomy and nutrition teams knew they had to find a way to help farmers get through this ‘perfect storm’. In partnership with district officials, ISU-UP has been able to mobilize its fleet to travel outside of the area to procure and transport planting materials, and then deliver soy, amaranth, millet, and maize seed, as well as cassava cuttings, and sweet potato vines to farmers in need. Planting and growing advice along with follow-up visits provided by our field specialists are helping to ensure that crops take hold. This effort is designed to intercept food shortages and malnutrition. Lives and livelihoods are depending on it.
Share the stories so others may invest in regrowth, and help to improve the food security of rural Ugandans.
Prior to the pandemic lockdown, each day mothers of malnourished infants would carry their babies to the ISU-UP nutrition education center in their community for assistance. There, mothers would meet as a group and prepare a nutritious porridge. Then both breastfeeding mothers and infants would consume a cup of this life-saving formula, and take some home for another meal later in the day. These group gatherings also served as a venue for training in nutrition, gardening, visits by district nurses, and social support among other services.
A government ban on group gatherings that was put in place to help mitigate the spread of COVID had the unfortunate side effect of disrupting this process. Yet in the midst of the pandemic, malnutrition started increasing. The ISU-UP community nutrition team knew they had to pivot. To keep the health of mothers and infants from backsliding, they devised a method of mixing, milling, portioning, and distributing porridge flour to the homes of mothers. However, logistical hurdles left gaps in the nutrition plan. Among other challenges, it just wasn’t possible to deliver to the homes of more than 1,000 clients often enough (many homes are not accessible by road, and some require a water crossing). So the team pivoted again.
Fortified flour is now being delivered on a specific timetable to each of the nine nutrition education centers. Mothers arrive at staggered times to pick up their weekly provisions. They are also provided with instructions on how to prepare the porridge and how much to consume in order to maintain the health of themselves and their infant.
With your contribution, we can continue to meet the needs of mothers and infants during these challenging times and keep them on the path to recovery and self-sustainability.
A big THANK YOU to all who are making a difference through your contributions to the CSRL COVID relief and rehabilitation effort. We will be sharing a short story update each week of the campaign. Please share it with a friend!
In a normal year, CSRL supports education in Kamuli district through service-learning, the school lunch program, and school gardens programs among other activities. But this is certainly not a normal year.
In Uganda, COVID-19 has restricted travel and prohibited group meetings, resulting in schools being shuttered and thus disruption of ISU-UP supported school lunch programs, a benefit that increases school attendance and nourishes minds. This has resulted in decreased learning and increased undernutrition.
In an attempt to maintain some educational cohesion, the government broadcasts lessons on radio and television. But few pupils in Kamuli district have access. Students began drifting away from their education altogether. Boys started doing any type of menial work they could find. Teen pregnancy rates began to increase. Both genders have been at risk of not returning to school when they eventually reopen.
Seeing this, members of the ISU-Uganda Program education team got creative. They received district permission to work with the schools and demonstration gardens in new ways. ISU-UP is providing inputs to agricultural club members and vulnerable students to grow personal gardens at home. Students who live near school gardens contribute to their upkeep and receive produce and meals in return. ISU-UP staff deliver scholastic materials directly to local leaders where they are distributed to students each week, and the previous week’s papers are delivered to teachers for grading and student feedback.
Through this special effort, students are re-engaging in their education and getting back on track! Educating the next generation is imperative for sustainable rural livelihoods. Your contributions will help keep this program going until schools fully reopen. And right now, your donation has twice the impact through matching funds!
Your donations will help supply much-needed emergency relief such as food and blankets to rural Ugandans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Iowa State University-Uganda Program staff in Kamuli district who work every day to carry out the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods’ programs, have not only adapted their normal job responsibilities to the current conditions but are now also working to ensure that hunger is kept at bay despite the pandemic.
"We are proud of our Ugandan team directed by Gideon Nadiope, National Director of the ISU-Uganda Program," said CSRL Director, David Acker. "They assessed the situation, came up with an appropriate plan, and immediately put it into action to help reduce hunger in the communities where they work. The plan includes delivering corn flour, rice, soap, and seeds to rural areas and frontline health workers in areas where food supplies are becoming tight."
In addition to maize, beans, and rice, blankets have also distributed in the neighboring Buyende district where more than 3,000 families have been displaced by floods.
We are grateful that several CSRL donors reached out early in the pandemic which allowed us to respond quickly. Now we need your help to continue these special efforts and help these communities bridge the gap between resiliency and recovery. You are invited to share this message with others. Every donation helps.
Provide home delivery of scholastic materials and assistance to keep students engaged in learning while schools are closed during a pandemic year
Provides enough fortified flour for a child to recover from malnutrition
Provide emergency seed, planting materials, and training for two farmers to replant a season of lost crops
Support a sewing machine used to teach skills and produce face masks and sanitary pads
Provide a toolkit for borehole maintenance to keep vital clean water running in a community
Cover mobilization and logistics costs to deliver relief supplies to two entire communities