Thanks to you drinking Mt Atkinson coffee we were able to contribute to the transformation of the community who grows our coffee.
“The SHINE project” was launched on 2nd October 2021 in Kanungu District, South-western Uganda.
This project was funded by The Village Project. Inpact is the Uganda Partner and Global Development Group ensured its well governed and the best development practises are in place.
Mt Atkinson Coffee funded the distribution of water purification tablets, so that all the water collected is 100% safe to drink.
For many years the Village Project has worked with Global Development group and Watoto in the building of Rain harvesting tanks in Uganda. This new project has that same heart - water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). In this pandemic world, we now are all globally aware of the need to keep disease contained.
At the start of this project a survey was conducted. The result found out that 76% of households surveyed had suffered from waterborne illness in the last 6 months. This project has set out to get this statistic down, through rain-harvesting tanks, clean water, menstrual hygiene, soap-making and WASH training champions. We are stoked with what has happened so far.
We had the privilege of meeting Alvin Muhwezi a few years back (InPact’s Co Founder and COO). His work was something we admired as it was birthed out of a passion to make a difference in his own community - Kanungu. He had worked for international NGOs for over a decade and decided it was time he did something locally-based.
At the launch of the project, Alvin explained the SHINE project purpose:
Promoting safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices in the districts of Kanungu and Rukungiri.
Furthermore, in his remarks, he emphasised that;
“We are launching a project that is close to our hearts since the main beneficiaries will be households and schools. The program hopes to improve enrolment rates, reduce incidences of water borne diseases and boost knowledge transfer through behaviour change in our communities.”
Since October thanks to The Shine Project, we have seen 60 vulnerable households receive the installation of a 1000 litre rain-harvesting tanks as well as water purification tablets to all. It is a cost share agreement: The project covered the cost of the tank, transportation, and installation, while the household met the cost of the construction of the tank stand and the installation of gutters. This cost share structure promotes ownership and shared responsibility which are both critical at realising a sustainable outcome.
Sarah Twongirwe, one of the SHINE beneficiaries who received a water tank, heartedly and passionately thanked project for giving her a domestic rain water harvesting tank. She mentioned that waterborne diseases were a regular occurrence at her home due to consumption of contaminated water but now with this donation, she believed it would be no more.
With the WASH team employed, we have seen over 3,700 community members in four water-stressed sub-counties trained, sensitised to personal hygiene and hand washing best practises as well as water purification tablets. In just six months we have seen each household and school given a box of 80 water purification tablets. Also we are delighted that 40 young women have been trained how to make reusable sanitary pads and 20 people equipped and trained to make liquid soap.
Here at Mt Atkinson Coffee we are continuing to work with this project and will continue sharing stories how people lives have changed as a result.
Buying and drinking our coffee directly helps, if you would more information or would like to contribute further to the transformation of this community, please get in touch with us by email or social media message.