| dc.description.abstract | The study assessed the contribution of the Millennium Village
Project to the socio-economic transformation of communities with a
case study of Ruhiira, Isingiiro District in South Western Uganda.
The specific objectives of the study were to find out how the MVP
has contributed to improved agricultural practices and production
in the community, to identify existing interventions and gaps in
the area of education and to find out the sustainability
mechanisms being put in place to ensure continuity of project
interventions.
The study adopted a case study design with both qualitative and
quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. The research
was carried out in the sub county of Kabuyanda were one hundred
respondents participated. Interviews, questionnaires, observations
and document analysis constituted the major methods of data
collection. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were
used to identify respondents who included homesteads, head
teachers, local council leaders, cluster heads and Community
Development Officers.
Major findings revealed that the MVP has laid emphasis on
education and agricultural development as key sectors with
potential to generate spill over benefits to other sectors. The
key interventions in agriculture included; provision of
fertilisers, subsidized and improved quality seeds, assistance to
farmers in marketing of produce, and dissemination of knowledge of
improved agricultural practices. In the area of education,
findings revealed that key interventions are provision of meals to
UPE pupils, scholastic materials, training of teachers and
construction of classrooms.
Findings also revealed that the MVP has empowered communities in
planning, implementation and monitoring of project interventions,
involvement of local governments and formation of farmer groups
and committees all geared towards sustainability of project
interventions.
Major recommendations of the study necessitate the government to
take leaf from project interventions and replicate the same in
several other rural areas, the farmers should continue to be
taught better skills of practicing meaningful agriculture,
provision of better and improved seeds should continue, better
storage facilities be set up to keep farmers produce during
periods of bumper harvest and marketing of farmers produce should
be widened to include international markets in order to fetch
better prices. Teacher training be continued and teaching
incentives be introduced to cater for rural teachers and more
classrooms be constructed to accommodate the ever increasing pupil
numbers under the current Universal Primary Education arrangement. | en_US |
