Donors support Ibanda Farm Institute

Jul 22, 2020

The institute received euros 3,500 (about sh14m) donation from Hans Blankert Fund, a Netherlands-based organisation, to develop a dairy zero grazing unit that will facilitate teaching of practicals.

IBANDA | AGRICULTURE |SKILLS

Agriculture students at Ibanda Farm Institute will now be able to acquire skills-based training through learning by practice after the school received donations worth sh17.4m to set up facilities for hands-on education.

The institute received euros 3,500 (about sh14m) donation from Hans Blankert Fund, a Netherlands-based organisation, to develop a dairy zero grazing unit that will facilitate teaching of practicals.

"The money will be used to build a cowshed for 10 zero grazing cows," said Joseph Bainomugisha, the principal Ibanda Farm Institute. He added that the funds were mobilised by Mart van den Berg, technical and vocational education expert who visited s school mid-last year.

Mart belongs to PUM, a department of the Netherlands Employers Association that provides technical support to the institute and other partner technical schools globally. Previously, it has helped to connect some of the institute's graduates to get jobs. In 2018, the association helped 12 students to secure jobs with UN agencies as junior technical staff, according to the institute.  

Hans provides financial support to agricultural institutions to develop teaching facilities.

Meanwhile, the farm institute also secured sh3.4m donation from AVSI Foundation to restock its poultry project with 300 day-old chicks. This will help agriculture students to gain hands-on skills in poultry management and support the institute's earn-as-you-learn programme as well as boost its income, said Bainomugisha in an interview at the school.

The AVSI Foundation chief of party, Samuel Otim Rizzo, donated the money through the organisation's Skilling Youth for Employment in Agribusiness (SKY).

Skilling Uganda

The government's skilling Uganda strategic plan for 2011 - 2020 sought to create a paradigm shift for skills development in the country, enhance productivity and growth to create employable skills and competencies relevant in the labour market. 

 

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