Teachers around the world have played a vital part in the fight against the coronavirus throughout the pandemic. On World Teachers’ Day October 5, we want to appreciate all teachers for their tremendous efforts.
Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, and forced schools to close in most parts of the world. Particularly in vulnerable communities, such as refugee settlements, teachers have found themselves in the frontline of the pandemic response.
Teachers raise awareness on Covid-19 and measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. They have also adopted new ways of teaching in a situation where education must continue and distance learning remains the only solution. Countries like Uganda had to discover new ways of learning from home.
Due to limited internet access, refugee settlements in Uganda have relied largely on lessons broadcasted on radio. Finn Church Aid (FCA) has supported the government’s policies of social distancing and distance learning by distributing radios and home learning packages to learners and their families, also enabling them to follow updates on the Covid-19 situation.
FCA along with UNHCR Uganda, with funding from EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) and Education Cannot Wait, distributed 1,403 radios and 141,825 home learning packages to learners in refugee settlements in Southwestern Uganda and the West Nile region.
Godfrey Baryakaijuka and Annet Rukundo have conducted radio lessons on Radio Nyumbani and supported home-based learning in Rwamwanja refugee settlement. They support the learners at their homes with working on their home learning packages that complement the broadcasts.
Godfrey Baryakaijuka, teacher
Photo: Hugh Rutherford / FCA
I walk from home to home, checking the assignments of learners and helping them with what they may find difficult. I sometimes walk very long distances as there are learners that stay in villages far away from me. The weather is not always favourable. It can be difficult to move when it is either too hot or if we are having heavy rains. On radio, I have conducted lessons on English and Mathematics for Primary 3 learners.
Teachers work hard to maintain the connection between the schools and the learners and to ensure that learning continues. I find that some learners have resorted to agriculture during school closure because of staying home for too long. I take it upon myself to approach these learners and encourage them. Teachers follow the procedures set to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and also remind families of the importance of social distancing and wearing masks.
I love being a teacher, not even school closure has affected my passion. I enjoy giving guidance to my students and being a source of comfort for them. Many of them ask me if schools will ever open or if they will ever see their friends at school. I keep reassuring them that there will be a day when they can all return to school.
My biggest priority during this pandemic is to keep learners motivated and eager to continue with their education regardless of the obstacles.
Annet Rukundo, teacher
Photo: Hugh Rutherford / FCA
Most learners I interact with keep asking me when they can go back to school. It makes me very proud because I know that a lot of them want to return. Parents also show a lot of interest in their children’s learning. When there was a lockdown in the refugee settlement, most of the teachers also stayed at home. We were very happy when we were called back to teaching.
I have conducted radio lessons on English for Primary four and five over the radio. During my lessons, learners within the community would reach me via phone for further explanations while on air. Before the home learning packages were distributed and radio lessons conducted, I would see learners usually around the school playgrounds and compounds idle and doing nothing. The lessons have kept them engaged with learning at home.
One of the challenges of distance learning was that some learners had no access to radios. Some who did could not afford to buy airtime to their phones, and therefore could not call the teacher for further assistance. In addition, delivering lessons on the radio is teacher-centred and not learner-centred.
In a class, you are able to give learners more attention whereas, on the radio, you would not be able to know if what you are teaching is well understood or not. When it was time to receive calls on the live radio broadcasts, the lines would usually be busy. It was hard for learners to reach the teacher.
I am now conducting home-based learning within the community and reach out to learners in their homes. We teach from Monday to Thursday and on Friday, we teachers meet to review and discuss challenges and agree on a way forward. We also have inter-school meetings with other teachers to share experiences and work at improvising better teaching methods.
I am glad that schools gradually start opening on October 15 starting with candidate classes as decided by the government of Uganda. I know the learners are excited and this makes me happy.
Education remains key in any situation we might encounter.
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
The teacher interviews were conducted by FCA Uganda’s Communications Officer Sharon Shaba. FCA along with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR supported learners in Rwamwanja refugee settlement with home learning packages and radios.
Millions of girls and women living in refugee camps urgently need feminine hygiene products. They also desperately hope for access to clean water, soap and functioning door locks.
At present, roughly 30 million girls and women around the world are living as refugees, and many of them face the same question every month: how will I cope with my period this time?
Taking care of menstrual hygiene in a refugee camp setting is not easy. No proper sanitary pads are available. Or if there are, they are far too expensive to buy, at least in sufficient amounts.
The girls and women living in refugee camps in different parts of the world also have to fear for their safety. Privacy is another real problem in settings where women have to use communal toilets that are rarely even equipped with locks.
Feminine hygiene is difficult to maintain when there is no clean water for washing up. The cultural stigmatization of women as impure during menstruation also makes girls and women feel ashamed of their bodies. At worst, women and girls have to isolate themselves from their community or even their own family during their periods.
Girls attending Yoyo primary school going to classes at Bidibidi refugee settlement.
Youth learn about menstruation in school
”Not having sanitary pads, for example, has a direct impact on girls’ education,” says Project Manager Lilian Musoki from Uganda.
Musoki was involved in organising the distribution of hygiene kits in Bidibidi refugee settlement. Bidibidi has a population of 270,000 people and is one of the world’s largest refugee settlements. A city unto itself, its inhabitants have mainly fled the civil war in Uganda’s northern neighbour South Sudan.
Although menstruation and access to education may seem to have little connection, according to Musoki, they go hand in hand.
“Girls stay out of school every time they have their period. Without proper sanitary pads and school facilities for taking care of their menstrual hygiene in private, girls cannot make the most of their education.”
The problem is that their absence from school cause girls to fall behind in their studies, making it difficult for them to complete their education.
In Bidibidi refugee settlement, proper sanitary towels are hard to come by or they are too expensive for the women and girls living as refugees. That’s why women and girls often make do with whatever is on hand. In practice, it means that they resort to making pads themselves, for example, from pieces of fabric cut from old cloths.
These makeshift pads sometimes leak and lead to odours, causing embarrassment and shame for the girls. This is why the hygiene kits distributed by FCA also contain sanitary pads. A total of 19,850 girls in Bidibidi were able to obtain the FCA hygiene kit in 2019.
On Menstrual Hygiene Day last year, Finn Church Aid distributed 19 850 hygiene kits to girls in Bidibidi refugee settlement in Uganda.
According to Lilian Musoki, girls often lack menstrual knowledge.
“In our culture, talking openly about menstruation is off-limits, even between mothers and daughters. It is culturally unacceptable”, Musoki says.
Mothers also have their hands full with keeping up with housework and earning a livelihood. In FCA’s projects in refugee settlements, information has been shared, and schools also provide menstrual education.
In school, girls learn the facts about menstruation and how to maintain good hygiene. They can also turn to a designated female teacher if their period starts in the middle of the school day. Musoki says that they can ask the teacher for a sanitary pad so that they can continue with their school day.
Lilian Musoki.
“When the girls get accurate information, the shame associated with menstruation and the changes in their own bodies disappears,” Musoki insists.
For environmental reasons, some of the sanitary pads FCA provides can be washed and reused. Soap bars for washing them are included in the hygiene kits distributed in refugee settlements. Hygiene kits also include panties.
According to Musoki, FCA is providing pads because other products, such as tampons and menstrual cups, would prove too costly for local people. A tampon pack worth three US dollars is a luxury no one can afford.
Safety equals a door with a lock
For menstrual hygiene, girls need to have their own toilets where they can change their sanitary pads in private, without any fear of harassment.
The safe spaces for women and girls have also been vital to girls and women living on the other side of the world in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in the world’s largest refugee camp. There, in partnership with DanChurchAid (DCA), FCA supports safe spaces for the Rohingya women and girls who have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh.
In the safe spaces, women and girls can use clean and safe toilets with hand-washing stations and soap. In addition, they get sanitary pads that enable them to participate in the literacy and numeracy lessons offered by FCA and DCA, also during their periods.
Why are the toilets in safe spaces so important? Kaji Shahin Akter who works as the Programme Manager for Gender-Based Violence in Cox’s Bazar, says that the taboos surrounding menstruation expose women to violence.
“Traditionally, Rohingya women have used rags cut from worn-out garments as their sanitary towels. Women need to wash these either early in the morning or late at night, been conditioned by the culture to regard menstruation and menstruating women as polluted,” she says.
Such notions compel women and girls to go to the camp’s water stations after dark, exposing them to sexual or other forms of violence. Even toilets designated for women can be dangerous when inadequately monitored.
In Cox’s Bazar Bangladesh, the world’s largest refugee settlement, Finn Church Aid and Dan Church Aid have built safe spaces for women and girls.
Cox’s Bazar Education Programme Manager Margaret Goll from DCA says that even the disposable sanitary pads are problematic. They add to the issue of waste in the massive refugee camp.
“There are many kinds of problems related to menstruation in Cox’s Bazar, actually every problem you can imagine,” Goll says.
Men also need menstrual information
Menstruation puts even further limits to girls’ lives, as many Rohingya girls stop attending school after they get their first period, on average at the age of 14.
“In Rohingya culture, when a girl starts menstruating, she can only spend time with the men and boys of her own family. Many girls are also married off when they start menstruating,” says Goll.
In Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, women and girls have their own safe spaces where they are able to study and get information on menstrual health and hygiene as well as other important issues in their own lives.
Rohingyas believe that a girl or a woman is impure during menstruation and can therefore not participate in normal life. According to Margaret Goll and Kaji Shahin Akter, these attitudes are also addressed. Getting the community’s men involved in the conversations is essential.
”We have provided boys and men not only with information on menstruation but also on positive body image and positive fatherhood. In the beginning, this was difficult, and the men and boys were reluctant to join in because all of us working for the project are women,” says Kaji Shahin Akter.
Eventually, progress was made when religious leaders, such as imams, started taking part in the project.
One way to make menstruation more visible has been the annual World Menstruation Hygiene Day on 28 May.
“It has been a big event in Cox’s Bazar in previous years. This year, however, we may have to limit public gatherings,” says Goll.
Africa is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, despite facing many challenges across the continent. Political ties of African countries, security issues and the effects of global phenomena, like climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic, have an increasing influence on the entire world.
This is why an increasing number of actors build partnerships with African countries. Last year, the US launched a new Africa strategy. Russia held its first Africa summit, and China has meticulously strengthened its ties with the continent. This year, the EU has worked on its own partnership strategy.
How should Finland position itself to play a part in Africa’s future?
FCA has released a document with recommendations for Finland’s Africa strategy. It emphasises that Africa is a continent of youth. They form the continent’s future and affect the entire world.
FCA argues that Finland can achieve its goal of having an impact beyond its size if its Africa strategy manages to harness the continent’s youth dividend for positive change and development.
While national populations in other parts of the world are ageing, most African countries have majority youth populations. Currently, 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25. These young women and men bring great potential for the African future. By 2050, there will be 2 billion Africans, and one-third of the world’s youth will be in sub-Saharan Africa.
Some of the most pressing needs in African countries coincide with areas where Finland stands out as a global leader, such as quality education, linking learning to earning, sustainable livelihoods and promoting peace, security, gender equality and good governance.
A mutually beneficial partnership is an opportunity for both Africa and Finland.
Learn more about the path forward from FCA’s recommendations to Finland’s Africa strategy. Download the document by clicking here.
Finn Church Aid (FCA) has granted 100,000 euros to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in South Sudan, Somalia and Uganda, in addition to 50,000 euros previously allocated to Kenya.
Vulnerable communities across the world are bracing for the impact of a potential spread of the coronavirus.
An essential part of slowing down the pandemic is maintaining sufficient hand hygiene and avoiding human contact but the measures are not easy to apply in for instance refugee contexts. Camps and settlements are densely populated, and people even lack access to soap.
Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa. FCA partners with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR in the education sector and the work includes the two largest refugee settlements: Bidibidi in the north and Kyaka in the southwest of Uganda. They are home to over 250,000 refugees.
Uganda has closed schools across the country to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. By early April, Uganda had recorded 44 cases of the COVID-19 disease. The actual number might be higher.
FCA raises awareness on necessary hygiene practices and measures among school children, their families, and teachers. The information is shared through the radio, text messages and posters. FCA also distributes soap and other hygiene products to families and increases handwashing facilities. Within communities, mobilisers also share information through megaphones.
The work is financed with 50,000 euros from FCA’s disaster fund.
If schools remain closed, children from vulnerable families risk severe consequences. Many have access to clean water, food and emotional support only at school. They face a greater risk of violence, child labour, harassment, pregnancy and child marriage when they are out of school.
FCA’s Country Director Wycliffe Nsheka says that FCA also implements precautionary measures to allow schools to open safely when the time comes.
“We are adding handwashing facilities, disinfectants and maintaining facilities, and we prepare to train teaches in psychosocial support”, he says.
A lack of water and a fragile administration increase Somalia’s vulnerability
In Somalia, FCA starts awareness-raising initiatives in its six schools in Baidoa. The town hosts the second largest population of internally displaced people in Somalia. FCA granted 15,000 euros to the intervention.
Somalia had recorded five cases of COVID-19 by early April. The actual number might be higher.
Somalia has also closed all schools. FCA can reach around 3,200 school children and their families through school committees and teachers. Country Director Mika Jokivuori says that FCA arranges campaigns with the help of community mobilisers, distributes posters, gives guidance on hand hygiene and provides families with soap.
“The Baidoa area is particularly vulnerable because of a fragile administration, and a lack of healthcare and water. Schools cannot provide clean water to pupils on a daily basis”, Jokivuori adds.
FCA’s community mobilisers demonstrate handwashing practices and other precautions in Baidoa, Somalia in March 2020. Photo: FCA
Children in the Baidoa area do not have smartphones and connections that allow distance learning. School closures thus further restrict the learning opportunities and well-being of children and youth that are already in a vulnerable position.
When schools reopen in Somalia, FCA will continue its awareness-raising by training teachers and pupils, establish school hygiene clubs and campaign for a safe return to school
Urgent need for precautionary measures in conflict-affected South Sudan
South Sudan’s government has also closed the country’s schools for at least a month, starting March 20th. The country has not recorded a single case of COVID-19 by early April, but the risks are high due to a fragile healthcare system and a challenging humanitarian situation.
Around 1,5 million people live internally displaced within South Sudan following years of conflict, and before the coronavirus pandemic, 7,5 million were already in need of humanitarian assistance. Malaria and diarrhoea are already common diseases, and a spread of the coronavirus would result in unprecedented consequences.
FCA has supported education for over 25,000 children and youth in Mingkaman, Fangak and Tonga, which are located in Lakes State, Jonglei State and Upper Nile State.
Although there are no recorded cases of COVID-19 in South Sudan at this point, there is a desperate need to have interventions in place, says FCA’s Country Director Berhanu Haile.
A group of volunteer teachers participated in FCA’s teacher training in New Fangak, South Sudan in March 2020. Now FCA begins to distribute information on the coronavirus and hygiene practices in schools through teachers. Photo: Maria de la Guardia / FCA.
South Sudan’s government is working with humanitarian aid agencies to support the fight against COVID-19 through awareness-raising and mass sensitization, including people living in internally displaced people camps.
“We must ensure that parents, children, teachers and the wider communities are sensitized and supported with essential lifesaving utilities like soap to prevent the spread of the looming pandemic if cases are recorded at a later stage. Prevention is better than cure”, Haile says.
FCA’s intervention reaches over 21,000 children, teachers and parents. Soap is distributed to 1,500 families. FCA’s disaster fund supports the actions with 35,000 euros.
Preparing for reconstruction after the corona crisis
The number of coronavirus cases and restrictions to contain the outbreak change quickly in different countries. FCA is prepared to modify and adapt its operations according to needs and circumstances, says Eija Alajarva, Head of Humanitarian Assistance.
FCA monitors developments in its countries of operation. Alajarva emphasises that despite the current chaos, we also have to look into the future.
“When the pandemic slows down and restrictions are removed, we have to support particularly children and youth returning to school”, she says.
Children and youth might need psychosocial support and remedial classes because their learning was disrupted
Entrepreneurs in developing countries also need support after the crisis. Movement restrictions threaten the income within the service sector, and the income of farmers usually depends on access to markets.
“Although our programme countries have yet the worst ahead of them, it is vital to prepare for reconstruction to ensure that there are no delays for it when the time comes”, Alajarva says.
Finn Church Aid (FCA) prepares to deliver hygiene products and awareness campaigns to prevent the coronavirus from spreading within refugee camps and settlements.
People living in refugee camps and settlements are already in a vulnerable position and suffer from a lack of hygiene products and health care facilities. A spread of the coronavirus could have devastating consequences.
FCA works as the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR’s partner in the education sector and arranges education for 120,000 learners in Uganda’s refugee settlements.
“Schools are full and there are a lot of learners. It is now essential to improve hygiene conditions”, says FCA’s Country Director for Uganda, Wycliffe Nsheka.
“We arrange hygiene training for learners, teachers and health committees at the settlements. We increase the availability of hand washing facilities, sanitisers and other products for disinfection. We also print information brochures in different languages and disseminate the same information on the radio.”
Kenya closed down its schools on Monday March 16th. FCA supported schools and pre-schools are also closed. FCA now prepares an information campaign on the importance of washing hands.
The campaign will run on the radio, targeting children and their parents while schools remain closed, says FCA’s Country Director for Kenya, John Bongei. FCA plans to distribute hand sanitisers, soap and buckets also to the children’s parents.
“We will also share information from the Kenyan government on lectures held on radio. We are scouting service providers to support long distance learning, in case the schools remain closed for a longer period”, Bongei says.
FCA’s country programme in Somalia also takes measures to improve hygiene conditions in schools.
Uganda is said to have the most welcoming refugee policy in the world and continues to host a large number of refugees from its neighbouring countries.
After being registered at the border, refugees have the right to receive education, healthcare, work and other services. Only the right to vote in national elections is excluded.
This policy is usually not the case in other countries, and that is one reason why refugees flee into Uganda. War, violence, economic crisis and political instability, especially in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, cause people to leave their home country, and Uganda receives the largest portion.
Currently, we host some 1,1 million refugees, one of the largest refugee populations in the world.
One of the reasons I believe we Ugandans are fully accepting and welcoming towards refugees is because of shared cultures. Some ethnic groups from South Sudan live on both sides of the border and have for decades had that connection with hardly any cultural differences.
Moreover, we generally consider this open-door policy a win for all parties. Ugandans and refugees both benefit from lifesaving solutions. Also, turning our backs to refugees can be fatal.
Through our friendly policies towards refugees, they are able to get an education, health and even employment within Ugandan host communities. Eventually, they become productive members of society. This contributes to the whole country’s development.
Refugees are allocated a small piece of land to settle, which encourages self-reliance and promotes their coexistence and integration. Because they are members of society, they purchase goods and services in the local markets and different businesses.
Many other countries would also want to be in the position to host refugees but might lack the resource pull and also assistance from international and local organisations. Uganda is fortunate enough to have different players working together with the government to support refugees.
There are still many challenges in hosting such a large number, for instance, funding gaps in health, education, water and security. These issues can naturally also cause tensions between the host communities and refugees. But we choose to do our best to solve this rather than looking away.
The government and humanitarian organisations consistently pair appeals to the international community to provide Uganda with adequate resources to continue working with refugees.
Despite these challenges, Uganda has never looked at refugees as a burden. We continue accepting, looking out and protecting them because it is the morally right thing to do.
Sharon Shaba works as Communications Officer for Finn Church Aid in Uganda.
Few adults from your childhood become as memorable as encouraging teachers. A good teacher can have a life-changing influence on a young person’s future and career choice.
Learning is one of life’s most rewarding things. Have you ever wondered who create this wonderful experience? Teachers.
A proficient teacher inspires students about their subject, because a student’s enthusiasm is the prerequisite for learning. If the subject does not raise interest, there will hardly be any learning.
Teachers around the world are celebrated on October 5th. Teachers put themselves on the line in difficult conditions, sometimes working even without pay. We asked teachers involved in FCA’s projects what they think about their work and the importance of education in their community.
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
Head Teacher John Egielan’s students are like children to him. Egielan now teaches primary school learners in Turkana County, Kenya. He himself grew up in the surrounding pastoralist communities and knows how tough it is to attend school. Poverty is the greatest obstacle.
Egielan’s single mother paid his school fees by collecting firewood.
“I don’t have any children of my own, but in school I support other people’s children. I am sure that my work pays off when I see them succeeding in life.”
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
Molly Azikuru and Godfrey Nyakuta teach primary school children in Bidibidi refugee settlement, Uganda. The settlement opened three years ago when hundreds of thousands of refugees arrived from neighbouring South Sudan. Teaching overcrowded classrooms in the midst of a humanitarian crisis is anything but easy. Nevertheless, Azikuru and Nyakuta maintain their calm and do not give in to the challenges. They dedicate themselves day after day to inspire their learners.
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
Jean Lessene has himself experienced the Central African Republic’s civil war and closely followed its impact on the lives of children and their communities. Employed as Head of the Education Sector, Lessene has evaluated the destruction of schools and participated in their reconstruction. For him it is clear that without education, the Central African Republic cannot achieve peace.
“Social cohesion and the significance of peace are among the most important things that a school can teach.”
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
Marave Chhay is an experienced teacher and one of the first career counsellors trained by FCA in Cambodia. Learners attending career counselling learn valuable working life skills, such as problem solving and taking initiatives, and they are trained to identify their strengths as well as follow their dreams. You will not reach your goals without making plans.
In schools with career counselling, like Anlongvil secondary, the number of school dropouts has decreased alongside improved learning results. The teacher or career counsellor is sometimes the only adult supporting and encouraging youth at a critical moment.
Ugandan Emmanuel Obwori, 40, has founded and run five different businesses during his lifetime, all of which have been successful. Now he has a job that no one in Finland had done before January 2019.
In the autumn of 2018, when Finn Church Aid became the first humanitarian organisation in Finland to found its own investment company, FCA Investments, taking the position of investment manager was a natural decision for Emmanuel Obwori.
Obwori has always had a knack for business.
Born and raised in Ugandan capital of Kampala, Obwori first became an entrepreneur at age 16 while on summer holiday from school.
”Back then, my father worked for Sony, and one day he brought home a computer. At the time, computers were still very rare in Uganda. At first, I used it to play games, but then it occurred to me that I could teach other people how to use it as well. I started giving computer lessons on my parents’ balcony for a small charge.”
Obwori used the money he made from the computer lessons to buy baking supplies and started baking sesame cakes.
”The neighbourhood children coming home from school were always looking for something to snack on. I made quite a lot of money selling the cakes. My parents ended up being angry with me because I focused more on my business ventures than I did on schoolwork,” Obwori laughs.
Later, Obwori became an assistant in a computer hall near his university. When the elderly man who owned the hall wanted to retire, Obwori persuaded him to sell the hall to him on credit, with Obwori paying him back once the business would become profitable.
”I soon noticed that children and young people were mainly interested in computer games, so my younger brother and I turned the hall into a gaming arcade. It was one of the first gaming arcades in Kampala and is currently the biggest in the city. My younger brother still runs it.”
Obwori sees a great deal of unexplored potential in combining traditional development cooperation and sustainable investment.
”Most people think of this as a zero-sum game; you either work for a non-governmental organisation or for the private sector. In fact, the two complement each other. Non-governmental organisations are good at providing emergency aid: delivering food, shelter and drinking water as well as offering education and immediate income support. But if we leave it there, the recipients of aid will depend on our support for the rest of their life.”
Finn Church Aid’s investment company invests in small and medium enterprises in developing countries in order to offer people work and an income even after aid organisations have left the country. As an investment manager, Obwori’s job is to seek out and assess potential enterprises.
”We choose the entrepreneurs and businesses that already have the biggest positive impact on their communities. We invest in these businesses to help them grow and employ more people. This way, these businesses lift the community out of poverty for good.”
Text: Elina Kostiainen
Translation: Leena Vuolteenaho
Finn Church Aid founded the company FCA Investments Ltd to boost job creation in developing and fragile countries. Its second investment targets the agriculture sector in Uganda.
Finland invests in small businesses through FCAI
Finland will invest 16 million euros in small businesses that create jobs through FCA Investments Ltd (FCAI), a company established by FCA.
The loan granted to FCA is a so-called development policy investment.
Finn Church Aid’s investment company FCA Investments Ltd (FCAI) announced its second investment on Thursday June 27th in Kampala. FCAI committed 4 million euros to the Ugandan Yield Fund, which targets agriculture-related businesses in Uganda across all value chains.
Yield Fund was launched by The European Union (EU), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) in January 2017, and it is also backed by The Soros Economic Development Forum (SEDF).
The fund’s support to agriculture includes supply of agricultural inputs, production and agro-processing within all sub-sectors, post-harvest storage and distribution, but also peripheral activities such as transportation, communications and certification.
“This is a unique opportunity to invest in solid local expertise in the agriculture sector, with strong international support”, says FCAI’s CEO Jukka-Pekka Kärkkäinen.
Yield Fund is a partnership between public and private investors that offer innovative and tailored financial solutions, using equity, semi-equity and debt to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It has the potential to generate both strong financial returns and significant social impact.
“The model looks at the entire value chain and matches the investment with tailor-made technical assistance. Investee companies can increase production and productivity in a robust manner. This concept is scalable and can be copied to other, even more fragile countries”, Kärkkäinen says.
Investments in agriculture change lives in Uganda
Yield Fund seeks to support businesses with a clear competitive advantage and ambitious local management. The fund will benefit the Ugandan economy by improving an estimated 100,000 rural household livelihoods, and increasing access to markets for an estimated 26,000 farmers.
Emmanuel Obwori, Investments Manager for FCA Investments speaking at the press conference. Photo: Erik Nyström / FCA
It also creates jobs and employment opportunities, ensures food security while generating income, foreign exchange and new export opportunities – all fundamentally contributing to Uganda’s economic growth and the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Investments in the agricultural sector is the surest way of changing lives in Uganda, says Emmanuel Obwori, Investment Manager at FCA Investments.
“Employing over 70% of Uganda’s working population, the agricultural sector is Uganda’s largest employer, but it contributes only 25 percent to the GDP”, Obwori says.
“The agricultural sector is also the least productive, inevitably trapping the majority of Uganda’s population in cycles of seasonality and hunger.”
Grassroots level investments during the next three years
Emmanuel Obwori, Investment Manager for FCAI (left) and Edward Isingoma, Managing Parnter for PCP / Yield Fund. Photo: Erik Nyström / FCA
To date, Yield Fund has made investments of over 1,9 million euro in SESACO limited, an agro-processing company specialising in soya products, CECOFA, a coffee processor, and Chemiphar, an analytical laboratory providing testing and inspection services to SME businesses.
The fund is managed by Pearl Capital Partners (PCP) Uganda, with the mandate to make investments ranging from 250,000 to 2 million euros. Managing Partner Dr. Edward Isingoma says that PCP’s and FCAI’s ideologies of supporting vulnerable smallholder farmers match perfectly.
“Some of the key principles from which Yield Fund Uganda was established are about the unique, conducive agri-business environment, work against climate change and the potential of bringing about real change in the lives of smallholder farmers and rural communities”, Isingoma says.
By utilizing PCP’s and FCAI’s impact Investing experiences and principles, Isingoma believes that the efforts will also create core foundations from which the SME agri-business sector and smallholder farmer communities can develop and grow together.
“We shall be looking forward to making strategic, effective and efficient on the ground investments over the next three years and are excited at partnering with FCAI not only as an investor, but also in impact measurement, reporting, SME growth capitalization and more.”
Dr. Edward Isingoma, Managing Partner for PCP / Yield Fund speaking at the launch event. Photo: Erik Nyström / FCA
FCAI plans more investments in the near future
FCA Investments was founded in 2018 to invest in socially and environmentally responsible businesses that create jobs, raise the income level of low-paid employees, and reduce poverty.
The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs granted FCAI a loan of 16 million euros for investment activities that support this objective. The creation of jobs plays a key role in the fight against poverty and inequality in developing countries. Jobs are also key to sustainable peace.
According to a World Bank estimate, the world should create more than 600 million jobs during the next 15 years in order to give its growing population opportunities for decent livelihoods.
The next investment after Uganda will possibly target Somalia, and as resources grow, investment activities can also be launched in, for example, Cambodia, Jordan, Kenya, Myanmar, and Nepal.
“We have now made two SME fund investments, the other one being in Asia. These investments are important for risk diversification and information sharing”, Kärkkäinen says.
“True impact investors are happy to share the lessons they have learnt and help others so that they do not need to invent the wheel again. The expertise we have teamed with is extremely valuable when entering into environments that are more fragile.“
On the occasion of World Refugee Day, 16 non-governmental organisations call for urgent action to prevent and mitigate the impact of environmental degradation around refugee settlements in Uganda.
Uganda currently hosts more than 1.25 million refugees, most of whom rely on natural resources in and around refugee settlements for domestic fuel, construction and livelihoods. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Uganda’s refugees consume at least 1.1 million tonnes of firewood every year, as fuel wood is the primary source of energy security. Each individual in the refugee community is estimated to consume up to 1.6 kg firewood per day, compared with host community members who consume up to 2.1 kg per day. This puts a strain on the availability of wood, grass and other resources in refugee-hosting districts.
The impact is not only environmental – it also fuels increased competition over natural resources between refugees and the Ugandan host community. While the latter continue to show considerable generosity in hosting refugees, they rely on the same trees, grass and water sources as refugees. As scarcity increases, so do tensions over access to, and management of, natural resources. Violent incidents affecting both refugees and Ugandans have already occurred, as documented in research done in Lamwo, Adjumani and Arua by International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI).
Scarcity of resources has an acute impact on women and girls who are responsible for the day-to-day collection of firewood and grass for thatched roofs. They can spend 12-24 hours collecting firewood which they have to seek further from their homes, putting them at risk of sexual violence. Refugees and Ugandans living around the refugee settlements also rely on the same natural resources to make a living. Sustainable management of natural resources is therefore key to enable Uganda’s promoted policy of self-reliance and inclusion of refugees, especially as humanitarian assistance suffers from insufficient funding.
National and international actors responding to the refugee situation in Uganda, including signatories to this statement, are investing in alternative sources of energy and efforts to mitigate environmental damage. Environmental protection has been identified as a key priority for Uganda’s refugee response. The Ugandan government is developing a water and environment response plan to address environmental degradation in refugee-hosting areas, under the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) and supported by the humanitarian response led by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and UNHCR.
But more concrete action has to be undertaken on the ground. Tree planting in and around the refugee sites has been significant, but remains insufficient. The government of Uganda, UNHCR and its partners should increase reforestation efforts, and ensure follow-up. As less than half of the refugee population and 20% of the host community use energy-saving stoves, the same actors should increase their distribution and the efficiency of their use. Community dialogues and sensitisation have yielded results, but need to be scaled up to allow refugee and host community leaders to adequately detect, prevent and address tensions around natural resources.
To do so, we call on international partners to direct resources towards programmes that address environmental degradation and promote peaceful co-existence among communities affected by displacement. International commitments to share responsibility with major refugee-hosting countries like Uganda have to be translated into real action and, crucially, financial support.
More refugees continue to arrive, and large-scale returns to their country of origin remain untenable in the short time, given the protracted situations in Uganda’s neighbouring countries. Without a significant increase in investment, environmental degradation in refugee-hosting districts will have serious consequences for many years to come.
World Refugee Day takes place each year on 20 June. This year’s global theme is #StepWithRefugees — Take A Step on World Refugee Day
