Northlight Green Services (NGS) Uganda

Northlight Green Services is a legally registered company and NGO.

Legal status

• Company Limited by Guarantee, by URSB. Reg. no. 800200054413, 2021
• Legally Registered as an Indigenous NGO by the National Bureau for NGOs, 2022. no. 6595, permit no. 7901

 NGS was established to focus on Northern Uganda to contribute to bringing about a sustainable transformation of the region. Northern Uganda remains a paradox of poverty and abundance. The region suffered a brutal war between the Government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) for two decades that destroyed lives and social safety nets for the people, creating a high dependency rate among the women and youth. Household poverty rate has been increasing from 35% in 2016 to 68% in 2020. The region has abundant and fertile land for agriculture. It is estimated that each household owns 20 acres of land, but only 1-2 acres is being utilised largely for subsistence agriculture.

The vision of NGS is “An Equitable and Thriving Society Living Sustainably in Peace and Harmony” and the mission is “to promote sustainable Peace, Recovery, Socio-economic, and Environmental Transformation in Northern Uganda through a Programme primarily targeting women and youth in rural areas”. Northlight- stands for enlightening Northern Uganda.

The main target groups are women and youth.

Objectives of NGS are:

• To carry out training in the areas of ICT, green energy solutions, sustainable agriculture, nutrition, permaculture, food processing/value addition and post-harvest technologies, and environmental protection.
• To train women and youth on financial management, and entrepreneurship skills for income generation so that they drive socio-economic development and improve their and or family well-being.
• To conduct research and policy dialogue activities to inform practice, project/program development, and policy engagement.
• To engage in policy dialogue at local, regional/national levels on matters of Women Youth, and Rural Development.
• To empower youth, women, and other target user groups to actively participate and influence decision-making at grassroots levels, regional, and or national levels.
• Provide technical support and consulting to Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), government, and other local and international organisations.
• To preserve indigenous knowledge that promotes livelihood, environmental conservation, and sustainable development.
• To explore and provide green energy solutions for home consumption, business, and community services.
• To promote ICT4Development which at NGS we refer to as Digital Initiatives for Rural Empowerment and Community Transformation.
• To promote youth vocational skilling, apprenticeship and gainful self-employment, and mentorship for personal and professional growth.

Focus Area(s)

Environment and Climate Resilience: In NGS programming, household livelihoods and resilience in the face of climate change will be enhanced by promoting Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices in the production of profitable complementary field annual and perennial crop enterprises; farmer-led market research to inform the choice of strategic enterprises; Integrated Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) and financial literacy; value addition and collective marketing. These concepts will be integrated into a comprehensive CSA curriculum delivered through skills-oriented field-based mentorship.  NGS is desirous to promote household-level tree growing to restore and conserve productivity and resilience of farming landscapes in areas of operation. This will constitute part of household planning to foster the realization of household development goals. Relevant SDGs the programme will be contributing to SDG 1: No Poverty; 2: No Hunger; 5: Gender Equality; 10: Reduced Inequalities; 13: Climate action.

Livelihood and Social Security: NGS under this programme seeks to create opportunities for vulnerable people to increase their food security, nutrition intake, and incomes for improved livelihood. Our programme will be putting a lot of effort into mindset change through strategic and continuous mentorship and practical demonstration through established fields and apprentice placements. As well, as an emphasis on skilling women, youth, and other disadvantaged groups in vocational skills in locally marketable trades identified through a labour market/needs-based scan that offers decent employment opportunities. If farmers are linked to complementary enterprises, it will diversify their avenues of generating income which will enhance their purchasing power and ability to access basic human needs. The relevant SDGS are SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 2: No Hunger, and SDG 8: Good Jobs and Economic Growth

Social Accountability: Under this programme of action, the focus of NGS Uganda will be to build stronger communities through social accountability, to strengthen the capacity of vulnerable communities (e.g. women, youth, persons with disabilities, refugees, etc.)  to actively participate in development programmes, demand good governance, greater accountability, and responsiveness of public authorities and service providers as part of citizen-led accountability. The relevant SDGs the programme will be contributing to our SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 5: Gender Equality, SDG 10: Reduced Inequality, SDG 16: Peace and Justice and strong institutions, and SDG 17: Partnership for the Goal.

Gender Justice: Whereas women make up the majority (51%) of the Ugandan population, they play a secondary role to men in most aspects of the social, economic, and political life. Despite progress in recent years, particularly in political and decision-making arenas, women still sit on the less favorable side of the gender gap. Pervasive gender inequalities include women’s limited share in wage employment in non-agricultural sectors, lack of control of productive resources like land, exposure to sexual and gender-based violence, educational inequalities with men, and limited participation in household and community decision-making. The strategic focus of NGS in this programme is to tackle gender inequality and build more inclusive communities to better tackle poverty and injustice. “Gender equality is achieved when women and men, girls and boys have equal rights, life prospects and opportunities, and the power to shape their own lives and contribute to society”. We believe in gender equality in decision-making and all aspects of family life and work. Relevant SDGs include; SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG5: Gender Equality, and 10: Reduced Inequalities.

ICT and Renewable Energy: The focus of NGS Uganda under this programme is to strengthen community access and integration and the use of ICTs and clean renewable energy to amplify community transformation from households to public entities such as schools, and hospitals. etc. NGS will explore and use communication technologies to aid community transformation and contribute to ending the digital isolation of rural communities, by providing greater access and use of digital resources and information communication technologies in rural communities. The relevant SDGs the Programme will be contributing to, are SDG 7: Renewable Energy, SDG 8: Good Jobs and Economic Growth, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities; SDG 13: Climate Action; and SDG 17: Partnership for the Goals.

Method(s) Used to Achieve Objectives

NGS's interventions are designed to transform the individual, household, and communities sustainably and the interventions must be evidence-based, cost-effective, and context-appropriate. NGS interventions and actions must have consideration for a green economy, and ecological sustainability in the applied approaches, considering its effect on climate change and target communities.
At NGS we believe in a mutual respective partnership. We believe development efforts will most likely succeed when they entrust continuing ownership and responsibility to local people and local institutions. We, therefore, seek to strengthen local participation and ownership in prioritizing solutions to their development challenges.

We seek to enhance the knowledge base of vulnerable communities, especially women, youth, and persons with disabilities, through capacity building, awareness creation, exposure to good practice examples, hands-on demonstration and training, vocational skills training and apprenticeship placement, etc to enhance their capacity to participate in the change process and in decision-making processes to protect their rights and influence policy action. We also build the capacity of other NGS/CBOs and network to share and learn from experiences. Research is a core area of our work, to document facts so as to influence our strategies and programming/project development and sharing with various stakeholders.

Project(s)

With the DKA Austria and BSIN, we are working on a women and youth land rights project, titled “Strengthen Land Rights for Women and Youth in Nwoya District, Acholi Sub-region”. This project will be implemented from January 2024 to October 2024.

Project Partner(s)

• Dreikönigsaktion (DKA) Austria
• Bruder und Sester in Not (BSIN)

Funding

Currently, we have two funders

1. BSIN - Bruder und Schwester in Not- Diocese Innsbruck
2. DKA Austria –Dreikönigsaktion Hilfswerk der Katholischen Jungschar