The Guardian supports a village in Uganda
The Guardian Newspaper has partnered with Amref to support Katine, a village in Uganda, for three years. Donations from Guardian readers were matched by the newspapers to support a range of projects identified by the villagers themselves.
The Guardian’s media coverage of the Katine project has now finished, but Amref decided that it wanted to stay in Katine for a further year to consolidate its work with continued funding from Guardian readers and Barclays.
In particular, it wanted extra time to strengthen the community structures on which the long-term sustainability of the project depends.
New boreholes will be constructed, with the aim of 85% of the community having access to clean water by the end of the fourth year, and Amref also wants to increase household latrine coverage from 39% to 75%.
The offices built by Amref, and the small house built by the Guardian for its journalists, will be given to Katine as community resources. Several options are being considered about how to make the best use of these two buildings.
The Guardian is planning to return to Katine intermittently over the next few years to report on how the community fares following Amref’s withdrawal. Those articles will appear on the Guardian’s new global development website.
Amref and the Guardian are still working on plans for a form of legacy fund in Katine, with the aim of providing the community with a small amount of ongoing support.