Billionaire, UN expand EA village project Development Scheme in EA

Children are said to have benefitted dramatically from the initiative in the Ruhiira village cluster in southwestern Uganda’s Isingoro District. The project website reports a 20 percent reduction in chronic malnutrition (stunting) among children under age two along with an increase from 5 percent to 74 percent in the proportion of primary school students receiving school meals.

In Sauri, which was the first of the Millennium Villages, average maize yield has increased from 1.9 tons per hectare to 5.0 tons per hectare, the project’s sponsors say.

They boast of education gains in Dertu, pointing out that the local primary school was judged the third best in the region in 2009. All 28 Dertu students who took the standard eight examinations passed and entered secondary schools, the Millennium Villages’ website says.

The Sauri village cluster in Nyanza Province and Dertu in Northeastern Province have managed to sustain progress despite unrest and dislocation in their respective areas, Ms Sachs said.

“A lot was burned down around [Sauri]” in the violence following the 2007 elections, he noted. But Sauri residents “stood guard and said ‘you’re not going to burn down the Millennium Villages,’” Mr Sachs related.

Dertu, which is about 80 kilometres north of the enormous Dadaab refugee complex, has emerged as “an epicentre of emergency relief in this region,” he noted. Despite drought and social pressures caused by a heavy influx of Somali refugees, Dertu has remained stable and has helped provide water, veterinary care and telephone services for others in the area, Mr Sachs added.