Organization name: Toro Development Network (ToroDev)
Country: Uganda
http://www.torodev.blogspot.com/
________________________________________________
Blog description:
ToroDev’s blog (www.torodev.blogspot.com) was created in 2011 to keep, strengthen and build a strong loyal internet community. The organisation has since July 2010 been implementing a project on Rural Fm Radio Broadcasting for Entreprenuership Development in the seven districts of the Rwenzori Region in partnership with Stem Van Afrika. The project involved training small scale rural entreprenuers (youth and women) especially in issues of market and credit access and information sharing. Most of the project participants are involved in agri-business since Rwenzori Region is pre-dorminantly an agricultural area. The project also involved training and interactions with FM radio managers, proprietors and journalists in market information access and dissemination. The project created a demand for ToroDev’s project participants to have an on-line tool to help them share and exchange information for entreprenuership development in the Rwenzori region.
We also highly encaurage anyone with information related to market access, credit facilities, agricultural scientific information, enterprenuership success stories, ICTs and rural development or any thing in relation to entreprenuership development and ICTs to write us an articles.
Objectives
- To help in information sharing between rural small scale entreprenuers and rural FM radio journalists.
- To help in timely access of relevant information for entreprenuership development in the Rwenzori region.
- To help in easy replication of success stories for adoption in other communities in the Rwenzori region through proper documentation and sharing.
Contents
- Market access
- Credit facilities
- Agricultural scientific information
- Entreprenuership and agricultural news and opportunities
- Entreprenuership success stories
- Business development resources and news
- ICTs and rural development resources and news
- Weather news
- Budgetary processes
- Rural Development advocacy
________________________________________________
Organization profile:
Toro Development Network (ToroDev) is a registered organisation. It is a Ugandan Non Governmental organization based in Fort Portal (Western Uganda) and operating in the Rwenzori region districts of Kabarole, Kyenjojo, Kamwenge, Ntoroko, Bundibugyo, Kyegegwa and Kasese.
ToroDev was established in 2005 as a community based NGO in Kabarole and Kyenjojo districts and later on become legally incorporated as a private company limited by guarantee (Registration No. 115419) in Uganda. Initially, ToroDev focused on sustainable community development through promoting access and use of reliable and timely information that facilitates knowledge sharing, especially for entrepreneurial and small scale agribusiness enterprise development. In doing this, ToroDev has been, for the past three years, cooperating with rural farmers groups in the above districts and later on in the newly created Kyegegwa district to improve production and marketing of main agricultural products like beans, groundnuts, maize, bananas, pineapples and local passion fruits. ToroDev has also participated in establishing Kabarole Information Centre, a public access point and training centre for rural farmers in Kabarole district.
ToroDev’s current project implemented in partnership with Stem Van Afrika (SvA) for two years (2010-2012) “promoting strategic community radio broadcasting for innovation and entrepreneurship development in the Rwenzori region, Western Uganda” focuses on improving production and marketing skills of rural youth and women involved in small scale agribusiness enterprises development. The other most recently ended project, “Increasing small scale rural farmers revenues by using sustainable ICT-Enabled production and marketing tools in Kabarole and Kyenjojo districts” was among the 20 best projects out of 230 other projects in 2008 from the Africa, Pacific and Caribbean/Latin America countries and was awarded a grant by the Association of Progressive Communications Women’s Network (APC WN) under the Gender, Agriculture and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) initiative, in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP – EU (CTA), for ICT training, development of relevant local content information and knowledge sharing materials on production and rural marketing system for small scale women farmers from five (5) rural agricultural producers and processors groups in Kabarole and Kyenjojo districts.
ToroDev envisions; A community that is well informed, knowledgeable, democratic, empowered, wealthier and ressponsible for her own development processes for sustainable positive livelihoods.
Our Mission Statement is; To support the realization of a free and democratic environment, where innovation and entrepreneurship skills can be developed by utilising both modern and traditional ICT tools, equipment and services that may include unlimited, equitable access and use of relevant information and knowledge sharing facilities for peri-urban and rural community of the Rwenzori region of western Uganda.
Our strategic goals are;
- To promote equitable access, training and use of modern and traditional ICTs (e-inclusion) that generate relevent information and provide knowledge sharing facilities that can unlock and tap innovation and intrepreneurship abilities of men and women in the Rwenzori region of Western Uganda.
- To establish and strengthen the inter-institutional networking at national, regional and international levels for exchange of relevant information, knowledge and skills for socio-economic development of both the peri-urban and rural communities of the Rwenzori region, Western Uganda.
- To lobby and advocate for appropriate national, regional and international ICT policies that target to empower the poorer and rural communities to also equitably benefit from the opportunities provided by the modern information/ICT revolution.
- To promote good governance, public accountability and transparency among the local and national leaders for improved service delivery for the benefit of the rural community in the Rwenzori region and Uganda in general.
- To monitor, evaluate and provide consultancy services to community based development projects aimed on sustainably integrating both modern and traditional ICT tools, equipment and services for improved knowledge sharing, marketing and value addition.
________________________________________________
Click on the button below to comment on this blog