The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with funding from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), is supporting the Government of Uganda (GoU) to implement a project entitled “Restoring Wetlands and Associated Catchments in Eastern Uganda.” The project aims to promote integrated, equitable, and sustainable management of water resources as a vehicle for rehabilitating wetlands and preventing future degradation. Implementation of the project has been ongoing since August 2021 in Butaleja, Budaka, Kibuku, Namutumba, and Kaliro districts which are all located within the highly degraded Kyoga Water Management Zone in eastern Uganda.   

The project seeks to achieve its objective through three outcomes.  Output 1 focuses on restoring degraded wetlands and associated catchments and or rehabilitating and protecting intact wetlands. Output 2 concentrates on improving agricultural practices and alternative livelihood options in the wetland catchment. Output 3 focuses on knowledge management and communication.

This assignment contributes to the delivery of output 2, and more specifically, Activity 2.1.3 “Provide technical support skills and training to the livelihood groups and roll out Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA), business development skills and enterprise selection, planning and management (SPM) module to the beneficiaries’ groups in at least 2 districts.” The assignment is premised on the background that if communities are provided with economically viable sources of livelihoods, they would be encouraged to halt all activities that destroy the wetlands, particularly agricultural activities.

Several groups of potential beneficiaries were formed in each of the 5 districts and in all cases, communities selected tailoring training for women and motorcycle repair training for men. It is against this background that UNDP seeks qualified service providers to build the capacity of the youth groups to sustainably utilize acquired skills for livelihoods’ support. Implementation of this activity will generate lessons that will contribute to Output 3: “Knowledge Management and Communication”

The overall objective of this assignment is to provide alternative livelihoods to communities that currently primarily rely on wetland resources for their livelihood. It is anticipated that the success of this activity will culminate in reduced pressure on the wetlands and their catchments, which will lead to gradual withdrawal of communities from exploitation of wetlands and eventually the gradual rehabilitation of wetlands will occur.

The specific objective is to build skills of young people to carry out some income generating activities, particularly tailoring for women and motorcycle repair for men.