KPAP

If you have been reading my blog you know that in the development world, everything has an acronym. Sometimes they make things easier but sometimes they are just annoying. This week I was with KPAP: Karamoja Productive Assets Program. Here’s the idea.

For 40 years now, WFP has been distributing food to the people of Karamoja (region, not a district). KPAP is trying to reduce this dependency on foreign food aid and strengthen local capacity to increase their own food security and improve their livelihoods (good development jargon right there). So in KPAP we mobilize communities to build chaco dams (simple dirt dams that collect rain water run off), or to start a local community garden of maize, sorgum, etc and a third option is tree farms with oranges, mangos or nim trees. Those who work on the program are Moderately Food Insecure (MFI’s as labeled by WFP). They need to work 40 hours on their project over a month long period and in return, they receive a 25kg bag of food (usually maize or another cereal). This means the food isn’t just a handout plus they get to reap the harvests of their own gardens or use the dams to water their animals or irrigate their crops. It’s really a win-win for all involved.

The challenges are abundant as to be expected where such dependency exists. People don’t want to work or they want to be paid or they want their food the day they work, etc. Even the climate plays a part and crops can be lost to disease or bugs or drought (which has crippled the area's agriculture for decades). The people are still rewarded and their work is honored. From a management perspective, it’s a bit complicated. The program is short so money needs to be spent quickly, seeds need to be planted, inputs (shovels, wheelbarrows, water pumps) need to be bought, delivered and distributed, etc. but nothing happens quickly here. We recently expanded into a new county and had to hire about 25 people in less than a week, then train them and send them out. There are 8 field monitors who oversee 40+ community mobilizers. As a manager of the program, you should keep some tabs on all of those workers, which isn’t easy because some live hours away in the communities they work in.

After some serious 4x4ing and mudding the other day, I arrived at one community to see the KPAP program. Things looked really good. They had a nice chaco dam and people were collecting water from it when I arrived. Next to the dam was a really nice cassava farm. It was weeded, clean and growing. Another garden I saw had huge stalks of maize with ears just as big as those on America’s farms. It was encouraging to see the program working and the clear benefits as intended.

It is possible that I can join another one of the interns and we can manage the program together, with me eventually taking it over. KPAP is still in a pilot stage and we keep getting short contract extensions to keep it alive. This second phase of KPAP will end in October but I think it should be extended for a long time. SP seems on board as well and while we are the ones doing food distribution, we want to see Karamoja reduce their need for free food.

So to recap, good program, good week, lot's of potential and things for me to get involved in.