On Tuesday morning, the Busoga Consortium for Development (BCD) secretariat held a special meeting at Civil Service College to review the progress of implementation of the 10 year Busoga Development Agenda (BDA) and define the direction of the Consortium during the next Financial Year.
The BDA is a 10 Point programmatic blue print regional guiding document prepared by the BCD to steer the socioeconomic transformation of Busoga.
The meeting was addressed by the Director General BCD Mr. Anthony Mula who gave members an update on the history , current status of progress and what the future holds for the BCD and Busoga transformation journey during the next year.
Mula commended the secretariat for the commitment, dedication and resilience to serving Busoga over the years. He noted that over the years, BCD had contributed to Busoga’s Cohesion, successfully generated a joint planning framework for Busoga under the BDA, established beneficial collaborations to support education and leadership capacity building for Busoga Local Government leader, among others.
He informed the meeting that in November 2023, Busoga Consortium had signed a cooperation agreement with China Agricultural University to pioneer the Village Agricultural Model in the 12 Local Governments of Busoga as a potent vehicle for steering the implementation of the BDA.
He also explained that market for what would be produced by the Basoga under VAM had been secured especially for Soya beans, Corn, Cassava and Simsim. These would be promoted under VAM alongside other enterprises to lead household transformation.
The meeting was further informed that 3 villages in 3 Local Governments of Busoga had been selected to pioneer VAM during phase 1 (one) as the initiative gets set to be flagged off. These include: Bishaga 1 of Bunya South Mayuge District, Naluwoli village of Kamili District, and Namayombe village of Namayingo District. It was noted that the work of preparing the Villages for flagging off had commenced. He encouraged members to actively get involved by setting up similar projects at their homes for each project that will be pioneered under VAM.
It was therefore resolved that VAM was to be the main framework to steering the transformation of Busoga and encouraged all members to orient themselves with the concept.
On a very special note, Mr.Mula used the meeting to announce that Busoga and Liaoning Province where scheduled to sign a comprehensive agreement in Shenyang China to pave way for mutual cooperation in the fields of Education, Health, Science and Technology, Agriculture, Industrial promotion, Trade, among others. The signing ceremony is scheduled to take place in July 2024.
The meeting resolved that the Busoga-Uganda delegation to Liaoning Province be led by H.R.H the Kyabazinga and the 1st DPM of Uganda Rt. Hon. Dr. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga as patron’s of the BCD.
Briefly, Liaoning Province is located south of China with a population of approximately 42 Million People (2022),
* GDP per capita of $9495.9 USD (2022),
* GDP of $430.79 Billion USD (2022),
* Total Volume of Trade of $117.56 Billion USD (2022),
• Value of Exports of $53.29 Billion USD (2022).
As part of the resolutions, it was further resolved that the Launch of the Village Agricultural Model be held on 8th August 2024. The preparations will therefore commence very soon.
Among the other key upcoming events noted for the start of preparations by the secretariat included the Busoga Prayer Week that was announced for August 2024 and the continued selection of the remaining pioneer Model Villages for the remaining Local Governments of Busoga.
The meeting was addressed by the Director Local Government Inspection who also doubles as Director Finance & Administration BCD Mr John Genda Walala, Prof. Allan Katwalo Deputy Director Policy & Planning, Ms. Esther Mirembe PRO BCD, Members of the media team including Ms. Aisha Kyakya, Samuel Mwesigwa, and Sarah Nabirye, among others.
