If visually impaired people being your concern or if you are non-governmental organization and looking proposals for the empowerment of the visually impaired person. Take a deep look at the proposal ‘Establishing an income-generating beekeeping project for the visually impaired people’ it will help you to develop your own sample proposal. Visually impaired people are hugely affected by unemployment because many lack the skills and confidence that are required to proactively engage in generating income. There are several livelihood opportunities for the rural blind that can get them out of poverty and frustration. However, they need suitable training in certain skills and they need to gain confidence. This project is designed to set up the beekeeping initiative in rural areas and once this has been achieved. The project is for the establishment of an income-generating beekeeping project for unemployed visually impaired people in rural. The primary aim of the project is to improve living condition of the marginalized visually impaired people in rural communities with the primary objective to provide new vocational skills and income-generation opportunities for visually-disabled people in rural areas.
Executive Summary
The project is for the establishment of an income-generating beekeeping project for unemployed visually impaired people in rural Uganda. The primary aim of the project is to improve living condition of the marginalized visually impaired people in rural communities.
Through a 12 months training programme, beneficiaries will learn the basic tools of beekeeping such as Bee Hive Components, Honey Production, Packaging/Honey processing, Marketing/Pricing, Money Management. In short the project wants to create courageous and confident beekeepers.
At the end of the training, beneficiaries will be supported with equipments, market and guidance to start and run a profitable beekeeping business.
Budget for the start-up phase is xxxxx
Problem Background
Uganda has a population of about 36 million. About 1 million Ugandans are blind and 90% of partially sighted people live in the rural communities. People are born blind or become blind due to violence, health issues or simply through aging. Visually impaired people are hugely affected by unemployment because many lack the skills and confidence that are required to proactively engage in generating income. Thus blind people belong to the poorest of the country.
Intervention programmes of the Ugandan government and several local NGOs have provided little or no adequate opportunities to empower the rural blind. Most of these programmes are focusing on prevention and treatment of blindness and on rehabilitating persons who become blind at a later age. In addition, these programmes are limited to the urban areas.
And vocations that would be suitable for blind people in rural environments, such as agriculture and animal husbandry, are often not considered to be suitable for the blind. The lack of opportunities to learn adequate skills, and a lack of resources to start businesses, results in dependency, low income, poor self-esteem and social isolation.
The neglect the rural blind experience contributes to migration to the main cities where blind and partially sighted often end up as beggars in the streets.
Opportunities for the Rural Blind People in Uganda
There is hope! There are several livelihood opportunities for the rural blind that can get them out of poverty and frustration. However, they need suitable training in certain skills and they need to gain confidence.
In 2000, after conducting a study by The XXXX Organization, which showed that the country has the potential of producing 500,000 metric tonnes of honey annually, the government identified bee keeping as a lucrative enterprise that could get people out of poverty.
Agriculture is one of the major economic activities of the rural communities in Uganda. And I see a lot of potentials in agriculture for the blind, especially bee keeping.
About Organisation
Vision
To see blind and partially sighted people in rural community becoming great entrepreneurs.
Mission
To enhance livelihood and independence of blind and partially sighted people through training on bee keeping and marketing of honey products.
Primary Objective
To provide new vocational skills and income-generation opportunities for visually-disabled people in rural areas. This project is designed to set up the beekeeping initiative in rural areas and once this has been achieved, XXXX plans to expand the project to other rural communities of East African countries.
Target Group
Blind and partially sighted persons 20+ years of age.
During the 12 months start-up phase, 30 beneficiaries will be trained to become income-generating bee-keepers and XXXX will help these bee keepers with developing the market for honey and wax products.
Training Content
The project will provide training and equipment for beneficiaries to become income-generating bee keepers. Beneficiaries will go through a 5 months training in the following phases:
Phase 1: Basics to Bee farming
Beneficiaries will learn bee keeping tools that will help them to start their own bee farms. The training will take place on the XXXX Bee Farm which already exists. The XXX Bee farm currently has 15 Bee Hives of different types varying from 1 Kenyan Top Beehives to local bee hives. This is located at the training location.
Phase 2: Starting your own Bee Keeping Business
XXXX will guide participants to start their own bee keeping business through providing necessary equipments such as bee hives, bee protective suits, bee smoker etc. Beneficiaries will pay in installments for these equipments once they start generating income from their bee keeping business. And part of the training costs will also be paid back once the beneficiaries have their first income through honey harvesting. XXX will also teach beneficiaries to create markets for their products in the cities. (See Appendix 1 for training curriculum)
Expected Impact
At the start-up phase, XXXX will train 30 unemployed visually-impaired people (females and males). The following results are expected from the training:
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- 30 visually impaired people will gain new skills in beekeeping, which will enhance their independence and confidence
- The 30 beneficiaries will start their own beekeeping businesses that will generate income for them, their families and at least extra 30 people they employ to work with themselves
- XXXX training project will impact positively on the vocational, psychological and socio-economic aspects of the beneficiaries’ lives.
- Awareness about these new opportunities will be done through involving the media.
The training will be monitored by XXXX Organization. The basic success of the project will be measured by the number of beneficiaries that start and successfully manage their beekeeping businesses or use the skills to start other businesses.
Amount Requested
In order to realize my plan I will need to raise the amount of XXX us$.
I would very much appreciate it if you could support XXXX Uganda with such an amount that allows starting up the program right after I return to Uganda. In the meantime I will start to send proposals out to other funding organizations and will keep you informed about the status. Please note that this project does not depend in the long run on recurring donations because it is planned to make the company sustainable. The graduates will have to pay back the training costs after they have started their own business. These return as well income generated through the honey we will produce will in the long runs finance the program.
Training Curriculum
Below is an overview of the training curriculum for Phase 1(Basics to Bee farming) of the training which starts first week of March 2013:
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- Introduction to placement and Hive Components
- Basic Hive components
- The Honey Bee
- Feeding bees
- Inspecting the Hive
- Controlling pests and disease on the bee farm
- Honey production/Harvesting
- Packaging/Honey-processing
- Selling Honey/Pricing
- Money Management/Keeping detailed records
- Courageous and Confident Beekeepers
- Goal setting for bee keepers
Potentials Partners
XXXX will partner with the following organizations:
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- Foundations, Organizations, Institutions, Technical and Vocational Schools, Government ministries and individuals interested in visually impaired people, bee farming and agriculture at XXX will apply to them for funding, donation of farm equipments and other materials.
Detailed Budget
One time cost
Budget explanatory notes:
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- The currency use in budgeting is United State of America
- The budget is for one year starting from February 2017 to end of January 2018
- Office furniture are given block figures because it will be purchase at once to cut other expenses in term of cost, transportation an time.
- Recurring cost is divided into two, administration recurring cost of rent, diesel, salaries and internet. And course recurring cost to the beneficiaries in form of bee farming equipments like hives, bee-harvesting suits, bee smoker etc.
- Course recurring cost is for two group training of 15 members each in a year.
- All items budgeted under beneficiaries recurring doesn’t include their contribution inform of land and other equipment like knife, brush etc because it is common in every home stead and have the same use as factory made materials.
Contribution from the founders of XXXX:
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- Formulation of legal policies in consultation with law firm in Uganda USD xxx
- Registration of the company as per the Ugandan law worth USD xxx.
- In-kind contribution of beneficiaries through working as free volunteers on a monthly basis.
Sustainability Plan
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- Agreement between HIVE and beneficiaries will be developed and signed by both parties and beneficiaries will commit themselves to giving 10% of their first investment that will be used to sustain project running cost.
- Beneficiaries will keep the bee hives in their own land which will help them take charge of their project.
- A forum of blind bee farmers will be created future decision maker for the betterment of the project.